JENNIFER JONES

Hello again, poetry fans! This month at SHINE, I'm delighted to feature the poetry of my long-time friend and fellow writer, Jennifer Jones. Jennifer has an evocative style, evident in these three, short but powerful, poems. Please be sure to check out her Bio below, to learn more about her fun and fruitful writing career. Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing your beautiful work with us.

Branches

Like lightning frozen
the blackened bark
against the whites of the sky’s eyes
our nerve endings
reaching

Face Forward

Your thoughts so precious you enclose yourself
Boxcar after box linked by the hitch
Over rickety tracks

Clinging to each anxiety
You follow fear
To the caboose

Crawl carefully in
Cementing a pattern
By your hand

In the arresting motion
You missed a crack that
Emits white light

St. Theresa

Said she’d send roses.
Singer, another friend,
tells me that I am in the habit
of turning every significant situation
into a poem. Kneeling, bent by weight,
I look up, eyes stinging and warm.
In front of me are 12 fresh, red.

Jennifer Jones has had poetry published in Denver Quarterly, The Texas Observer, Open City, and Adanna. Her essays have been published in TimeOut Los Angeles, the Angelus, and Presence. She recited her poem, “Branches,” published here, to Woody Harrelson on the set of Zombieland upon his request. A recipient of the James A. Michener Grant for Writers, Jennifer, originally from Pittsburgh, PA, currently resides in Atlanta and has lived in London, Barcelona, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Austin, Savannah, and a few other cities; she averages a move every two years.

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