commentary

"Las Hormigas" developed in stages exactly as indicated by the hiatuses in the poem. First a fascination with the ants themselves, then the unhappy meeting with the dizzy matron-of-the arts in which I foolishly mentioned my latest endeavor, and then finally the surprise message from the beyond. It is interesting that had not this all occurred, I probably would not have in the end been able to follow through on the original impulse to write a poem just about the ants.



Frederick Jackson was born in San Francisco and grew up in and around New York City. In his early 20s while studying for a degree in physics and working summers as a merchant seaman, he discovered a passion for poetry. A volume, The Stem of One Colossal Flower, self-published in 1966, sold in several bookstores in Greenwich Village. One poem appeared in the poetry quarterly Athanor (New York, Spring, 1967). The author went on to receive a PhD in physical oceanography and had a several decades long career in science. After an early retirement in 1995 he returned to writing poetry. His collected work can be found here. He currently lives in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.