Blur - James Croal Jackson

for Mary Oliver

We walked along

the gray edges of 

the river. And my

glasses had shattered.

This removed

the shape of things,

the perfect barren limbs

now perfect trees,

what I thought were boats 

in the distance you told me 

were wild geese going home–

and where else to go

but deeper? I wanted 

to see what might be

around the bend, always

something– exactly the 

grass we could not know 

we needed, pines

that waved us 

further into forest.

Originally published by Pacifica Literary Review, issue 15.2, 2019

James Croal Jackson is a Filipino-American poet working in film production. His latest chapbook is A God You Believed In (Pinhole Poetry, 2023). Recent poems are in The River, Mangrove Review, and Packingtown Review. He edits The Mantle Poetry from Nashville, Tennessee. (jamescroaljackson.com)

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