Jason Baldinger

our temporary time

in the weeds
of another year ended
feeling like the ghost
of dennis hopper
feeding a raccoon
pancakes hot
off the griddle

I knew a woman who
told stories of raccoons
salt water taffy
and junkies running
the hallways
of the ohio river
abandoned

this isn't about dennis hopper
this isn't about trash pandas
junkies or persons who lose
themselves in the mazes of their mind

this isn't about bob kaufmann
or the working class
both are dead

this isn't about the ohio
carrying microplastics
to the mississippi
to the ocean

it’s about abandon
how I miss the ocean
how we deserve the ocean

lights blink out
across the consciousness
of this organism planet

I think of the ocean
its temporary roar
matching
our temporary time

Jason Baldinger is bored with bios. He’s from Pittsburgh and misses roaming around the country writing poems. His newest book is A Threadbare Universe (Kung Fu Treachery Press) with The Afterlife is A Hangover (Stubborn Mule Press) coming soon. His work has been published widely across print journals and online. You can hear him read his work on Bandcamp and on lp’s by the bands The Gotobeds and Theremonster.