Joseph Buck

A Knock at Midnight

Rain falling, a winter storm.
The dog brought in,
for the night, for the year.

Song competition on,
too many years to count now.

Some noodles, udon,
for after the first two years
trying to find why your
hands hived, no longer soba.

It is all silly. New year
is something set in sand,
written on water.

But we agree to this demarcation.

We made it. We want
hope and possibility welcomed
like an old friend coming
to visit at an appointed hour.

What will they bring with them?

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Joseph Buck is Southern Californian. He is the former editor of the journal of the Pacific Rim, Boomtown, which still gets citations to this day despite being dark. He had poetry and freelance work published decades ago, but the pandemic and social change drove him to writing again.