Aethereal Gap

Aethereal Gap

I draw the ghosts from the earth
and the brittle bricks still holding
lodged projectiles from distant cannon.
Their swords become solid only at night,
when the cemetery gates are closed.
Only when the light no longer reflects
have they frozen and revealed geometric perfection.
Only water that has frozen
can bear any shape.
Although I had opened the iron latch
their metaphysical beauty
caused eyes to evolve to a fertile green
and brought my flesh to flatten
against the hard ground
of a gaped wood floor,
assembled by buried bones and dust,
yet aethereally more complete
than the modern tile filled with polymer sealant.
I am swimming in the aether
without armor, and without a shield
but with no gap
between what is untouchable
in the broad daylight.

-Robert L. Jackson III
From http://www.pbase.com/merriwolf/image/37346403

a little ole' one

a while ago,
my pages would fill
without time
for creases
or wear to appear,
but my mind
has become less prolific
and now
the creases on the pages
match the wrinkles
in the mirror.

-Robert L. Jackson, 2010

Family Tree

My family visited the Angel Oak near Charleston, SC this past week and this poem was a product.

Family Tree
(at the Angel Oak)

A stable trunk grows like the ground,
expanding its roots
through new soil and territories,
but still unable to provide
a solid foundation for every limb
and every leaf.
So the branches grow;
some high into the air,
toward the perfect light of the sun,
only to crack and fall
and decay
from a winter weight
or a summer swirl of a tornado
or a steady hurricane force.
Other appendages return to the earth
to stabilize
and provide anchor
for the heady ones.

-Robert L. Jackson

http://www.angeloaktree.org/01_DSC3519-raw2.jpg

Diameter and Distance

I've been meaning to post this for a long while...

Diameter and Time

The dark thick earth
supports the stalks
of living things,
but sometimes they fall
and scrape the bark
or pull with them
the roots of close neighbors.
Horizontal they begin to decay,
but only slowly with time
and it takes longer
then the lives of the others
to be completely consumed
and returned
to the source.
The larger ones
hollow out and leave a useful shell,
and those in a rich mud
fossilize forever.

-Robert L. Jackson III, 2010


From http://grandpacliff.com/Trees/Img-Trees/rotten-log.jpg

Top 25 Most Poetic Songs part 2

Top 25 Most Poetic Songs...Continued from Previous Post

Sorry it has taken so long for me to add more to the list:

23. Great song and the video is synchronized to one of a great movie:

THE BYRDS - Turn ! Turn ! Turn !
Uploaded by danadi33. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

22. Jim Croce was sadly taken well before his time.

Jim Croce - Time In A Bottle 1972
Uploaded by tch47. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

21. "Kids" by MGMT: Newer Band and song...I feel for the poor kid in the video being tormented




More to come...eventually.

Blizzard '09

A new poem inspired by travel during the season.

Blizzard '09

The cotton bloomed
on brittle brown stalks,
still standing, waiting for a late harvest.
The pale fog materialized,
too thick for us to see
the concrete bridge and migrating island.
From morning to dawn
the dense humidity would not relent,
blurring the horizon and the coast.
After the pummeling of hurricanes
over geological history,
the tides and currents
still deposited the white pure quartz.
The wind broke the fog
to rape our eyes with abrasive
and pile the broken crystals
along ridges, corners and features.
The pixels reported
of a white storm
able to stop mechanical man,
destroying our precision schedules
until melting into life.
Colorless glowing satin draped itself
over flesh now promised.
Despite the cover,
white is not an effective
camouflage,
as it contrasts all colors
and flows past the smooth curves
while accentuating
the imperfections.

-Robert L. Jackson III

Movies and Books

I've watched a few decent movies lately that I thought I would mention.

First, I just finished watching The Legend of 1900 which contains some quite poetic moments in the film. It blends music with the realization of these significant moments and the journey that is life. The film is about a man whom is born on a cruise ship in 1900 and never sets foot on land (a literary situation if you ask me, I am sure you can make all sorts of metaphors and symbolic meaning from it). Here are some the quotes that I liked from it:

"You rolled out in front of me a keyboard of millions of keys, millions and billions of keys that never end. And that's the truth Max, that they never end. That keyboard is infinite... and if that keyboard is infinite, then on that keyboard there is no music you can play. You're sitting on the wrong bench... That is God's piano."

"Land? Land is a ship too big for me, it's a woman too beautiful, it's a voyage too long, perfume too strong..."

"Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why? I think land people waste a lot of time wondering why?. Winter comes, you wish it was summer. Summer comes, you live in dread of winter. That's why we never tire of travel."

I also watched Gran Tourino by Clint Eastwood. I have really enjoyed all of his movies that he has directed. They really have a human realism too them that connects as all (as is especially shown in this film).

Finally, we decided to see the Time Traveler's Wife. Unfortunately I was not as enamored with this one. The could probably be considered a great book and is genius. However, I felt like the movie was a watered down chik-flick version (the graphic parts were left out mostly). It wasn't that bad though and might still be enjoyable to see.

RJ