Poetry by

Michael Lee Johnson

 
MOON SLEEP

 

I stick

 
my hand
 
out toward
 
the sea
 
roll out my palm
 
I offer a plank,
 
a trail for you.
 
Follow out into the water
 
& the salty stars.
 
When you stretch out
 
& give your heart
 
to the final moment
 
to the glass night sky,
 
draw me in
 
sketch my face
 
on the edge
 
of the moon-
 
sad & lonely
 
over ages of moon
 
sleep.

 

BOAT IN A POND

 

Boat in a pond

abandoned

without oars

tied to a steel post

floats on top

of an artist palette,

rocks sideways with

wind,

edges slightly

west,

the sun sets.

 

DAD DIED

 

At the bottom

of the spiral

staircase

there is a letter.

My dad died.

He never wrote letters

on time anyway.

My step-mother

had to write this one

for him.

 

Mr. Michael Lee Johnson lives in Chicago, IL. after spending 10 years in Edmonton, Alberta Canada during the Viet Nam era. He is a freelance writer and poet. He is heavy influenced by Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, & William Carlos Williams, Leonard Cohen. He is a member of Poets & Writers, Inc; Directory of American Poets & Fictions Writers: http://www.pw.org/directory.  He is presently self-employed, with a previous background in social service areas. He has a B.A. degree in sociology, worked on a Masters Program in Correctional Administration, started a pre-Phd program & quit. He took a creative writing course in university on a pass/fail basis-he failed.