CHANT DU CYGNE D’UNE FEMME
(FEMME SWAN SONG)
She asks me to tell her
How much I love her and why
In French
Which she loves
As much as she loves
How I love her
Back arching
Eyes closing
Hands reaching for me
She wants me in her
Doing
All I couldn’t do when
Lovers preferred me on my back
Passive
Submissive
Placid on an emotional plate
No negation--
Now it’s my turn to sing
Turn over
Examine the leaves across her breasts
Berries on her fingers
Stretch her arms back on the pillow
And begin.
SANCTUARY
You know
Sitting still
Gazing out the window
Through blinds at the driveway
That he is likely to appear
Any moment
Just because he knows you are here
In this place he calls home
That he extended
No strings attached
Lies dribble through your fingers
You should know better by now
Inside you see
A cool dense wood
Unpeopled
Sunlight peeking through
Patches of greenery awaiting you
This is where you would go
If you could
Had you not lied to yourself
Not tethered yourself to the idea
Someone else could provide such sanctuary
But here you are
Sunlight on your bare legs
Trying not to think
Of the one who is coming
Who would swallow you whole
If he could
Who would do
Whatever it takes to
Travel you like a river.
Arya F. Jenkins’s poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in numerous journals and zines such as Agave Magazine, Blue Heron Review, Cider Press Review, Dying Dahlia Review, The Feminist Wire, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, IO Literary Journal, KYSO Flash, Otis Nebula and The Ekphrastic Review. Her fiction was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2017 and 2018. Her poetry has also been nominated for the Pushcart. Her work has appeared in at least five anthologies. Her poetry chapbooks are: Jewel Fire (AllBook Books, 2011) and Silence Has A Name (Finishing Line Press, 2016). Her short story collection Blue Songs in an Open Key was published by Fomite Press in November 2018.