SHE OWNS

lots of pens & markers & paper to
write & draw her plans measures & creations
but even 2 in every color  even placed on end in case they grow feet
will not escort her
past the anti measures & anti creatures of
the coming night
in bed she can keep the light on as long
as no one notices
& read the canterville ghost or the phantom tollbooth or the
one about the kid who found a magic potion and grew wings every night
& flew all around the world instead of slept
but by 11:15 her mother comes in & says
“you can finish that sentence......okay.....
now i’m turning it off”
so now the ruffled white curtains harden to bone
grow eye sockets and toothy mouths that
all claim business with her, mocking:
“now i’m turning it off”
all her pictures undraw themselves on the ceiling
lines & colors go backwards inside the pen
& this is the worst anyone can think of to show her
hours ago she laid out her clothes for tomorrow
and her books and pens and markers
and she never forgets
where they are

40/60

the swirling world
the substances the particles that stick
the honey the gravel
the lemongrass the papercut
the chocolate the dead leaves
the cat whisker the cat piss
the neon pink cartoon bandaid the invisible
straight pin
the mosquito the moon
the swirling world
4 years of beauty
6 months of pain
4 seconds of ecstasy
6 decades of regret
4 minutes of light
6 hours of darkness
46 years of twilight
that sounds about right
40/60 split

Jane Adam started writing poetry a few years ago in a moment of desperation. She got surprisingly decent results, so she kept at it. Her poems now appear online in Antipatico, Remark, and Spent Meat, and have been accepted for Nerve Cowboy and Chiron Review. One poem was in Slipstream #23 and the editors nominated her for a Pushcart Prize in 2003. She has lived in Buffalo, NY since 1981, and has taught freshman English at nearly every college in the area since then. It has become so important to her to put her poems out into the world.

Email: Jane Adam

Return to Table of Contents