Robert K. Johnson Verse-Virtual 2017 July

July 2017

Born in New York City (in Elmhurst), I lived in several different places there but have memories only of The Bronx (off Fordham Road). Then my family moved out "on The Island"—to Lynbrook, where we stayed till I graduated from Hofstra (then a College). Several years after my wife, Pat, and I married, we, plus our two children, settled in the Boston area and have remained there (except for my daughter, Kate, who has lived in Manhattan for quite a while). I have been writing poetry since I was twelve (many moons ago).

AN AGEING MELODY

Today--despite all
your badgering body aches--
sing along with the dawn light's

glisten on your windowpanes,
sing outside with the trees'
fluttering greens, sing even

with the thin wiggling cracks
in the sidewalk cement--sing
with everything that shows

you're lucky to be alive
on a day that, at dusk,
invites you to sit

at a cafe's outdoor table
and pick up a glass of wine
waiting to be sipped.

previously published in SARASVATI

YOU ARE BEFORE YOU KNOW YOU ARE

Brought to a halt
in our backyard
by the tall grass
and leafy bushes
silently playing
the moonlight's silver music,

my teen-young body
begins to sway,
bob and dance
to the glistening melody
I feel I hear

a year before
words I put on paper
spell out to me
I am a poet.

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