Wayfinding: Biking home from the Metal show
Like Louise Glück’s Lights, Hecate Crowned plays a louche set > bike east on NW Market > left on 20th > Right on 56th > why is there no graffiti on this artless overpass? > head into the park’s shadows > wipe out at the edge of the historic carousel > now you’re on foot > follow the EV charging station’s turquoise glow > get back on your bike and emerge on N 59th > Valium Tom could be around the next corner > take a right on Phinney Ridge thinking you’re taking a left > realize your mistake when the pizza place emerges on the wrong side of the street > it’s late, it’s closed, there are no cars > do a 180 in the middle of the road > head south > veer left on NW 50th > coast downhill on Fremont Ave like it’s Summer > pass the grocery where Gregor Samsa buys a week’s supply of soda water with his platinum credit card > at the park, a Girl Called Bill Russell unfolds the picnic blanket > at the nearby Airbnb, Data Kid is high downstairs > collapse at the bar and smash your forehead on the floor > the empty plaza where the sandwich shop was > cross the ship canal bridge > exit onto 4th Ave N and acknowledge the beautifully named Florentia St. > cross Nickerson onto Dexter >
Before & After Human Scale > what was the name of that gin palace? > cross Mercer > health care in the brume > Holiday Inn Express > disappointed parents asleep > Cross Denny Way > the D Line is heading in the opposite direction > veer onto 7th > market capitalization > pedal past bio swales > residential lovers standing drunk in the bike lane > the streetcar tracks are confusing at night when the city is empty
> ricochet off the pavement craquelure > live to tell >
east on Pike St > cross Broadway > posters and costumes and flowers > left on 14th > caroling with Percy Bysshe Shelley > consider a nightcap at either place where the signs are still hissing.
Poetry by Josh Feit
Fall 2024 Poetry Contest Nominee
Josh Feit has written two poetry collections: Shops Close Too Early (Cathexis NW Press, 2022) and The Night of Electric Bikes (Finishing Line Press, 2023). In 2024, he won Common Ground Review’s Second Place poetry prize and was a finalist for The Wolfson Chapbook prize. In 2023, he was nominated for the Pushcart Prize by Bainbridge Island Press and profiled in Poetry Northwest. In 2020, he was shortlisted for the Vallum Poetry Award, winning Honorable Mention. Feit’s poems have appeared in several journals, including Spillway, Vallum, Novus Literary Arts Journal, and Vital Sparks among others. He is the speechwriter at Seattle’s regional transit agency.
