Tag: poem as memoir

December Waking

This morning I awoke
long before dawn
to silence

silence

no car’s labored approach
no wind for trees
no waves or buoyed bells
no dull urban hum

it was a silence so soft
so weighted
as if the world had died

as if I had died

both within the bounds
of possible
on this burning year:
supermoon rising
a comet’s approach
devils circling

so I stayed a while
let winter
have her way
with bones
and wrapped myself
in quiet nothing

nothing

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, Memoir, Poem, poem as memoir, Poems, poems about 2025, poems about December, poems about transition, Poetry

Creativity Poetry

Weighing Magnitudes

The earthquake of a man
who altered
the course of my life
three seismic times
was nearly killed
several arrhythmic times
just last week

and I want to tell you
I felt the aftershocks

I want to tell you I knew

woke with a start

felt his fault line shift

I want to tell you
I felt something

so I’m standing here
bare feet on the ground
waiting to be moved.

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, Memoir, Poem, poem as memoir, Poems, poems about inspiration, poems about transition, Poetry

Memoir National Poetry Month Nature Poetry Writing

29 – Just Once in a Very Blue Moon

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date April 29, 2023
No Comments on 29 – Just Once in a Very Blue Moon

I found your letter in my mailbox today
You were just checkin’ if I was okay
And if I miss you
Well you know what they say…

The playlist doesn’t know better,
picks a song from the queue —
picks you from the queue —
and it’s a blue moon moment
just yesterday:

4 a.m. on the Expressway
up and around the city,
before they buried all of
the late night stories
beneath monuments of hours,

the car is cold,
a late winter bite in the air
and pale smoke curls
that habit more forgot than you,

a pinpoint moment
I hear the angel’s voice
clear and bright, sing
of longing and memory

those moments of missing
that arrive at random,
sometimes, like now
a hundred years since then…

you, me, our mess of love
piercing the darkness then,
this rainy afternoon now,
and I am celestial,
my heart traveling time

Just once in a very blue moon
Just once in a very blue moon
And I feel one comin’ on soon

Photo of Boston’s old, elevated central artery. Poem ©2023, Jen Payne. #NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gif

Tags #NaPoWriMo, Jen Payne, poem as memoir