Grateful Living

(NaNoWriMo quote: just the word "grateful" in the title)

Gratitude means more
than hand-waving
dirty history

or placing modern suffering
safely in a box
labeled "Things We Can't Change"

at the very bottom
with the shinier
prettier
things on top.

And maybe it's true
that Hallmark has wrought
many a trite
"holiday greeting"
to overpriced cardboard
with the term

but rest assured
that real gratitude
is work
working for the living

every day of the year.

This poem © 2013 Emily Cooper.

Civil This Course

(NaNoWriMo quote: just the words "crisis" and "civil")

Scholars aren't sure Lincoln
despite his brief
unifying eloquence

connecting the sacrifices
of the dead
with the consciences
of the living

would approve of
Obama's presidency.

But they are fairly sure
that the Republicans
who undergird

their imagined
crisis-du-jour

with Lincoln's actual deeds
would be considered
unneeded hindrances
to civil governance

and perhaps
thought a fool by him
beyond all doubt.

This poem © 2013 Emily Cooper.

Inner Pieces

(NaNoWriMo quote: "into space")

At 1:28pm Eastern today
NASA launched
into space the MAVEN

(Mars Atmosphere
and Volatile EvolutioN)

Rocket
from Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station
in Florida

(which by the way
set off car alarms
at the nearby
Kennedy Space Center).

In 10 months the rocket
will reach Mars's orbit
and then
for at least 1 Earth year

the sensors will collect
data about the gradual erosions
of Mars's atmosphere

that started billions
of years ago.

Also accompanying the craft
are more than 1100
haiku of the familiar
five-seven-five
syllable count.

"Hey creatures of Mars
Earth-kind's got many failings
we've also got art."

This poem © 2013 Emily Cooper.

Standing Still

(NaNoWriMo quote: "Standing still")

One World Trade Center
a symbolic one thousand
seven hundred seventy-six
feet tall
including antenna

(which was ruled OK
by the Height Committee
of the Council on Tall Buildings
and Urban Habitat)

is set to open
in 2014.

On 911
the number of emergency
we stood still

(yes "we" were
everywhere
in both the "With Us" and
"Against Us" lands).

and yes
we are standing
still.

This poem © 2013 Emily Cooper.

The Beat Drones On

This poet has opinions
but tries to pause
before taking sides

knowing she will be
at least in her own thoughts
her own head one

of the silent
dedicated mourners

figuring out how
to care for the right things
and protect the truth

while staying in neutral.

This poem © 2013 Emily Cooper.