Batmuse
The sun dips slowly
into the inky treeline.
My pen feels empty.
It has a foreign
feeling, weighted in my hand,
scratching syllables
about freedom when
nothing anywhere seems fair
or just, or just kind.
I hear the world news,
switch to local. Still, all bad.
The forecast is storms.
Then the bats emerge,
black on the pink horizon,
diving for dinner.
In an instant this
summer night seems cooler now.
Somehow, my pen moves.
Suddenly a poem
appears, about bat magic,
magenta sunsets.
Click the arrow to listen to Jo read Batmuse:
Why I Like MacQueen’s Quinterly
An online, multi-genre journal with big heart, MacQueen’s Quinterly holds slots in each issue for first-time submitters. Early on in my efforts to be published, my work was generously welcomed into a few of those slots, alongside more established writers, and it gave me the confidence to continue to submit my work. This is a journal that will always have a place in my heart.
