Muriel Spark

1.
why and where a tinsel coronet
chosen queen of poetry
so nice to have one’s hair stroked by a teacher
she submerges her telephone his words moisten

faraway languages spill from her unheld hand
alone she wanders South Africa
what a long walk and with a baby robin to feed

the earth chafes and the baby’s beak so sharp
a young woman out lost must test each thorn

she looks down through the parasol trees
wet swooshing incessant spray
leopards are harmless it’s the yellow oxalis
chases her home

2.
now it’s just front porch azaleas
the sun must have set and the school closed
even the walls evaporating
only voices left
she must form the words dryly

yes her hair was nice
the old teacher said

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Jeffrey Kingman lives by the Napa River in Vallejo, California. His poetry chapbook, ON A ROAD, was published by Finishing Line Press in December of 2019. He is the he winner of the Red Berry Editions 2015 Broadside Contest, the winner of the 2018 Eyelands Book Award for an unpublished poetry book, a finalist in the 2018 Hillary Gravendyk Prize poetry book competition, and he received honorable mention in the 2017 Quercus Review Press Fall Poetry Book Award. He has been published in PANK, Crack the Spine, Squaw Valley Review, and others. Jeff has a Master’s degree in Music Composition and has been playing drums in rock bands most of his life.