on signage

on signage

your passport picture 

still 

stares at me from the top

dresser drawer  

convinced me 

I should always 

carry my own  

hope 

you have yours 

for whatever countries 

you may traverse 

trek  

scale 

& Dad 

remember you know Morse Code  

send us a tele  

send us

send us  

something besides six  

dead black birds 

& counting

JL Jacobs

JL Jacobs, MFA, Brown University, is the author of four volumes of poetry. She serves as editor/art director for Abstract Magazine: Contemporary Expressions. Work has appeared in numerous journals including Ploughshares, New American Writing, and New Orleans Review. Representative work is anthologized in American Poetry: The Next Generation, Carnegie Mellon UP. She was a 2017 nominee for Poet Laureate of Oklahoma. She studied with C.D. Wright, John Yau, and Keith Waldrop at Brown, and has continued a mixed-media artist practice from teaching Poetry&Image at Brown Learning Community to offering mixed-media workshops at OKC Literary Festivals. Books include: Streets as Elsewhere ; Dream Songs; The Leaves in Her Shoes; Varieties of Inflorescence.