Periodically Sahtu Press will feature original poetry by poets around the world to help give our community a sense of what is possible across a wide range of subjects. If you’d like to be considered for publication, send 3-4 poems to publish@sahtupress.com and we will be happy to respond to you shortly. We do NOT accept work created in part or in whole by machine-learning/artificial intelligence software or similar applications. Today we’re sharing the work of poet Jess Morgan of Duluth, Minnesota!
The English Major’s Song
I love the sound I can make with my pen,
a piece of paper, pencil, running ‘cross a line.
And that reassuring, simple music when
I get to flip a page. And though I whine
the nights I edit way past nine, the keys
that hammer under fingertips have their
own distinct charm among the moans of “please,
dear writers, did you proofread, do you care?”
The click and clack of thinking pens or torn
out pages from a spiral notebook full
of scribbles, slashes, words I mourn
I wrote them rolled up tight into a paper ball:
These are the subtle sounds of the routine
of English majors: reading and writing machines.
(So maybe I can’t). Hold
everything.
I fill up the glass, even when it’s brimming,
water overflowing all over the table
and dripping onto the floor. Add more.
Until it’s pooled on the carpet. Until
I’m swimming – water up to my ears,
head bobbing up and down – even then
I’m still thinking but maybe I can pour more.
& what for?
The Radiator’s Song
Screaming at me as I walk into my room,
its metallic hiss scolds me of my open window
before I even notice the draft. Ssft ssft ssft!
A sonic reminder that I need no other body. It drums,
hums “my sole purpose is to keep you warm.” My hands hover
over its ribcage, tingling, pulsing and v i b r a t i n g
with its heat. If it could, my whole body would glow
in gratitude. Instead, we share a duet as my lungs exhale,
remembering my breath and the energy that I too, hold.
Keep Playing Music
White shirts, black pants, red suspenders,
the band brings New Orleans to this small
Wisconsin gastro-pub.
Carrying my clarinet, I followed Jerry
to his own table – no reservations needed –
everyone knows to leave extra seats –
the merry Monday Morning Dixieland
Jazz Band joins him on their breaks every week.
“Someone asked us what our average
age was last week – we calculated 81!”
the trombonist grinned with a smile
before setting his beer on the table.
Pete pointed at the case at my
feet. “Sitting in tonight?”
Though it wasn’t a question
in which I had a choice now
that my horn was here.
Ken motioned me over –
time for them to take the stage
again – I tried to hide my fear.
Missed the first downbeat, almost
missed the upbeat, left the stage
starting at my feet – yet
“Keep playing music,” they told me,
resonating with just as much youth and spirit
as my 20-year-old peers.
Jess Morgan is a Minnesota-based poet in the city of Duluth since 2016. They are the author of the 2023 collection Too Many Hats available now from Poetry Harbor. The collection explores their time ‘hat jugging’ in the local gig economy, observations and hopes for Duluth, and stories of the places & people they’ve met since they moved there.