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Category: Auburn

POEM: under a bigleaf magnolia

Published 1 May 2013 by Jason Crane

Magnolia macrophylla leaves

under a bigleaf magnolia

I can’t identify most trees by name
but I can remember exactly
where we were standing
the first time you kissed me

afterward a friend told me
it was a bigleaf magnolia
a primitive tree, she said
one of the first with flowers

a tree with leaves so big
they sometimes break
their own branches
I know how the magnolia feels

standing in its shade
I thought my heart might leap
through my ribcage
dissolving when it touched the air

and I imagined you opening
your own chest / reaching in
to remove a piece of your heart
so you could share everything with me

1 May 2013
Auburn AL

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POEM: thread

Published 1 May 2013 by Jason Crane

thread

it’s the feeling of having everything inside you
held back just slightly by the slenderest thread
her hand holds the other end / if she were to pull
all of you would come tumbling out at her feet
every bruise and scrape and missed opportunity
every poor choice and broken promise
every moment of anger or despair or disgust
every time you’d fallen short of yourself

the way you know it’s love is that you want her
to pull the thread, you want her to know
you want her to touch your hand, smile that smile
say it’s going to be OK, that she loves you
not despite your imperfections, but because of them
then she’ll lift her own shirt ever so slightly
show you the thread hanging from her skin
ask you to pull

30 April 2013
Auburn AL

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POEM: inventory

Published 29 April 2013 by Jason Crane

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inventory

two turtles
one pond

four hands
four lungs

two hearts
two tongues

four lips
one sun

29 April 2013
Auburn, AL

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POEM: Spray

Published 29 April 2013 by Jason Crane

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Spray

my grandma’s standard poodle, Spray
could tell grandma’s cigarettes from Aunt Lynn’s
knew whose slippers to fetch, or which robe
she could speak French, Italian and German
all at the same time, if necessary
in 1967 she appeared on the CBS evening news
with Walter Cronkite, speaking as an expert
on the Vietnam situation, which she likened
to a pack of wild hounds in a yard full of bones
Spray was a notary public, an accomplished
stride pianist and an amateur radio enthusiast
in 1974, after an argument with my grandmother
over the proper cooking time of liver and onions
Spray packed a bag, wrote a farewell note to the family
and walked into the Berkshire County night

28 April 2013
Auburn, AL

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POEM: tall grass

Published 27 April 2013 by Jason Crane

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tall grass

there’s a place just off the path
where the tall grass is pressed down

fingers scratched from a prickly plant
growing up through the tall grass

hay strewn across the tall grass
caught in hair, on clothing

tall grass bathed in the full moonlight
like a day-for-night shot in a movie

still the next morning the tall grass
retains the shape of the night before

and in the laundry basket there is tall grass
and hay and a prickly plant waiting to be removed

27 April 2013
Auburn AL

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POEM: migration

Published 26 April 2013 by Jason Crane

bird-migration

migration

there are
a thousand birds
of every color

sprinkled
across the sky
like distant gods

26 April 2013
Auburn AL

/ / /

This poem tried hard to be the beginning of a longer poem, but I just kept coming back to these two stanzas until they felt complete.

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POEM: he said

Published 25 April 2013 by Jason Crane

he said

he said
to her
please
listen
what happened (we)
happens
so rarely
he said
to her
look (at me)
so all
that is
not
this
will go away

25 April 2013
Auburn, AL

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POEM: Q&A

Published 24 April 2013 by Jason Crane

Mirror

Q&A

you might be a mirror
but I hope you’re a window

you might be a hurricane
but I hope you’re the breeze

you might be a wall
but I hope you’re a door

you might be a tidal wave
but I hope you’re the tide

you might be a shout
but I hope you’re a song

you might be the darkness
but I hope you’re some shade

you might be a teardrop
but I hope you’re the dew

you might be a question
but I hope you’re the answer

24 April 2013
Auburn, AL

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POEM: electricity

Published 23 April 2013 by Jason Crane

static-electricity

electricity

she is holding a long wire, thin as a human hair
he extends one arm, she pierces the skin
pushes the tip of the wire in, threads it
along his arm to his chest, down his torso
she sees it snake down past his hips
slithering under his skin
it reaches his foot, she pushes it up
the inside of his thigh
the wire surrounds his genitals
crosses his pelvis beneath his pubic hair
moves down the inside of his other leg
she keeps threading the wire, unspooling
more until his entire body is laced through
when this is finished, she cuts the wire
leaving a few feet exposed
she takes the end of this section
pushes it into her chest above her heart
his limbs begin to vibrate, his skin
tingles like a storm is coming
she moves in closer, touches her skin to his
so she can feel the current through the wire
so he can feel the pulsing voltage of her heart

23 April 2013
Auburn AL

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POEM: why we waited

Published 22 April 2013 by Jason Crane

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why we waited

we knew each other back
when knowing each other
was all we could do
when other forces
were between us like
Wednesdays in a week
we had the occasional moment
warily circling in the kitchen
watching for a sign
waiting for an opening
wondering whether a visit
would be inappropriate
wishing the timing
were just a little different
who knew that if we
waited just a little
while longer, it
would be

22 April 2013
Auburn AL

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POEM: colors

Published 22 April 2013 by Jason Crane

crowded_crayon_colors

colors

there are some people
who make all the colors brighter
make the salty things saltier
and the sweet things sweeter
they look at you and in that moment
you know no matter what
whether your ship comes in or sinks
they’ll be there
you look at them and think
you’d like to spend your time
making them happy
finding new ways to bring
a smile to their lips
a flush to their cheeks
that certain look to their eyes
when you find one of these people
if you’re lucky
they may look at you and see
one of these people too
don’t grab on, don’t try too hard
just spend whatever time you can
reminding each other
of what matters
love them as fully as you’re able
accept their love in return
and don’t forget to dance in the street
under the stars
from time to time

21 April 2013
Auburn AL

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POEM: at the Boogie

Published 21 April 2013 by Jason Crane

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at the Boogie

we’re all crowded into a big field
banjos and washboards and dancers
cans of beer deep-fried chips
basil-lemonade popsicles
it’s everything the South should be
everyone we ever knew
in our whole life is here
the honest and the dishonest
the lovers and their spouses
all the people we could be
all the ones we want
children fill the trees like birds
laughing like the world is only this

20 April 2013
Waverly, AL

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POEM: downpour

Published 19 April 2013 by Jason Crane

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downpour

I’m soaked to the skin
because you can’t stand in the rain
without getting wet
or so I’ve heard
sure seems like a lesson there
somewhere

19 April 2013
Auburn, AL

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POEM: the trick

Published 18 April 2013 by Jason Crane

the trick

is to figure out
what you want
and who
and then to do
those things
with that person
no matter what

18 April 2013
Auburn, AL

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POEM: devotion

Published 17 April 2013 by Jason Crane

devotion

I can’t call it a struggle
not in the sense I would wish
I’m sure I don’t believe
in fact it’s hard for me to imagine
I ever did, except as obligation

and yet this morning again —
while walking the quiet sidewalks
of this Southern college town
listening to a priest read Herbert and Jarrell —
I imagined what it would be like
to say goodbye to all this day-to-day
to wrap my body in black
stand in the glow of stained glass
say the words I can still recite from memory
nearly thirty years after

I picture their faces, lost as I am
looking to me to make sense of
what cannot be made sense of
what a gift that must be
to sit at the center of so many lives
to reassure them that it all means something
that today is more than another spin
around an axis most of them
must also take on faith

I want to be the one the grieving family calls
the calm presence at the bedside
or the smiling face to those whose days
contain few smiles
I want to wear the uniform of compassion
to speak with the voice of righteousness
to say to the strikers, the protesters,
the homeless, the jailed:
you are not alone
and in that moment to see in their eyes
their silent response:
we need you

17 April 2013
Auburn, AL

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