Commonplace Coffee on a Sunday in July, 2021

Masks encouraged. Totes hang on mustard

walls, all checkered. We’re in shorts and summer

shirts. I touch the bristle of my beard.

We’re allowed to now. To sip my rough mocha

between the gaps of my teeth under the hanging

honeybee lights, people all around me touching

their own faces.

James Croal Jackson is a Filipino-American poet who works in film production. He has three chapbooks: Count Seeds With Me (Ethel Zine & Micro-Press, 2022), Our Past Leaves (Kelsay Books, 2021), and The Frayed Edge of Memory (Writing Knights, 2017). He edits The Mantle Poetry from Pittsburgh, PA. (jamescroaljackson.com)