my friend Jan, the poet

My friend Jan, the poet, send this to me today. She is missing her daughter who is Estonia until June. And she knows I love poetry. So, I share it with you:


The Ocean Is Big

First I cross the Missouri’s muddy swirls

and glide over chocolate soil sprinkled with mint green tufts.

The Mississippi dares me with its biceps of currents,

but I’m determined

to find you.

Picking up speed, I whoosh over

the Great Lakes’ creamy caps and

Manhattan’s busy red ant-people.

Sensing salty ocean spray,

disregarding Britain’s pomp,

I shut my eyes and skim the inky Baltic.

You are close now.

Mother thoughts fuel my journey:

I want to see what you see,

taste what’s on your plate.

read a page from your books,

hold your fine hand in mine

until you leave again

and I wonder how to

briefly

sweetly

understand the words

of your world.

Love, Mom

April 26, 2009

~Jan Brown