December 2024
Bio Note: A hard of hearing artist and award-winning writer adopted in Luxembourg, I am the author of two memoirs in verse, entitled Seeing Voices: Poetry in Motion (Kelsay Books, 2022) and Echoes in My Eyes (Kelsay Books, 2024), and a short form poetry collection entitled Bookmarks (Red Moon Press, 2023). Other works have appeared in more than 100 literary journals internationally. I have also written for a newspaper for the Deaf and hard of hearing community, and worked with Deaf students in education. I live in Vermont, and serve as Creative Nonfiction Editor of The Bookends Review and Assistant Editor for FemkuMag.
First Light
I examine a faded photograph of my twin sister, born profoundly Deaf, and me at age four years sitting cross-legged on a manicured, midwestern lawn. A shimmering pile of rainbow trout, freshly caught by Daddy, rests between us. Captured in the frame is one of us saying to the other: “I have an idea!”
We created our own signed language as toddlers because we wanted to communicate. Our parents had no idea what we said to each other, as they never learned our mother tongue.
a sprung index finger
ignites the tungsten —
spring bulbs
Originally published in cattails
haiku
receiving my sign name —
a painted lady
brushes my cheek
Haiku Society of America Haiku Award in Honor of Harold G. Henderson 2024, Honorable Mention
senryu
learning to sign —
the world
at my fingertips
Originally published in failed haiku
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to say what it is about the poem you like. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual. It's important. -JL