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Home / home / Reuben Jackson Shares a Poem from his Upcoming Collection

Aug 09 2019

Reuben Jackson Shares a Poem from his Upcoming Collection

Like the city itself, the Northwest Washington, D.C. neighborhood in which I was raised has changed radically, and yet it has not. There is a certain way in which the streets -and the row brick houses- still provide context, and deep, deep, memory.
The other day, I took a walk on my block and found myself standing in front of the house in which the neighbor/friend we called "Little Man" was raised. He kept the front porch company. And he was one of the saddest people I have ever met.
He killed himself when he was 7. This poem is a kind of a written/aural historical plaque.  Or, as saxophonist Lester Young would say, "a spark of my heart."
—Reuben Jackson

little man, september 1963

there’s a cloud in your

head

 

you try and conceal

 

a cloud

just like the kid up the street

 

who lives on the porch

and broods like

a seven-year-old jeremiah

 

the occasional domestic fistfight

punctuates

 

the weighty sentence

he has become

 

one day he calls you over

and asks about the books

you always carry

 

he wants to know

if you know what

people are whispering

 

are you lonely?

he asks

 

as if he didn’t know the answer

 

he knows you know the lyrics

to his song

 

"scattered clouds" releases October 1st. You can pre-order it here.

Listen to Reuben Jackson speak to Rose Solari about his life and works here. Listen to him read his own poetry here.

Follow Reuben on twitter and facebook.

Written by Alan Squire Publishing · Categorized: home · Tagged: Reuben Jackson

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