Michael Lee Johnson

DEAD GRASS-OLD POETS

I saw you both in centenarians’ dreams.
Tweedledee and Tweedledum were way past
the recollection of years of recalling thoughts.
Diddling away time, storytelling in front of children
playing leapfrog with words.
Posing as loners pulling whirligig toys around.
Contemplating a simple facial gesture
towards God, visualize a different image returned.
Reflections, those darting, sinful shadows plaguing the dark.
Poe never remembered much, amnesia sniffed out of a bottle.
His impish actions created a theater of glued horror.
Poe stumbles through dirt, mud paths,
town streets, those night bars, local, deadly.
Emerson’s thoughts are not nearly the same.
He never walked intoxicated, tripping
on bygone wooden street planks.
Ghost encounters were never the same,
no steps, no stones, no delusions.
Emerson’s self-reliance, minus bubbly suds.
Emerson’s grave inscription
Sleepy Hollow slumber, I rest—
“Passive Master lent his hand.”
Dead grass, old poets, deceased.
Poe, “Here, at last, I’m happy.”
Rolling over three red roses
and a bottle of cognac.
Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

Michael Lee Johnson lived in Canada for ten years during the Vietnam era. Today, he is a poet in the greater Chicago-land area, IL. He has 354-plus YouTube poetry videos. Michael Lee Johnson is an internationally published poet in 46 countries, a song lyricist with several published poetry books, and a nominee for 7 Pushcart Prize awards and 7 Best of the Net nominations. He has over 653 published poems. He is the editor-in-chief of three poetry anthologies, all of which are available on Amazon, and has authored several poetry books and chapbooks. He has over 653 published poems. Michael has administered and created 6 Facebook Poetry groups. Member of the Illinois State Poetry Society: http://www.illinoispoets.org/ and Poets & Writers: https://www.pw.org/. His poems have been translated into several foreign languages. Awards/Contests: International Award of Excellence “Citta’ Del Galateo-Antonio De Ferrariis” XI Edition 2024 Milan, Italy-Poetry. Poem, Michael Lee Johnson, “If I Were Young Again.” Please consider me for a Best of the Net or Pushcart nomination.