Poems
TENDING THE PAST
by Jacinta V. White
I am accused of tending to the dead
of tracing empty picture frames
my long-laced fingers before ascending prayers
though call them God I do not—meditatively
weep from longing or misguided grief
I know them no how but somehow
this emptiness is familiar
I make love to loneliness
wake feeling it reverberate between
my flesh and bones
hear it whisper me back to sleep
where the dead call my name
they do not
pray mercy for my soul
or care about this imaginary life I’ve built
where we eat breakfast in the kitchen nook
I told my mother, as a child, I saw ghosts in the rain
I was sprinkled with holy water, baptized in fire
learned to push secrets under
toil land in silence instead
by Jacinta V. White
I am accused of tending to the dead
of tracing empty picture frames
my long-laced fingers before ascending prayers
though call them God I do not—meditatively
weep from longing or misguided grief
I know them no how but somehow
this emptiness is familiar
I make love to loneliness
wake feeling it reverberate between
my flesh and bones
hear it whisper me back to sleep
where the dead call my name
they do not
pray mercy for my soul
or care about this imaginary life I’ve built
where we eat breakfast in the kitchen nook
I told my mother, as a child, I saw ghosts in the rain
I was sprinkled with holy water, baptized in fire
learned to push secrets under
toil land in silence instead
GUMBO SOIL
by Jacinta V. White
Gumbo soil is great for growing cotton
& blueberries & heirloom roses
but it is better for burying the dead
& stories & roots & family ties
& nonsense & quarrels & letters & coins & cigarette butts
& moonshine & past lives & past wives with boyfriends
& all things unspeakable & guilt & sin & worn shoes
& costume jewelry & faux fur & fake identities & hatchets
& all the harsh language ever spoken to you or against you
words that stink & slay & slash & fly out
all which cannot be unburied, deep
memories & gapped smiles & Southern charm
& lopsided history books & roots of willow trees still
trying to speak, if anyone will listen
& letters in boxes under floorboards & bruised photos
& the feet of your too-late lover
standing graveside tearful & empty-handed
by Jacinta V. White
Gumbo soil is great for growing cotton
& blueberries & heirloom roses
but it is better for burying the dead
& stories & roots & family ties
& nonsense & quarrels & letters & coins & cigarette butts
& moonshine & past lives & past wives with boyfriends
& all things unspeakable & guilt & sin & worn shoes
& costume jewelry & faux fur & fake identities & hatchets
& all the harsh language ever spoken to you or against you
words that stink & slay & slash & fly out
all which cannot be unburied, deep
memories & gapped smiles & Southern charm
& lopsided history books & roots of willow trees still
trying to speak, if anyone will listen
& letters in boxes under floorboards & bruised photos
& the feet of your too-late lover
standing graveside tearful & empty-handed
CHURCH MOTHERS
by Jacinta V. White
women in white dresses surround
me after service like absent mothers
longing for baby’s return to their breasts
rejoicing—prayers for a daughter’s return are answered--
while they wait in line to tell me
they knew my folks, and how they knew me
young, in pigtails and knee-highs, they
remind me when I was not yet full
of the life I now hold
behind my eyes
pain taking up space
I thought no one could see
women, gray curls spiraling from beneath
their cloth hats, twist both my arms in theirs
take her to the altar one says to the other
I am caught up in their strength
speechless and well-taught to not
resist this kind of salvation
we fall to our knees
caught by a purple, velvet cloud
and wooden rails
blood and water sprinkled on my forehead
forgive they firmly whisper
their breath on each of my cheeks
say you forgive
by Jacinta V. White
women in white dresses surround
me after service like absent mothers
longing for baby’s return to their breasts
rejoicing—prayers for a daughter’s return are answered--
while they wait in line to tell me
they knew my folks, and how they knew me
young, in pigtails and knee-highs, they
remind me when I was not yet full
of the life I now hold
behind my eyes
pain taking up space
I thought no one could see
women, gray curls spiraling from beneath
their cloth hats, twist both my arms in theirs
take her to the altar one says to the other
I am caught up in their strength
speechless and well-taught to not
resist this kind of salvation
we fall to our knees
caught by a purple, velvet cloud
and wooden rails
blood and water sprinkled on my forehead
forgive they firmly whisper
their breath on each of my cheeks
say you forgive
In Print - a selection
"Body," "When I Wake, I Check My Heart First," and "Perhaps an Elegy," Eunoia Review
"state of me" is published in the online edition of Hoot Review
"To Damascus" is published in English and German in The Transnational: A Bilingual Literary Magazine
See two of Jacinta's poems in Change Seven Magazine
"Genesis: A Tribute to Rain" was recently published online by This. Magazine.
Camel City Dispatch
Check out this interview posted on WordMothers about what Jacinta is currently working on, including Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing.
"Early at the Arboretum," O. Henry Magazine
"Lands We Travel" from the current collection Jacinta is working on about historically African-American churches and cemeteries was published by Blackberry: A Magazine.
Jacinta was the feature for the Saturday Poetry Series' "As It Out to Be." Check out the poem and the editor's critique here.
Read two of Jacinta's poems, "Between Minutes" (p. 18) and "Aware" (p. 39) in Typoetic!
Listen to Jacinta's latest interview with Frank Stasio, host of WUNC Public Radio's "The State of Things," and as she reads a poem from her upcoming collection.
"Standing in Courage: for Ferguson, MO, and Everywhere Else, USA," The New Voice News.
"Communion Wine," Prime Number Magazine.
"state of me" is published in the online edition of Hoot Review
"To Damascus" is published in English and German in The Transnational: A Bilingual Literary Magazine
See two of Jacinta's poems in Change Seven Magazine
"Genesis: A Tribute to Rain" was recently published online by This. Magazine.
Camel City Dispatch
Check out this interview posted on WordMothers about what Jacinta is currently working on, including Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing.
"Early at the Arboretum," O. Henry Magazine
"Lands We Travel" from the current collection Jacinta is working on about historically African-American churches and cemeteries was published by Blackberry: A Magazine.
Jacinta was the feature for the Saturday Poetry Series' "As It Out to Be." Check out the poem and the editor's critique here.
Read two of Jacinta's poems, "Between Minutes" (p. 18) and "Aware" (p. 39) in Typoetic!
Listen to Jacinta's latest interview with Frank Stasio, host of WUNC Public Radio's "The State of Things," and as she reads a poem from her upcoming collection.
"Standing in Courage: for Ferguson, MO, and Everywhere Else, USA," The New Voice News.
"Communion Wine," Prime Number Magazine.
To learn more about Jacinta's books Resurrecting the Bones, published by Press 53, 2019, and broken ritual, Finishing Line Press, 2012, click here.
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Other publications include
"False Door of Ni-ankh-Snefru (Called Fefi)," is in the anthology, You Are The River, published by the NC Museum of Art, 2021
A small collection of poems entitled, "A Verse in 10 Moves," inspired by Black female choreographers was commissioned by the National Center for Choreography, 2021
"In Silence I See," appears in the anthology, Crossing the Rift, NC Poets on 9/11 & Its Aftermath, 2021
"False Door of Ni-ankh-Snefru (Called Fefi)," is in the anthology, You Are The River, published by the NC Museum of Art, 2021
A small collection of poems entitled, "A Verse in 10 Moves," inspired by Black female choreographers was commissioned by the National Center for Choreography, 2021
"In Silence I See," appears in the anthology, Crossing the Rift, NC Poets on 9/11 & Its Aftermath, 2021