Robert Okaji holds a BA in history, served without distinction in the U.S. Navy, toiled as a university administrator, and once won a goat-catching contest. Two years ago he was diagnosed with late stage metastatic lung cancer, which he finds terribly annoying. But thanks to the wonders of modern science, he still lives in exotic Indianapolis with his wife—poet Stephanie L. Harper—stepson, cat and dog. He is the author of Our Loveliest Bruises (3: A Taos Press, 2025), His Windblown Self (Broadstone Books, 2025), and multiple chapbooks, including Scarecrow Sees (River Glass Books, 2025) and the award-winning Buddha's Not Talking (Slipstream Press, 2022). His poems may also be found in such venues as Louisiana Literature, Book of Matches, Only Poems, wildness, Evergreen Review, Vox Populi, The Big Windows Review, and his blog, O at the Edges. "Even with Eyes Open" first appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, and is included in the full-length collection His Windblown Self (Broadstone Books, 2025).
                                           Even with Eyes Open

I have never spoken to my neighbor,
but the birds share our seeds, dropping
them in flight far below these threatening
clouds. Maybe an untarnished kernel
will sprout, weave its fronds through
the fence. A wise grain or seven-bladed
flower or a chaplet of leaves to be stitched
together. Maybe a midnight raccoon will
smoke up from the soil. Worry's weight,
delivered daily. A funnel cloud in the
gut. Empty pockets, politics, petrichor.
So much to balance. So little to weigh.




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