Jen Frantz

“Fortunes in Blue,” #3 and #44

  • 3.

    You and your feeling—

    the rest is audience.

    Maybe a bird

    takes a hike.

    Maybe a hike

    takes a minute.

    The sky is

    a lofty goal

    brushed out

    neatly, holding

    itself to spires.

    Dear Life.

    The soul crosses.

    You want to love

    like the rest loves—

    you can stand it.

  • 44.

    Today I want the heart

    I’ve got. Time kept

    pictured safe.

    Moon and whistle,

    night and motion—

    the gift I land must

    move. We’ve been

    so strong, so storied

    fast. You lift

    your word, your life.

    I want this heart,

    this sport of gems,

    to fall sweet and

    gentle, snug.

    Point B, I said,

    needs you, needs

    me. The lightest

    land hangs on.

Jen Frantz is a college dropout from Ohio. Her poems have been published in Pinwheel, Sporklet, and Prelude, and are forthcoming in Washington Square Review. She is currently a student at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she is poetry editor of The Iowa Review.