4, 7, 8 (X)
by Jan Clausen
Arrow and bow
You get my drift
No bucket list
I’ll just kick it
Purple pansies next to Frick
Bloom in geometric beds
Perky periodontist
Scrapes expensively my teeth
Rather than hamper defeat
People peer at screens, mirrors
Snooze as losses mount, bleed out
A rat’s ass, he thinks, chicks don’t give
Regarding the pleasure of men
Dogwoods appear to console us
For magnolias’ departure
Art is not a matter of will
I’m a cunning emergency
Take the Q train, get there quicker
Step all the way in and stand clear
Jan Clausen’s most recent poetry title is Veiled Spill: A Sequence (GenPop). She is working on a book-length collection of 19-line poems in a syllabic form she recently invented, the “478.” The basis is a yoga breathing practice (breathe in for a count of 4, hold for 7, breathe out for 8). A chapbook-length excerpt, Apophenia, will be published by Antiphony Press in April.
J.J. Cromer and his family live on a small farm in central Appalachia, where they’ve kept bees, geese, ducks, and chickens. Self-taught as an artist, he holds a bachelor's degree in history and two master's degrees — in English and library science. His art is held in the permanent collections of the American Visionary Art Museum, the High Museum of Art, the Taubman Museum of Art, and the American Folk Art Museum, among others.
