If I am made 

in the image of     God no wonder
I have a black hole     head boundaries
blurred my body     unfolding shape
shifting some days     I look in
mirrors thinking     Jesus Christ is
that my face     other days I see through
my lover’s eyes     a shade garden
in my throat     bleeding heart dicentra
collarbones dripping     with corydalis lutea
each blossom     ink I read only birdsong
my chest an aperture     to root to ground

∞

Jericho-Feet Stay Earthen (Genesis 19 blackout)

∞

In Mysterious Ways

When you are told     the world works
this way it does and it doesn’t     the sun
rises and sets like     clocks work on atomic
principle these days     time is weighed in
electrons emitted     guaranteeing precision
for tens of millions of years     with applications in systems
of global positioning     guaranteeing dominion
over space     and the nation we face them
holding under     stars whose positions
compositions have been mapped     dated measured
but time has no measure     of pleasure in the deep
glow of gloaming     of electron transition
frequency inconsistent     constantly roaming
with gravity magnetism     force temperature motion
phenomena guiding tides     of moons oceans
if someone tells you     accept
the way the world works     without question
you must face them     hold hands under
diffused suns     replace then
the notion of mystery     held by hands of the clock with
the mystery held evident     by stars in the dark

 

Jericho Hockett is a partner to Eddy, mom to Evelynn, poet, social psychologist, teacher, forever student, and dreamer, who is most whole among the trees. In work and play, she quests for meaning and identity, inspired by relationships among the living (and the dead), resisting oppression, and empowering self-determination. Her research appears in various academic journals, and her poems appear in Snakeroot: A Midwest Resistance ‘Zine, Ichabods Speak Out: Poems in the Age of Me, Too, SageWoman, and Heartland! Poetry of Love, Resistance, and Solidarity, with more works always brewing.

Cover art credit: Cropped fragment of author’s work.