{"id":2824,"date":"2022-11-29T19:05:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T23:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/?page_id=2824"},"modified":"2022-11-29T19:05:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T23:05:10","slug":"hopeless-tasks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/poetry-archive\/hopeless-tasks\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopeless Tasks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Side

by Roger Camp<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/h1>\n

Hopeless Tasks<\/h1>\n

Joseph Hardy<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

done and redone: making a bed, dusting
\n<\/span>when more dust will settle;
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

growing up, I was taught to avoid them, to live
\n<\/span>in a kind of gray despair.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I taught myself then, <\/span>If, it doesn\u2019t last, it\u2019s worthless,
\n<\/span><\/i>thinking that a way out\u2014<\/span>make something last<\/span><\/i>;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

somehow missing even our sun will fail in time,
\n<\/span>huge energies all used, go dark.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, as I do them, those tasks feel prayers;
\n<\/span>pretty much all I do a prayer\u2014\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

to offer my intent as wish, as request:
\n<\/span>a clean room in which to sit, clean windows<\/span><\/p>\n

to look out into the day,
\n<\/span>clean sheets on which to sleep.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joseph Hardy<\/b>, a reformed human resource consultant, lives with his wife in Nashville, Tennessee. His work has been published in: <\/span>Appalachian Review<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Cold Mountain Review<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Inlandia<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Plainsongs<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>Poet Lore<\/span><\/i> among others. He is the author of a book of poetry, <\/span>The Only Light Coming In<\/span><\/i>, Bambaz Press Los Angeles, 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Roger Camp<\/b> is the author of three photography books including the award winning <\/span>Butterflies in Flight<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Thames & Hudson<\/span><\/i>, 2002 and<\/span> Heat, Charta, Milano<\/span><\/i>, 2008. His documentary photography has been awarded the prestigious Leica Medal of Photography. His photographs are represented by the Robin Rice Gallery, NYC.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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