Seeds of Glass
Jake Bailey

IMAGE: Julie Bovee
Jake Baileyis a schiZotypal experientialist with work in The American Journal of Poetry, Diode, Palette Poetry, Tar River Poetry, and elsewhere. He received his MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles and lives in Illinois with his wife and their three dogs. Find him on Twitter @SaintJakeowitz and at saintjakeowitz.xyz.
first showed me
their ways
at the age of ten
when my brother
and I stood
in a yard baked
into yellow blades
sharp as the wit
of comedians
I would never find
funny like a clown
at a funeral making
balloon animals
that say
sorry
the way I did
when the football
in my hands soared
over liquid atmosphere
into the front window
of my grandfather’s
house where I learned
how to properly cast
a fishing line
just to catch
mostly algae blooms
instead of the meat
we needed for dinner
so we would order
pizza instead
of the quiet lives
spent in ponds
where the latest
snack could be
your last
and the woman
across the street
yelled, “Bob Ed’s
gonna kill you!”
and made me wonder
about the limits
of a person, what
it takes to break
a pane of glass
that stood
for three decades
as a tree first reaching
the sky, asking
what it could possibly
mean to be felled
or shattered
into the door
next to the window
where my grandfather
came out to tell me that
anything that doesn't grow
can be replaced
