jenny reading poetry
Image Courtesy of Jenny Coates
I looked up and there she was
peering down, perfect, from a jet black sky.
My heart danced
and I touched her lovingly with my mind
as I might friends far away
Unmoving, silent, eternal
you are still here, even now while all burns beyond
the night.
Of course, I realize that you never left us.
It is we who have been blasted
out of orbit and are
unrecognized.
Since childhood you have bathed me
and my backyard
in grace,
shedding the coolest light
on what is,
your gaze the home I return to
even when normalcy
is dead,
as it now is.
How upended and distraught
I was,
to have forgotten the face of the moon!
But I’ve found it again and will hold
her dear, like water
and family
in my warm, cupped hands.
ABOUT JENNY COATES. Jenny lives on Bainbridge Island with her husband, Sam, and daughter, Cymbeline. When not practicing law, she studies voice and guitar, sings with the Bainbridge Chorale and enjoys time with her family. She, herself, is a published poet, with a number of her poems also selected for public readings. Her husband is a professional pianist and a graduate of Juilliard.