Tag: Connecticut Poet

How I’ll Glow Up

As I grow older,
I want to make myself
a better person

I want to put down my ego —
my self ego
and my human ego —
and see the world
with wide wonder
and compassion

I want to stop taking sides,
stop needing a defense
or a logo or a standard,
let go of my attachments,
my fear, my uncertainty,
wear my age loosely

I want to open my heart,
let love in
in big, scary ways
so I am full up

so instead of dying
maybe I just burst
like the jewelweed flowers
that explode with seeds
along the trail

seeds of love
and curiosity
seeds of magic
and dreams

seeds left to flower
in the oneness
when I am gone

This is a response poem because yes, some products are made in China, but so are Pandas and Snow Leopards, so grow up. Photo by Terry W. Johnson, Georgia Wildlife Resources Division. Poem @2023, Jen Payne. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gif

Tags Poetry, Jen Payne, Connecticut Poet, poets, nature poems, poems about enlightenment, being a better human, make love not war

Memoir National Poetry Month Nature Poetry Writing

Do Unto Others

She seemed lost
or tired
(or both, like me)
the carpenter bee
sitting in my driveway
hot in the midday sun,
and while she wasn’t too keen
on being seen,
or moved, for that matter,
I shuttled her onto a notecard —
Post Office, Library, Lettuce —
and sat her down safely
on the cool peaty mulch
in the shade of shrubs
in full purple bloom,
left a small puddle of water
in case she was thirsty,
then said a little prayer
so small and so large
in everything, do to others
what you would have them do to you,
Amen.

Photo & poem ©2023, Jen Payne. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gif

Tags Connecticut Poet, Environmental Poetry, Jen Payne, poems about nature, Poetry, poets

Memoir National Poetry Month Nature Poetry Writing

Some Days I Just Want the Jiffy Corn Muffin

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date May 17, 2023
No Comments on Some Days I Just Want the Jiffy Corn Muffin

Taking center stage in the felt and fiber exhibit
was a shrouded human-size figure,
death wrapped in yellow
— the color of butter and bees —
but called Chrysalis to imply resilience

resilience in the face of everything

OMG, the everything we face sometimes feels like death —
its foul smell invading even the simple pleasures

it’s hard to ignore the crises in woods that are dying
it’s hard to ignore the crises in the violence of a Sunday drive
it’s hard to ignore the crises when even my favorite characters are battling hate and headlines

every thing of the injustice

I long for the days when my favorite characters could just fall off ferry boats and have sex in on-call rooms.

When their soundtrack was mine on a Sunday drive that didn’t require white knuckles and a prayer.

When the woods were lush and fertile, the promise of the butterfly born from the Chrysalis, color and light and HOPE.

It makes you want to lie down, wrap covers around your tired body, and sleep a deep and dreamless sleep,

because these days even the dreams are pockmarked and ravaged

and you wake gasping for breath, the bile of it all burning your throat,

a burn that nothing will assuage…except the last Jiffy corn muffin
dripping with butter and drizzled with honey,

a final gift from the bees, who swoop and swarm en masse, before leaving for good.

Poem ©2023, Jen Payne. An ekphrastic poem contemplating the juxtaposition of Chrysalis Shroud for LGBTQ: Allies Supporting Resilience by Annie Collier and Kim Hahn, and Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix by LeBrie Rich in the national exhibition FELT: Fiber Transformed that was on view at the Guilford Art Center, March-April 2023. Photos by Ashley Seneco.

If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gif

Tags Connecticut Poet, Environmental Poetry, Guilford Art Center, Jen Payne, poems about climate change, poems about nature, Poetry, poets

Memoir National Poetry Month Nature Poetry Writing

Finding Exile

Preparing herself for the inevitable,
the sandpiper —
usually found along the coast
makes her home now
by a small pond in the woods
three miles from shore.
It’s quiet here, most days,
except when the wind
carries clamor from the south,
and she’s been welcomed
graciously
by the turtles and frogs,
the heron and wood ducks.
They’ve come here, too,
this protected space
with ample shade and shallows
to share with anyone who needs
asylum from the rising conflict.
You might say we are refugees,
displaced from the familiar
by forces not of our making
finding exile here,
making life despite the storm,
saying grace for the bounty

Tags Connecticut Poet, Environmental Poetry, Jen Payne, poems about climate change, poems about nature, Poetry, poets

Memoir National Poetry Month Nature Poetry Writing

Poet on a Rock

The moon
all but a ghost
this morning
faces the sun
with eyes tilted
and welcomes the day.
From the trail below
I watch them greet
each other
in the sky and
at once I am
celestial,
nothing but
atoms and poetry
in a cosmic breeze,
whirling in space,
witness to miracles.

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, poems about the moon, Poetry, poets

Nature Poetry

They’re building infrastructure in the woods

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date November 26, 2022
5 Comments on They’re building infrastructure in the woods

There are tractor marks in the rabbit warren,
that sweet spot on the path where the
bittersweet and grapevines arbored the trail,
where the sounds of commerce faded just enough to hear
the rabbits waiting for you to pass.

It’s bulldozed wide, now four-persons across
nevermind the rabbits
or the winter sparrows who found refuge there
or the jays who loved the grapes
or the pileated whose only recourse
is to tap out an S.O.S. on a nearby dying ash

They’re building infrastructure in the woods, you see
plowing back desperate saplings,
piling debris where the wild asters grew
flattening out the turtles’ fertile slopes

laying instead their misplaced traprock paths
and sweet-smelling lumbered bridges
giving us more room to tramp about
another ingress marked by colored flags
nailed deep into the skins of trees

Tell me please…
Will the rabbits find sanctuary before the snow?
Were the turtles buried alive?
Do the trees weep before the hammer strikes?

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, poems about nature, Poetry

Books Creativity

Looking for something to read?

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date October 6, 2022
No Comments on Looking for something to read?

I am always inspired by those life moments that move us most — love and loss, joy and disappointment, milestones and turning points. When I’m not exploring our connections with one another, I enjoy writing about our relationships with nature, creativity, and mindfulness, and how these offer the clearest path to finding balance in our frenetic, spinning world.

Very often, my writing is accompanied by photography and artwork. As both a graphic designer and writer, I think partnering visuals and words layers the intentions of my work, and makes the communication more palpable. I hope you will agree!

Tags books about Cape Cod, books about Connecticut, books about grief, books about mindfulness, books about nature, books about transition, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, Three Chairs Publishing

Creativity

NEW! Limited Edition Issue of MANIFEST (zine)

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date September 17, 2022
No Comments on NEW! Limited Edition Issue of MANIFEST (zine)

Issue #10, The Lola Poems

“I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats,” writes Eckhart Tolle in his book The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. “Watch any plant or animal and let it teach you acceptance of what is, surrender to the Now. Let it teach you Being. Let it teach you integrity —which means to be one, to be yourself, to be real. Let it teach you how to live and how to die, and how not to make living and dying into a problem.”

THE LOLA POEMS is a limited edition, memorial issue of MANIFEST (zine) that honors the passing of my own little Zen master, Lola, by considering the lessons she taught me in our time together.

16-page, 4.25 x 5.5 booklet, Cost: $8.00 or subscribe and get 4 issues for $25.00.

BUY NOW

You can pay through PayPal using a PayPal account or any standard credit card. If you prefer the old school approach, please send your check, made payable to Jen Payne, P.O. Box 453, Branford, CT 06405.

Tags cat lovers, Connecticut Poet, CT zines, Eckhart Tolle, Jen Payne, meditation, Perzine, Poetry, Three Chairs Publishing, zines

Poetry

The Pond is Quiet Today

**CAUTION** DO NOT USE WATER FOR THE FOLLOWING PURPOSES: SWIMMING AND OTHER WATER CONTACT, FISHING, IRRIGATION, LIVESTOCK WATERING, DRINKING…

Did the green heron see the sign?
Or was he given advanced notice
to vacate his perch on the east side of the pond?

As he left, did he call out to the wood duck brood and mallards?
Warn the turtles, frogs, fish?

“It’s only moderately toxic they say, but I don’t want to take chances.”

(Would you?)

The swan keeps a 40-foot distance, wonders if the chemical floats downstream, wonder if it’s as harmful as the turtle who snapped up her babes last spring.

The northern water snake who often skims across the pond knows not of half-lifes or bioaccumulations.

Nor will the field mouse debate the meaning of practically non-toxic with the bees who remain.

©2022, Poem & Photo by Jen Payne

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, poems abou nature, poems about the environment, Poetry

mindfulness Poetry

4 a.m. and I am one a part of all

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date July 19, 2022
No Comments on 4 a.m. and I am one a part of all

Are those fireflies
come to join my meditation
or all the stars

a constellation
above the grass
as waves crash
in a quiet ebb and flow
of breeze
that catches in trees

and that?

a soft bowl chime
Rinpoche
reminds

or the bell buoy
just offshore
marking time
and breeze,
the tease
of stars

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, meditation, Poetry, poetry about nature

Creativity

Grace

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date July 4, 2022
1 Comment on Grace

The bee in the meadow
is chanting,
its words imperceivable
but for the rhythm
the vibration like my own
chanting sometimes
before I start the day
and the bee, like me
is quick in its reverence
quick prayer
like the mealtime grace
of my childhood

God is great
God is good
let us thank him
for this food

Amen

Ommmmm

Bzzzzzzzz

ABOVE: The adoration of Common chicory (Cichorium intybus) by Bicolored Agapostemon Sweat Bee (Agapostemon viriscens). Photo and poem by Jen Payne.

Tags Connecticut Poet, CT poets, Jen Payne, poems about god, poems about nature

Creativity

In the ruins of my cathedral

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date June 27, 2022
3 Comments on In the ruins of my cathedral

In the ruins of my cathedral
I can still hear the angels sing
they from their loft of branches
and I on bended knee
begging for absolution
that will not come

not from the pine at the pulpit
sheared off in the storm

not from the maple
whose leaves filtered light
more beautifully than glass

not from the elm or the ash
who lie beneath my feet
extinguished by our blaze
our red hot disregard

so keenly unconcerned
that we are of this and part of this
and crumbling at our very foundation

the beech knows
its grief spreads
like sickness now

leaf to leaf

branch to branch

tree to tree

in the ruins of my cathedral

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, poems about nature, poems about the anthropecene, Poetry, Writing

Creativity

NOW ON SALE: MANIFEST (zine): Endemic

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date June 22, 2022
No Comments on NOW ON SALE: MANIFEST (zine): Endemic

On May 24, 2022, an 18-year-old with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers, and wounded seventeen other people, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. MANIFEST (zine): Endemic is a response that event. The proceeds from this issue will be donated to Sandy Hook Promise, a national nonprofit organization founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.

12-page, full-color 5×7, Cost: $8.00 or subscribe and get 4 issues for $25.00

BUY NOW

Part lit mag, part artist book, part chapbook, MANIFEST (zine) is the eclectic creation of Connecticut writer / poet / artist Jen Payne. Consider it a hold-in-your-hands art installation featuring writing, photography, and artwork, along with bits and pieces of whatnot that rise to the surface as she meditates on themes like change and transition, solitude, time, storytelling, and finding refuge in these turbulent times. Each issue also includes a curated Spotify playlist. Layered with colors, textures, meanings (and music), the result is a thought-full, tactile journey with nooks and crannies for you to discover along the way.

Tags Connecticut Poet, Connecticut zines, CT zines, Jen Payne, Perzine, poetry zine, Three Chairs Publishing, Zine

Creativity

Transformation

The vetiver potion to conceal my self and sins

is no match for the honeysuckle so full in bloom

here on this summer Sunday sweet spot

before the masses, quiet enough to hear bees hum

while I, covered with the midnight meditations of spiders,

watch as starlings rise from the meadow in first flight

and small kits feast on clover, silent and unsullied

never minding the interloper come so early to the woods

left wondering what spell was cast for Eden

Tags Connecticut Poet, CT Poet, Emily Dickinson, Jen Payne, Poetry, some keep the sabbath going to church

Creativity

NOW ON SALE! Manifest (zine) #8

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date June 6, 2022
No Comments on NOW ON SALE! Manifest (zine) #8

#8, Endemic

On May 24, 2022, an 18-year-old with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers, and wounded seventeen other people, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States. The victims were Makenna Lee Elrod, 10, Layla Salazar, 11, Maranda Mathis, 11, Nevaeh Bravo, 10, Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10, Xavier Lopez, 10, Tess Marie Mata, 10, Rojelio Torres, 10, Eliahna “Ellie” Amyah Garcia, 9, Eliahna A. Torres, 10, Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10, Jackie Cazares, 9, Uziyah Garcia, Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10, Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10, Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10, Irma Garcia, 48, Eva Mireles, 44, Amerie Jo Garza, 10, Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio, 10, and Alithia Ramirez, 10.

MANIFEST (zine): Endemic is a response that event. The proceeds from this issue will be donated to Sandy Hook Promise, a national nonprofit organization founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. Based in Newtown, Connecticut, their intent is “to honor all victims of gun violence by turning our tragedy into a moment of transformation. By empowering youth to “know the signs” and uniting all people who value the protection of children, we can take meaningful actions in schools, homes, and communities to prevent gun violence and stop the tragic loss of life.”

12-page, full-color 5×7, Cost: $8.00 or subscribe and get 4 issues for $25.00

BUY NOW

Tags Connecticut Poet, Connecticut zines, Jen Payne, zines, zines about gun violence, zinester

Creativity

#30 – Vacation

#30 – Vacation

It’s hard to be

come what may

on the last day

this gray area

between here

and there

every movement

with its purpose

with its label of last

instead of a careless toss

there is a careful folding

of what we thought to bring

and treasures found

the kneel to check for things

that one last time

feels like prayer

please, god,

let me have one more day

amen

Photo (Cape Cod, MA) & Poem ©2022, Jen Payne. #NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month, poems about Cape Cod

Creativity

#29 – What will make a bookmark…

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date May 2, 2022
3 Comments on #29 – What will make a bookmark…

#29 – What will make a bookmark…

I have a bookmark box.

(Do you?)

In it, a random set

of handmade helpers

who save pages for me,

say YOU WERE HERE

as a reminder.

(But I dogear, too, much to their chagrin.)

When not nearby

or in a pinch

a gum wrapper maybe or

ribbon

feather

fob

once, a pressed ginkgo leaf

often, a friend’s cross-stitch

sometimes, his father’s 3×5 notecards
from New Guinea c. 1936

most recently, a note from my host to please remove my shoes before climbing up the ladder to the loft where I read Mary Oliver by moonlight.

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month, poems about Cape Cod

Creativity

#28 – Camouflage

#28 – Camouflage

A lone spring peeper

disclosed its location

by chorus too soon

then disappeared —

so I hid behind

my walking stick

hoping to mimic a tree,

share in its secret song

one more time.

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month, poems about Cape Cod

Creativity

#27 – I saw a secret to share

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date May 1, 2022
No Comments on #27 – I saw a secret to share

#28 – I saw a secret to share

it’s my secret

here

this wide beach

this wide, wild ocean

the wind, waves,

white caps

Whales!

(shhhhh!)

there, at the horizon

*p*

{ applause }

shhhh!

Whales!

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month, poems about Cape Cod

Creativity

#26 – JOY!

JOY!

How does one not

clap for

JOY!

at the sight of

one

whale

breaching?

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month, poems about Cape Cod

Creativity

#25 – Goddess of Mercy & Compassion

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date April 30, 2022
No Comments on #25 – Goddess of Mercy & Compassion

GODDESS OF MERCY & COMPASSION

the moon

at 3

whispered

I am here with you

cast its benevolence

danced

with the stars

above the

windowsill goddess

She pointing up

with great compassion

says her mercy

will not wane

together we bear

hardship —

here, let me help you…

Photo/Collage & Poem ©2022, Jen Payne. #NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month

Creativity

#24 – Room of Books

ROOM OF BOOKS

I live in a room

of books

their authors here

or gone

their final breaths

on my pages

remembered or

forgotten

is by luck

of the draw

their posterity

(and mine)

feat of might

or feast of mites

you decide.

Photo & Poem ©2022, Jen Payne. #NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month

Creativity

#23 – chills are a stress response

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date April 24, 2022
3 Comments on #23 – chills are a stress response

chills are a stress response

the wave hits
like a surprise
makes me
shiver
hug myself
as it takes
the ground
beneath my feet
leaves me
precarious
balancing

laugh?
cry?

start the day
no matter

there’s a
come and go
to everything
an ebb
and flow

remember?

Photo by Hrvoje Abraham Milićević, Pexels. Poem ©2022, Jen Payne. #NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month

Creativity

#22 – You Spin Me Right Round (for Earth Day)

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date April 23, 2022
No Comments on #22 – You Spin Me Right Round (for Earth Day)

You Spin Me Right Round (for Earth Day)

From my window
all I need to know of Earth
this morning:
her ombré sky indecisive
her sun bold no matter
glowing green buds of spring /
that flash of red? a cardinal
who was singing just a moment ago
a duet     like a record baby
spider spinning another masterpiece
as shadows fly across the lawn
they bob and weave and somersault
punctuated by
bee     bee    bee    bee
the pond ripples with morning traffic
turtles and ducks and frogs
peep   peep    peep
while the trees in unison sing
Watch Our Here I Come!

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month

Creativity

#21 – Surface Tension

Surface Tension

what is the surface tension

of water that rises

before a storm

that great heave of breath

right

the

tipping

point

before breakwater

and beach

conceded the flood

what begets her

saturation point

when enough

is too much to bear?

Poem ©2022, Jen Payne. #NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month

Creativity

#20 – Lip Twitch (So Sayeth Dr. Google)

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date April 21, 2022
No Comments on #20 – Lip Twitch (So Sayeth Dr. Google)

Lip Twitch (So Sayeth Dr. Google)

caffeine
specifically: caffeine intoxication

mixed brain signals
(i.e. pandemic, politics, Putin)

[insert opening scene from Jaws]

STRESS!

fight or flight!
fight or flight!
fight or flight!

~~drugs~~
~~narcotics~~

potassium deficiency

hormone deficiency
(fuck you menopause)

parathyroid
(paragliding accident?)
(guilty of too much paraphrasing?)

hemifacial spasm
Bell’s palsy

Trauma
Tourette Syndrome
Parkinson’s Disease
ALS

TUMOR!

“Takeaway: Lip twitching is normally harmless.”

Image: Mouth (Brigitte Bardot’s Lips) by Gerhard Richter. Poem ©2022, Jen Payne. #NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month

Creativity

#19 – Morning Respite from the Fray

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date April 19, 2022
No Comments on #19 – Morning Respite from the Fray

Morning Respite from the Fray

Tempest at 3

with winds that

blew away dreams

but saved the tree

left us writing

by lamplight

and you

wanting to play —

how you love a good shadow

love the tease of a pen

on paper scratching —

until day broke

our moment

the beast arose

chased the tempest

back from the day

its tasks now swollen

and barely as sweet.

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month

Creativity

#18 – One of a Thousand Lives

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date April 18, 2022
1 Comment on #18 – One of a Thousand Lives

One of a Thousand Lives

One sea gull drops its catch on the rocks

and I think there’s a poem in that

but only the names have changed

since I last wrote a poem about the

one sea gull, its catch, and those rocks

that can be seen from the house

I thought for sure we’d buy

when it was for sale,

the year I wrote that poem about

the sea gull, its catch, and rocks

There was room there for

his design studio

and my writing space

for my art supplies

and his art collection — mostly Cape Cod,

our shared heart space —

He knew the artists’ names

looked up the owners of our house

they were artists too

and that life oh that life

was as beautiful then as this morning

the seagull having breakfast on the rocks

and I, in starshine, nostalgic

Photo by Kunal Baroth/Pexels. Poem ©2022, Jen Payne. #NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month

Creativity

#17 – God: The Anthropocene Interview, Part I

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date April 17, 2022
No Comments on #17 – God: The Anthropocene Interview, Part I

God: The Anthropocene Interview, Part I

I will miss

the birds most,

said God

when asked.

He, like all of us,

has been wondering

about things.

Wondering if a

pandemic

is natural cause

and effect, or

defense mechanism?

Wondering if evil

simply becomes itself,

or rises from the ashes

of what could have been?

Wondering how He

became the excuse

for so much violence

and unkindness?

Wondering what

“act of god” or

“mass destruction”

equates to a

serious reckoning?

Wondering why He

gave the most complex brain

to homo sapiens and not,

for example,

the osprey, the robin,

the starling, the crow?

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month

Creativity

#16 – On Easter

ON EASTER

It occurred to me

that an apt solution

might be to go sit

in a daffodil patch —

sink deep into the dirt,

commune with

the immortal blooms

that once grew

in Elysian fields,

become heaven myself,

rise to the occasion

or if not —

just return

again next year

hope a long sleep

yields sun

and sustenance.

Tags #NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days, Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, National Poetry Month, National Poetry Writing Month

Creativity

#15 – Ghosts

I’m sleeping with ghosts again —

my shapeshifters life savers

throw me a line in a dream

Here! Here!

they lie down beside me

curl into my spine

rest a hand, lend a shoulder

faces clear as always

voices, laughs

I know you.

They are my familiars

taking shape and form

as Comfort and Consolation

reminders

of love spent and saved

stored in a cupboard

with sheets —

eye holes to see me

clear as always

buoyant

in memories

Photo by Ron Lach/Pexels. Poem ©2022, Jen Payne. #NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.