When the Ladies Gather Under a Watercolor Sky
BY JACALYN EYVONNE.
They stand together below a watercolor sky
as time passes slowly over the edge of summer hats
woven in stories and shades of lives
Dresses soft as sighs flow like the wind carrying voice
across a congregation on Sunday morning
Gathered together, the chorus of friendship rises
and soars over bursts of laughter, filled with
bits of good talk and bad
Leaning into each other's words
Speaking of grandbabies and grown-up sons and daughters
Of snoring husbands sounding like harbor foghorns
and sisters who borrow and forget to return what was borrowed
One shares that her knees sound like popcorn in a kettle
each time she climbs out of bed
Ears light up with hums of curiosity, when a Sistah says
“Girl, did you hear?”
As shared compliments and complaints pass between them
Silence only lasts for a moment as they become lost in daydreams
of high heels that don’t hurt, past loves and younger years
Each one is present in their deliberation of brushstrokes
for each other, soft and strong in kinship
where a hat tilts like a halo and brows become hot under the sun
As conversation takes place in soft-spoken power
and watercolored womanhood contemplation.
I Dreamt a Nightmare
BY JACALYN EYVONNE.
Last night, I dreamt my husband never left my side
as though he were tethered to me like
the silhouette of my shadow
It felt romantic the first time it happened
Until it didn’t
He rushed to sit beside me on the couch
He mirrored every move I made
I stand up, he jumps up
I walk into the kitchen
He follows
My bathroom runs became the family meeting place
where every gesture I made, every shift or move
His eyes eagerly followed
I turn around, and there he is right behind me
I considered divorce as the warmth of his breath
drifted over my cheeks right before the big slobbery kiss
He licked my face, and I woke up in a sweat
only to find my pittie Fuji cuddled next to me
As my morning began, the patter of his paws
tapped against the floor
His tail wagged, my heart sang with joy
Love dogged my footsteps, and my privacy
disappeared as he joined me in the bathroom
where I chuckled at the thought of my spouse
pulling these antics, and how I would never tolerate
My privacy fleeing like a bird if it were my husband.
Grocery Store Flowers
BY JACALYN EYVONNE.
I opened the door to a smile that soothed my entire day
It was so wide and brimming, the sun bounced
like a glistening star across his teeth
Delighted as he looked at me
across the cellophane-wrapped bouquet of wild blooms
hugged inside a hand, stretching toward me like hope wafting
over a field covered in a mix of carnations, lilies, and roses
The delight in his eyes as he held out this treasure
was contagious and said it all. No words were needed
as happiness spread across his face
I reached for the flowers
We put them in a vase together, smiling at the
unperfect, awkward, leaning long stems
That day, the sharp edges of my life dulled around me
Love walked through my door with grocery store flowers
that he forgot to remove the tag from
And my life became simple and honest
and filled with the smell of flowers and love.
Jacalyn Eyvonne is the current Co-Poet Laureate of Vallejo, CA (January 2024-December 2025), and author of I Am Not An Inconsequential Word - Poetry and Remnants, Venting To Verse - How To Turn Anger Into Poetry, and The Unyielding Weight of Words, Poems on Reflection, Healing, and Love. She has also co-edited Youth Poetry Letters, Vallejo Youth Share Their World, and Don’t Close Your Eyes After Midnight, in which she shares a collection of short, weird tales. She is a photographer, filmmaker, and artist, often melding images with poetry. Her work appears internationally in numerous anthologies and publications, beginning with her earliest poem, ‘It’s Magic,’ which appeared on the Sports Pages of the Oakland Tribune in dedication to basketball fame, Magic Johnson, after he announced his battle with HIV in November 1991. Jacalyn is the former publisher of the international magazine In The Company of Poets, current director of the Monologues and Poetry International Film Fest, and a graduate of the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, Motion Picture and Television. You can find her at jacalyneyvonne.com, and on Instagram @jacalyneyvonne.