Ink and Rain

Something I wrote on my arm while waiting in line at the cafeteria today.

Ink and Rain

 

So I upended your pen,

Drip dropping it to hear those notes you wrote into its quick ink.

And every day I think of thanking you for teaching me how to see in the dark,

And for showing me how to float out of water,

‘Cause I was drowning in the silence of the swirled pooling night-black backlit cloudbanks,

Choking distractedly through the murky currents.

But now, now I need you to show me how to stand,

Uneven footing on dim and shifting shores,

Because now I keep falling backward into

Standing still and I stop breathing mid-

“Sorry, sorry

I’m so sorry, and I wish I could’ve done it better.”

 

Because yes, there is an art to being satisfied,

Shaping myself to the form of creatively

Content with just being here, and how things are.

And yes, things are always how they seem

If you can close your eyes make apologies by forming the words “out of love”

Letters, writing with a fine line hand drawn with your black ink,

Stretching along the sharp seams between cracked teeth

And a busted smile.

 

I will always savor being tight behind your teeth,

Caught behind your eyes,

Seeing only through pinpricks and self proscribed

Knife wounds while you loudly shout

About being inside-forward and keeping

Your best face in.

I, I am inside-in,

And I ruined my best face in the rushing long-drive rain,

Features running through into smears like tears

Through late night makeup.

And though I know you

Could pencil in sketching me another with your pen,

I just…

Don’t know what it should show…

Reviews

[cest la vie]

Well, well..Mr Jackson has done it once more.
Written a piece so damn fine, words fail me.
The dialogue you have in this piece is spectacular.. So many good lines:

"And for showing me how to float out of water"
"I will always savor being tight behind your teeth,
Caught behind your eyes,

JKBP this is marvelous!!!

[Marie Anzalone]

Reading you is plunging back into my own young adulthood, looking for and sometimes even encountering rescuers and saviors and lost souls and demons. Yes, through the eyes of others are we sometimes uplifted; but if we don't have the ground under our feet, firmly, we flounder before we stand or walk. I too, thank those who taught me to see in the dark, and who believed in me enough for me to find my footing in a world that did not know, still does not know, what to make of this bright-eyed misfit. Your words always make me feel refreshed, humble, bittersweet... and above all, young again. Thanks for what you do, and please don;t stop as long as the music pours through your soul.

[Legion]

That is one long arm you got there. A self-dilemma for sure. What we are and what we appear to be for others often the two traits dwell within conflict. A raging good poem here. Kudos.

[Cool Handless Luke]

I agree. Another fine write. Too many great lines to point out a favorite. Nice job!