Poetry By Jess L Parker

     Ross Griff CC



​
Layaway

Do you remember the delight—sweet anticipation…
surprised every time that the store would dutifully watch 
over these ‘not yet your’ items, mountain that they are, 
along with so many others behind the opaque 
Employee Only door. 

And the shame, great weight of waiting, 
the not quite yet of it all…

Today, when my toddler grabs 
at a squishy thing passing the toy aisle,
I indulge him. He will not lay waiting.

He shall have it. Now. 





Grandfather Owl

Something about my grandfather’s owl song--
his hands clasped like lockjaw, left palm crease
cupping snuggly to right hand heel, reminds me 

of an open sky. First two long notes then another, staccato, 
punctuate the still, cool air— giving pause to everything
even the cicadas which, after so long, we thought

were silence… he looks at me a long moment and
flutters another note between his fingers, right
hand wagging like tonsils caught in a yawn.

Yesterday was his birthday.

​

​
Jess L Parker is a poet and strategist from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Jess lives in Fitchburg, WI with her husband and two-year-old son. Her debut poetry collection, Star Things, won the 2020 Dynamo Verlag Book Prize. Jess’ poems have appeared in Bramble, Kosmos Quarterly, Blue Heron Review, and elsewhere. Jess holds a B.A. of English and Spanish from Northern Michigan University, an M.A. of Spanish Literature from UW-Madison, and an MBA.