Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Potential

Potential 

Too easily
the head rolls
to the valleys,
below the wind,
to stick
in the bog,
unable to dodge
the eyes
glowing in the thickness.
But sometimes,
climb,
store energy,
see the world 
above the fog,
and listen
to the languages
that we seek
but are not yet spoken.

Robert L. Jackson III

This was written for the Poets United blog midweek motif on energy.



Wednesday, November 4, 2015

110415

I turn two score old today, but in Mars years I am somewhere between 21 and 22.

Anyway, here is a brand new poem wriitten for the Poets United Midweek Motif on tranquility ( http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/ ). I may get in trouble for righting a poem about thermodynamics, because I do not teach it.


110415

Thermodynamics
states that with age,
we will all become uniform,
equal, and tranquil,
with no differences 
in our heights or color.
Boundaries no longer exist
and nothing is marked,
with no migration of refugees
from one system
to another, 
once perceived green 
from prosperity.
No water or mineral
is traded
because they are worthless
without individuals.

-Robert L. Jackson III



Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Return

Return

Metal blades
cut through the sky
wetting on the tears
caught in the clouds.
The glimmering destination 
signals from the ground, 
and gravity pulls the engines 
toward rest and fuel.

Robert L. Jackson III

This poem is in the new book 'Evolutionary Landscapes' that is available here:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/robert-jackson/evolutionary-landscapes/paperback/product-22364099.html


Monday, October 12, 2015

States

States

The oceans, land and air, 
have always stirred the storms, 
heating our substance, 
to rise and fall, 
but the continents change slowly, 
and beyond our time.
Yet the celestial motion,
deviates, 
even more slowly, 
so let's keep 
our eyes on the stars, 
feet on the land, 
hands in the water, 
and ears in the wind. 

-Robert L. Jackson III

This is in my new self published book that I'll be promoting at the East Alabama Book Festival on Sunday:

Friday, September 18, 2015

Jar Lid

Jar Lid

The blackberry jam jar
sat alone on the shelf
from a forgotten batch.
Sealed by the years
of rotten hard pulp
my sweaty grip
could not rotate the threads,
so I tapped it
on the marble counter,
trying to free
the dented tin ceiling,
but still it was static,
and then my grip 
failed,
and the enclosure
shattered,
releasing the foul 
parts of my deep innards.

-Robert L. Jackson III 


It's not a rotten jar, but this is a well fermented sippy cup...



Sunday, September 6, 2015

Open

Open


The German clouds
want to rain
but just slide by.
Then bells 
from a modern steeple 
emit an ancient sound, 
warding off thunder 
and bringing the sun 
to glimmer on the river,
contained in stone walls. 
The willows 
still reach down
toward the common center 
of our worlds,
as they always will,
but now they are green.

-Robert L. Jackson III

Here is a link to a video of the bells that inspired this:




Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Aquatic Visual

Aquatic Visual

Where do we want to swim?
The clarity
of the South Pacific reef
is only matched 
by the artificial pool
contained in protective concrete, 
and the cold spring,
permeating up 
from the stone, 
while the predators 
hide in the murky mix 
of the storm churned ocean 
and the rolling mud river 
waiting to gaff 
and pull us together 
from the surface; 
a savior with teeth 
releasing us 
from the boundaries of flesh.

-Robert L. Jackson III


Sunday, August 9, 2015

Listening (Grateful Perspective)

Listening (Grateful Perspective)


Songs
that never caused ripples
on the morning water,
now crash and wear the stones 
with curled white knuckles, 
or maybe the palms 
have just forgotten 
how they once bent 
amid the hurricane 
that rewrote the musical staff, 
changing the channels and passed 
to open and close.
But now my aging borders
crack, 
spilling the fertile soil 
and welcoming the tides
to enter.

Robert L. Jackson III


Friday, July 17, 2015

Annuals

Annuals


Let’s be trees 

and appear dormant 

through the winter

expanding our roots underground;

While the flowers,

too often the bright focus,

wilt and vanish,

and then we’ll awaken

into the arms of Spring.


Robert L. Jackson III



Monday, June 29, 2015

39

39

Fear
the moon
falling out of orbit,
the tides stopping
after their ebb,
the sun burning
it's hydrogen wick
to wax,
and the wind halting,
leaving a worn vessel 
to drift in the doldrums,
waiting to sink
with no drive
to reach its destined port.

-Robert L. Jackson III








Friday, June 19, 2015

Oceanic Myth

Oceanic Myth

In the iterative hallway 
lined with identical cabins,
the ocean was not visible, 
but Poseidon's power 
still tilted the rectangles 
in my mind.
My demigod and I 
walked away 
from a unfulfilled library, 
in the belly and without windows, 
containing only the tattered tales 
of Cousteau;
the room 
lost to the gleam 
of glass elevators 
and polished rails 
emitting lighthouse beams 
to attract destruction, 
like Alexandria.
Even the new steel 
welded in bulging seams 
could not resist 
ancient statues of Pan, 
submerged, but not yet lost.

Robert L. Jackson III


Sunday, May 24, 2015

Erosion

By the time 
you return to the mountain 
across faint trails,
there may only be a hill.
Now it stands 
with blurred edges 
in the billowing clouds 
but is still too soft 
to be considered 
a fact,
to be etched 
in the blue and green atlas.
But still you follow 
the snow melt stream 
as it diminishes 
from the source, 
cutting striped canyons 
into the skin 
of your globe; 
the forgotten foundation
of expressions.

-Robert L. Jackson III


Saturday, April 25, 2015

Replacements

Replacements

The planted trees bud in the Spring,
misaligned on the compressed soil.
How will they adapt to the world?
Will their branches bend around the conductors
and angle in the local breeze,
or will they follow the swirling currents of heat
and electrical emotion?

Robert L. Jackson

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Dyed

Dyed

Submerged,
my vision changes, 
the light refracts, 
and dreams compress.
The scaled prey
are leaner 
than they appeared
from the eroding bank.
My rubber hooves 
sink deep 
into the compost 
diffusing into the clear.
Through the tea 
I see a bitter horizon 
in the ice rubble
and the soaking leaves.

-Robert L. Jackson III



Sunday, February 1, 2015

Broken Peaks

Broken Peaks

Everything is
a puzzle
made of the tight shards
of a shattered crystal.

The fragments have sharp edges
that cut the fingers
trying to place them
into their harbors.

At sweet angles
the planes reflect you
but when tilted
they become invisible.

Silent in the night
when touched too firmly
the lone geometries resonate
when nicked.

Robert L. Jackson III


Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Tangled

I am now posting my poems also on a new Facebook page. I invite y'all to join us here:

Tangled

The stiff,
plastic coated metal bends
but does not intertwine
as readily as the clear,
thin, fishing line.
Blunt fingers 
can pry apart 
the rolling curves 
of cables, 
but are innocuous 
to the minuscule, 
tightly wrapped threads. 
The random interactions 
and coincidences 
of curving time
has brought the linear flow 
to this fuzzy spot, 
without direction, 
into fixed, solid orbits. 
Even the nimble surrender, 
to cut 
the growths loose 
rather than free them.

-Robert L. Jackson III