Monday, April 10, 2023

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)

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