Janet Mae Best
Excerpt from KotaPress Poetry Anthology Volume 2, 2002

Into the Warmth

The leaves at the bottom
of the hill were already
changing by the time
I reached them.
I remember the last
time you saw them,
your face pale with age,
your hands red and swollen
the way my grandfathers
used to look after a day
of picking cotton.
Your eyes full of life
in a body grown to die
from the pressure and anger
that you created from.
I tried to ease your mind,
but your ears closed tighter
as my words spoke.
My comfort was not enough
to take the pain away
that you felt year after year
as the price of cotton fell
and the winters deemed to be
worse then the previous.
I feel happy and sad
as now you can rest in peace
and watch respectfully without
worry as the fall turns
to winter and I settle
on the beaches in Florida.

Author Bio
Janet has been writing poetry for more than 20 years. She began writing poetry as therapy for herself. What has developed is a way for her to share her experiences with others. She wants her poetry to make reassuring statements to those in doubt of life, happiness, or anything at all. She wants people to believe in the faith that she feels when writing poetry. She wants her audience to feel the spiritualness that she does. In creating her poems, many topics came from vivid dreams. Some topics came from things she likes to ponder over, like seeing angels on a walk, or how your livingroom can represent hell. She wants people to feel thankful for what they have, not worry about what they don’t have, or what they feel they should have. But, most of all, she would like to share her poems with as many people as possible.