“True Solace” • Linden Hollow (by James Croal Jackson)

music rambles loudly in Columbus

        seven drinks later you get a man

we are green– thumbs in our ears

to the tune of the losing football game

                    concussion in the forget-

me-nots in the field

       and zinnias and bees

the whole house a whirlwind

                 the year

     standing around waiting

for something new

James Croal Jackson is a Filipino-American poet working in film production. His latest chapbook is A God You Believed In (Pinhole Poetry, 2023). Recent poems are in ITERANT, Stirring, and The Indianapolis Review. He edits The Mantle Poetry from Nashville, Tennessee. (jamescroaljackson.com)