Jenessa VanZutphen - Three Poems

I have made so many mistakes

wore too many pointy shoes, cracked
my knuckles often, bent over my work bench
like a giant parenthesis (lived inside the parentheses),
a cave of sorts. Where I made fires.

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All I want is a little fruit

ripening in the heat of noon, ripening
just enough, I say, many oranges
later, a basket I return to
holding myself accountable—a dog
restless in the sun wants to run
and endlessly sitting, swings like wild grass
from room to room.

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Container

the need to be held
    filled with leaves I rake then send away
to occupy some other
space. A mess never disappears, it just changes
locations. I call to it, stretched         a phone cord held
by the wall I say operator
I say intersect tinnitus, little buzzing I can’t turn
off I speak to a buzz. Ask it what it wants for dinner.