By John Grey Where the Water Falls It cascades silver and foam from craggy heights down the rutted black face of sheer cliff. On contact with the river, in endless hiss, it replaces itself with more of itself. It cannot tie a shoelace, row a boat or boil a kettle. It merely does what I … Continue reading Where the Water Falls and Other Poems
Poems by John Grey
I’LL WRITE MINE, YOU WRITE YOURS I was barely born when I was suddenly the man of the house. My father died. I wept of course but only because I was hungry. I should have grown up fast but I didn’t. My mother and my three older sisters saw to that. Without … Continue reading Poems by John Grey
Poems by John Grey
MORNING AT THE COTTAGE A gift from night chill, from the dry wind grace, from the incomparable red-rimmed morning sunlight in a slow spread everywhere... deep the earth becomes, endless mystic fervor; feel the freshened wind through oak's forked bough, fragrance of honey from each old hollow. Shadows spread far, strike the nostrils in a … Continue reading Poems by John Grey
Poems by John Grey
GUITAR The oldest, dearest friend I have and yet there's never been a poem about you, my precious guitar of steel on spruce and melancholy sweet tone. I rest you on my lap so you can play for me, touch your frets, your strings lightly like tapping in a combination number that will … Continue reading Poems by John Grey
Poems by John Grey
SPLENDOR, THE NATURAL VARIETY I'm enamored of splendor. Especially the natural variety. Like this lake smooth as glass but for the ripple of a loon passing. And mountains, though I've no wish to climb them, make a perfect backdrop. As do the deer nibbling at the forest edge. My current mood is rare but … Continue reading Poems by John Grey
“ON A FISHING TRIP”
By John Grey Breezes rock the boat like the sea-mother's arms. Lines struggle to stretch out on all sides of the deck. They bounce on the waves, far from any fish. But the gulls, at least, are confident in our skills. They hover over the boat in expectation of at least one of us … Continue reading “ON A FISHING TRIP”
“AVOIDANCE”
By John Grey It's possible that, even now. you had nothing left to say. that I was wasting my time by pressing my finger to my lips or covering my ears with my hands. Could be that, as I rushed from the room, slammed the door, that I was leaving behind silence, that the drive … Continue reading “AVOIDANCE”
“A LOVER OF ASTRONAUTS”
By John Grey Until now, she's only loved astronauts and, as I stare into her dark eyes, a jet stream of disappointment streaks behind her. She's listening for that countdown in my groping embarrassed silence, the explosion of takeoff in nervous, ground-hugging words. Here I am at the end of a long line of adventure … Continue reading “A LOVER OF ASTRONAUTS”
“THE GUY WHO THINKS HE’S HOT”
By John Grey Right when you think it's just your life that makes an impact, here comes .another summer. And this affair of yours, it's like a shadow unwilling to be burnt off by a sun that has come across great distances to be here, allows nothing to resist its flame. With one flash, it … Continue reading “THE GUY WHO THINKS HE’S HOT”
“WHEN COWS FLEW”
By John Grey Tornado's been through. Time to make what from whatever. See what fell enough to need to be taken down. Or to admire the still standing structures. say hosannas to unknown architects. Once again it's hammered home that the earth has weather and we're left with the rest. And it's arbitrary. Maybe that's … Continue reading “WHEN COWS FLEW”
Academy of the Heart And Mind 