What If We Begin Again?
If all of this worldwere to be erased
in some calamity
of disease or man’s desire
and after much
wailing and some introspection
we as humans
agreed that our civilization
should once again
stand on its hind legs
then through what squally wet
birth should we emerge?
And when it’s not a question
but instead just a given
we will start the whole
teeming circus up again
rejigger the machinery, the wheel
and the weapons, then perhaps
we should meet under a great tent
with our goats, our wagons
and what remains of our memory
to reach not for stars
but our collective flora
held fast in tiny bursts
beneath each rib cage
Legendary Ice Storms of the South
tractor trailers saddled with foambound for high point workshop benches
derailed and uncollected
when ice storms
rage across the South
in high point
couches and chairs
go unfinished
and talk turns idle
workers come in late
mary’s biscuit café closes up
a full sheet pan still left
in the walk in
truckers tune in to gossip,
youtube, and seven channels
on the motel tv
one decides to make the call,
Cheryl, it’s me. I’ve been thinking.
the newest bench worker rests
all the fabric cut that can be cut
they tell her
when the foam arrives
ripped from the ice
that grips the southland
get ready, this place will explode
you’ll never sit down again
Jennifer Manske Fenske is the author of two novels published by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. Her poems have appeared in Atlanta Review and Emrys Journal. Her essays have been published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Arizona Republic, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the Lutheran. Jennifer is the recipient of a 2022 Artist Project Support Grant in poetry from the Metropolitan Arts Council (Greenville, S.C.). She lives in Simpsonville, S.C., with her husband, children’s book author and illustrator Jonathan Fenske, and their three daughters. Twitter: @jenmanskefenske.
Art: Atlas/Tectonics – Versions #5, #9 & #16 from a series of visual poems by Robert Frede Kenter (c) 2023, w/a thank-you to (Maggs Vibo @maggsvibo & Jennifer Manske Fenske @jenmanskefenske). Twitter: @frede_kenter IG: r.f.k.vispocityshuffle
IceFloe Press 