“Second Wave” and Other Poems by J. Janz

Feb 5, 2021

Jess Janz is a poet and community gatherer from Toronto, Ontario. She founded her poetry blog, Visit Jess Janz, in 2011, and self-published her first poetry compilation, “Words For The Living,” in 2018. She is currently working on a collection of essays and poetry, due to be complete in early 2021.

Artwork by Co-founder Michael R. Pitter

Second Wave

I’m cold and it’s not even cold yet. We live
in a time when loving someone means
staying away.
I have spent the year reckoning
with the weighty presence of
being alone. I have spent the year
remembering what I meant to say.
I catch myself reaching
and remind myself to wait.
What are we supposed to do
with all this winter?

What is Left to Say About Spring

What is left to say about spring?
Nothing that hasn’t been said: we fear
we might be dead but it turns out it was just winter.
I have traded out my heavy coat.
The birds are trying out their new chorus.
The light beckons us out a little longer.
I put seeds softly into the soil and ask them to grow.
The earth invites me to soften.
We get nervous that this is as close to the sky as we’ll get.
The earth invites us to flourish.

Regarding the Move to San Francisco

I moved to a city that didn’t have seasons; only,
at times, the fog stayed on the water instead,
and, at times, the sun was mild on our backs,
even in the later months.
I spent the year looking to the flowers
and their willingness to shed, as they needed to,
and bloom as they saw fit. Their timing was not unlike
making a pot of coffee before bed.
I kept waking to the morning, feeling withered,
and wondered if anything would grow here again.
I walked to work and gathered strength from
the vines, barren in August and returning
fuller than ever, as elsewhere snow fell.

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