Jayne Marek
These rhododendron leaves yellow
talismans of neglect. I asked you
to take on the yard, keep it
somehow. Summer
cracked our skins, though
there was little sun. Warblers
and tanagers came late, goldfinches
argued their wings. One slant
of afternoon sliced your chair. The yew’s
red tears already coming out.
Jayne Marek has published six poetry collections, with her next volume, Dusk-Voiced, due in 2023 from Tebot Bach. Her works appear in Terrain, Rattle, The New York Times, Spillway, Bloodroot, Cutthroat, One, Calyx, Catamaran, Silk Road, Salamander, Gulf Stream, About Place Journal, and elsewhere. Winner of the Bill Holm Witness poetry award, she was nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart Prizes and shortlisted in numerous award competitions. She has had residencies at the Whiteley Center, Playa, and Hypatia-in-the-Woods and exhibited art and photos in Indiana and Washington. Her short plays have been performed in New York City and in Indiana. To stay current with trends in poetry, she screens submissions for two journals and writes book reviews. A former Midwesterner, she now lives in the Pacific Northwest, near the wild and beautiful coast, where she writes, photographs, and learns about natural history.
https://www.pw.org/content/jayne_marek