Josephine Jacobsen

Josephine Jacobsen (1908-2003) was born unexpectedly and prematurely in Ontario, Canada as her American parents were traveling. Her first published poem appeared in a children’s magazine when she was around 10 years old. She was appointed as the 21st Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1971, and was Vice President of the Poetry Society of America from 1978-1979. Jacobsen earned honorary degrees from Goucher College, Notre Dame of Maryland University, Towson University, and Johns Hopkins University and wrote 11 volumes of poetry.

1. The Creatures

Here they are common as pebbles. Tree-

frog; cat, lizard. I have been near them

today. This morning the cat, which is yellow,

trotted along the path through the pineapple palms.

When the sun was at an angle, the lizard

espaliered against the wall’s stucco, stayed

like that for minutes on end-his head

a little raised, his tail fading to nothing:

and later, by a small flashlight, I found

in its axil the tree-frog, big as a thumb,

green as green glass, pulsing with sound

so shrill it split night’s membrane like a shard.

I could have touched him. It was the same date

in history for all of us, the same acre,

the smear of spice and salt: here we were.

— Josephine Jacobsen from ‘The Presences’