Mark Jackley: Lank, Beak & Bumpy

Lank, Beak & Bumpy
by Mark Jackley

iota press
925-c Gravenstein Hwy.
Sebastopol, CA 95472
(2010)

ISBN: 0-9773843-2-2

Hand-set in Ehrardt 12 pt. type,
& printed on Mohawk Superfine
paper with a 1913 C. & P. supercool
foot-powered platen press.

[click to enlarge]

If I’ve counted correctly, this beautiful little chapbook contains seventeen short poems — and if I haven’t counted correctly, all the better, because poems this good don’t need to be counted, they need to be savored and enjoyed. Here are the first and next-to-last:


          December Rain

          A tree frog sleeps
          until the spring and his waking dream
          of starlight,

          hunger, lust, fear

          Dark tongue of wet tires

          His song will be as mighty
          as the roar of a motorcycle

          His hands, splayed like Little

          Richard,
          Monk,
          Beethoven




          February

          Crows
          on every bare branch.

          Black Christmas trees
          for when

          God bestows the gift
          of nothing.


These and their subtle companions I can return to again and again — and will, thanks to Mark’s kind gift.