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@rkfinch.bsky.social Sep 21, 2026, 10:04 PM

🌱 Mmm... [gossip] cake. 🍰👀

look at my cake

they love it
it's delicious
like a special cake
with their name on it
almost a shame
to slice into it
but don't you worry
they'll get past it

by R.K. Finch

@rkfinch.bsky.social Sep 20, 2026, 3:14 PM

🌱 I wrote this poem this morning. The topic of the first verse is what saved me from drowning in the topic of the second verse. My young friend is featured in this artwork.

#poetry #rkfinch #spider #WWIII

the dawning reality

i like to imagine
that within my walls
the spiders have left
little hobo markings
to tell each other
that the second-largest monster
in the upstairs bathroom
will give them a Q-tip of water
then leave them to live autonomously
after briefly watching closely
and taking a few pictures.

i like to imagine
that i'm a courageous being
at peace with my mortality
and perhaps that's why
i feel a deadpan calm
spread out like a protective membrane
over the dread and misery
of the dawning reality
in the face of what is stirring
around you and me
internationally

i like to imagine
but lately i don't like
what i'm imagining.

by R.K. Finch

@rkfinch.bsky.social Sep 20, 2026, 1:14 AM

This is another old one. It also originally came with a melody I only scarcely recall now.

#poetry #rkfinch

walking spirits

and i know i can do better
than what i've done
i threw a question at the world
now what i'm surrounded by
i am running from
every feather on your wing
has in turn touched me
i can smell it on my skin
and once the awkward moment passed
i knew you loved me
but like strangers we're walking alone...

and nothing could be better
i know the one
ignore the answers from the crowd
for if you should pause to wait
it will never come
and every facet of your eyes
is hard upon me
so i must focus on your skin
and if this moment will not pass
can you still love me?

under the dust of the layer above me
hovers the form of my strength
and what's now my company
misty are you in our slow dissipation
all of these words are just old conversation
not sympathy

and what this has taught me is
i don't know anything
what this has taught me is i don't know anything.

by R.K. Finch

@rkfinch.bsky.social Sep 19, 2026, 1:21 AM

🌱 Today I read an article on assisted dying, and then I read the comments against it. I realized those who think they have the authority to bend others to their will for whatever ideology are in it from womb to tomb. Then I wrote this poem.

#poetry #rkfinch #antichoice #prolife #maid #assisteddying

right to die

you had an opinion
before i was born
that born be i must
no matter what
and you even threw in
a dash of god
to prove it was just
cute little nod
where in truth
you don't give a flying flog
once i'm alive
how well i live
or if i thrive
no, it's then
that you begin
to reveal to me your trap
where you forced me to be here
without a single bootstrap
so from moment one
each daughter or son
whether their parents could
or could not follow through
is stuck in a world
that demanded their presence
then proceeded to do
whatever it could
to rob our joie de vivre
and make living a life sentence.
now, after everything
how ever far down my path
i manage to tread
through pain and strife
you've never had
it's possible i could decide
that since i wasn't supposed to live
i'd be better off dead
and don't you dare
don't you DARE
after all your derelict
made-up lies
pretend you have the fucking right
to determine how or when
i choose to die.

by R.K. Finch

@rkfinch.bsky.social Sep 17, 2026, 3:45 PM

An older poem. I'm fond of the artwork for this. Not sure if it's come across that I design all these poetry post layouts myself, and they are generally full of meaning beyond just the poem on its own.

#poetry #rkfinch

three beautiful moments

those were just three beautiful moments
standing alone within my time
it's nothing now, it's passed
the night yawns large and you're not mine
you said words to be fulfilled
in a window that has gone and shattered
this silence is oh so still
what i long for is dust and it's all that mattered
tears wait behind my mind
the rhythm shakes me slowly, slowly
my screams are all in-kind
for you have nothing new to show me
the pulsings in my life are yes and no
i would offer you these fancies
but my throat still burns from the wretched memories
outside the wind is high
and it teaches me to hold on one more minute
i have surpassed the greatest patience i have known
and despite it all i spit this out alone
i want to surge up strong and say goodbye
suppress my urge to turn away
but peace does not pervade me
only tension and the thoughts that made me
tomorrow i'll pick these words from their steaming pile
and drudge the strength to take this on one more mile
you will not give at all
no words to complete me and none to erase me
in such a quiet i make it all... and i've grown so weary
if you can't then no one can hear me...

by R.K. Finch

@rkfinch.bsky.social Sep 17, 2026, 12:49 AM

Today I randomly picked a book out of a box, randomly picked a page, read the poem, threw it back in the box, did that three more times, and decided this one was acceptable. 2004.

#poetry #rkfinch

shopping for sweaters

this is what it must be like
not enough strength
in a personage made
for distraction
to stick through these times
like today
and despite my frequent calls
when it comes to sharing all
these indescribable uncanniries
it's too much trouble
to both them and me.
it's cold though
and there's something ugly
inside me
something that would go away
if these objects ceased to be
but i never seem
to lick it.
hours that normally
whiz right by
are still here, standing
immovable
the place that i inhabit
is uninhabitable
i'm unable
to even set my table
and i wonder why i'm hungry.
if i could stop my brain
close my eyes
make my body move
ignore my cravings
wish to socialize
slow my heartbeat
frequently exercise
change how i'm behaving
believe there is salvation
or just believe in something
whether i worry
or shop for sweaters
what is coming is still coming.

by R.K. Finch

@rkfinch.bsky.social Sep 15, 2026, 4:28 PM

🌱 The dishonest, exhibitionist wellness industry, particularly yoga, really irritates me, as does any industry that exploits people for profit. Said another way, the wellness industry is one of the many individual things I hate about capitalism.

#poetry #rkfinch #wellness #yoga #science

you, guru

breathe -
up against the back
of your nose, of your throat
and down your whole spine
to the...
sacrum...
it's both grammar
and science.
a noun to describe
the triangular bone
at the base of the spine
or the top of your bum
neither magical nor spiritual
and that is just fine.
now, let it out
through your nose
gently, completely
until you are empty.
what you just did is
bring oxygen into
and expel carbon dioxide from
the blood and the muscles
and all of the places in need
even the ones
for which we don't
have a name
for science does not care
what you know
or think
or if you believe
since we are all
for the most part
the same.

now, stretch -
slowly, deliberately, thoughtfully
feel the focus your body needs
and distribute it gratefully
no gods, no gurus
no money, no training
no groups, no mind-melds
no bullshit, no blaming
no pettiness, no self
no shame, no pleading
no ego, no lying
no arrogance, no screaming
just calmly stretching
and slowly breathing.

by R.K. Finch

@rkfinch.bsky.social Sep 14, 2026, 3:54 PM

🌱 This is very new and very raw so watch for spatter.

#poetry #rkfinch

there is a song

there is a song
that used to be
a beautiful escape for me
for four minutes
and thirty-five seconds
i'd be free
me!
catching drifts
and healing rifts
still invisible
but finally seen
glad i could help
but can't stay too long
i've got places to be

but then a beloved soul
was from me bereaved
and those same words
seemed to explain
why they had to leave
and mixing freedom with death
is too dark a melody
for me to keep hearing
on repeat
so i would turn off that song
whenever it played
though in my heart it never left
and in my mind it always stayed

and now it's loud again
it's out of remission
like a damnable disease
and this time its words
speak for all humanity
how we turn away
from the mess we make
deny obligations with ease
never admit
never apologize
never appease
dancing to the band
while the ship goes down
give it all up
for an evil clown
when all along
we could have just
stolen back
the keys

by R.K. Finch

@rkfinch.bsky.social Sep 12, 2026, 7:59 PM

🌱 I hardly ever write love poems, so this is a remarkable day.

#poetry #rkfinch

hello, love

i recently read
a man's letter
to his wife
who was dead
which summed up perfectly
what i still had the opportunity
to tell my live husband
and so I said,
baby, there is nobody better than you.
even during that time
of darkest hue
as our light ran aground
the void was preferred
to what proof could profound
and one lone fact stood out as true.
your memory
is the only
acceptable
successor
to you
in lieu.

by R.K. Finch

@rkfinch.bsky.social Sep 11, 2026, 3:23 PM

🌱 Today.

#poetry #rkfinch #September11

godspeed innocents

not a cloud in the sky
that seemed bluer than it should be
the perfect temperature
hosting a gentle breeze
wafting the scent of autumn by
just like today
we didn't know what was happening
and we wouldn't admit to why
correlation became the crux of the tale
while causation was buried and left to die
along with all those souls
who were forced to fly
they, who are now,
the only clouds in the sky

by R.K. Finch

@rkfinch.bsky.social Sep 11, 2026, 12:32 AM

I feel like this is so applicable to now I could say it's a new poem, but in fact I wrote it nearly a quarter century ago during another very unstable time.

#poetry #rkfinch