Plum Tree Cento
By Janet MacFadyen
Isn't every poem an unfinished love poem, the needle making a new hole to fix the old? I come to you the way the half moon comes into the yard—I could be more whole but it lands on the roof of the next house, singing. Look at the birds. Even flying is born out of nothing. I need a poem about happiness I haven't written yet, even though all I want is what I already have. Nothing different, just more. So sit with me under the plum tree and trace our lifelines together—how they branch, how they sing. Lines from Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, Alegria Barclay, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Naomi Shahib Nye, Li-Young Lee, Kyla Jamieson, Mondi Sbeity, Michael Simms, and Jessica E. Pierce (Taken from Love Is for All of Us, James Crews and Brad Peacock, editors).
Janet MacFadyen is the author of three full-length collections, most recently State of Grass (Salmon Poetry 2024), with a new collection, Love Letters to the Wild, forthcoming from Dos Madres Press in 2025. Honors include a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant, a residency in Cill Rialaig, Ireland, and a 7-month Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center fellowship. Her poetry appears widely. She is the managing editor of Slate Roof Press, a poetry chapbook collaborative. See slateroofpress.com.
1/12-2/14 / Submit to Sonnet Boom: Love Poems for Miami, a poetry contest brought to you by SWWIM, Elevate Miami, and O, Miami. Youth and adult categories. Cash prizes. Free to enter. See Submittable for complete guidelines.
02/12 / Poetry Reading and Conversation with visiting poet-in-residence Allison Blevins & local poets Carolina Hospital, Nicole Hospital-Medina, and Holly Iglesias / The BBar at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 7-8:30 pm EST / Free
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What a beauty!
What a terrific poem! Absolutely gorgeous!