I Wish I'd Written This

Billboard

By Francesca Forrest

Sometime in his delinquent youth
my big brother noticed the rusty rungs
that led to the billboard catwalk
and he told me
when things got hot at home
he’d climb up and sit there
by the highway
all night long
silhouetted against “defeat proposition 466”
or “buckle up for safety’s sake”

One day, he brought me along
up and up I climbed
trembling arms and shaking legs
and sat with him
half choked and deafened
by my own drumming heart

With duct tape and string
my brother fastened pint jars
to mom’s unused tomato stakes
and there between heaven and earth
we fished for fireflies.

Francesca is known online as Asakiyume, which is how I encountered her, on LiveJournal. We have mutual friends there; that is what led me to her posts. I find them enchanting. Sometimes there are stories, or story fragments. Sometimes she talks about her family. Most often she celebrates the natural world, with photos and keen written observations. She has a magical way of seeing the everyday. 

And there are poems. How could one not fall in love with this one? How could one not be enraptured by that last line? 

Search her name on Goodreads and you'll find two of her own books listed, plus two anthologies that include her work. You'll also find her blog posts; or you can go direct to her LiveJournal for them. Once there, click on the tag 'poems' to find more of her own poetry as well as poems she likes by other people. 

Trumpet Vine Love Song and Songs were washing up were both nominated for awards, and rightly so.

Francesa says that at present she prefers to publish at her blog rather than submit to other publications. She explains:

It's just that many places won't consider publishing something that's already been published on a website like this, and at this point I'd rather share my poetry with people here, where at least I know a few will see it, than have to keep it secret on my computer, hoping that some journal will be willing to take it, when even if a journal does take it, I will be unlikely to know if people have actually seen the poem.

That's a point of view I can relate to very well, and I expect many Poets United members will agree.