Postcard from the Spring
The place I write from
Is small and quiet
Minor key.
It is a world of infinite beauty
Copious possibility
Mute exuberance.
It is not me, but part of me,
The words appear unhappy
Crying for joy.
I want to illustrate a world
Dominated by time
Underscored by love.
I don’t write the way I used to
I don’t see you in the same way
The stars have changed.
I write as someone living in the general
Lost in the specifics
Making up the details.
I write of you all the time
But it’s really me
Really you.
Marc Janssen coordinates the Salem Poetry Project and Salem Poetry Festival. He is a 2020 Oregon Poet Laureate nominee and his poetry is scattered around the world in places like Penumbra, Slant, Cirque Journal, Off the Coast and The Ottawa Arts Journal.