#jen heller

[poetryinvitational]

December 31st

We’re putting the old year to bed and rousing a new one instead. It ain’t all been grand, but since we can still stand, let’s celebrate not being dead! —Jen Heller

[poetryinvitational]

For the Answer

For the answer to change, the question itself must evolve. —Jen Heller

[poetryinvitational]

Proximity to Mourning

Your grave is in a hot, awful place where the Grass scarcely grows, where rain spits down in sad dribbles. The earth is dusty and unquenched, even in spring, but Still, there was a time when there was no other Place I wanted to be than there, on a patch Of prickly, brown weeds, under the sun of your memory. Now I reside two thousand miles away, in a place With more snow than light, and I've lived nearly twice Your years. There are crisp May mornings like this one When I long to sit in the heat and weep. —Jen Heller

[poetryinvitational]

April 17

Oh, Gabriel, how will the people of Macondo breathe without you tonight? There will be no more tales of el coronel or las putas tristes, no more love in the time of anything. The news is breaking all over the world. In this dank, crowded train car, a fluorescent light flickers, its strength dwindling, its epoch complete. —Jen Heller

[poetryinvitational]

Disappointment

Don’t think It won’t happen again. Someone will make a pledge, And you will believe it, Pin yourself to a Promise that (oh, you dummy) is Only letters twined hastily Into words, into musings. None of these words, Though, will still be audible the Moment the truth comes to meet you, the in- Evitable moment that will sadly impart: No one—not even he—intends to give, intends To struggle the way you do. —Jen Heller

[poetryinvitational]

The Snow Begins

The snow begins as a secret between the earth and the clouds, whispered in tones so low and sweet that just the silver sky can hear. —Jen Heller