Trending Chic

She smoked all her cigars

between noon and six,

listening to the bounce

of the sloping rain.

She drank lavender tea from a lowball glass,

let her hair go silver-white, and

never cared what a single soul

thought of it.

Her laugh was always belly deep,

her smile lines, deeper.

She had that knack

for letting everyone

be themselves

and they, by turn,

were able to.

Forget Vogue.

Forget Cosmo

and Elle.

An old wooden porch

frames the perfect face.

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

I think I want to be her (well, except for the cigars). Linking up to join the fun at dVerse for OpenLinkNight!

The dVerse Anthology

A couple of my poems are included in the newly released The dVerse Anthology: Voices of Contemporary World Poetry out on Amazon.  This anthology contains works from over 90 talented poets, edited by Frank Watson (Follow the Blue Flute).  Click to check it out and order up some powerful pub poetry!

Meant to Be

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

It only takes a moment

to see the light

as it’s crossing your path,

like quail to the apricot tree.

It only takes a moment—

and fifteen years later you know

it still is.

  

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

Tomorrow my husband and I will be celebrating our 15^th Anniversary.  I have been absent from the blogging world for a bit…vacationing where there is not much internet connection and will be absent a bit more for celebrating our Anniversary.  I hope summer is treating you all well!

Pinwheel

I don’t miss raindrops;

they’ve had their day.

I don’t miss March,

April, or even May;

especially when I see

the sweat

trickling down your back

and hope you

pick me

to throw into your sack.

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

For two prompts.  Margaret Bednar at Imaginary Garden with Real Toads wants us to drip with heat…err summer.  This gorgeous photo is hers.  If you’ve gotta have more go here.  You won’t regret it!  And Peggy Goetz wants us to Feel the Heat in ten lines or less at Poetry Jam.  She’s an excellent photographer as well.  Go here to see more.  Happy summer!

Nightjar

You can hear them,

like little ghosts

haunting the air at night,

though we don’t have

the blue note whippoorwill

in our evergreens.

If you’ve ever hummed a dry, lonesome aria

from your own warbling wind struck throat

you can hear them—

in the hollowed out whisper-choke,

strummed endless in black on wet pillowed nights,

haunted and hidden.

Yes, you can hear them, even here,

always, when you’ve known lonely,

so ink-dark and bled deep to bone.

Or maybe they can hear you.

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

At dVerse host Tony Maude has invited us to write to any FFA or MTB prompt they’ve offered in the past.  I chose Victoria Slotto's Literary Allusion.  One of my all time favorite short stories is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving.  I also love the haunting song Midnight in Montgomery by Alan Jackson.  Each work references the beautifully eerie call of the nightjar bird, the Eastern Whip-poor-will.  I have alluded to each work in my piece.  Happy year 3 dVerse!