Wind Wolves by Thomas Jackson

​when dreaming of you i go home
what a treat, tonight 
tell me you can see
rippling stands of
creeping foxtail can’t
you hear their foot pads
hitting with force as if
they’re trouncing the 
swaying stems yet
all that happens is
quick sways in 
rapid succession 
forms outlined tell
me you can see them
one of many private deities
basis of my spirituality
known to me alone if
anyone’s reached similar
conclusions i have no interest
in sharing my myth 
with anyone who didn’t help
affirm that we’re all born with
a sliver of god in our heart
study of enlightenment shows
one of the hardest earthly 
attachments to let go is doubt
doubted that i’d ever dream
again & feel at home, when
i let go, saw the racing packs
numerous transparent wolves
suddenly i settled into theory
i thought my passion for anthro-
pomorphizing grassflows was a
pathology, now i see it was a howl
let out by infernal spirits yearning 
to bathe in moonlight 


Thomas Jackson is currently a Junior at North Carolina State University in the United States. Thomas self-published a poetry collection centered on his experiences with suicidal thoughts and nature titled "growth" through Amazon when he was seventeen years old. In February of 2020 delivered a spoken-word poem at TEDx NCState titled "I am so proud of you" which was shared to the official TEDx talks Youtube channel. His poem "afterparty" appeared in Issue 20 of Emerge Literary Journal. He received a first place prize for “The Big Mistake” and an honorable mention for “body parts” in two contests for the North Carolina Poetry Society’s Pinesong Awards. Most recently, his poems “Portrait” and “sacred sites on this planet are few & far between” in NC State University’s Windhover Literary Magazine. You can engage with his work further at www.thomasjwrites.com, www.instagram.com/jtommyj and www.twitter.com/tommybbyboy.