What's Not to Like?

James McKee

Doors, because they close;
books, after they end;
spring, while it explodes;
cash, before it spends;

chocolate, because chocolate;
mountains, because a view;
in person, because internet;
wikis, because don’t know;

forests, for all they shelter;
ruins, for what they show;
New York because it alters,
but New York because it won’t;

what if, because why not;
whatever, because I’m lazy;
but now, because too late
for tomorrow, because maybe.

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James McKee enjoys failing in his dogged attempts to keep pace with the unrelenting cultural onslaught of late-imperial Gotham. His debut poetry collection, The Stargazers, was published in the spring of 2020, while his poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Burningword Literary Journal, Spoon River Poetry Review, Another Chicago Magazine, New Ohio Review, Grist, New World Writing, Illuminations, CutBank, Flyway, THINK, The Midwest Quarterly, and elsewhere. He spends his free time, when not writing or reading, traveling less than he would like and brooding more than he can help.