FIVE THINGS I DID LAST WEEK

by W. Luther Jett

• I wrote three poems: The first compared you to a destructive gale; the second was a lament; the third was a curse.

• I met a friend for lunch. We spoke of you. Our words were not kind.

• I watched a bluebird fall in love. His love was hopeless, still it gave me hope.

• I called a friend in recovery from surgery. This was not the same friend I met for lunch, and we did not speak of you at all.

• I led a poetry workshop and hosted an open mike. I know that poetry alone cannot defeat you, but poetry is one way to say you will not defeat us. Our poems will out live your demands. You cannot fire us. We are the fire.

W. Luther Jett is a native of Montgomery County, Maryland and a retired special educator. His poetry has been published in numerous journals as well as several anthologies. He is the author of six poetry chapbooks: “Not Quite: Poems Written in Search of My Father”, (Finishing Line Press, 2015), and “Our Situation”, (Prolific Press, 2018), “Everyone Disappears” (Finishing Line Press, 2020), “Little Wars” (Kelsay Books, 2021), “Watchman, What of the Night?” (CW Books, 2022), and  “The Colour War”,  which has just been released by Kelsay Books. His full-length collection, “Flying to America” was published by Broadstone Press in 2024.

IF I COULD

by Brooke Herter James

If I could I would
send you the sound
of brittle birch branches
tapping tiny buds
against my windowpane
this chilly March morning,
the silence of the solitary
bluebird sitting on top
of her nesting box,
the little snorts of the donkeys
as they make their way
around fast disappearing
islands of snow. I would
send you the sound
of sap dripping
into metal buckets,
of tiny blades of grass
pushing through ice.
Even as the lights are turning
off all over the world
I would send you
the sound of spring,
its quiet resolve.

Brooke Herter James is the author of one children’s picture book and two poetry chapbooks. She lives on a small Vermont hillside with her husband, two donkeys, four chickens and a dog.