Mike James Verse-Virtual 2015 October

October 2015

I live and work in Chapel Hill, NC with my wife and five kids. My poems have appeared in numerous magazines. My eighth poetry collection, The Year We Let the House Fall Down, was just published by Aldrich Press. Aside from walking, reading and drinking coffee, I have no hobbies. As Mr. Rexroth once said, “I am a man of no ambition and few friends.”

To Friends In The Country

i hate
weeds, vines
grass too
and walking
where there’s
no chance
of concrete
i especially
hate the
thought
of bears
hungrily
sulking in
every nearby
bush or
the risk
of getting lost
forced to live
off moose
droppings
and owl calls
i can’t fish
with a zipper
i won’t try
just stay within
city lights
instead
so what
i’ll never
be like
st. francis to
the damned
birds