Reuben Jackson's Final Poems Explore Race in Vermont 

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• Courtesy
• Ruben Jackson

Reuben Jackson, a poet whose distinctive voice graced the airwaves of "Friday Night Jazz" on Vermont Public for six years, loved Vermont for its calming, idyllic scenery. But as a Black man in an overwhelmingly white state, he also had a persistent sense of otherness.

"10:00 A.M. / A neighbor smiles / In the elevator. / 10:05. / I'm followed to the / Radio station / By the Cops," Jackson wrote in a poem titled "Black in Vermont #9."

My Specific Awe and Wonder, a new book of poetry to be released posthumously this Saturday, August 31, explores the duality of Jackson's experiences in Vermont. The poet, jazz scholar, English teacher and radio DJ died in February at age 67, after suffering a stroke.

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Jackson signed the book deal with Montpelier's Rootstock Publishing in November 2023, just four months before his death. Rootstock owner Samantha Kolber was beginning to work on the book's layout when Jackson suddenly died. With the permission of Jackson's fiancée, Jenae Michelle, Kolber moved ahead with publishing his work.

"Once I was holding it in my hands, I just cried," Kolber said. "Because I was thinking, How unfortunate, how sad that Reuben could never hold this book in his hands."

The book features unfinished work, including several handwritten drafts of Jackson's poetry and a transcribed voicemail that Jackson left for Kolber in which he recited a poem. Jackson composed much of his work orally, Kolber said, and it wasn't unusual for him to ask for feedback on a poem through voicemail.

Before his death, Jackson described the collection of poems to Kolber as "a love letter to Vermont ... with all the potholes visible." "My Blackness is unsettling / To the woman in the / General Store," he wrote in a poem titled "Sunday Afternoon."

Jackson grew up in Washington, D.C., and moved to Plainfield in 1975 to study writing at Goddard College. He taught English at Burlington High School and hosted Vermont Public's "Friday Night Jazz" show from 2012 to 2018 before returning to D.C., where he had previously worked as curator of the Smithsonian's Duke Ellington Collection for two decades.

In "Long Distance Love," he makes a humorous observation about urban transplants in Vermont, telling a friend he is "thinking about people / Who move to rural places / In search of serenity / While also yearning / For a Trader Joe's."

Yet the racism he experienced in Vermont weighed on him, according to Molly Stone, a close friend of Jackson's and artistic director at Catamount Arts.

"It was the reason why he moved back [to D.C.]," she said. "He was not shy to share that through his poetry, nor was he shy to share that with other Black residents of Vermont."

Jackson's work also addressed racial violence. His most anthologized poem, "For Trayvon Martin," reimagines the night the 17-year-old was killed, with Jackson as the boy's protector.

My Specific Awe and Wonder is Jackson's third book of poetry. His other poetry collections are Fingering the Keys, which won the 1992 Columbia Book Award, and Scattered Clouds: New and Selected Poems.

A tribute event coinciding with the book's release on Saturday at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier will feature jazz music, poetry readings and speeches about Jackson's legacy. Proceeds from the book's sales will benefit scholarships in Jackson's name at Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia for students studying poetry or jazz.