Poet: Jessica Lohafer lives in Bellingham and grew up in Ferndale, where she began writing poetry.

Then: "I've been writing poetry for the last 12 years. I started writing it in the first place because my English teacher, Ms. Smedley, assigned it as homework."

Now: Both of her books, "What's Left to be Done" and "What We Cannot Keep," are available at Village Books, and she can often be found at Poetrynight. Lohafer also has a blog, "The Picture of Success," where she has an ongoing collection of poetry and personal essays. The link is lohafer.wordpress.com.

KITCHEN TABLE

My love, let me confess:

I love you tonight

as you strut angry around this house

You're damn near adorable

clashing those dishes together

a symphony of flatware indignation,

Of course, I can't tell you any of this

But look at you

All parts seven year old

bursting out of this full grown man.

Forty years from now,

this is what I want to remember

Being young and poor

eating dinner at our coffee table

You being upset at everything

or nothing

How at this age those two are the same thing

How at this age it's still a miracle to me,

that we could be this happy.