Five Reasons Why You Should Attend My Poetry Reading with Major Jackson

Sunday, December 19, 2 p.m.
Reading with Major Jackson
Brookline Poetry Series
Hunneman Hall, the Public Library of Brookline, Main Branch
361 Washington St., Brookline, MA 02445
Contact: poetry@brooklinelibrary.org
Open mic to follow.

Need a reason to attend my poetry reading with Major Jackson? Here are five for the price of one:

5. Come out for my last poetry reading of 2010
4. Pick up signed copies of Underlife and Holding Company (and Leaving Saturn and Hoops)--they make terrific holiday gifts
3. Sign up for the open mic (sign up starts at 1:30 p.m.)
2. Meet my parents at the first poetry reading they've ever attended

And the No. 1 reason ...

1. Hello? ... It's Major Jackson!


White Power


As it happened, I was twirling a cauliflower floret,
lost in Lewis's wardrobe of pallid trees,
considering my country's longing for homogenized milk
& bags of tube socks from Walmart,
which felt cancerous. What came to me like a surprise
snowfall in the soft evening of a snow globe,
one has to pinch salt and sprinkle in the palm,
repeatedly, especially when the temperature in mother's trailer
has begun to drop. In this way, after your Constitution fades,
you've your own hourglass and no one else to blame.


from Holding Company, by Major Jackson


Hope to see you there!