Don’t forget to say goodbye.

When autumn leaves are flying by,

And skies are gray, and chilly winds

Collect debris from alleys blown,

Then what was shown did fade away

To leave what was, alone and bare,

And now the sky turns white in fear,

And now no sun to warm the sky!

Then don’t forget to say goodbye.

When tinny sounds fall hollow, flat

Upon your ear, summon that courage,

If you can, to stomach the rummage

The man on the telly is telling you,

That you can be better, that you can be 

New again with this blue pill,

This expensive cream worth every penny.

But look away and see the sky,

The hollow sheerity, the one great eye,

Seeing you clearly the one way that you are.

Then don’t forget to say goodbye.

But may I say, with sudden cheer,

That I will stay, to experience the clarity

Of the sky, and hear whatever it has to say,

Without having to like its message, to classify meaning

As pleasant or drear, but just to be

Right here, beneath it, 

To be involved familiarly with life,

Yet ready to die, at any time.

But have no fear.

I won’t forget to say goodbye.

-jenn

 There are things that happen in the night

While Count Basie plays his jazz 

In the velvet deep,

Under the cover and under the influence 

Of dark liqueur and chocolate and the moon

Which gives a stylish mystique to things.

Women with their long cigarettes 

And svelte dresses cut to here,

Slink amidst the whiskey drinkers

To find their commissar.

But if you find yourself in such a humble, human need,

That, in broad daylight, 

You might breed in the street,

Like a dog in heat,

And make your rhymes

Like Funny Valentines,

Then will your zygote this be born,

As healthy as it can possibly be,

And in an animalistic, hearty way.

Because the hormones raged at noon

To full bloom,

And all cylinders will fire at once for this child,

A natural wonder, who will wander free,

Without facade or simile.

He, or she, will be so strong,

Possibly aspire to be a vagabond 

Or a poet.

And by this feat of glorious love,

you will know,

That whether by night or by the day,

Life has a way of living on,

And all is well,

And all will be,

Even with, or without you,

Even with, or without me.

-jenn

 The biting fly bides his time

To find a spot not usually worth the mention.

Then she slyly sticks her teeth into your skin.

The reaction is to swat it.

And either way, the day has come to full attention 

To the pain, by means, either of the sting,

Or to the swat you gave yourself,

Whether you got or missed him!

-jenn 

 There are three suns behind our yellow one,

Turquoise-teal, radiant jewels.

They rise in the west at sundown 

And feel their way to their place in the heavens

Just above the evening star.

They breathe an ancient form of leaven 

And bake round bread

To drop like manna,

Pink, white, gray, brown, blue,

Down onto 

The desert sands.

If you can bring me enough feldspar,

I can prove all this to you.

The format will be:

The half-life of potassium in

K-Ar Dating.

And if you still don’t believe me,

Sit with me this afternoon.

We’ll build a fire at sunset,

And silently watch the sky,

Spoon together as the twilight 

Mysteriously unfolds.

Hold me while we hear the three suns

Chime their untold lyric story,

And then tell me

How old the universe is,

And just how many suns there are

Amongst the stars of this galaxy

And beyond.

-jenn

 Total Eclipse of the Sunflower

I went to live with my cousins in the sun.

I didn’t understand anyone 

Because their language was so foreign.

They had left the fold so long ago.

It was slow going for me,

But finally I began to see,

That they lived their entire lives

With such simplicity.

From a seed they had begun,

And months of rain and sun

Had made them grow

So verdantly green and vibrant.

So I let what there was of me take root,

And shoots of jade and sage like leaves unfurled themselves.

My world went nature-crazy and sky blue,

And after every other one had bloomed,

I saw I finally had a bud to spread.

I see the ones ahead of me.

Some would say that they are dead,

But I know they are making seed,

And I find beauty in their drab and gray.

I raise my arms up to the sun,

And despite the gloom and futility

That others may try,

I bloom anyway. 

No judgment here if we are early,

Late, or right on time.

Even I, when blooming feel

A large as life identity.

For suddenly the heat of day

Is cooled, and the moving shade takes my breath away.

It’s not a cloud.

The moon has come out in broad daylight!

It quickly says hello and hurries on,

Casting its shyness on the terrain

Along with mysterious shadows on the ground

In the total eclipse of the sunflowers 🌻 

-jenn

 Every day I write my name 

In the desert sand,

And every day I walk another space of time.

And just because I don’t return 

To see my name is written,

Doesn’t mean I’m not walking in circles.

Today I don’t bother to scratch my name

On the surface.

I sit and watch the sands blow in the wind.

I come to identify with a cosmic windstorm,

And my heart gets carried away with it.

And maybe I haven’t gone anywhere.

Only a cycle has been broken.

Or has Everywhere come to me?

For I have been moved to stay and bloom

With the cactus flowers.

-jenn

 “Nothing” makes me happy.

When I have “nothing” to do,

I do it well and suffer my success.

Failure, I suffer equaliberally

When I do something.

So I sit and hibernate in bliss,

Until the nothingness comes again to comfort me.

I practice this:

Doing “nothing,”

Til I have perfected it,

Til “nothing” is left undone,

Til “nothing” makes me happy once again.

-jenn