Mark Jackley
Originally published in The Evergreen Review Issue 108 in 2004.
Fear and shame, you are the checkpoint
of the soul where all that shines
is rifle-butted back into
this land of frozen smiles,
where I am never listening
to a woman as she moans
about her day, shyly bowing
my head, making her laugh
and wetly kissing her in the summer
of her lips, my bones are now
a Bering beach, where I linger, snow pile
the sun cannot quite reach
