House-Hunting in the New Year

 

                                                        By James Croal Jackson

We walked to look at houses– wouldn’t you like to live

in Morningside? I guess– reticent to change. Creepy Baby

Jesus dolls in yard nativities. I asked what does it take for

Santa to get some rest around here? – his inflated face

on the ground. Ah. These shared walls of our town

-house, I’ll miss it. The helium in this balloon

filling. A rapid ascent somewhere. We’ve

watched many meteor movies recently,

a handshake awaiting. What good is a down

payment? The time we’ve spent is worth it.

About the author: James Croal Jackson is a Filipino-American poet who works in film production. His latest chapbooks are A God You Believed In (Pinhole Poetry, 2023) and Count Seeds with Me (Ethel Zine & Micro-Press, 2022). Recent poems are in Beltway Poetry Quarterly, The Lakeshore Review, and The Round. He edits The Mantle Poetry from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.