Jennifer Arin
In the Beginning, In the End
(Shakespearean sonnet)
Where our kin first began, we shall begin:
humankind once divined the story of Us
through multiple gods - Thoth, El, Odin,
Vishnu, Valkyrie, Fortuna, Horus –
just as we, though with sworn singularity,
hold onto a God, and with firm belief
defend, against others, that Deity,
in fear or in faith some unholy thief
steal the Lord and prophets of our small hour.
The theft still occurs, each era, each place,
as concurrent gods of profit and power
convince us acts of war are acts of Grace;
and so, where we end is where we began:
paying tribute to Chaos - that First Cause of man.
Bio
Jennifer Arin's writings have been published in both the U.S. and Europe, in The AWP Writer's Chronicle, The San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Book Review, Gastronomica, Puerto del Sol, ZYZZYVA, Paris/Atlantic, Adanna, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among others; and she has authored a poetry chapbook, The Roots of Desire (Thicket Press). Her awards include a grant from the NEH; a PEN Writer's Fund grant; a Poets & Writers Writers-On-Site Residency; and an award from the Spanish Ministry of Culture, for collaborative research and editing of a book about Spain's Civil War.