Jennifer Jean’s “Poetry”

Poetry

by Jennifer Jean

Sometimes a poem says it first. Says: “The Pacific 
Coast boardwalk cyclists 
will pedal, churn, charge
mobile carbon collectors! Stuck above a back tire!
Will vacuum & compress 
breathable particulates! Till, 
each cycler has a diamond (Diamonds!) 
made of carbon pollution 
collected from awful L.A. air!”
Sometimes a poem is a point in history. 
Is a rendered 
whisper. Long dead innovative folk whisper
in a living ear 
& that bodied soul puts an electrified hand on 

a word, then marries that word
to another—making beauty. Different 
inventors listen too. 
They hear: “COVID cure!”
or “Nanowood!” or “Sawdust water bottle!” 
or “Urine brick house!” or “Bottleless 
bar of shampoo!” or even “Sugarcane flip-flop!
Edible cutlery! Bamboo tampon! 
Solar paint!” But— diamonds! 
Folks would have enough
to cover a chic dress for some graduation 
marking movement from 
one era’s end to the beginning of another. Oh!  
(Poetry likes to dream…)

Writing Prompt:
Poets are innovators of content and form–that is to say we can be future-oriented and therefore hope-oriented. Write a hope-oriented poem that innovates a solution to a practical problem. Or maybe you know of a cool and weird innovation that already exists: so, write a poem which explores (in wonder!) its inception and application (consider: Reusable Notebooks, Algae Powered Lamps, Levitating Light Bulbs, Circular Skates, Headphone Translators, etcetera). If you need a formal constraint for your poem, consider writing it in two fourteen line stanzas. This form really helped reign me in when I was writing my recent eco-poem series–may it serve you too!

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