Ruminations on Answering her Telephone Personal
If I turn her voice into a life,
That life into a body soon,
Will that body long then to be wife
If I turn her voice into a life?
And what will I pay for what she gives--
Dance what jig, hum what tune--
If I turn her voice into a life,
That life into a body soon?
by Dan Simpson
Daniel Simpson, former church musician, computer programmer, and high school English teacher, currently serves as Access Technology Consultant to the Free Library of Philadelphia. He recently completed a volume of poems tentatively titled Inside the Invisible, and he and his twin brother Dave have just released Audio Chapbook, a CD of their poetry. His work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, The Cortland Review, Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, The Atlanta Review, and Philomel, among others. In 2003, Mr. Simpson received a Fellowship in Literature from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
In a Black & White World
We like to tell ourselves we'd go berserk
if X (insert disaster of your choice).
but as a rule, this simply doesn't work --
and drink won't either. You can try of course,
but for the most part when a nightmare hits
we've practiced it in pieces for so long,
we've built up our resistance bit by bit.
Like seeing in the dark: it still looks wrong
with all the colors missing, but you've seen
those shadow-shapes so often, you can find
Your way around, asleep.
Which doesn't mean
The light-switch isn't broken. Yes, we mind,
and no, it's not alright. But since we're trapped...
sometimes the world goes crazy. You adapt.
by Kathryn Jacobs
Kathryn Jacobs is a poet and a medievalist at Texas A & M - C in the Department of Literature and Languages. Her poems have or are due to appear shortly, in journals such as New Formalist, Acumen (UK), Measure, Slant, Midwest Poetry Review, DeCanto, ELF, Candelabrum (UK), Texas Poetry Journal, Mezzo Cammin, Mobius NeoVictorian/Cochlea (soon, Deronda Review), The Same, Contemporary Rhyme, Quantum Leap, Ship of Fools, Poetic Hours, and Pulse, among others. Quantum Leap (UK) recently selected her for their "Featured Five" poet (issue 42).