Sleetmagazine.com

Sleet Seasonal Supplement — Summer 2011

Duane J Jackson

Desertion
Standstill Minutes

Desertion

The chain-like bonds 
snap suddenly 
and fall like strands of thread; 
then writhe 
like severed tentacles
among the thorns of pledge.

I grope in tizzy, 
arms out-stretched 
to halter fleeing friends, 
who rosily,
thin thievishly 
into a draft of air.

Standstill Minutes

The Minutes march to prison. 
Time cracks its whip of ticks. 
The winding watchman whistles, 
“To jail for standing still." 

With seconds in their bellies,
they foot thump off my wrist
into a cell of crucibles –
my sweet accomplices.

“Desertion" was previously published in the Feb/March issue of Milk Sugar. “Standstill Minutes" was previously published in the 2010 winter issue of Pyrta Journal..

Duane J Jackson is a 30 year old freelance writer and poet from Kolkata. While he is not writing he enjoys dabbling in the what's what of current affairs, reading mythology, listening to rock, folk and world music and stocking his aquarium with cichlid fish. His publication credits include Danse Macabre, The Scrambler and Indigo Rising Magazine.