writing

Publications

On this page I maintain a list of recent publications, with links to some that you can read online.

Listen to some of my poems on Soundcloud

Hearing a poem is often stronger and more enjoyable than reading one. I’ve placed audio files of me reading eight of my poems on Soundcloud. Enjoy these.

Michael reads at Kentucky Homefront live taping, Louisville, KY, April 2017. — Michael reads an original story at the Kentucky Homefront radio show live taping at Adath Jeshurun in Louisville, April, 2017. The show was a tribute to late singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen.

Pick an opening line:

“When spring began to breed mosquitos…” Listen (“DDT
(Or, a psalm to dichloro-diphenyl tri-chloroethane)”
“Jim writes, ‘I feel like the designated scribe of the apocalypse…’” Listen (“Bat Houses”)
“Mame, du host fayer gemakht…” (“Mama, you made fire…”) Listen (“Mame” By Razjel Zychlinsky, read by Michael Jackman in Yiddish and English)
“They kicked them off the field, the Yeshiva boys…” Listen (“Yeshiva Students Kicked off Baseball Field, Forest Park, Queens, Circa 1981”)
“I was playing war with little men of plastic…” Listen (“Blackout”)
“His Grace, Duke Gonzaga, exempted Salomone Rossi Hebreo…” Listen (“Mantua, 1606”)
“There are some rotting joists in the crawlspace…” Listen (“Letter from Spickert Knob”; Runner-up, Raynes Poetry Prize)
“How the rain, any rain, and the sun…” Listen (“How the rain”)

If you enjoyed listening to my poems on Soundcloud, you might like to hear some of my music as well. I suggest my cover of “Colours” by Donovan.

Michael, playing guitar; his dog Monty looks on — Michael poses for a music publicity photo; his dog Monty looks on.

2019

“Still Life with Knitting Mill and Working Papers” Gyroscope Literary Review

2018

“Between Two Nothings” Community
“Cut to Pieces” (Blackout/Erasure Poem) Orange Blossom Review
“Hustler” Carbon Culture Review
“Shvester” Spank the Carp: “Michael Jackman’s ‘Shvester‘ is one of the most unique and subtle memoir poems I’ve come across.”
“A Song of Earth’s Ascent” Carbon Culture Review
“Tell Me What Part of the Earth is Breaking” Nebo
“Three Apologies” Gyroscope Literary Review
“Too Often Driven from Bed at 3 a.m.” Carbon Culture Review

2017

“Metre and meaning in Jane Kenyon’s ‘Song’” New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing

2015

“Cling” Postcard Poems and Prose
“I Guess That Explains Everything” Louisville Review
“i had it all wrong” Panoply

2014

“An Object Lesson” Motif Anthology: “Water”
“Mantua 1606” Jewish Currents and Raynes Poetry Contest

2013

“Diagnosis” Hospital Drive
“Goat and Kids” A Narrow Fellow Journal of Poetry
“Ice-Bound Sister” The New Sound: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Arts and Literature
“Lyre and Rosary” A Narrow Fellow Journal of Poetry
“The Number Forty Bus” A Narrow Fellow Journal of Poetry