English, Poetry, Languages, Series, 2026 The Sealey Challenge, Benjamin Niespodziany

Amending the Agenda by Benjamin Niespodziany

By T.

10 August 2026

222

Amending the Agenda
Benjamin Niespodziany

Five times a day, I’m forced
to make an agenda and hop
on a call and look
at my tired face. Five times a day

the coffee is ballroom dancing
in my stomach and the man
in the painting will never move
me again. I look to see

what my great grandmother was
doing on this day 32 years ago
but the page is blank. Every
day this month, her pages are blank.

KEEP READING

SHARED WITH GRATITUDE

This poem appeared in HAD, September 2025.

ABOUT BENJAMIN NIESPODZIANY

Benjamin Niespodziany is a Chicago-based writer whose work has appeared in Wigleaf, Fence, Fairy Tale Review, Conduit, X-R-A-Y, and others. The founder of Piżama Press and the host of the reading series Neon Night Mic. (Source)

Read more poems by Benjamin Niespodziany • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Follow on Instagram • Website • Or view my library

ENDNOTES

This is Day 10 of The Sealey Challenge 2026—a community challenge to read one book of poetry a day for the month of August, named after Nicole Sealey.
Explore other works in pursuit of: routine • memory • exhaustion • Or browse the index
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