Jessica MacMaster: Poetry / Exodus at 7:30

Announcing is not enough

you must act accordingly

Preach yourself sermons, then express them in the streets

See, not just with the lubrication of the shower

you impressionable woman

You have access to therapists as smart as you and a book full of the appropriate crystals

A knowing as diverse as New Jersey, but much less rough

Don’t press your memories between flower petals and pages

Your crossed out lines are reasons you turned each time you did, down the wooded path, or unknown road

but you went there, where the man with dirty hands pointed

and you let him lay you down on dying leaves, thrilled to be prey again

All he sees is a majestic creature that must have come from denser woods

Return unseeded, thankfully to your witch’s cabinet

Rainwater and black onyx

A piece of coral from the Atlantic Ocean and your first’s cut braid

A lesser creature would have stayed

buried in that dirt after being taken

But you, back to your un-dusted, sun-drenched room,

rich with particles dancing in rays,

sway to true love stories

A wearier woman would have made

living room carpet from the moss at her back

after his wildness had passed

Patting themself on each shoulder for being desired

You do not need such praise

You hold teeth on your altar

Ones offered willingly

With more wide-lied hope

than a church of worshipers

Peace be

you

—

© Jessica MacMaster

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Jessica MacMaster is a Fort Collins–based, multidisciplinary artist who approaches collage as a way to piece together moments, memories, and meaning. Influenced by her background in improv, storytelling, and photography, she works with color, texture, and found imagery to create compositions that feel quietly alive.

Each piece is an invitation to pause and look closer—finding familiar threads, personal echoes, or something entirely unexpected within the layers.