disaster
barely 40 degrees but / the sun is out and the skies
are blue so / i sit on my back porch in jeans and / a long sleeve shirt i /
wrap my arms around myself when
the wind comes on i / listen to the birds sing of what
lies ahead / disaster
for all i know but / these birds make everything sound
so sweet /
birds outside
not silence but stillness not / stillness but the
quiet rise and fall of / your chest in another room here are / the sounds your
breath / somewhere my breath somewhere and the refrigerator with / its slow
mechanical hum what
does it mean to be / alone but not alone i close my
eyes and / hear
birds outside have they / been here all along /
once the fear is settled
the fear of death comes on less and less and / when it
does i know what / to do i say honey / you’re here now and / that’s enough i /
speak to myself this way / determined to be kind the kindness / soothes the
panic and i find
myself nodding i am / here now i am here / now the
rest of it /
the great mystery i’ve been afraid of / all my life
will be
revealed soon enough / once the fear is settled i /
go on with my life /
Janelle Cordero is an interdisciplinary artist and
educator living in the seventh most hipster city in the U.S. Her writing has
been published in dozens of literary journals, including Harpur Palate and The
Louisville Review, while her paintings have been featured in venues throughout
the Pacific Northwest. Janelle's most recent poetry and art collection, Woke to
Birds, was published in October of 2019 through Vegetarian Alcoholic Press. Her
debut poetry collection, Two Cups of Tomatoes, was published in 2015, and her
chapbook with Black Sand Press was published in April 2018. Janelle published
an additional chapbook of poems and paintings with Bottle Cap Press in 2019.
Stay connected with Janelle's work at www.janellecordero.com.