Jennifer McKeen Rodrigues
When war-torn land becomes a picture book/Look away
Punctuation
lines full of demarcation
pressure to fulfill grammar
& structure
formats tied to the killing
of creativity
a generation of scholars
a generation of killers
books papers essays
that contain them
green jackets & clubby hands
lapel pins of the US flag
turned upside-down
orange smears of death
calling
everyone should be extinct by now
Foreign press as an allegory
a solitary spot of earth
illusions illustrate illiterate
a cross around the neck
that grows into a choke
hold into bodycam footage
pulls into edema fiasco
The fast life of men’s adventures
an atlas of remote living
space funnels into obituaries
garbage pop art kids
men shall deliver
earthquakes monsoons
guests & ghosts
designed for victory power
exposure All-American drive
this is your wildlife
Newton predicted this
faster pride a scorched earth
detail oriented scavengers
chain wheels blasting
holes in family apartments
esquire damage
a chariot cemented
to the future
“I have picture books of abandoned places; my Army spouse has books on military leadership and history, along with political biographies all in the same bookcase. I was looking at the picture book and the titles of the other books while writing this; it is all connected in theme and in action—politicians making decisions that lead to failed cities or countries. No one is safe from that unless we call attention to it and act.” —Jennifer Rodrigues
Jennifer McKeen Rodrigues (she/her) lives on Powhatan land of Fairfax Station, VA. She is a certified trauma-informed yoga therapist & instructor, a queer & neurodivergent military spouse, & mom. Her poetry or photography has been featured in Passengers, Susurrus, FERAL, The Jelly Bucket, Mid-Atlantic Review, Paper Dragon, America’s Future anthology by WWPH, & several military anthologies. Her debut chapbook, Estate Sale: Poetry & Psychic Experience (2026), is with Kelsay Books.
