James Croal Jackson/The Mantle
James Croal Jackson is the author of The Frayed Edge of Memory (Writing Knights Press, 2017). His poetry has appeared in FLAPPERHOUSE, Yes Poetry, Stonecoast Review, and elsewhere. He edits The Mantle, a poetry journal. Find him in Columbus, Ohio or at jimjakk.com.
THE HOURS
Can’t even sustain myself with the hours
I work to better myself; a waterfall of dollars
and dreams splashing off wet stone. I hold no
heart hostage but my own; the heart holds me
hostage through beating, my breathing
a slow decay. In aging I prove nothing
to the universe except that I exist;
through the office, I prove I do not.
Despite the hours, the blood and bone
monuments I erect, then forget–
the steady draining of days worth
not enough to get me by.
DAPL
buffalo roam
the sacred land
pipes and protestors
clank and clash
signs
God in front of the lens
smiling gold teeth
cup of reservoir water
in hand (with straw)
I did this
he boasts
god
isn’t it beautiful
the way people rally
sinking ships
a river knows
only the land
it flows through
The Mantle
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