Jean Valentine
The Pen

The sandy road, the bright green two-inch lizard

little light on the road

 

the pen that writes by itself

the mist that blows by, through itself

 

the gourd I drink from in my sleep

that also drinks from me

 

—Who taught me to know instead of not

    to know?

And this pen    its thought

 

lying on the thought of the table

a bow lying across the strings 

 

not moving

held

 

 
Found In Volume 27, No. 06
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Jean Valentine
About the Author

Jean Valentine is the author of nine books of poetry, including Door in the Mountain, New & Collected Poems (Wesleyan, 2004).  She has been a Guggenheim Fellow and was awarded the Shelley Memorial Prize by the Poetry Society of America in 2000.  She lives in New York City.