September 2017
Robert K. Johnson
choirofday@cs.com
choirofday@cs.com
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).
THE DAY AND THE NIGHT
All these years later,
the feeling that quickened
in us the day we met--
a feeling that stripped
everything around us
that was not a softness
to the softness of love--
still lives in me,
nor have I forgotten
the night when you,
permitted
no other choice,
slowly turned away,
your face
like a ghost ship
drifting in fog,
and walked down
into the subway steps'
pit of darkness.
previously published in MUDDY RIVER POETRY REVIEW
SOMEHOW, THIS MORNING
the gold glisten
that bobs up
and down and up
on the maple leaves
swings open the door
of the cell
where I"ve been imprisoned
with all my regrets--
astonished,
I walk free in air
bare of everything
but sunlight.
previously published in BREVITIES
©2017 Robert K. Johnson
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