Jane Gentry

Jane Gentry (2041-2014) was a beloved and influential University of Kentucky educator for 40 years, mentor to generations of young writers. The author of a large body of poetry as well as critical essays and book reviews, she served as Kentucky’s poet laureate from 2007-2008.

On A Perfect Day

...I eat an artichoke in front

of the Charles Street Laundromat

and watch the clouds bloom

into white flowers out of

the building across the way.

The bright air moves on my face

like the touch of someone who loves me.

Far overhead a dart-shaped plane softens

through membranes of vacancy. A ship,

riding the bright glissade of the Hudson, slips

past the end of the street. Colette's vagabond

says the sun belongs to the lizard

that warms in its light. I own these moments

when my skin like a drumhead stretches on the frame

of my bones, then swells, a bellows filled

with sacred breath seared by this flame,

                                                        this happiness.

— Jane Gentry