They both came back unanswered:
 my letter to an old friend,
 the egret in the cattails.
 
Flat, brown-tinged, unstirred water--
 silent as in past years. Then
 the letter became a boat
 for as long as it could float.

One, in time, flew further south;
 the other has more to tell
 under the willow shadow,
 outside the cold current's flow

Paul Jones

Paul Jones has published poetry in many journals, including Poetry, Georgia Review, Southern Review, and North Carolina Literary Review, but also in cookbooks, travel anthologies, in a collection about passion, in a collection about love, and in The Best American Erotic Poems: 1800 – Present (from Scribner). In the past year, he was nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and one Best of the Web Award. His chapbook, What the Welsh and Chinese Have in Common, was a North Carolina Writers Network winner.
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