for E.C.
I remember her alert eyes—
Everything negative is erased—
She came into the world—
Harbinger of goodness
Everything is erased,
Mistress of caution.
Harbinger of goodness—
Do not miss your life!
Little mistress of caution,
Can we hold the world too close?
Do not miss your life!
Can we release this world?
Can we hold the world so close?
What belongs, returns—
Can we release this world?
What cries out, is born—
What belongs, returns—
Will you miss it?
What cries out is born—
Do you turn your face away?
Will you miss it?
She came into the world—
You might turn your face away—
I remember her alert eyes!
Jeanie Thompson is the founding director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, a statewide literary arts service organization. She is also a poetry faculty member with the Spalding University low-res MFA Writing Program (Louisville of KY), and a literary arts education advocate. She has published five collections of poems and edited a collection of essays by Alabama authors, The Remember Gate, with Jay Lamar. Her latest work, (UA Press, 2016), was a finalist for the 2016 Foreword Indie Poetry Book Awards. Her literary arts awards include two literature fellowships from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, one from the Louisiana Arts Council, and the Alumni Artist of the Year Award from the University of Alabama’s College of Arts and Sciences. Her work leading the Alabama Writers’ Forum to develop creative writing programs for at-risk youth has been recognized by the AUM Center for Government and by the Alabama Arts Alliance. In June 2018 she spent five days in Tuscumbia, AL, as Poet in Residence during the annual Helen Keller Festival. A native of Decatur, Thompson lives in Montgomery, Alabama. Find more about her work at www.jeaniethompson.net.
