"Roomba" by James Croal Jackson

I've mapped your face a thousand times

collecting our dirt. I should know

better then to roam around our home

along walls’ solid edges. Love, I am not

so gentle. Our yellow rooms– where else

to keep pollen? I never said I'd sting,

yes. I told you, your eyes are a ledge

I swore I’d never tread

James Croal Jackson is a Filipino-American poet working in film production. His latest chapbook is A God You Believed In (Pinhole Poetry, 2023). Recent poems are in ITERANT, Stirring, and The Indianapolis Review. He edits The Mantle Poetry from Nashville, Tennessee. (jamescroaljackson.com)