Jessica Bentley

Mawmaw’s House

Arkansas Creek concealed my sanctuary,
between its dark hills of cedar pines drawing the holler walls.
It had four rooms and no indoor plumbing.
It had you,
my confidant in Five and Dime pajamas.
My refuge was rocking on the rusted screened porch,
snapping half runners and peeling bruised apples.
You proudly professed they made the sweetest pies.
The molasses of the hours is perfection.
I despise time’s bandit nature,
picking our pockets of precious moments while we look the other way.
I would beg, steal or borrow with the highest of interest rates,
to watch you pluck fresh hens from your bubbling pot.
Transform me back to that crystalline winter’s day,
as we shucked corn watching the space shuttle Challenger lift off,
as devastation displayed on your 19-inch black and white Zenith.

Jessica Weyer Bentley is an author, poet, and photographer who grew up in Eastern Kentucky. Her first collection of poetry, Crimson Sunshine, was published in May 2020 by AlyBlue Media. Her second book, Down Below Where the Canary Sings, was published May 2, 2023 by Sage Owl Publishing in Massachusetts. She has contributed work to several anthologies and magazines both in print and online. She currently resides with her husband in Northwest Ohio.

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