T J Jarrett

Biography

T J Jarrett is a writer and software developer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Jarrett was awarded the George Garrett New Writing Award by the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Her poetry collections include Zion (Southern Illinois, 2014), which won the 2013 Crab Orchard Open Competition, and Ain’t No Grave (New Issues, 2013). She has been anthologized in Language Lessons (Third Man) and Best American Non-Required Reading. Her work appears in Poetry, African American Review, Boston Review, Third Coast, West Branch, and others.

See Work

POETRY / Summer 2014

Late That Summer

By T J Jarrett

That summer night, we gathered again around the table,
drinking with all the bugs that lit up and some that didn’t.
When Mike said: I wonder how my ex-wife is doing

POETRY / Summer 2014

1973: My Mother Cleaves Herself in Two

By T J Jarrett

I am born. I dream the nightroom of your body,
and in that place, you sing, build me of words

POETRY / Summer 2014

Anarcha: J Marion Sims Opens My Body for the Thirty-Fourth Time

By T J Jarrett

I am not yet dead. Do not call this miracle or raise your hands in praise. First, 
you should know how long I prayed, and how I came to know the silence of the Lord.

POETRY / Summer 2014

Theodore Bilbo Attends My Sickbed

By T J Jarrett

When the ache was just too much, I’d skip
down the hill to the slip where you
and a small boat were always waiting.