James Croal Jackson

They’re Called Background Actors Not Extras

​after the zebra slate’s commanding snap
after the boom mic’s silent rise into air
anything you say         anything you say

the sweaty room of crew and producers

you wish you were
alone you wish you weren’t

outside you are another beggar
in costume sun blazing straw skin
clomping over painted stars bearing every name but yours

adorn yourself in gold
mascara gold vests gold jeans
walk through cities
you might end up on tv once      twice

there’s that sad      gold man       again

on one of those summer movie nights at Hollywood Cemetery
the ground will open up

all those bone hands will clap
for that great feature in the sky

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James Croal Jackson’s poems have appeared in magazines including The Bitter Oleander, Rust + Moth, and Columbia College Literary Review. He is the winner of the 2016 William Redding Memorial Poetry Prize via The Poetry Forum in his current city of Columbus, Ohio. Visit him at jimjakk.com.