woman song (as sung to clouds)
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woman song (as sung to clouds)
By Jennifer Pons
what becomes clear through re-entry of atmosphere
through cumulus hovering between tiny earth
and deities is the simplicity of distance
the atmosphere breaking I mean breaking
bones perhaps
like those in a hand
also glass and sometimes this can settle
ideas about enemy and mother or about
breaking mothers in half
like sticks and throwing one part of stick
into a pile of junk
while the car is moving fast
then burning the other part in an urn
pile and urn are places to leave the heart too
a dead one (heart) may seem better at times
but I swear there is more to this than cumulus
and breaking
in heart there is also
woman and enemy in atmosphere where stars
little and bright
scatter through between tiny earth and distant deities
there are enemies that burn sticks
and hearts on piles of junk
and all around women drive in cars
hoping to run over snakes
moving in the direction of stars
illuminating glass bumps in the road
such that the cars swerve onto similar gravel everywhere
near a junkyard of dead bones and broken statues
all around snakes sneaking through breathing mothers
very much alive and covered with dirt from the tiny earth
deities overhead somewhere in the beyond
blue-green sky hung with cumulus
the stars and the women
burning sticks
Jennifer Pons
MFA Poet & Teacher
Jennifer Ponsβ work has appeared in Across the Margin and Whale Road Review.
Photography by Tonya Smith