asteroid belt
a good enough reason
for clutching one’s pearls
Author: Jean LeBlanc
Jean LeBlanc is a poet, artist, and teacher in Newton, New Jersey. She teaches writing and literature at Sussex County Community College. Her collections of short-form poetry include The Opposite of Bird (Cyberwit, 2015) and The Haiku Aesthetic: Short Form Poetry as a Study in Craft (Cyberwit, 2013).
In her blog, www.jeanleblancpoetry.blogspot.com, she contemplates the role of art and poetry in our weird, mixed-up world.
strawberry rhubarb
some marriages just work
lost river
childhood memories
gone underground
sharp-edged dune grass
we argue
against the wind
he whispers into my deaf ear
i read his eyes
kingfisher
a rattle as the river
turns south
waning moon
arranging flowers
in her mother’s hands
for each grave
a different verb
carried, lifted, borne
(Originally published in what a [hiding] place, Cyberwit, 2019)
loop trail
but for now
just out and back
bus stop languages
good-bye
we all understand
A haibun by Jean LeBlanc
between showers
brief intervals
of butterflies
first day of classes
the heron a model
of attention
art studio
an empty frame
frames an empty frame
sepia tones
the way they spoke
back then
how to win you back
mockingbird
from the neighbor’s yard
(from The Opposite of Bird, Cyberwit, 2015)
existence
a little
four-note song
winter’s grip —
remembering what it’s like
to be touched
an irregular pulse
earlier each year
bluebirds
wind chimes
the gentle rain
he would have loved
reminding myself
this isn’t the first sunrise
she didn’t see —
just the first we saw
without her
thunder
at the bus stop
the posture of rain
a new path—
little bones
around the fox’s den
a crossword puzzle
side by side my parents
gleam of cattails and a high half moon
white phlox blossoms daring the frost