The Jig is Up

The Jig is Never Up

by Melanie Choukas-Bradley


The Jig is Up

The jig is up, girls
You’ve had your rebel decades

Of schooling and choosing
And public song

It’s back to the inner sanctum with you
Where I decide which rhythms govern

Why don’t you ever see me coming
When I carry so openly and aim so well?

You’re so easily ambushed
Distracted by sweet nothings you can’t help but love

The Jig is Never Up

The jig is never up
Those nothings are ours

We carry, we carry all
Carry and love, even love what we cannot carry

Here you come again, and we see you coming
Maybe we can’t stop you, we rarely could

Yet what lasts is ours
And yes, what’s ours is yours


* * * * *

Melanie Choukas-Bradley is an award-winning author of seven nature books, including City of Trees, A Year in Rock Creek Park, Finding Solace at Theodore Roosevelt Island and The Joy of Forest Bathing. She began writing poetry during the pandemic. Writing in a Woman’s Voice has featured several of her poems during 2022, including “How to Silence a Woman,” which won the February Moon Prize.