Mark Jackley

LATER ON OUR WEDDING NIGHT,
TWO SILENCES IN THE HOUSE

Like a Shaker bowl
the house contains the silence
of belief, and
like a Navajo basket
containing none of our business
it is keeping quiet,
deathly still, in fact,
about God's plans.



MARKS ON THE FLOOR OF THE RURITAN CLUB

What Indiana Jones will find these hieroglyphics of
cowboy boots shuffling
to Conway and Loretta?

What British Museum will speak for
the nervous man who stammered,
"Jen, care to dance?" What cold glass

will encase the way she turned
her bare shoulder and,
without breaking stride, pretended not to hear?



FOR A MISTRESS

Snow. I drift
to the summer we met
and how we learned
to our delight
both liked doing nothing at all.
Staring at motel walls.
Twiddling thumbs, electric
bare toes too.

Under-achievers, sigh
by sigh we conquered the world.



MILK AND EGGS

Our vows are dead. In their place,
keep it small-scale.
Use simple declarative sentences
to tell me real things.
Plain words, too.
Like "milk and eggs." Say,
"We're low on milk and eggs,
I'll be home soon."



OLD MAN AT A RED LIGHT

Jaw set, arm locked,
he grips the wheel, knuckles thrust
as if a superhero battling
to the end. Soon,
he'll rocket through the clouds and land
in his own backyard,
sheet for a cape as Mother
gently calls him home.

—All poems from Every Green Word, Finishing Line Press, 2012

CP

Mark Jackley is the author of four chapbooks and the full-length collection, There Will Be Silence While You Wait. He has been nominated for Best of the Web and lives in Sterling, Virginia.

Mark Jackley

Breaking Up

We picked up lethal shards of glass
from the carpets and the stairs.
Put twisted picture frames
and ripped-up photos into piles.
Yanked my daughter's bicycle
out from under barbells,
swept up shattered dishes,
vacuumed cat shit in the hall.
Wiped the now bare walls.
Stared at busted lamps
and splintered chairs.
The entire time, we uttered not a sound.
Then we tossed it all into big black bags
and left it on the curb,
where under the morning stars
it disappeared for good.

—From There Will Be Silence While You Wait


CP

Mark Jackley is the author of three chapbooks, most recently Cracks and Slats (Amsterdam Press). His first full-length collection, There Will Be Silence While You Wait, is available from Plain View Press. He lives in Sterling, VA.

Mark Jackley

Proximities

No one knew where his father was.
I was on the toilet, naked.
His mother, whom I barely knew,
was naked on her vast white bed.

When he, eight years old,
cried out for a moment in the darkness
of his room, dreaming, racing,
he too was far away.

—From There Will Be Silence While You Wait

Returning From the Clinic

You said you wanted comfort food
and so we stopped along the way
for chicken and dumplings,
mashed potatoes and gravy, a slice of pie.

That is, after taking a life,
we nourished ourselves, or tried.
We ate in silence, broken
by the scrape of knives.

—From There Will Be Silence While You Wait


CP

Mark Jackley is the author of three chapbooks, most recently Cracks and Slats (Amsterdam Press). His first full-length collection, There Will Be Silence While You Wait, is available from Plain View Press. He lives in Sterling, VA.

Mark Jackley

When Gil Told the Office
His Wife Had Terminal Cancer

No one, least of all me,
wept or wailed.
No one pounded his fists
against the walls
or chanted in prayer.
For we are not a primitive people,
so we stared, mumbled regrets
and let the shadow pass,
then slipped back into
the coolness of our cubes.

—From There Will Be Silence While You Wait


CP

Mark Jackley is the author of three chapbooks, most recently Cracks and Slats (Amsterdam Press). His first full-length collection, There Will Be Silence While You Wait, is available from Plain View Press. He lives in Sterling, VA.

Mark Jackley

Appalachian Night

Enfolded by pure darkness
a train slips through the hills,
past the occasional litter of homes
leaking yellow light.

In a kitchen window
the silhouette of an enormous man who thinks,
gazing at the train,
he could love anyone on board.

—From There Will Be Silence While You Wait

CP

Mark Jackley is the author of three chapbooks, most recently Cracks and Slats (Amsterdam Press). His first full-length collection, There Will Be Silence While You Wait, is available from Plain View Press. He lives in Sterling, VA.

Mark Jackley

AFTER BEING UP ALL NIGHT
AS HER HUSBAND EXPLAINED HE WAS LEAVING

Soon she moved to Baton Rouge,
where lost souls washed up
from New Orleans, some of whom
perhaps would also greet the day
clutching their ribs, bobbing
tearfully as morning
bled into the bedroom like a slow,
quiet flood of words.

CP

Mark Jackley is the author of three chapbooks, most recently Cracks and Slats (Amsterdam Press). His first full-length collection, There Will Be Silence While You Wait, is forthcoming from Plain View Press. He lives in Sterling, VA