(on the Statan Island-Manhattan Ferry)
SO MOVING SO
orange so
orbital so
epochal we are
chugging away
so fast so
doggone slow
so touching
horizon after ho-
rizon, risin’ just so
from Staten dock
to Hattan haze so
dim so distant so thin
those pastel tissue
towers over lapping
water’s edge so
blurred so
collage so
collagen and oh
so soon we see
so pane-filled buildings
so many-eyed towers
so we can realize
so many real eyes
see us at sea
so tiny
so in our heads
so full as statues
so full of seers
seeing us so
fairylike so
oh hello Lady
Liberty so near
so enormous
so arm-pumping cool
so shrunk to fit
on every screen
on this chattering ferry
we share like air
we draw so close
withdraw so soon
going forth so
growing tall so
going back so
shrinking so
filmy so flimsy
so moving so
This poem appears in Solo: Inner Space Probes, the second fascicle of Maven Reaches Mars. Jane describes Inner Space as nearly as vast and mysterious as Outer Space. The section includes dialogues with self and other imaginary friends. Confined in this spinning capsule, contemplating its thin skin, its inner surfaces, looking out for cracks.
About the Author
Jane McPhetres Johnson lives in Amherst MA.
Born in Colorado, enlightened in the ‘60s and ‘70s, landed in Wyoming with two sons, one born while commuting to Vermont’s Goddard College MFA––during graduation/commencement week. Recent poems in Silkworm, Ekphrastic Review, and Song between the Stars.
Read more in Jane’s book, Maven Reaches Mars: Home Poems and Space Probes in Four Fascicles (Off the Common Books, Amherst MA. 2020).
Other publications, exhibits, and readings include: Microbursts: Anthology by Quabbin Writers Salon (Picaflor Press 2017), Compass Roads (edited by Jane Yolen, Straw Dog Writers Guild 2018), and Not My President: Anthology of Dissent (ThoughtCrime Press 2017), Dragon’s Egg in Mystic CT, Earth Day exhibit in Hadley MA, Forbes Library “Home” show, Northampton MA.
