Tim Rogers
Tim Rogers is an American poet living in Czechia, Europe. He runs an English-language bookstore there and sits on the board of a non-profit English-language resource and community center. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Bombay Gin, Brooklyn Review, Otoliths, After Hours, Indefinite Space, Molly Bloom and B O D Y among other literary outlets. He has been anthologized in The Return of Král Majáles and was a fellow at the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center in Minnesota.
Skateboarding the Oceans
I.
Jacob rides the sun at noon when shadows shrink at night astride a pointed moon in purples and in pinks in green coolness between grass and leafy trees waveless water perverting sameness rusty paddle boats stir
II.
Jacob watches the watchers because ornaments are an obstacle he sees contradictions as magical sunshine is his alphabet scribbling the way he rides
III.
Jacob prepares his trajectory to test the depth of the nadir seizing on the dynamics of entropy competing for the place the phoenix occupiesbreaking into flames
IV.
Jacob pilots an invention less complex than a hospital gurney he doesn’t float under cars on a mechanic’s creeper it can be a seat when he’s not moving and then when he wishes he quickly rises to his feet
V.
Jacob can unfold a one-footed kick twisting around a question mark resistance is his posture blurred like currents in movements of water mimicking the saltiness of tears
VI.
Jacob’s trousers are torn knees scabbed with blood what is within is worn and warm and honest
VII.
theater is not spectator sport drama’s not an act , a movie’s made of light a shadow play of movement , fusion a confusion of strategies love reflects what’s written in the script Jacob improvisates
VIII.
love can’t live written down contained in words it doesn’t fly, or swim or run scribbled out in cursive script Jacob has a name for it the Greeks had six
IX.
Jacob lives many loves his dexterity is knowing what his body can perform balance acknowledges no equal a horizon that no sun knows
X.
inquiring in sense beyond the obvious a philosophy of quiddity Jacob distorts what dictates law makes marketing fliptricks and grinds a no comply
XI.
integrity is the tribe’s trademark the star of stories Jacob exemplifies a fullness fleeting in it’s hardness a stone the meteor consumes falling to fulfill a wish
XII.
internalizing what comes Jacob absorbs what light colors what is seen is not himself he flows like water
XIII.
fear is an image jumping an improperly threaded film stutters a rock sinks to bottom above it its influence expands Jacob’s grasp increases until it reaches every shore
XIV.
during deprivations of drought beauty is a taste denied Jacob is salt the ocean craves waves in a ceaseless line not the tide tied to the the weight of the moon
XV.
water falls back to sea a seed holds the promise of a tree ritual and ceremony hold a ship’s hull before it floats a deck with seasoned hands Jacob’s feet steer his hands rudder undeterred by thunderous storms the electricity’s fleeting presencecatches what gravity can’t
Jacob rides the sun at noon when shadows shrink at night astride a pointed moon in purples and in pinks in green coolness between grass and leafy trees waveless water perverting sameness rusty paddle boats stir
II.
Jacob watches the watchers because ornaments are an obstacle he sees contradictions as magical sunshine is his alphabet scribbling the way he rides
III.
Jacob prepares his trajectory to test the depth of the nadir seizing on the dynamics of entropy competing for the place the phoenix occupiesbreaking into flames
IV.
Jacob pilots an invention less complex than a hospital gurney he doesn’t float under cars on a mechanic’s creeper it can be a seat when he’s not moving and then when he wishes he quickly rises to his feet
V.
Jacob can unfold a one-footed kick twisting around a question mark resistance is his posture blurred like currents in movements of water mimicking the saltiness of tears
VI.
Jacob’s trousers are torn knees scabbed with blood what is within is worn and warm and honest
VII.
theater is not spectator sport drama’s not an act , a movie’s made of light a shadow play of movement , fusion a confusion of strategies love reflects what’s written in the script Jacob improvisates
VIII.
love can’t live written down contained in words it doesn’t fly, or swim or run scribbled out in cursive script Jacob has a name for it the Greeks had six
IX.
Jacob lives many loves his dexterity is knowing what his body can perform balance acknowledges no equal a horizon that no sun knows
X.
inquiring in sense beyond the obvious a philosophy of quiddity Jacob distorts what dictates law makes marketing fliptricks and grinds a no comply
XI.
integrity is the tribe’s trademark the star of stories Jacob exemplifies a fullness fleeting in it’s hardness a stone the meteor consumes falling to fulfill a wish
XII.
internalizing what comes Jacob absorbs what light colors what is seen is not himself he flows like water
XIII.
fear is an image jumping an improperly threaded film stutters a rock sinks to bottom above it its influence expands Jacob’s grasp increases until it reaches every shore
XIV.
during deprivations of drought beauty is a taste denied Jacob is salt the ocean craves waves in a ceaseless line not the tide tied to the the weight of the moon
XV.
water falls back to sea a seed holds the promise of a tree ritual and ceremony hold a ship’s hull before it floats a deck with seasoned hands Jacob’s feet steer his hands rudder undeterred by thunderous storms the electricity’s fleeting presencecatches what gravity can’t
