Endless days of PB&Js on Wonder Bread washed down with sips from the hose. Sticky toes from where the popsicle dripped onto flipflops. And me, flipflopping through the neighborhood on Blue Thunder, a hand-me-down bike I imagined as a black stallion.
serenity—
my thoughts return
to the old days
Jenny Mattern is a poet, a crafter of stories, and a cake-for-breakfast enthusiast who lives with her family in Montana.
in the middle ages
cathedrals soared
impossibly high
flying buttresses
allowing each
stained glass window
to arch
up and up
and up
inviting in
all the light
is it any wonder
then
that I
in my own middle age
throw open my arms
impossibly wide
inviting in
all the light
Jenny Mattern is a poet, a crafter of stories, and a cake-for-breakfast enthusiast who lives with her family in Montana. She is represented by Nicole Eisenbraun at Ginger Clark Literary Agency.
We were quite a pair on that final adventure. Me, seven months pregnant with your grandchild. You, nineteen months pregnant with cancer.
Afterwards, you sauteed our meager bounty in butter and garlic and served all of them to me. And one last time, because you insisted, I cleaned my plate.
Jenny Mattern is a poet, a crafter of stories, and a cake-for-breakfast enthusiast who lives in Montana with her husband and children. She has had poems published in The Poetry Pea Anthology, Cold Moon Journal, The Dirigible Balloon, and The Solitary Daisy. She also writes middle-grade novels and is represented by Nicole Eisenbraun at Ginger Clark Literary Agency.
Your tail lights flash a goodbye as they sail off down the driveway.
And I remember, again, the way the steam obscured everything when I held you in the bathroom, willing your lungs to bring oxygen into your tiny body, you clinging to me like a lifeboat in a hurricane.
Jenny Mattern is a poet, a crafter of stories, and a cake-for-breakfast enthusiast who lives with her family in Montana. She is represented by Nicole Eisenbraun at Ginger Clark Literary Agency.
I freeze, listening to the curious tinkling.
Hugo taps my shoulder and signs, What is it?
A… noise? I reply with my hands.
Eyebrows raised, he gestures to his ears—as useless as mine—and awaits the punchline.
I’m too busy watching the angels descend, one by one, to respond.
Jenny Mattern is a poet, a crafter of stories, and a cake-for-breakfast enthusiast who lives with her family in Montana. She is represented by Nicole Eisenbraun at Ginger Clark Literary Agency.