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Jen Karetnick
Migraine Chant

Found lines from Tomas Tranströmer, "The House of Headache" It is an all-ages rave here in the house of headache. The lights are like young children running, their bodies Morse code in the house of headache. Sleep is the only solution in the house of headache, but dreams are pigeons that peck at the cerebral cortex for crumbs, hidden in the pewter, ancient folds. In the house of headache, my left eye twitches, my left nostril tingles, my left temple throbs, and no politics or religion survives; I pray only to a god that flushes. In the house of headache “traffic is unbearably slow. The breaking news is out. And somewhere a telephone is ringing.” In the house of headache, there is no choice. Soccer practice is over. Even in the house of headache, someone has to pick up the kids.

Jen Karetnick has had three books published in 2014: a chapbook of poetry, Prayer of Confession (Finishing Line Press, June); a full-length book of poetry, Brie Season (White Violet Press, September); and a cookbook, Mango (University Press of Florida, October). She works as the Creative Writing Director for Miami Arts Charter School and as a freelance dining critic and food-travel writer for multiple publications, for which she gets to eat plenty of sweets -- including those from her 14 mango trees.