During winter break, I've been able to post more frequently than I will during the semester. Tonight I'd like to feature Michael Lee Johnson's poems. He is the dynamo behind several of the poetry groups on Facebook, especially Contemporary Poets, Their Works, Current Poetry Projects, News Links, and related anthologies, most recently Dandelion in a Vase of Roses. Enjoy!
Reincarnation (V2)
By
Michael Lee Johnson
Next life I will be a little higher on the pecking order.
No
longer a dishwasher at the House of Pancakes,
or
Ricky's All Day Grill, or Sunday night
small dog thief.
I will evolve into the Prince of Bullfrogs, crickets
don't bother,
swamp flies don't bother me-I eat them. Alligators I avoid.
I urinate on lily pads mate across borders,
continents at will.
Someone else from India can wash my dishes locally
for me.
Forward all complaints to that religious office of
Indian affairs
To listen to Michael read his poem, click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5Il21gIL3M
I Edit My Life (V2)
By Michael Lee Johnson
I edit my life.
Clothesline pins & clips
hang to dry
dirty laundry.
I turn poetic hedonistic
in my early 70's,
reviewing the joys
and the sorrows
of my journey.
I find myself wanting
a new review, a new product,
a new time machine,
a new internet space,
a new planet where
we small, wee creative
Clothesline pins & clips
hang to dry
dirty laundry.
I turn poetic hedonistic
in my early 70's,
reviewing the joys
and the sorrows
of my journey.
I find myself wanting
a new review, a new product,
a new time machine,
a new internet space,
a new planet where
we small, wee creative
To listen to Michael read this poem, click on the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh5cGYOo6tI
Children in the Sky
(V2)
By Michael Lee Johnson
There is a full moon,
distant in this sky tonight,
distant in this sky tonight,
Gray planets planted
on an aging white, face.
Children, living and
dead,
love the moon with small
hearts.
Those in heaven already
take gold thread,
drop the moon down for
us all to see.
Those alive with us,
look out their
bedroom windows tonight,
we smile, then prayers,
then sleep.
Click on this link to hear Michael's poem:
Lilly,
Lonely Trailer Prostitute (V2)
By Michael Lee
Johnson
Paint your face with cosmetic smiles.
Toss your breast
around with synthetic plastic.
Don’t leak single
secrets to strangers-
locked in your
trailer 8 foot wide by 50 foot long
with twisted
carrots, cucumbers, weak batteries,
and colorful
dildos-you’ve even given them names:
Adams’s pleasure
skin, big Ben on the raise, Rasputin:
the Mad Monk-oh
no, no, no.
Your legs hang
with the signed signatures
of playboys and
drifters ink.
The lot rent went
up again this year.
Paint your face,
walk the streets
again with
cosmetic smiles.
Listen to Michael's poem here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-WhbOxfNTY
Michael Lee Johnson lived ten years in Canada during the Vietnam era. He
is a Canadian and USA citizen. Today he is a poet, editor, publisher, freelance
writer, amateur photographer, small business owner in Itasca, Illinois. He has been published in more than 930 small
press magazines in 33 different countries or republics, and he edits 10 poetry
sites. Author's website http://poetryman.mysite.com/. Michael is the author of The Lost American: From Exile to Freedom (136 page book)
ISBN: 978-0-595-46091-5, several
chapbooks of poetry, including From Which
Place the Morning Rises and Challenge of Night and Day, and Chicago Poems. He also has
over 134 poetry videos on YouTube as of 2015:
https://www.youtube.com/user/
Although we are past the feast of the Three Kings, I am sharing a Christmas present that Angelee Deodhar is sending us. Interestingly, it is a poem about taking down the Christmas decorations.
Image credit https://www.pinterest.
Henri Lehmann (1814-1882 ) — The Adoration of the Magi, 1854 : The Dahesh Museum of Art, New York, NY. USA (2400×1800)
If you click on the image, it will become larger and more readable.
If you click on the image, it will become larger and more readable.
YouTube has recommended the music of Kavita Shah, so I'll start here with a couple of her standards, "La Vie En Rose" and "Skylark":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSJgovzGqp4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVQcfOtbsEw
I thought I had posted Freddie Hubbard's version of "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" (the song by Paul McCartney and Wings): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9QcUEQS7cw
I'll add Hubbard's "First Light": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwvxiBEPDdA
Enjoy!
I did indeed enjoy
ReplyDeleteThank you John Mcdonald I appreciate you taking your time to comment.
ReplyDelete