Senior

Apotropaic. Chthonic. Aseity. Words
detached from their meanings, but still
in my mind-closet, rattling around
like tickets for lost laundry
or European coins no longer valid.
“He unlocked his word-hoard.”
that must mean something
still. And so must my forebears,
who used different languages
and lost them differently.
I’ve never said exactly what I meant
but I used to try, looked at word-coins
in my hand, bought bread. Pan. Brot.
The words chewy and sustaining. Now
I hunt to find a farthing, some old francs.
On my uncertain tongue, the merest crumb.

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Janet McCann

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Janet McCann, is from College Station, Texas. Journals publishing Janet McCann’s work include Kansas Quarterly, Parnassus, Nimrod, Sou’wester, America, Christian Century, Christianity and Literature, New York Quarterly, Tendril, and others. She has written four poetry books and six chapbooks. Her most recent poetry book: The Crone at The Casino (Lamar University Press, 2014) She taught at Texas A&M for 47 years. She lives with her dogs, Marple and Poirot, and writes copiously about them.

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