#joshuawalker — Public Fediverse posts

“What I Don’t Say” by Joshua Walker

I keep certain words
wrapped like blades,
not for threat,
for control.

They live behind the teeth,
quiet, calibrated,
learning the limits
of my mouth.

They sit through greetings.
They listen while others speak over me
as if silence were agreement.

When it happens,
they shift their weight,
the way a door does
before deciding.

I trained restraint
until it entered muscle.
The mouth closes cleanly.
The face practices neutrality.
The body learns how to stay
without surrendering its outline.

If I ever say them,
it will not be loud.
It will be because silence
has exhausted
what it can carry.

Joshua Walker is a poet whose work has appeared in literary journals across North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. His writing is concerned with restraint, endurance, and the quiet pressures that shape ordinary human experience. He works primarily in free verse, favoring clarity, precision, and emotional control over explanation. Walker lives in the United States and writes independently.

“At the Bus Stop” by Joshua Walker

Everyone watches the digital sign
without admitting it.
Minutes blink, hesitate, revise themselves,
as if time were listening.

A woman re-centers a bag
that was never off-center.
A man refreshes a screen
with ritual patience,
not belief.

The air carries metal and distance.
Engines idle.
Shoes rehearse the same shallow arcs
into the pavement.
A bird insists on a point
no one agrees to hear.

When the bus arrives
there is no relief,
only redistribution.
Bodies sort themselves
without eye contact,
careful not to acknowledge
the shared wait.

The sign goes dark.
It has reached the limit
of what it can promise.

Joshua Walker is a poet whose work has appeared in literary journals across North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. His writing is concerned with restraint, endurance, and the quiet pressures that shape ordinary human experience. He works primarily in free verse, favoring clarity, precision, and emotional control over explanation. Walker lives in the United States and writes independently.

“Night Shift” by Joshua Walker

At midnight the building alters its breathing.
Fluorescents thin to a controlled hum.
Machines keep their small vows,
clicking, swallowing, repeating
without witness.

A cup skins over on stainless.
Even warmth submits here.

I count hours by what the body concedes.
By how the spine abandons pride
for workable angles.
By how the eyes stop requesting
and begin taking what is allowed.

Outside, one office remains lit,
a square of insistence
no one claims.
It has burned through other names.
It will burn through mine
without noticing.

There is no virtue in this.
Only the agreement
to remain where placed
until placement ends.

Morning arrives without correction.
The light does not change.
Only the lie about it does.

Joshua Walker is a poet whose work has appeared in literary journals across North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. His writing is concerned with restraint, endurance, and the quiet pressures that shape ordinary human experience. He works primarily in free verse, favoring clarity, precision, and emotional control over explanation. Walker lives in the United States and writes independently.

Orioles’ Josh Walker: Outrighted to Triple-A https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/510791/ #Baltimore #BaltimoreOrioles #BaltimoreOrioles #Baseball #FantasyBaseball #JoshuaWalker #MLB #Orioles

Haruki Murakami honored with awards and a jazzy tribute in New York https://www.byteseu.com/1628239/ #CarolineKennedy #Entertainment #HarukiMurakami #JasonMoran #JoshuaWalker #KazuoIshiguro #PattiSmith #ReggieWorkman #RolandNozomuKelts

Braves’ Josh Walker: Scooped up by Atlanta https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/431613/ #atlanta #AtlantaBraves #AtlantaBraves #Baseball #braves #FantasyBaseball #JoshuaWalker #MLB