porch swing mood

 

photo © jennifer wagner

it’s as if you’ve been here

my whole life long

threading moonlight

through my veins

 

us—

blushing strawberry,

palm-damp,

the first long kiss of summer,

electric-sweet,

 

buzzsoft cricket symphony,

ostinato, silvery

smooth-ending

the longest day worth waiting for

 

 

© 2026 jennifer wagner

 

 

poetic bloomings 599: the first day of summer/the longest day of the year (summer solstice)

 

for ian

 

St. Brutus

 

Photo © Jennifer Wagner

 

Oh, he was a love, an absolute valentine, that

St. Brutus of the backyard and chewed up swing set when

we lived just an alleyway’s kiss from Shakey’s Pizza.  You

couldn’t miss him, could always find

him, he, St. Brutus of the gentle jaws and powerful drool.  So, it

left a hole, that swinging open gate, when it

became clear he’d been lured, or stolen, or sent, from us.  Is

it that he had another mission, another boy or girl to rescue, to warm?

Oh, you may not have known where your new valentine came from,

but just know that it was warm from me.

 

 

© 2026 Jennifer Wagner

 

What’s Going On? Pets I Have Known

 

dVerse Poetry Form: Golden Shovel.  Choose a line from a poem and craft your poem so each line of your poem ends with a word from your chosen line.  I chose the line “that when you find it, it is warm from me” from “Pocket Poem” by Ted Kooser from his 2008 book, Valentines.  I also used it in part as my closing line, though that is not a requirement.

 

Written in memory of Brutus, beloved St. Bernard, bawling as I did so.