Song of the Deeply Underappreciated

Who is in charge of the ratings for this fine day
turning gray around the edges? So many hard objects
are jockeying for the number one position. A bright
idea is gaining on them, and the weather is always
a solid contender. What will hold my attention? It has been
made to be grabbed, but I would like some caressing.
Perhaps a ripple through the grass or a vague form
settling on an unconcerned rock. I smell the exhaust
of a handheld machine. Now there’s this song of the deeply
underappreciated trying to climb to the top of the charts.

*This poem first appeared in the anthology Open: Post Pandemic Anthology of Literature.

Tim Kahl [http://www.timkahl.com] is the author of Possessing Yourself (CW Books, 2009), The Century of Travel (CW Books, 2012) The String of Islands (Dink, 2015) Omnishambles (Bald Trickster, 2019) and California Sijo (Bald Trickster, 2022). His work has been published in many journals in the U.S and abroad. He is also an editor of Clade Song [http://www.cladesong.com]. He is events coordinator of The Sacramento Poetry Alliance. He builds flutes, plays them and plays guitars, ukuleles, charangos and cavaquinhos and touches on many other instruments from around the world. He currently teaches at California State University, Sacramento, where he sings lieder while walking on campus between classes.