Impermanence [Poetry]

This is a poem by James Croal Jackson. 

Seagulls scatter where I stare

myself into the ocean, whose blue

reflects whoever’s gaze it

catches, growing stuck in the

mind’s red door humming self-

significance. The black scar

of sky overlooks this– summer’s

paint dripping onto the canvas

of the next, a bell ringing

after class, learning the

reverberations of its own

footsteps shuffling.

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James Croal Jackson swore he’d never work in film again after leaving L.A. He has a chapbook, The Frayed Edge of Memory (Writing Knights Press, 2017), and has poems in Columbia Journal, Rattle, and Hobart. He edits The Mantle. Currently, he works in the film industry in Pittsburgh, PA.