Jackson

The light has to get somewhere, touch something, to exist You take acid as we’re sitting in the air The old woman pours whitewash over her husband’s head We’re on the left There’s no box, no comfort zone Anything but raw paper is a compromise Two girls with acne and stringy bleached hair Occupy Wall Read more

I met him on the road like I wanted but we were walking in opposite directions We rested and talked a while That     was all I met him on the road like I wanted We were walking in the same direction but I could see shapes in the distance and got ahead of him When     I looked Read more

In case I meet you on the road I will don my sharpest clothes shine my boots gird up my guts soften my hands confine my hair practise my words arrange my face squeegee my eyes check my teeth      in the cracked mirror I will don my sharpest clothes in case I meet you on Read more

Lao Tzu says dwell with the fruit, not the flower. The flowers sun themselves and fall from the vine The fruits get pulped between teeth, under heels But you, my beloved, are beyond all that. Long-stemmed, you’re not the flower. Liquid-hipped, you’re not the fruit. You, lucent, sunlight-scented, you, wooded, oblivion-tongued, only you, Essence, are Read more

In this forest I smell the leaves, always the leaves, their eucalyptus breath But not today Today I smell, dark but not dirty, the alkali cleansing of charcoal and ash I hear not beaks, not bright feathers, only the baritone wind and my soft alto heart I taste not smoke, not now, but fire-dust surrounded Read more

She said ‘They put me in a prison, took away my name, gave me a number instead. For a year I was there, called by a number, answering to a number, giving a number when they asked my identity.’ My eyes were wet as she bravely made her speech. A young woman. I can’t remember Read more