"the light insists on itself in the world..." —Lucille Clifton
Jessie Brown’s poetry has been called lyrical, prophetic, sensual. Her poems speak “in language fragrant with a sense of necessary truth” (Alicia Ostriker), and “stunning in its clear perfection” (Naomi Shihab Nye).
from LUCKY
What does it have to do with you, really?
Put to bed the dream of what
you make—a name, a fortune, a child.
Hang the sweet washed clothes on the line.
Learn to love rain, and drought.
To give, to receive, which
is more full of grace?
* * *
She's the author of two short collections. Her chapbook, What We Don't Know We Know, with Finishing Line Press, is available from the publisher as well as on Amazon. The first, Lucky, won the 2011 Anabiosis Press Chapbook competition.
She has published poems in local and national journals such as the Comstock Review, New Madrid, Peacework, Full Bleed, Ibbetson Street Review, Albatross, and others, while her translations have appeared in the American Poetry Review. Her work has also been anthologized in Gathered, a collection of contemporary Quaker poetry (Sundress Publications, 2013).
from LUCKY
What does it have to do with you, really?
Put to bed the dream of what
you make—a name, a fortune, a child.
Hang the sweet washed clothes on the line.
Learn to love rain, and drought.
To give, to receive, which
is more full of grace?
* * *
She's the author of two short collections. Her chapbook, What We Don't Know We Know, with Finishing Line Press, is available from the publisher as well as on Amazon. The first, Lucky, won the 2011 Anabiosis Press Chapbook competition.
She has published poems in local and national journals such as the Comstock Review, New Madrid, Peacework, Full Bleed, Ibbetson Street Review, Albatross, and others, while her translations have appeared in the American Poetry Review. Her work has also been anthologized in Gathered, a collection of contemporary Quaker poetry (Sundress Publications, 2013).
