Stacey Jones Afterword

September 8, 2021
by Paul Nelson

Hi Paul,

 As an afterword, here is a poem made up of the first lines of all the poems I received, and two images. Group 16, the stragglers! The woman holding a flower came from Greg Colburn of Hanover, PA (the painting is Wild Flowers by John Wragg.) The clothespins came from Karen Loeb in Eau Claire, WI.

Cheers, and thanks again.
Stacey Jones, Seattle, WA

Aloha Stacey—


I’m sending a
half turn,
crystalline snowflakes
(they drank their color),
the bag of wooden clothespins,
empty freighters.

Yesterday I re-did
Atlanta and aligned
a year of losses.

I will hold on to this plant.

“To fire, to fire,” cried the silver man.
He leaves his work,
a structure of dreams.

Sit by the shore
waiting, without complaint,
this ladder has no end.    



Register for Year 16 now!

Also, registration for Fall workshops is open now. Take your spontaneous composition skills to the next level.

3 Comments

  1. Rosanne

    That poem: beautiful – as are the postcards. I like poems that are a little ambiguous to me so i can participate in finding meaning in the beautiful phrasing from my own life, or imagining what the author’s experience is

    Reply
  2. Jodi Dills

    I love this, Stacy, Thanks so much for sharing. You did a remarkable job putting together all those first lines!

    Reply
  3. Karen Loeb

    Stacey, thanks for including my clothespin photo with your inventive mash-up.

    Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like …

Voluntary Hallucinations

Voluntary Hallucinations

I'm delighted to have a postcard poem in the new anthology I Sing the Salmon Home. It's a book of poems by Washington...

read more