by Paul David Adkins
Calling George Jackson! Calling George Jackson!
Come in, George Jackson. Over. Come in.
Copy, George Jackson. Copy. Come in.
George Jackson, copy.
George Jackson, 10-4
Roger, George Jackson. Roger. Shots fired.
Roger. Standby. Can you please come in?
Repeat, George Jackson! Calling all cars.
There’s a problem, George Jackson. A real 10-10.
We’re dying, George Jackson!
Acknowledge! Respond!
Calling George Jackson! Calling George Jackson!
Are you there, George Jackson? Brother, come on.
Paul David Adkins lives in NY. In 2018, Lit Riot published his collection “Dispatches from the FOB.” Journal publications include Pleiades, River Styx, Rattle, Diode, Baltimore Review, Crab Creek, and Whiskey Island. He has received five Pushcart nominations and two finalist nominations from the Central NY Book Awards.
The piece “Calling George Jackson, August 22nd, 1971,” is influenced by Amiri Baraka’s poem “SOS.”