Jennifer Karmin


from remain x 21

numerous

                         today you feel numerous

wake up

                         numerous times

                         starting over again

1-2-3
1-2-3
1-2-3

                         exit exist to be to be

bees buzz and are attracted to
bright colors textures smells

                         take care

                                      i remain again




of grains

today you pick up
every grain

                                                            like words
                                                            reach down

               on hands and knees
               put them in your pocket

the small parts

                                                            we don’t see
                                                            everyday

                what’s new

belong
belonging

                                         keep looking

i remain in reach




of the body

                                                             today you push
                                                             your body

nobody
everybody

                          how’s it going?

                                        how many things
                                        we do

               how many things
               are there

                                                             counted and not counted

                          i remain many

Jennifer Karmin curates the Red Rover reading series and is a founding member of the public art group Anti Gravity Surprise. Her multidisciplinary projects have been presented at a number of festivals, artist-run spaces, community centers, and on city streets. She teaches creative writing to immigrants at Truman College and works as a Poet-in-Residence for the Chicago Public Schools. Recent poems are published in Bird Dog, MoonLit, Womb, Seven Corners, Milk Magazine, and the anthologies A Sing Economy, The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century, and Growing Up Girl: An Anthology of Voices from Marginalized Spaces.

 
 
 
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