2026, Day Book, Ohio River Valley Lit, the no-scape

T-Minus / Double-Edged Prayer

T-Minus

The morning after the storm
and the rocket launch, the first
I watched since 1986,
I’m drinking coffee and making plans
to roll on home down I-64.

There is always one more
countdown clock, always
another round of system checks
and then, when the time is right,
go.

Double-Edged Prayer

the grass grew in my absence
and still I have to service the mower:
new plug, new air filter,
the double-edged prayer
that pulling the cord will
and will not start the mower
and the summer will come, strangle
the house in tall grass and native weeds
terrifying the neighbors who walk their dogs
in front of my house on the same sidewalk
where the guy next door sells
his widower father’s prescription pain pills

[Daybook 2026 // Spring 4.2-4.3.26

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Mick Parsons
Mick Parsons

Poet. Essayist. Fictioner. Steamboat fireman. Bit of a grackle.

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2026, Day Book, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, spring, the no-scape

Observations after dark

Watching lights in the night sky
over Carter County, Kentucky
that do not move like stars.
One could be Venus, illuminated
by the moon. Others sweep
like satellites. My friend wonders
about the light through the trees.
I assume it’s a haint.

[Day book 2026 // Spring 4.1.26]

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Mick Parsons
Mick Parsons

Poet. Essayist. Fictioner. Steamboat fireman. Bit of a grackle.

1,691 posts
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2026, Days, Ohio River Valley Literature, the no-scape

obsessed with the tired formality of trees

centuries standing down the ridge / them that are left after tornadoes and fire and heavy snow / some wavering the wind the way / tired old soldiers might / after seeing too much fallen timber / towards the creek that some say / leads to a heaven of endless arteries / guarded by eternal sycamores

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Mick Parsons
Mick Parsons

Poet. Essayist. Fictioner. Steamboat fireman. Bit of a grackle.

1,691 posts
0 followers

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