When You Went to Sleep It Was Fine

by James Croal Jackson

You dream of a cookie bowl you lick clean

like a lover who doesn’t care about boundaries

or that there are other mouths in the world

who might want some sweetness too.

                           *

The years are faded photographs and you can’t

remember who you were or who you are

or who you want to be.

                           *

You woke up to a rainy spring

and the window was wet with dew

like blood or sweat or maybe

just water.

                           *

Eyes heavy, brain slow, you wonder

if this is what it means to be human

or if you’re still dreaming

or if it even matters.

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 Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Little Patuxent Review, and The Round. He edits The Mantle Poetry from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (jamescroaljackson.com)