The Gorko Gazette

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‘Our Ritual’ and 2 more by James Croal Jackson

Our Ritual

I kiss the cheek of my cat
she hums in her sputtering
engine the comfort
of our ritual she twitches
on my chest stares
deep into my eyes
our noses
sniffing
each other

truth is her teeth reek of yesterday but I am trying to rid myself of the past year

Scalloped Potatoes

Now I have time
to experiment
         preheat the room to three twenty five
         saute the onions in butterflies
         pour in garlic and butterflies
         milkwhisk the butterflies
         scrape the wings off my heart
         and wait wait sixty-five to eighty–
      to say what I have to say to you–
      no. I can’t wait another minute.

THE DESTINATION

What happened was my car slid
on oil ice and you refused your couch
so I drove in the dark wondering if
I’d ever make it home. Our group
had played Rock Band– sticks
against the tides of time– and
I didn’t consider saying goodbye
to my family. A red Christmas,
I thought, and thought
about the cushion we lay on
against the cosmos, this
obstacle Earth, our destination
in the end a certainty.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

James Croal Jackson is a Filipino-American poet who works in film production. His latest chapbooks are A God You Believed In (Pinhole Poetry, 2023) and Count Seeds With Me (Ethel Zine & Micro-Press, 2022). Recent poems are in Hello America, Little Patuxent Review, and Ballast Poetry Journal. He edits The Mantle Poetry from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (jamescroaljackson.com)

Image generated on DreamStudio

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