Cracks and Slats
Poems by Mark Jackley
What lies behind the Travelodge door...sometimes, if excellent poetry is like a good jab in the arm, one that straightens your shoulders and makes you take just one more cautious, sidelong glance at the shadows behind the Coleman lantern in the unfurnished split level, Mark Jackley's latest chapbook, "Cracks and Slats," Amsterdam Press, 2009, is a veritable kick in the kidneys. Jackley, whose previous poetry is rife with discontent, wild boar hair on raised haunches, and sharp, sharp, incisors, continues this theme in his most recent chapbook.
From the Amsterdam Press site on Etsy:
Cracks and Slats
Poems by Mark Jackley
from the Amsterdam Press' Gob Pile Chapbook Series 2009:
This book is dimly lit, with occasional bursts of color that jump out from its gray light unexpectedly, so all of the sudden. This is a book of remembrances and no regrets. In its shadows, you ll find art and good books, cowboys and Indians, survivors, heroes, satisfaction. In this book, Jackley effortlessly exposes that place everyone gazes toward. These are the moments in which we see so far as the edge of the world and back. These moments are enough for us.
Mark Jackley is the author of two previous chapbooks: Brevities (Ginninderra Press, 2006) and Into the River Somewhere (Finishing Line Press, 2007). He lives in Sterling, VA, and his poems have appeared in numerous journals.
