Mother's Portrait

Photo by Margaret Bednar

In the room of no music

and unlit fires

she hangs between us.

Her fingers continue to pound

the keys in my head

of all her expectations on me,

her hopes in you.

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

I’m a bit late, but this is for Margaret’s Artistic Interpretations at Imaginary Garden with Real Toads where she has invited us to concentrate on setting and mood as we write to images she took of place miniatures at the Art Institute of Chicago.

September Wish

photo © 2013 Jennifer Wagner

i know we’ll all

have our winters to face,

and for some, dark skies

may be just down the road—

but today, my hope is for light,

for rest on the journey,

and a place to sip sweet cider

with hints of cinnamon and clove

and autumn’s smile

to come and sit with us,

like a covering of colorful snow,

staying as long as it likes                    

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

dVerse OLN

Wrestling with Goodbye

At all the wrong turns

and times, and for the wrong reasons,

we vowed love

through false teeth.

You were looking for a mother

I could never be, an anesthetic

for your terminal sicknesses.

And I was hiding who I was meant to be,

afraid of myself.

I am sorry for the mask

and how long it wore me.

Still, I am not sure if you are as fatally sorry

for this headstone you’ve saddled me with.

No matter—

a dew dropped, more dark than red, rose

waits on the doorstep.

Take it,

I can live with your ghost no longer.

Plus, I’m learning what it’s like to be me    

without you

and how,

finally,

to like her.

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

For the prompts at Poetry Jam:  Battles and Poets United:  Just Past Center

*A poem of mine was selected for the dVerse 2^nd Anniversary Contest at Boston Poetry Magazine.  I’m thrilled to have had my piece be chosen.  Click here to check it out and read the poems of others who placed in the contest.  Thank you to all the judges and congrats to all the winners!  Great writing, all.

Chrysalis

photo © 2013 Jennifer Wagner

i knew it

butterflies do

come

in all shapes and sizes

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

dVerse OLN 

All Your Places

a blurry photo © 2013 Jennifer Wagner

say the names

and see them

like your eyes have hands

to touch them

say the names—aloud

of the places

where all your blood and bliss were sown

say the names

to your children, speak them,

so they can say them

back to you when you’ve grown old

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

Kim Nelson invited us to write a poem about The Places You Love inspired by Sherry Blue Sky’s poem Saying the Names with Love which was inspired by Al Purdy’s poem Say the Names.  I wrote three, but the other two I am still messing with so I am going to link this one to Verse First (very late) and to The Poetry Pantry.  I was really moved by Sherry’s and Al’s poems and when I had read them I immediately thought of a recent trip I took to the Grand Coulee Dam.  I learned that during construction of the dam the reservoir flooded many tribal lands and cultural sites of the local American Indian tribes as well as causing salmon and other fish to be unable to migrate.  I know the dam is very valuable because of the hydroelectric power it generates and irrigation it provides, but these words of Alex Sherwood in this photo from the exhibit brought tears to my eyes.  I kept going back to read them again.  What if my most favored places, the most meaningful to me in my history, were gone or severely altered?  Or, as I have been doing some reading on memory loss, what if it was me who was altered and could not remember “my” places?  I also love the personification Alex gives the river in his words.  His words are poetic to me.  These are long process notes for what is a short poem, so thanks for bearing with me if you stayed to read this long!  Maybe I’ll feel satisfied enough to post the other poems I’ve written inspired by this prompt at a later date.