The Poems of J. Todd Keller

My earliest desires were to be a husband, a dad, and a poet.  This blog represents a bit of my work.  I write to capture moments and study characters who have become special or interesting to me.  Some poems are fictional.  Some are real.  In them, you’ll read a bit of reality, exaggeration, pain, thrill, regret, trouble, and wonder.  If there is a general theme, it is simply a basic curiosity about people and human behavior.  I trust there will be growth from the first to the last, growth in my regard for others, empathy, adaptability, character, holiness and love.

Feel free to follow my blog or simply scroll through from time to time.  This work matters no more or less than any one person’s view.  I am only one person.

-JTK

711

Go on and chase your hallelujah

Clamor and Clamor after every amen

We all know where this is heading

Your life will end where your heart began

If it’s important to you

Do what you know you’re gonna do

Do what has always been the goal

Anchor yourself to your one man show

Go on and chase your hallelujah

Clamor and clamor after every amen

We all know where this is heading

Your life will end where your heart began

You don’t change a thing if you don’t change a thing

You’ve no hope at all if you don’t hope at all

You won’t ever align with what you won’t get behind

Just open any of the other doors down that hall

Go on and chase your hallelujah

Clamor and clamor after every amen

We all know where this is heading

Your life will end where your heart began

710

This is not about anything

I’ll treat it that way

It’s a damp rag for sure

Unwelcome and icky

I don’t know, really

If it will need to be dealt with

Ultimately

But it keeps buzzing around

And makes me feel weak

As I think of it now

I don’t want to need others

I don’t want to want others

I don’t want to crave a remedy

Because I loathe, detest

Being patted on the head

So for now

I suppose

This is not about anything

And from now on

I suggest

This is not about anything

709

The rain down of a million things

All the pieces

Post-event confetti

From way above

Not al that significant

But a part of something bigger

Something greater

Something whole

Something complex

And it’s hard to see

How it all

Fits together

‘Cause I’d rather

Let one or two

Define me

At least for a moment

To ignore my own complexity

That would be nice

To be this or that one thing

That would be

For me

So much easier

To identify with

708

Bless them all

With all you have

Keep nothing

You don’t need it

There’s a pounding in my ears

It’s all I can hear

And all it wants to do is give

Can’t see anything but giving

Can’t see anything but spoiling

Can’t quiet the generous roar

707

Alone inside a shared life

When naming feels mean

So so so many secrets

And tired of the secrets

How do wardens want to be regarded?

How do wardens need to be seen?

Is there a stronger commitment?

Can anything be that important?

Alone inside a shared life

I scrape – I claw – I save

As if I have so so much

And there’s no joy in it

Because I’m death and life

How do wardens want to be regarded?

How do wardens need to be seen?

Is there a stronger commitment?

Can anything be that important?

Thank you for doing this for us

What defeated consolation

Even the summit boils with lava

Please grovel without my name

How do wardens need to be seen?

Is there a stronger commitment?

Is there a stronger commitment?

Can anything be that important?

706

Olmin runs a tight ship

But no one likes him

He gets the product

He’s looking for

But not what he

Is the most desperate for

Sure, he’ll get clean

The peace that clean brings

But truth be told

He could get that alone

The presence of the others

Is the real gift, of course,

But he’s so hungry

For His own tranquility

And peace of mind

That he’d rather push

And pout and resent

And judge and condemn

Than fully open his heart

To any of them

In the end

He’ll be just fine alone

When he’s free of them

And things will be clean

705

Didn’t even notice

Got to miss the dead ring

Is there a luckier soul?

Is there a lovelier thing?

Didn’t hear nothin’

No stabbin’ – no bang

Is there a luckier soul?

Is there a lovelier thing?

What clack? What chatter?

What heartbeat? What mean?

Is there a luckier soul?

Is there a lovelier thing?

704

Take the grey one

Carry it with you

It won’t melt in the sun

Or crack in the cold

You’ll smile some

And live in whimsy too

But in your pocket it will be

To carry on unseen

You’ll most likely

Never be rid of it

It’s probably simply

A fixed feature of you

With you and with you

And with you and with you

Wherever, whenever

703

Things can deepen

World after world

As one sees mountains

Panoramic, in full bloom

We need not settle

For ash or sediment

But awaken the dreamer

And resurrect the gasp

Wave hardily to the traveler

Turn the heat down and receive

702

Planets are brilliant – always

Since said – said

Someone mastered that

And the world agrees

A man and his son stargaze

Since said – said

Banter and yes

Smart – joined – small