Transition Diary VI

Joshua Zeitler

In place of a body          an as-built          a blueprint

an aggregate          a scaffold          a construction 

paper crane          in place of a body          a structural

fallacy          a summation          a limit          a standard

deviation          an event          an outcome          a range

of Cartesian mountains          a trough          a crest         

a wave          a tide          in place of a body

a trip of the tongue          a whispered myth          a fog

a heavy mist          a drizzle          a system

of weather forecasted          a litigated border

between known and variable          a constant erratic

a cloud of gnats          an actuarial risk          a scatter

plot          a promise          a ring          a mysterious

setting          a fragile gem          an emerald

ash borer          a pipe organ          a dead language

with deciduous fangs           a gerund phrase         

running a marathon          in place

of a body          a mousetrap          with absence          as bait.

Joshua Zeitler is a queer, nonbinary writer based in rural Michigan. They are the author of the chapbook Bliss Road (Seven Kitchens Press, 2025), and their work has appeared or is forthcoming in Ploughshares, Foglifter, Gigantic Sequins, Wildness, and elsewhere. They are Poetry Editor for the Substack-based journal The Long & The Short of It.

Instagram: @the_jayest_of_zees
Bluesky: @thejayestofzees.bsky.social