For Whom the Horn Honks

 

Photo © 2025 Jennifer Wagner

 

Even if the hearse is of a different color,

when the bumper sticker displays

a grim price,

 

no one wants to pay,

but get out of the reaper’s way

and live to fiesta another day.

 

 

© 2025 Jennifer Wagner

 

Capturing an Image

Note: not sure if it's very readable, but the orange sticker lists the price on this is as $235!!

 

happiness is sleeping in (a nonet)

 

after a restful night’s sleep, i woke

to soft rain, the rap of a bird

on the pane—like music spun

for a chorus of play—

instead of the dread,

ache of the head,

and the plans of

an alarm-

devised

day

 

© 2025 jennifer wagner

 

dVerse poetics

Mourning Dove in Milk and Pepper

 

Like dropped white petals

in the Colonel’s yard,

lie wing bones

and feathers—

 

cat, coyote, or

desert skunk,

having taste for only

head and trunk.

 

But, no hint of scent

of the last night spent—basting

in the coo that ended in a coup.

 

 

© 2025 Jennifer Wagner

 

dVerse Quadrille