Reuben Jackson Reads “Second Grade”
“Reuben Jackson’s poems are gateways to possible worlds. With the finesse of a real sleight-of-hand artist, he transforms the truly personal—hopes, dreams, desires—into universal memories.” Richard Peabody
Reuben Jackson is a treasure trove of memories. In his brilliant interview with Rose Solari over on the ASP Podcast, he recalls childhood with a fully-formed, grown-into clarity. As with his poem, “fingering the keys,” there is a vivacity in the memories he shares with us about second grade which seems to extend beyond puberty, college, marriage, children, the death of one’s parents and into the universal strata which underlies and poeticizes both retroactively and synchronously the landmark events of adulthood. This is the sleight-of-hand genius Richard Peabody ascribes to Reuben in the above quote. And once we realize that, for Reuben Jackson, thinking of the past as anything but the fuel and fire of present living is simply absurd, we will have gotten that much closer to Scattered Clouds.
Hear Reuben read “Second Grade.”
