It takes three seconds
For a match to light
The wick of a candle.
It takes three flames
To rise into the night
To light the face of one's desire.
Three atoms, two hydrogen,
One of O,
May snuff the fire
And send the steamy smoke
Dancing away with your dreams.

-jenn

It takes faith
To place that one, unmatched sock
Into the sock drawer by itself
And to wait
Weeks,
Sometimes years,
For all the laundry to cycle through.

But it takes a miracle
To remember,
When the mate suddenly appears,
Where, for certain, you safely socked away
Its long lost lover.

And it takes divinity
To put them together again.

-jenn

I was thinking yesterday
For just a few minutes,
"What I would do
If I didn't have you?"
And I stared off into
A gray sky, swirled with dark gray
And hints of blue underneath.
And there was absolutely nothing there
To hold my interest
Or inspire me,
And I guess that's how
My life would be
Eternally
If I didn't have you
To think about all day.

-jenn

Rituals are for the rich,
Or anyone else
Who  can afford to waste their time
Doing extravagant, specific things
That no one understands anymore.

Practices are for the practical,
Ways handed down
So one can know
When it is ok to eat poke salad,
And how to clean a cast iron pan.

Sometimes a practice and a ritual meet at a crossroad,
The ritual being carried on a litter,
The practice stands and says, "After you,"
Then shakes its head, wondering
Why the ritual is off down a road
That has never been finished
And never will be,
Because it doesn't lead to anyplace
Where anybody really wants to go.

-jenn

I need a new name.
This one is ruined.
I'm sitting under the clothesline crying.
The other laundry is clean
And flaps dry in the wind.
The sturdy sheets and towels and undergarments
Shine white in the sun and smell of bleach.
My poor name is threadbare and soiled.
I turn it in my hands,
Looking for a place that might hold a clothespin.
Someone has drug it through the mud
And worn it out,
While my ears burn.

-jenn

A swirl in the water
Will produce a three dimensional shadow
With a band of refracted light
Orbiting 'round the top.
It will glow on the mossy floor
Of a silver creek bed,
Or even the white bottom of one's own bathtub.

But if the allure for you is to go
And travel through such a worm hole,
You need to know
That the grass is not greener
On the other side of the dimension.

-jenn

They're not happy together.
They both feel they could've done better.
"Where do you want to eat?" she asks.
"I don't care," says he.
"Wherever you want to eat, I guess."

She picks a place she thinks he'll like.
He hates it.
But he tries to be nice and pretends that it's just great.

They chew their food.
The mood is dull.
Their expressions lifeless.
Then he tries to pick a movie she'll like.
She hides behind the 3-D glasses
And rolls her eyes a lot.

But they're both trying so hard
To make the other's life colorful,
So maybe they couldn't have done
Any better, if they'd tried, after all.

-jenn