by Thomas Jackson
i’m the cat’s tongue wind licking salt off the earth
to keep the sun-baked flowers from dying off
washing my mouth in the white rush of a riverbend
cutting a rug on densely-tufted dandelions
chasing bitter rain with freshly-picked lime twists
waking up wildlife, smiling at their squinted red eyes
foraging for crudités under the calm shadow of a holly
staining lips pink with berry juice
running to wherever it’s happening next scene
Thomas Jackson is an emerging writer who so far has only two major published works. He self-published his first poetry collection in 2018 when he was seventeen, and delivered a spoken word piece TEDxNCState, which was published to the official TEDx Talks youtube channel. His work so far has focused on healing trauma and struggles with disordered eating and suicidal thoughts in his early teens.
Emerge Literary Journal 