By John Grey Black ants on the march,Green darners in formation.Basket-tails snapping up invisible meals.A politician is seized by soldiers in the middle of the night.The meadow’s alive withgrayish-pink rabbit-foot clover,alfalfa’s short spears of dark blue-violet,bright yellow bird’s foot trefoil.He attacked the ruling party in print.There’s so much happeningwhere people seldom look.And also where they’re … Continue reading The Botanist And The Politician
An Accounting
By John Grey I grew up in Australiaand you in Massachusetts.How we got togetherjust feels like small changeat this point.No need to stuff my hand in my pocket.I know it’s there.Randomness, coincidence…they’re just quarters and dimes,pennies even.The real money is us.We count on itmore than we count it. John Grey is an Australian poet, US … Continue reading An Accounting
An Abandoned Farmhouse on a Forest Trail
By John Grey Cramped rooms,small windows,grimy crumbling fireplaceand, in the attic,old mattresses for children’s beds –this wasn’t a houseof ease and comfort.Cupboards tinyin anticipationof limited provisions,a few rotted turnipsin a dank root cellarfields given up to snowand a barn tilted to one side –no great expectation anywhere,merely the signs of a limited survival.Here in the … Continue reading An Abandoned Farmhouse on a Forest Trail
Flying First Class on an Plane
By John Grey Cashed in pointsso I could do it once in my life.Lots of leg room.Comfortable back.Room at the sides.And attendant alwaysat the ready.Hid my face when the economy passengers trudged slowlythrough the first-class cabinon their wayto the cramped seats in the back.Couldn’t find the right expressionfor someone who was taking a couple of … Continue reading Flying First Class on an Plane
The Tambourine Man and Other Poems
By John Grey The Tambourine Man Stringy gray hair grew long enough to tickle his belt loops, but the top of his head was as bald as rock. Rough sideburns extinguished half his cheeks. He sang backup on the chorus, in a voice like a young rooster learning to crow. And if he tried to … Continue reading The Tambourine Man and Other Poems
Familiar Surroundings and Other Poems
By John Grey Familiar Surroundings We’re back and everything is how we left it: our feet walk in old footsteps, our hands leave fingerprint where fingerprints already are. We’ve been away some time, a month or more, but the familiar doesn’t change. One room still leads to another. The ceiling is where it’s always been, … Continue reading Familiar Surroundings and Other Poems
The Fate of the Poem and Other Poems
By John Grey The Fate Of The Poem I let it go and the wind took it, or was that the mail. It had a thousand mile trek ahead of it through six states and who knows how much rain soaked it, how many dogs chewed it, which spotty teenage girl mistook it for a … Continue reading The Fate of the Poem and Other Poems
Room Without Company and Other Poems
By John Grey Room Without Company A room without company is as lonely as a blank sheet of paper. But then I start to write something on that paper. The words don’t just appear – they join me. When someone enters, the paradigm takes a shift from within me to without. I set aside the … Continue reading Room Without Company and Other Poems
The Briefest of Relationships and Other Poems
By John Grey The Briefest of Relationships Traffic crawled, head-lamps swam in exhaust cloud for block after interminable block. The road itself idled. Six hundred cars followed suit. The driver ahead of me crawled to a stop. My foot pressed down hard on the much-reviled brake. She leaned out of the window. Featureless back of … Continue reading The Briefest of Relationships and Other Poems
The Toyota Concert and Other Poems
By John Grey The Toyota Concert I admit it. I sing loudly all the way home. Beatle hits from my youth. Standards from Broadway shows. Anything from the great mind morass, that never has to wonder why this tune, why now, as I pull over to the exit lane and the other cars zip by … Continue reading The Toyota Concert and Other Poems
Academy of the Heart And Mind 