"Theodore Roethke Drinks a Pint of Vodka and Talks About Love" by Jackson Holbert

I've always enjoyed a song morewhen I was alone. The Pacific's mistfighting the coast.How you taste it when you cough.I, who have always asked my boneswhat my mind should do,who trusted my bloodand fought it back.The wind beats my house raw.I go out after the stormand put my face to the clapboard.I stroke the windows.I suck on a bit of straw.I hug the ant-hollowed stump.I kiss the neighbor’s dog.This is the only way I know to love the world. 

Jackson Holbert is originally from eastern Washington and now lives in Waltham, Massachusetts. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Thrush, The New Orleans Review, Vinyl, The Minnesota Review, and elsewhere.

 Photography by Amy Neswald