T

True North (After Louise Glück)

Yes, it’s chilly
at the mountaintop,
but cold and clear,
the view sternly
spectacular,

as, rounding
a hairpin curve,
we survive stupidity
through the grace
of happenstance,

close to that spine
of time, bearing witness
to written words
despite years
of painful lassitude.

Look for mentors
and they’ll materialize,
peer around corners,
mouthing Psst
with pursed lips,

and crook fingers
toward a different
direction than
where I was heading,
showing which star

to follow—not those
so radiant
they obscure
what’s pointing
to my true north:

what I meant to be—
a device that listened.


Photo by Federico Di Dio photography on Unsplash

Alison Jennings

Alison Jennings is a Seattle-based poet who taught in public schools before returning to her first love, poetry. She has had a mini-chapbook of 10 poems and over 85 other poems published internationally in numerous journals, including Burningword, Cathexis Northwest Press, Meat for Tea, Mslexia, Poetic Sun, Red Door, Sonic Boom, and The Raw Art Review. She has also won 3rd Place/Honorable Mention or been a semi-finalist in several contests. Please visit her website at https://sites.google.com/view/airandfirepoet/home.