Random Headlines
In a zoo in Morocco,
a child leans, smiling,
against a fence, to pose
with the elephant
who inexplicably hurls
a rock at her head.
The next day,
a man in Philadelphia
removes a storm drain
and jumps. Sucked
ten feet into a sewer,
he miraculously survives.
Unlike the child in Morocco.
Reading headlines each morning
I can’t decide if the news
defies or declares
a random universe,
one without
predetermined years
allotted each life.
Something to consider
as I stand in a cemetery
talking to a stone
on your birthday,
recall the sound of your voice
in the rustle of a Weeping Cherry
hanging overhead.
"Random Headlines" appears in Jacqueline's book Itzhak Perlman's Broken String, winner of the 2016 Helen Kay Chapbook Prize from Evening Street Press.
Jacqueline Jules is the author of three chapbooks, Field Trip to the Museum (Finishing Line Press), Stronger
Than Cleopatra (ELJ Publications), and Itzhak Perlman’s Broken String (Winner,
Helen Kay Chapbook Prize 2016). Her work has appeared in over 100 publications.
Visit her online at www.jacquelinejules.com
where you will see that she is also the author of 40 books for young readers
including the Zapato Power series and
Never Say a Mean Word Again.
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