Autobiography

The English teacher asks for an autobiography
from 16 year olds: "750 words, double-spaced."
You write it clean, no bullshit, you think.
The other girl writes 11 pages singlespaced;
mentions, in her cramped script, some sidewalks
"delineating" the lawns of her youth.
"Delineating!" and the teacher gave her 100%!
You got only 90% on your life, but you resolve
never to have anything, especially sidewalks,
delineating your life.

© Jannie Edwards

Autobiography first appeared in The Fiddlehead No. 184 Summer 1995

(e-poem)


Man finds Treasure in Map of Wife's Varicose Veins
(Headline from the National Enquirer)

that we should all be so lucky
to mine treasure in each other's infirmities

that we should become gentle cartographers
of each other's wrinkles

that we could say love
and believe in this constitution

knowing that to invent is both
to discover and to create

carrying credentials
which seem flawed, fake

we offer ourselves up nervous
at the border posts of intimacy

hope to be met on the other side
with news of Eldorado

© Jannie Edwards

(e-poem)


Two Haiku

In the same city
I hear of my brother's death
eight days after


*

In a glance, the bright
leaves of the poplar turn black
outside my window

© Jannie Edwards

(e-poem)


Dialogue

Because the moon
shines through the tree
I love you.

No.

Because I love you
the moon shines
through the tree.

© Jannie Edwards

(e-poem) (home)