O:JA&L Poetry: All forms & styles
James Croal Jackson
THE REAL ZODIAC KILLER
At the doctor I am assured
I’m gonna make it but my mind
is all tick-tock tick-tock
buh-duh-buh-duh snare drum
CRASH in the silence of being
alone in the most sterile space I have
ever waited in. They test me for a pulse
and ask me to take my jacket off for a chest
x-ray in a blue metallic room but underneath
my t-shirt reads MAYBE THE REAL ZODIAC
KILLER IS THE FRIENDS YOU MADE
ALONG THE WAY. Symptoms for weeks now–
constant cough, burning forehead, extreme lethargy,
but every word I tell them is a lie.
About the writer:
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.
Image: Storms, Tides, Depths with Pearls (AI-assisted digital image) by O:JA&L staff creative. 2025. Public domain via MidJourney AI.
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