Grace – Jennifer Lagier

Unsettled skies part,
spill celestial rays,
illuminate shabby barn,
dust-shrouded orchard.

Brief illusion bestows grace
upon mortal confusions:
approaching death, confused grief,
jarring passage of seasons.

From her hospital bed,
mom feels life ebbing away,
contemplates blushing peach tree,
fleeting autumn’s red and gold foliage.

Jennifer Lagier

Jennifer Lagier has published thirteen books, taught with California Poets in the Schools, co-edits the Homestead Review, and helps coordinate Monterey Bay Poetry Consortium Second Sunday readings. She maintains literary web sites for the Monterey Poetry Review, Ping Pong Free Press and Misfit Magazine. Her work has appeared in national and international print and online journals. Her newest books published in 2016 include Scene of the Crime (Evening Street Press, Helen Kay Chapbook prize winner), Harbingers (Blue Light Press), Camille Abroad (FutureCycle Press). Forthcoming book: Like a B Movie (FutureCycle Press, 2018). She is an adjunct professor at Monterey Peninsula College. Follow her on Facebook, www.facebook.com/JenniferLagier or visit her website, jlagier.net.