Here I Come to Save the Day
Richard Jordan
Raven Merriment
Jone Rush MacCulloch
Believe me, I’d like to write a profound poem
but I can’t stop thinking about Mighty Mouse,
his ridiculously large chest & consequently
Andy Kaufman on the Tonight Show. Then,
naturally, R.E.M. Well look, it does seem
like the end of the world, but who feels fine?
I didn’t last night when my cat cornered
a mouse in the kitchen & flung it around
mercilessly. Eventually it just scurried away,
as if nothing had happened, into the cabinet
where I keep the toaster. So, I had room-
temperature white bread for breakfast on
which butter wouldn’t melt. One cold glob
in the middle. Absent a serious point
to make, I’m sitting by the window trying
to perfect solitude, like the red-tailed hawk
perched on an icy oak branch in my yard.
He’s kept his back to me for over an hour,
an aloofness so beautiful I could almost cry.
Richard Jordan’s poems appear or are forthcoming in Southern Poetry Review, Rattle, Terrain, Cider Press Review, Connecticut River Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, New York Quarterly, Gargoyle Magazine, Tar River Poetry, South Florida Poetry Journal and elsewhere. His debut chapbook, The Squannacook at Dawn, won first place in the 2023 Poetry Box Chapbook Contest. He serves as an Associate Editor for Thimble Literary Magazine.
Jone Rush MacCulloch is a poet, photographer, artist, and former library media teacher living in the Pacific Northwest. In 2020, she started creating collages with original mono printed paper, copies from old letters and journals, and other ephemerals. Often her art and photography serve as muses for new poetry. She has been published online and in several journals, including The Silver Birch Press, The Poeming Pigeon, The Southern Arizona Press and Written Tales. Her art work has been shown through the Clackamas County Art Alliance. Crows, oak trees, and dark chocolate are among her favorite things. Find Jone online at www.jonerushmacculloch.com and on Instagram.