Southbound in February

by James Croal Jackson

 

Almost swerved to Akron

to delay our southbound silence

before another car skidded into steel.

We smoked exhaust

with sedans which scrunched

around us. Wiper squeals

revealed hymnal landscapes

through murky glass.

I revel in footprints buried by snow

yet do not know what–

if our black tires composed

cadenzas in the slickening slush,

ambulance’s red, beating

bongos thumping toward us

–what we could have said

that would have ever been enough.

 

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James Croal Jackson graduated from Baldwin Wallace University with degrees in Film and Creative Writing. After moving to Los Angeles to pursue film, he realized he would rather pursue poetry. His work has since been published in magazines including The Bitter Oleander, Rust + Moth, and OxMag. Find him online at jimjakk.com.