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Jane C. Miller: Two Poems
Division
after Li-Young Lee
What grows together comes apart,
ginkgo
leaves from a tree, the flared fan
from a woman’s hand, left
in the dark. What’s ahead
horses see only
by degrees, the way love ends,
no one touching in the dark.
~~~
I Shelter in Place with My Fears
I used to think I could wrap myself
in my country, fancy it a cocoon.
Now I stand on rushes formed
into a bulls-eye, build from it
the sturdy weave of a basket
shaped like an ancient amphora
to cover me. Toss in lavender
I’m allergic to, to attract bees,
their buzz a lullaby for the bear
that tumbles into winter’s sleep
beside me, his coat my coat.
As he thins, I trace Ursa Major
on his vertebrae, a skeleton
of stars. Eyes lidded by straw
watch me. Underfoot, a rattler
coils. I braid a lid with my hair.
~~~~
Jane C. Miller is the author of Canticle for Remnant Days, her debut poetry collection (2024), and coauthor of Walking the Sunken Boards (2019), both published by Pond Road Press. Her work has appeared in numerous journals including RHINO, Colorado Review, Bear Review and Apple Valley Review. Miller coedits the online poetry journal, ൪uartet.
Copyright 2025 Jane C. Miller
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Two dark and beautiful poems 🖤
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I admire the subtlety of both poems, and how they unfold so slowly and surprisingly. THANK YOU for these.
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Lovely poems Jane! I’m so pleased to hear your strong and welcome voice as I read them and think of your visit here a short while ago.
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Thanks, everyone, for your comments about my poems. I am bowled over. In answer to the one question, I modeled the form of “Division” after Li-Young Lee’s “One Heart,” so while mine isn’t exactly his syllabic pattern in the last two couplets, I still felt it important to acknowledge his poem as the inspiration for this one.
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These two poems are touchstones for me. Division is an 8 line masterwork, with double darkness for its touchless end. And mysterious imagery throughout.
As a bonus, it had me seeking out poems by Li-Young Lee. How is Division after Li-Young Lee?
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Both poems–separately and together (they do sing together!)–yield so much when I read again, slowly. In this time of grief over a “country” I can’t safely wrap myself in, how comforting to settle down below the woven lid, beside the bear and the snake and the poet sheltering in place herself. At the moment the poem seems to me a movement toward “touching in the dark.” So Beautiful. Thank you.
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Is there a perfect poem? Maybe “Division”: “the way love ends, / no one touching in the dark.”
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Wow! These are amazing! That image of horses limited vision, and the amazing straw amphora “weaving” many beautiful and frightening images ending with the rattler. These poems come from a deep place in a psyche, and they are tight and beautiful.
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I agree! These poems affect me on a very deep level.
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