18 – Joie de Vivre (for Max)

This little boy
is howling

owooooooooo!

howling like a dog
to mimic the movie
we’re watching

about dogs

but the look
on his face
his big brown eyes
wide open
so focused
on the sound
as it dances
up his throat

owooooooooo!

head back
his neck long
his cheeks stretched
mouth all puckered up

and smiling!
how?
with his lips
pressed together
in that ooooooooo
way?

ah! so carefree!
and funny
silly, goofy funny

it just makes a
grown woman want
to howl with delight

owooooooooo!

Gorgeous photo by Porapak Apichodilok. Poem ©2018, Jen Payne. National Poetry Month 2018, #18. If you like the spirit of this poem, discover 80 more in the book EVIDENCE OF FLOSSING: WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND! Purchased your signed copy today! CLICK HERE

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BOOK REVIEW: Nicole Pyles Reviews Evidence of Flossing

“I was so impressed with this book. It conveyed a beauty and yet sadness at the same time. I could sense the spiritual struggle within the poetry and a reflection of the world around (and the masks society often puts forward). This book is definitely a conversation piece and I can’t wait to share it with others.” — Nicole Pyles, World of My Imagination

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Click here to buy the book now!

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Photo ©2017, Jen Payne from the book Evidence of Flossing: What We Leave Behind.

17 – At the Crossing

Of the 30 homes
about to be built upon
the decimated soil,
not one will know
the cool shade of
the 100-year oak,
the soft whisper
of ancient pine,
the after-hour call
of the hoot on high.
The clear-cut yards
of painted grass
and rolling asphalt,
their fabrications
of flora and fauna,
offer picture-perfect
advertisement
of humans at the crossing,
of choices made
soon before the fall.

Poem ©2018, Jen Payne. National Poetry Month 2018, #17. If you like the heart of this poem, discover 80 more in the book EVIDENCE OF FLOSSING: WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND! Purchased your signed copy today! CLICK HERE

16 – Wordsmiths Over Coffee

She says she is losing words
at her age, hard to come by

What is the name of that purple flower?

Crocus?

No. No.

She shrugs her shoulders as if to say:
I never wrote about flowers anyway.

Hyacinth?

I’m trying to put words in her mouth,
fill her up so she doesn’t forget or worse,
leave me to fill in the blanks myself.

Yes, Yes, that’s it.
She nods and we laugh,
the pair of us relieved.

Hyacinth.

Poem ©2018, Jen Payne. National Poetry Month 2018, #16. If you like this poem, discover 80 more the book EVIDENCE OF FLOSSING: WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND! Purchased your signed copy today! CLICK HERE

15 – The Indiscriminate Nature of Inspiration

Poet, please explain

the watery footsteps

down the hall —

did a ghost of memory

happen through

or did a poem

show up in the shower

again?

Poem ©2018, Jen Payne. National Poetry Month 2018, #15. If you like this poem, you’ll find 80 more the book EVIDENCE OF FLOSSING: WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND! Purchased your signed copy today! CLICK HERE

14 – Interloper

In the thicket
of tall red oaks
set among
the human
complex,
five deer
walk silent
up the path,
fearless and
unhurried here,
their Eden.

Poem ©2018, Jen Payne. National Poetry Month 2018, #14. If you like this poem, you’ll find 80 more the book EVIDENCE OF FLOSSING: WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND! Purchased your signed copy today! CLICK HERE

13 – Extant

The nautilus shell
is complicated.

Mathematical —
its presentation
logarithmic,
mirror of the
greatest storms,
the largest galaxies…
Miraculous!

Its whole wide whorl
compartmentalized,
with past lives
in secret chambers —
where poetry is found
no less.

The poetry of time,
this old soul,
reminder of
roots and bones,
our beginnings
and our end.

Poem ©2018, Jen Payne. National Poetry Month 2018, #13. If you like this poem, you’ll find 80 more the book EVIDENCE OF FLOSSING: WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND! Purchased your signed copy today! CLICK HERE