You pass me smiling,
as if you’ve known me for years
and haven’t seen me for longer —
and something wakes inside me,
something that makes me smile
as I glance back, as if
for ages we have been lovers
who are sharing some inside joke,
and then just like that
you are gone — and I
have known people my entire life
who have given me less.
Stephen Jackson live and writes in the Pacific Northwest. As the sole proprietor of the Seattle small press So Many Birds publishing (SMBp), he championed the work of other writers through the publication of individual author chapbooks, the biannual literary magazine Harness, and the quarterly chapbook series Future+Present, showcasing previously unpublished local writers. His own poems have appeared or are forthcoming in a variety of online and print publications. @fortyoddcrows.