May 2024
Bio Note: I'm a Midwesterner with Minnesota and Wisconsin roots who finds joy taking walks, spending time outdoors, and being with loved ones. I serve as a poetry editor for the online literary magazine Halfway Down the Stairs. My most recent title is The Ethereal Effect – A Collection of Villanelles (Kelsay Books, 2022).
Someone Else's Alley
The smooth surface caught your eye
held your gaze longer than necessary
like the oiled enthusiasm of a bodybuilder
or the lustrous look of a fashion model
in glossy display.
Free of weeds and potholes
the featureless length of new concrete
gleamed between structures
Disneyland or the polish of suburbia
crossed your mind.
Antiquated alleys have their charm
where garbage cans and broken edges
hug the sides of garages
soften with asters
bergamot
and creeping charlie
set the tone for the well-worn reality of home.
Naming the Body
—1999, the Year I Legally Changed My Given Name
Jeanne became Jeannie, one syllable now two,
I assisted the masses, added an “i”.
Yet it’s still mispronounced with puzzling ado.
Gleaned from Jehanne, it’s French (parlez-vous?).
Feminine of John, Jeanne’s the yin of yang’s eye.
Jeanne became Jeannie, one syllable now two.
By way of Late Latin, Johannes debuted;
then, Yochanan entered with biblical ties.
Yet it’s still mispronounced with puzzling ado.
Yahweh is gracious, a Yochanan truth.
Jeanne’s Hebrew origins sought friendly tribes.
Jeanne became Jeannie, one syllable now two.
Jane, Jean, and Joan joined the coequal crew
of English equivalence on this naming ride.
Yet it’s still mispronounced with puzzling ado.
How foolish I was to change for the slew;
regret shakes her head, reflects as to why.
Jeanne became Jeannie, one syllable now two,
yet it’s still mispronounced with puzzling ado.
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