Selected Poems by Jacqueline Gordon
“Marine Snow”
spring forth from marianas.
stretch out your fins.
there come soft rains
of whale bones––a waste
that will sustain abundance.
gold mine––all mine––
neptune caught in a fisher’s net,
in the name of a hunger
as deep as the challenger.
there come soft rains
pierced by echoed prayers:
prayers to older gods.
desolate longings
emptied into open ocean,
a chorus of calf songs
moaning for Mother.
there will come soft rains
and endless seas
of snow.
“P R I S M”
as it
hits the earth sunlight
splinters into every color we can
and cannot see yet we say the sky
is blue there exists a statistical probability
that each atom in a body could rearrange permitting
it to walk through a looking glass i am sure with statistical
certainty that i am already trapped on the other side
unable to bend back into pure white light
teacher never said between
R O Y G B I V
there exist a billion
infinities
“There are only nine amino acids between humans and liberation”
and i feel
guilty––to want
is to be
guilty––
i willed myself
to crawl
from the ocean––
carefully
arranging
synapses––
should we not
adapt
beyond hunger––
for need
is a shame––
to need
is to feel
ashamed––
to be
a shame––
meanwhile
our stomachs
ever hunger
and we––
my good friend––
are the have-not-
eaten-in-years––
your head
is heavy
with precambrian
oceans
so you lean
your hungry
body
on my shoulder
because
you too
need flesh
and we are all
hunger––
and hungry for––
***
Jacqueline Gordon
8/2/2021
Jacqueline Gordon is a UC Davis graduate currently working as a technical writer in Sacramento, CA. Her self-published poetry collection, Dust in Your Eyes, has been featured at Beers Books in Sacramento.
