Category: Poetry

for a rope to have tension,
two forces must be pulling
as fiercely as possible
in opposite directions

yet called out
trying to balance
and understand
unity
freedom
humility
kingdom

(Anne Jackson, February 20, 2007)

When I was younger,
nineteen or so
and needed to be rescued
I stopped by the liquor store on Green Oaks
and bought a small bottle of vodka.

they never carded me.

I’d continue down the curvy road
down to the place where people parked their boats
and I’d hide my car, and walk down to the dock.

Like a buoy, the dock would raise up, raise down
with each roll of the lake from the night to the shore
and I’d walk to the end, where I’d lay flat on my back
in the silence and with the stars
letting the vodka warm me
as I continued to bob up and down
with the lake and the dock.

I suppose I hoped that my rescuer would find me
and hear the quiet screaming of my heart:
alone! afraid! lost!
and he would simply sit next to me
his hand on my knee or my arm or my face
and with his presence I’d know that
in the end, when I’d sober up and leave
that everything would at least be a little bit okay.

For a couple years I did this
even when I moved two hours away
I found my way to the dock several times
waiting to be rescued
and looking to the stars for hope.

A decade past, there are still moments
when I want to lay on my back on the dock
a thousand miles away
although now, I know my rescuer is
and was and has always been
Yet the stars still bring me hope
and with them I’m reminded
I am not alone, even in times
when the loneliness is loud

Because we all seek out the star
that guides us to our rescue;
captivating us with a holy
gravitational force.

(Anne Jackson, December 23, 2010)

Stay right here a little while

Stay right here my dear

Hear me whisper to your heart

And take away your fear

For you soon will see

An unlikely king

And you soon will feel

A flesh that will heal

Oh, Divine, my Word on your lips

Find refuge in a holy kiss

Stay right here a little while

Stay right here my dear

Hear me whisper to your heart

And take away your fear

(Anne Jackson, December 22, 2009)

As we spin with the world
Rotating among
The stars and particles
Swirling around us
Tides ebbing and flowing
The moon and the sun rising
We must command
Ourselves
To simply stop.
To simply be.

Breathe in the air
Not polluted by hurry
And breathe out the spirit
Of mercy and peace

(Anne Jackson, February 2010)