To Memory, a pantoum
His favorite tie hangs on the back of the wicker kitchen chair
He’s taken it off, and his wedding ring
When asked
He says they are now tight; he’s forgotten why he wears them
He’s taken it off, and his wedding ring
Slipping away what has been
He says they are now tight; he’s forgotten why he wears them
He wants to fly free like blackbirds
Slipping away what has been
He turns away
He wants to fly free like blackbirds
First time in decades
He turns away
When asked
First time in decades
His favorite tie hangs on the back of the wicker kitchen chair
This Is
To smell the rain before it comes to greet the ground, wrinkled and cracked. To hear the ancestors’ drumroll calling you generations away. This is that.
When it’s all done. To look back with eyes filled of grace and forgiveness. To wipe all tears with the sleeve of your lover’s work shirt you are now wearing as I write this. That is this.
To paint your front door, eyes wide shut, the color of passion. To dance on dew-kissed grass behind the house, barefoot. To feel your heart, it’s beat — the background to a symphony.
To surrender to the breeze and its desire to carry you on its back. To watch the stars shoot from behind the black, velvet-like curtain just for you. This is that.
Jacinta V. White is a NC Arts Council Teaching Artist and the founder and director of The Word Project—a company dedicated to using poetry writing as a healing tool for self-discovery and expression. As founder of The Word Project, Jacinta also edits and publishes the international online journal, Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing. Her published poetry includes her chapbook, broken ritual, poems by Jacinta Victoria, (Finishing Line Press); and award winning poetry, “Washing Day,” “To Mocksville,” and “Wedding, Sheets” (Press 53). www.jacintawhite.com Twitter: @jacintavwhite
Change Seven Magazine 