New Poetry by James Croal Jackson

Production Dinner, 2022

I.

  tonight it is free to clink

           glasses with luxury

      at the steakhouse downtown

              my first

                 Manhattan

               since Day One

       I have been

                              red meat squeezed

                                   of all its blood a puddle

        at your recommendation

                on our plates a weight

                      to our long

         day

                  but hey

                                                    a hundred bucks?

     you produced The Hunger

                                                Games

& film’s

                        a hungry hundred days

                                     believing

the dream is not a struggle

 

II.

                                              trout on dry

                              land among

          the cattle

                              wriggling

                    out the net we lose ourselves

              in work

yet

                           gorge

       on appetizers

          bacon-wrapped around

each other

                    the shrimp

is not taboo

           nor endless

                                 with buttery bread

I can’t end

                              this twelve-hour

               shift

III.

I long to spend

free time free

but you close

your eyes when

you talk to me

like you can’t

bear to sit

at the same table

in the down-

trodden way

I say hey

this could be

my favorite

restaurant

over and over

to no one

- © James Croal Jackson 2023

James Croal Jackson works in film production. His most recent chapbooks are Count Seeds With Me (Ethel Zine & Micro-Press, 2022) and Our Past Leaves (Kelsay Books, 2021). Recent poems are in Stirring, SAND, and Vilas Avenue. He edits The Mantle Poetry from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (jamescroaljackson.com)