Tag: Jessica Whipple

Moving Mona Lisa Downstairs by Jessica Whipple

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Moving Mona Lisa Downstairs

When the museum staff told her she was
being reverse-curated, she forced a yawn.
They cited “improved visitor experience” and her eyes
rolled like onyx marbles let loose on a table.
Don’t mock me (smiling gently). We all know what people
come here to see (pleased with herself, as always).
Who was she, even? What did she want from them?
And how does a woman like this end up in the basement?
She stands, smooths her frock, and walks there herself.

*

Jessica Whipple writes for adults and children. She published two children’s picture books in 2023: Enough Is… (Tilbury House, illus. by Nicole Wong) and I Think I Think a Lot (Free Spirit Publishing, illust. by Joseée Bisaillon). Her poetry has been published recently in Funicular, Green Ink Poetry, Door Is a Jar, and Whale Road Review. Her poem “Broken Strings” was nominated for a 2023 Pushcart Prize. She lives in the US and inhabits the places where picture books and poetry intersect. You can find her on Twitter/X @JessicaWhippl17.

Three Poems by Jessica Whipple

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For Erin

A mother can
watch a mare with its newborn foal
dozing in dusty sunlight
and remember earliest days
when all there was
was sleep.

She will nod in understanding
when later, the foal learns
about grass, water
because a mother can
never stop teaching.

And someday the mother
will watch her own offspring
riding together
maybe too far out
maybe into the brambles
but if there’s anyone
who can call them back,
a mother can.

*

Farm Couple on a Pyrex Bowl

In the wedding picture
they stood closer than they ever had.
She felt a tickle on her palm
his young hands dry already.¬

Every night she shook out her apron
hung it on peg rail in the bedroom
where between them something germinated.

When she worked, the rustling:
the shisk-shisk of desiccated husk
supplanted the silence in their valley

and with the tractor in the barn,
at night his mind was quiet
just enough to hear it, too.

How willingly resentment grows.
If only they had known
it’s nothing like wheat.

*

Lady in Church

Nobody minds
how loudly she proclaims
“I love you I love you”
white-haired, she is the child
we’re jealous of this vision
she has gained
where every day is Sunday
and nobody wonders,
“Is it sad,
or is it beautiful?”

*

Jessica Whipple writes children’s picture books and poetry, and has published two of the former this year. Her poetry has appeared in print and online literary magazines like ONE ART, Pine Hills Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, Funicular, and others. She enjoys exploring domestic life, parenting, faith, and childhood in her work. To read more of her work, visit AuthorJessicaWhipple.com.

Two Haiku by Jessica Whipple

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*

Days and days in bed
I didn’t notice that I’m
wearing a necklace

*

I will pray before
the Schuylkill Expressway and
its last four letters

*

Jessica Whipple is a writer for adults and children. Her poetry has been published by One Art, Nurture, Ekstasis, and two are forthcoming by Pittsburgh Quarterly and Stanchion. Her debut picture book titled ENOUGH will be published Fall 2022 by Tilbury House. Jessica has always enjoyed writing and reading poetry. To see more of her work, visit www.AuthorJessicaWhipple.com or follow her on Twitter @JessicaWhippl17.

Broadleaf by Jessica Whipple

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Broadleaf

My daughter calls it
batacco. Funny, but just
because she’s little.

It serrates the sky
broad leaves claw the horizon
greedy for good things

given freely by
worked earth, as a livelihood
for honest people.

Come fall the barn swells
sides splayed like fraying broom heads
as wrinkled leaves dry.

How much, I wonder,
of growing is killing? How
much of life is death?

*

Jessica Whipple is a writer for adults and children. Her debut picture book titled ENOUGH will be published in Fall 2022 by Tilbury House. Though it’s obviously different than kidlit, she has always enjoyed writing and reading poetry.