William Faulkner's Rocking Chair

by Dan Jacoby

oxford
a southern college town
quiet antebellum square
except on football weekends
fellow at the blind pig said
real mississippi starts fifty miles south
of rowan oak’s drive

nielson’s full of fine sundries
corner bar thrives but
at the corner bookstore
on the second floor full
of old books on hand made shelves
is bill faulkner’s pine rocking chair

an uninterested lady clerk
barely looks up and
goes back to her scented candles and notions
perhaps a member, the white goddess cult
in good standing

up some sparse hand hewn stairs
roped off next to a florence wood stove
chairs arranged in no order
some caned some leather back
where for some years he sat at coffee
with intransigent friends
and northern interventionists

exploring gender and class
often conflicted by
inherited pernicious beliefs
with insight and sympathy later
not common of his time

on that very perch sat I
no permission sought
no eyes to see
conversed with ghosts
without sound and
with no fury

Dan Jacoby lives in Illinois on a very old family farm. He is a former student, special forces soldier, spy, steel worker, teacher, coach, mentor and principal. He is also a Civil War history nut, having had family members who fought on both sides. He traveled extensively in the South while in military service and was stationed at Ft. Bragg, Ft. Benning and Ft. Smith. He is especially fond of Oxford, Mississippi, the home of William Faulkner. moonlit chase was first published in Wilderness House Literary Review.