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Photo © Jennifer Wagner

 

When another new year trembles

beneath my feet,

 

golden

and merciless,

 

black

and heaven-sent—

 

the path obscure

but coming to light—

 

it’s never without thorns,

even while glowing.

 

Cohen said there is a crack in everything.

That’s how the light gets in.

 

I’ll forget my perfect offering.

 

The journey sometimes breaks me, but tells me, too,

the cracks are how

 

the light shines out of you.

 

 

© 2025 Jennifer Wagner

 

I've Been Here Before

Sometimes

I lose my way

 

Sometimes

I figure out how to stand up for myself

 

Sometimes

I weigh out the evidence

and find the truth is still elusive

 

I’ve lived here for more than 50 years

you’d think I’d be used to the terrain

 

But still

my humanness

is carried in your holster

or propped up and sighted in

 

waiting for me to tip and turn

the wrong way

my breast fully exposed

in the barrel’s sights

 

What will you see this time

Your open shot

or that I am

 

lonely and imperfect

same as you

 

 

© 2023 Jennifer Wagner