Morning in a Toon Town (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: A fun experiment involving cartoons.] This morning the hen atop my bedside clock     (hens are much more sensitive to sleepers than roosters)     clucked until I kicked off the bedsheets     and then she offered me an egg for breakfast To change into regular clothes was a snap—       

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The Lantern Girl (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: Based on an old tale I heard that seems to have come from Japan, of a kindly soul who seeks to help anyone who is in trouble just off the coast of her hometown.] A young fisherman was lost at sea   somewhere off the coast of Japan   amid

The Town of Dolls (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: Based on Nagoro or Nagoru on Shikoku Island in Japan, known as a “doll village” because more than half its residents are dolls created by a woman named Tsukimi Ayano. They are very realistic and inspired by actual former residents, like memorials of a much simpler time. There is a