by Marcus Jackson

1.

-for NF

Dayton and Denmark sound very slightly the same.
Dayton and Denmark both have rivers whose evening

melancholy is accompanied by the conversations
between flocks of fatigued birds. In any place, what

does dusk have to tell us? Everywhere there are
broken intentions, and the paints that composed

portraits of glory have warped and cracked.
Somehow, right now, I would still wager

that the coming morning, its light and its
regenerative condensation, will keep

its infinite appointments.

2.

-for MM

On what night has a wolf-throated thirst not
claimed the foremost acres of our brains?

Even when the mythic woods somewhat near the sea
hunker mostly frozen, there is an irresolvable heat

speeding like a heavily armed sheriff riding
a tireless mare through my dreams.

In this exact minute, I declare the creed
to live with the qualities of a ghost—

to be ageless, with an unnegotiable appetite
for both contentment and rage, and with

what used to be my face becoming
thousands of mid-trial pages, to which

an incredulous prosecutor wakes and finds
have gone endlessly blank.

3.

-for RH

The earth sings a many-century song
about the luxury of the body and about

the sea-like fluency of the soul.
In Jersey, near Philly, there is a restaurant kitchen,

within which I danced at the behest
of a manager who feigned bitterness,

at the behest of the actions required to satiate
the orders and the appearances

of our heartbroken patrons.
Mysteriously, during my first shift, I learned

the moods of the grill’s robust burners,
and I found myself plating white dishes

with an irresistible minimalism.
In under a month, I had emerged as the lead

in a modest production soon known
for forcing all in its vicinity toward celebrating

the impermanence of our radiance.

Bio:
Marcus Jackson’s second book of poetry, Pardon My Heart, was released in 2018 by Northwestern University Press. His poems have appeared in such publications as The American Poetry Review, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine. Jackson teaches in the MFA programs at Ohio State and Queens University of Charlotte.