Author Archives: janishaag

(for Dickie and Michael) One of you credits the Other Onewith teaching One how toto swiftly and skillfully print black and white photosin a newspaper darkroom,though the Other One doesn’t remember it that way, saysthat One was inquisitive,eager to learn. … Continue reading →

(for Lisa and Stuart Morgan) Here’s to the trusty scoopsat the ready to ball up a perfectsphere of your favorite flavor,bound for dish or bowl or cone. Here’s to the porcelain-topped syrupdispensers with their clear letteringboldly announcing vanilla, strawberry,orange and … Continue reading →

A poem isn’t something I make, it’s something I serve…—Jane Hirshfield Serve the poem on a large platter;decorate with all the trimmingsaccompanied by hearty staples—yummy line breaks, tasty stanzas—smothered in metaphor. Let it stand as centerpieceof a moment, as a … Continue reading →

(for Christie Domasky) The morning glories’ purple abundancemakes it seem as if they’ll live foreveron the old fence in my back yard, unlike the poor fly buzzing aroundthe kitchen window, desperatefor a way out. And when I try to shoo … Continue reading →

’Tis the season, hot Augusthoppers filled with our city’s(sort of) namesake lumberingnorth on I-5 for processing, the two of us driving homeafter a weekend in the mountains,spotting the familiar image ofa California summer— 14 double-trailer’d hopperslugging untold tons of tomatoesto … Continue reading →

(for Dick) It can happen anywhere,a sprinkle of contentmentdescending like a gentlewash of warm, friendly rain, when you will tease meabout such a fortunatemoment—say, walkingthe sands of an island beach toward a triangular peaksilhouetted in movie memory,water-colored against asalmon sky, … Continue reading →

(For the creative souls at Woodflock,which is all of you) Before you put pen to page,fingers to strings or keys, blow a note or strike a chord,before you pick up the brush take a photo, feel your handsroughen under raw … Continue reading →

(for Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadoursand all the Flamingoheads at Woodflock 2023 in Cobb, California) Up in the mountains,two nights at a songfestsleeping in a cute trailerwith a low-ceiling’d loft bedI access on my knees, the computer shruggingas … Continue reading →

(for Jill Batiansila and the Together We Heal community) Too hot this August afternoonas I drive to Elk Grove, hopingthe chocolate in bags inthe back seat isn’t puddlinginto brown pools— because we write better fed,I always say, and chocolate helps,though … Continue reading →

(for Georgann Turner,March 1, 1951–Aug. 17, 2021) Do you dream me nowas I do you?Are we together in yourplace of mystery? Please let us sit side by sideyour head on my shoulderor mine on yours. Let us both be embodied,arms … Continue reading →