March 2021
Bio Note: I am a Psych Nurse Practitioner, musician, father/husband, writer, and an irrepressible helper.
I have published two books of poetry, a chapbook, and somehow wandered into being the Editor of Verse-Virtual
in January of 2020. What a journey!
landlocked
two lanes go through my town faded shoulder stripes double yellow warning in the middle: DO NOT CROSS and here or there the makings of yet another pothole yesterday i closed my eyes trying to remember the sound of seagulls the kick of salt spray heavy odors of a low-tide beach and nothing came nothing came
Originally published in a clear day in october, Empire & Great Jones Little Press (June 23, 2016)
hiding the truth
he painted a winding road into a distant perspective point
more watercolor than realism, details merely implied, but
always the promise that over every hill, around each bend
he would add another scene, the two of them moving inseparably
through life's panorama
the last two years, he painted a lie along the center line
rich sunshine yellow. added clouds whose shapes
she failed to recognize, bright edges of deception over
a coquette sun, peeping, hiding
he knew his palette was running dry, but never shared
just mixed tears into the background wash to keep her
from the truth until the day he dropped lifeless brushes,
stranding her at the ragged edge of color, grief bleeding
off
the
page
Originally published in Praxis Magazine Online
©2021 j.lewis
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the
author (email address above) to tell her or him. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual.
It is very important. -JL