The motel we stayed in after you lost your kids in court
by Mark Jackley
August heat and stillness,
black chant of crickets.
Worn wooden floors,
torn screen door —
like an abandoned cabin
into which a wounded
animal crawled to nose
its own blood and wail.
Mark Jackley is a business writer in Washington, DC, whose work has been published in numerous journals. He is
also the author of two chapbooks, the most recent, "Into the River Somewhere," published last year by Finishing
Line Press.