Hilton Garden Inn
I had to refuse your hotel room, middle of the infinite
August evening. I was new in a city of ever-rising water
and you came to me, promising a raft. I couldn’t forget
finding the stars with you beyond all this light pollution
as we floated on our backs in your leased pool. When
you told me you were lost, too, I didn’t think you meant
you’d say no to your forever lover in the fog on a beach
in New Hampshire. I thought we’d wait much longer.
Raleigh Times Bar
loud darkness waiting
for the party after
a friend's wedding
and her people come
to the table I saved
for an hour however
they sit at another table
and an old man
I don't know
sits at the one I am at
in so many ways this party
part and parcel
merely a box
I open longing
for connection
James Croal Jackson (he/him/his) is a Filipino-American poet. He has a chapbook, The Frayed Edge of Memory (Writing Knights Press, 2017), and recent poems in DASH, Sampsonia Way, and Jam & Sand. He edits The Mantle (themantlepoetry.com). Currently, he works in film production in Pittsburgh, PA. (jamescroaljackson.com)
I had to refuse your hotel room, middle of the infinite
August evening. I was new in a city of ever-rising water
and you came to me, promising a raft. I couldn’t forget
finding the stars with you beyond all this light pollution
as we floated on our backs in your leased pool. When
you told me you were lost, too, I didn’t think you meant
you’d say no to your forever lover in the fog on a beach
in New Hampshire. I thought we’d wait much longer.
Raleigh Times Bar
loud darkness waiting
for the party after
a friend's wedding
and her people come
to the table I saved
for an hour however
they sit at another table
and an old man
I don't know
sits at the one I am at
in so many ways this party
part and parcel
merely a box
I open longing
for connection
James Croal Jackson (he/him/his) is a Filipino-American poet. He has a chapbook, The Frayed Edge of Memory (Writing Knights Press, 2017), and recent poems in DASH, Sampsonia Way, and Jam & Sand. He edits The Mantle (themantlepoetry.com). Currently, he works in film production in Pittsburgh, PA. (jamescroaljackson.com)