Jenica Lodde

W O R D S • I D E A S : J E N I C A L O D D E

Unnamed Earth

Heaven will smell like Burnt sage Like the scrubby plants that I pinched between my fingers While walking home from the river, The California cicada Rattling my small ear drums as I walked.

Heaven will smell like The incense my uncle burnt in his bus, Wax candles casting a glow And Cotton Ginny turned down low on the stereo.

I always thought of him As safety And calm Even though He was just another brick In the wall of silence Surrounding my father and the Unspoken things.

My baby sister won’t be looking Up at the sky— She’ll be the one Guiding me. I won’t be angry That she got there first. She’ll say, It’s like I’ve been trying to tell you all along.

In my heaven, My father will be all eyes Like a flower. He’ll see things and know things And won’t be able to stop them.

I won’t read books Anymore. I’ll keep my heart Open And words will fly out.

Jenica Lodde is a writer and jewelry maker based in Scranton, PA. Her poems have been published in Gravel, Third Wednesday, io, Word Fountain, River and South Review and others. She has one poetry chapbook, Emotional States (Finishing Line Press, 2020), and a verse memoir scheduled for publication through City Limits sometime this year.

Twitter and Instagram @JenicaLodde.