Everything

Photo © 2014 Jennifer Wagner

There are things we lost

in the flood

or after it

in the seeping, standing water

up past our hips.

It’s no use;

they’re gone.

Remember when

I told you

I thought

we weren’t strong enough,

maybe we

were too damaged

to make this work?

But you

only remember me saying

I’d stay

and let you try.

And for that

you’d give up everything, again,

because everything

means nothing.

© 2014 Jennifer Wagner

Honus

T206 Honus Wagner Baseball Card

Image in the Public Domain

When you’re rare

you’re worth a lot.

Even if you’re just

the kid brother afterthought

working in a coal mine

at 12 years old—

you can

dream,

believe,

become.

Like becoming

one of the

first 5 players elected

to the National Baseball Hall of Fame,

or becoming

the first

to get your signature on

the Louisville Slugger,

or have yours

be the most valuable

baseball card in history.

Like Honus,

there’s only one you,

and it might be schmaltzy

to say, but—

that’s pretty rare.

© 2014 Jennifer Wagner

Poetry Jam:  Baseball & Barriers

What Flavor are Your Snowflakes?

Remember when

snowflakes

came in our favorite flavors—

running to catch them

on our tongues,

delighted smiles

on our faces?

Mine’s peppermint!

Mmm…Grandma’s peanut brittle!

I got egg nog!

Cinnamon!

Catching them in our hands,

licking the

dark chocolate-orange,

licorice,

sugar plum

flakes

drifting

and catching in hollows

where mittens

dipped

and

lifted

and

savored

in the perfect snow globe

of our imaginations.

Do you think we’re meant to

carry those wishes

with us

as we grow?

And as we grow,

that they should grow too?

Imagine—

clean water

filling hollows,

a fresh well

for life.

But that’s my flavor,

what’s in your snow globe?

For Poetry Jam:  Magic of Childhood.

2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation.  That’s one in three of the world's population.  Poor water/sanitation/hygiene is the second leading cause of death in children under the age of 5 in the world, sub-Saharan Africa being the top affected region.

Statistics and information:

World Vision

Water.org

Charity: Water

Water Aid

I can’t personally vouch for any of these organizations/charities as far as donations and outcome.  I’m doing research myself for our family to get involved.  Here’s to impacting our world with our dreams.  Happy Holidays!

Bloom & Float

Art by CatrinWelz-Stein

Let’s put our thinking caps on;

we can come up with something—

I’ve always longed for a way to fly.

Somehow I knew

if we picked enough weeds,

cleared enough fallow ground,

we’d bloom and float.

It’s true,

dreams can happen

when another thing dies—

like saying goodbye

is hello to something new

in another tongue.

We just have to remember

to hold on

in the dark

where we’ll finally find—ourselves

above the clouds, among the stars.

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

A couple of months ago Claudia at dVerse offered us the opportunity to write to the fascinating and inspiring artwork of Catrin Welz-Stein.  I wrote this piece but had never posted it (it was my son’s birthday and a busy time).  So I’ll be submitting it for OpenLinkNight!

 

Sea Elf Blooms the Desert

Chihuly’s Fiori di Como 

 cartoonified photo © 2013 Jennifer Wagner

Sea elf

took his

raspberry lantern

and journeyed to the desert lands

to look for

new places to play,

new tunes to be hummed,

and friends to be made.

He crafted

his hut

next to

a whispering tree

and blew

his glass bugle

in a mad-fantastic

symphony

…of starlight

and twilight

and the moon (to make them swoon)…

and if you don’t believe me

you should see

the cobalt blue

of never-give-up

sky anemones.

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

Above is a cartoonified photo I took of Dale Chihuly’s Fiori di Como at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.  Chihuly’s work is amazing and even more inspiring to me is his story of losing an eye in an accident and a few years later injuring his shoulder but continuing on with his glass blowing dream.  Click the highlighted links to see/read more if you’re interested.  Amazing, inspiring, beautiful stuff.

For Claudia’s Poetics-taking a ride on the color wheel at dVerse, which I am too late for so I'll be linking to OpenLinkNight, which I’m a bit late to as well, but hey the doors are still open!

Leaving Crypsis

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

climb,

though it might be safer

to blend

climb,

though you might end up

decapitated on pride's wall

climb,

because the view

is always worth it

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

 

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

For Poets United:  Verse First ~ Difficulty.  Kim Nelson has challenged us to write a poem in 3 stanzas or less that is completely free of "gratuitous, show-offy, camouflaging" text.

I took these photos during a recent vacation in Chelan, WA.  There are 11 bighorn sheep in the top photo.  Can you spot them? 

Full Circle from the High Road

You asked me how I felt,

after the year gone shipwreck

in the land of the malignant albatross,

and I could never answer you completely—

my chest too constricted, my voice,

mutilated and rasping in the wind.

You asked me how I felt,

and I have found words now,

though I have only wings for yesterday

fitted to fly in a sky I no longer believe in.

You asked me how I felt,

but I will hold my tongue

and watch patiently from my perch

the crow you will have to eat

nesting among wolfsbane and water hemlock,

while I am gaining strength to dip my feathers

and soar above the vultured horizon.

You asked me how I felt

and soon you’ll know

how it feels.

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

For dVerse where Victoria has us writing anaphora poetry.

*wolfsbane and water hemlock are highly toxic plants.

Have You Seen This? You Want To.

To This Day 

by Spoken Word Poet Shane Koyczan

Well worth every minute.  You will be moved.

Plastique

She keeps her freaks

tongue-in-cheek

by cheeky grin.

I listen,

not listening, again.

I am no novice, as may seem,

to pretty words in stunning hue

even if the eyes of which

are broken-marble blue.

There are no true heartbeats

in her Smashbox made up sheen,

and pseudo-Fendi bag of

tricks

when all she wants

is you.

And you,

and you,

and you.

Copyright © 2013 Jennifer Wagner