John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in the Homestead Review, Harpur Palate and Columbia Review with work upcoming in the Roanoke Review, the Hawaii Review and North Dakota Quarterly.
Well it’s here again
the winter through a window,
The cat in the window,
the birds outside,
the man in the chair beside the window,
the hope of spring far away.
He glances like a metaphor
An Egyptian cat who was a God
and the man in the chair
who is not.
Oh where am my going?
Nowhere have I been,
aware is the song I sing.
Nihilism doesn’t matter
more than the song
and the wind is really in the trees
and not there at all.
the cliché is the metaphor
and the metaphor, the cliché
Her countenance was noble
as noble as the wind
as noble as the song I sing
Start writing
don’t look up
feel the click of the keys
Remembering her thumbs
moving like magic on the phone
the screen flashing here and there
so fast
standing there amazed,
I
Tombstone Poet Standing in the Street
waiting for the showdown,
former whittler and tobacco hand,
stood amazed, cliche’d from the past,
“You sure can work that thing, and you aren’t even looking!”
“You have to message under the desk at school.”
Stone Age Poet, Tombstone Cowboy Poet,
you type your words so slowly above the desk,
Your horse is old and those stones that are your words
tumble down the side of your mountain
to the showdown
Janet Kuypers’ “Under My Skin” 8/23/17 poetry feature @ Chicago’s In One Ear
Chicago poet and Austin resident Janet Kuypers returned to Chicago for a week in August to coincide with the August 21st total eclipse of the sun (where she traveled to southern Illinois to photograph the event). During her stay she was honored with the opportunity to perform her feature show “Under My Skin” for In One Ear (at the bar next to the Heartland Café, 7000 N. Glenwood, Chicago, IL 60626) Wednesday, August 23rd 2017.
Because Janet Kuypers knew she was coming back to Chicago the week of the total eclipse of the sun (and because she had no book releases of her poetry for years, ever since she moved to Austin), Janet Kuypers was thrilled that Scars Publications was able to release the first printing (from a U.S. printer) of two new books of hers, of poetry she had written while living in Austin, “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” and “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems” (the second book of poems she wrote for features she has had in Austin). Since her return from this trip, Scars Publications has also released the second printing of “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” and “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems” (from an Amazon affiliated printer, with sales from printers in the U.S., the U.K. and all of Europe). Though in the begging of her feature she read her poem about the total solar eclipse that she wrote 12 hours after witnessing and photographing it, everything she otherwise read in her show was from these two books, and she also sold proof copies to audience members after the show.
He sang his song and walked along to the brightly lit shores and brought fish and berries in a bucket home. Junebug, junebug you don’t get a break so you hide behind the blackberry and wait As he pauses beside the gate, for the berries to take.
She sang her song and walked along to the brightly lit stores and brought shiny ribbons and baskets home. Junebug, junebug you can’t get a break so you hide behind the blackberry and wait to surprise her with your song as she approaches the gate
Junebug, junebug you don’t get a break for love comes by choice or happen stance you bring your surprise along or leave our lovers meeting, to chance.
