Mike James Verse-Virtual 2016 August

August 2016

I live and work in Chapel Hill, NC with my wife and five kids where I serve as an associate editor for The Kentucky Review. My poems have appeared in over a 100 magazines and my ninth poetry collection, Peddler’s Blues, was just published by Main Street Rag. In the words of Mr. Rexroth, “I am a man of no ambition and few friends.”

Inspiration (In Response to a Questionnaire)

i don’t know where it comes from
it might fall out of a dark cloud

come down heavy and biblical
a soupy mix of frogs and locusts

or (keeping in the same vein)
it might rise out of nowhere

a dust cloud
fast across the desert

or, better yet, might speak clearly
out of a dry bush, brittle as old age

there are things i need
steady as sleep

the time i spend, each day, staring
at a certain spot on the wall

my daily practice keeps a tingle
in my fingertips

keeps tension from settling
on my left shoulder too long

if i show up, stare real regular
sometimes the frogs and locusts appear

other times the spot stays a spot on the wall
now and then it becomes a bush and it calls

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