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Jennifer LeBlanc earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University. Her first full-length book, Descent, was published by Finishing Line Press (2020), and individual poems have been published in journals such as The Adirondack Review, CAIRN, The Main Street Rag, and Melusine. Jennifer was nominated for a 2013 Pushcart Prize and works in the English Department at Tufts University.

Saying Another

Jennifer LeBlanc

Is this the messiness of life you mentioned,
enduring the closed doctor’s office,
the 7am appointment scheduled for months
and that must now be given up?
Is this the messiness,
struggling through routine decisions—
wheat bread or white—
and then guilt because yours is not an empty plate?
Each day is overflowing with intentions I do not keep,
questions that dissolve between tables at coffee shops.
It’s espresso, but I say expresso,
and the boy agrees with his mother.
Expresso is better. Expresso is more fun.
And this must be the messiness,
meaning one thing but saying another. 

— Jennifer LeBlanc

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