Just Because: 'Accomplishments'

Courtesy, once again, of Poem-a-Day, this verse seems right for the start of a new year. And somehow, poet Michael Chitwood's explanation of his process here makes it even better. "The first stanza came to me just as it is on an afternoon walk," he said. "It took me more than a year to get the other three to go with it."




What you have not done
is without error. What you
have not said is beyond contradiction.

What you understand of God
was yesterday. Today a bicycle
waits, chained to a bench.

The success of this afternoon's nap
is the dream of lifting seven boxes,
your week, sealed with clear tape.

They stack, three to a column,
with the seventh like a capstone.
What you do not know they contain.