Photography © Jennifer Matthews
Besotted
I wander through a jazz netherworld
where they refer to me as the Obsessed One.
When I kiss the hem of your garment, am I now
your eternal footnote, your diffracted light of
divinity? When I hurl myself into my own
thunderous awakenings,
I get thrills from that!
The tenderness I offer you is veined with gold,
it’s a fistful of stars and you accepted them.
My notes are lavender noir best sung by
Anita O’Day, but I admit that. When I am
referred to as the Besotted One, I feel blessed
by bebop, delivered by jazz constellations!
What I am trying to be is purely devoted.
You coolly regard me.
My tears flow like wine.
Connie Johnson is based in Los Angeles, CA. She has authored Everything is Distant Now (Blue Horse Press) and I Have Almost Everything (Boats Against the Current); In a Place of Dreams, her digital chapbook, was published by Jerry Jazz Musician. As for her favorite poetry-related quote? It’s by Lucille Clifton: “Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language.”
Poet/Photographer Jennifer Matthews’ poetry has been published in Nepal by Pen Himalaya and locally by the Wilderness Retreat Writers Organization, Midway Journal, The Somerville Times, Ibbetson Street Press and Boston Girl Guide. Jennifer was nominated for a poetry award by the Cambridge Arts Council for her book of poetry Fairy Tales and Misdemeanors. Her songs have been released nationally and internationally and her photography has been used as covers for a number of Ibbetson Street Press poetry books and has been exhibited at The Middle East Restaurant, 1369 Coffeehouses, Sound Bites Restaurant in Somerville and McLean Hospital.