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Michael John Aug 2017
it is a hot day in august
the many many tourist
they are a many seething
colors..

they go and sit by the first
sea
in the quiet
they are a humming hush
of technology..

some of the cafe
every skin
down to and by
the peaceful water´s

edge..
let the brilliant day
perform
it´s moment..

thirst
and famine
are pledged..
a ball too and fro..

lunch comes and
goes..
dozing in the shade
the afternoon is a long

dream..
broken only
by the spell
of hypnotic surf..

the child tumbles
and is set too
the predominant
setting is through..

it all just seems
quiet is ablaze..
a gull..
people huddle in

shrinking shade..
lover´s cuddle
in the waves..
these are the happy

days..
there
the sun
sinks..

and comes the
jasmine night.
the stars of light..
bewitch..
Michael John Aug 2021
it is a new day
when i am how to say
etc..!

three small letters
free of fetters
free!

(dodging the men
in white!)
here the moment

light-
linear in little
brown whens-

not if or but
when-
certain..
Michael John Aug 2021
it is an old day
when i am how to
say
(old..)

three small letters
but fetters
sold

and bought..
staked to a
ground

to a moment
of dying
that

goes
round and
round..
Michael John Jun 2024
it is funny how
you can buy a musical instrument
and their is wisdom and hope
passion and love

or death..course the guy in the shop
tells you none of that-
you will want a book..?
(patting his pocket..)

in your eyes are their stars..!
yer womans a groupie
dad´s a roadie
boy,you will go far..!

ii

next thing you know
your studying the rules
white of visage upon
the re-hab wall..

-your brain a kind of
demented-dumbledore
going:
oh god..oh god..oh..
Michael John Sep 2021
it is raining here
also god waters his
flowers-
(so,are we not
all the colors of
the rainbow)
that is ours..

forget the dust
and washing up
there is only
music and make
tea..
Michael John Jun 2021
it is rough
a tremulous bough
without love
and how

do we get on
now
perched precariously
below

sharks grin
up
licking their
lips

(if sharks
have lips..)
above
we sing

and sit
trying not
to think..
Michael John Jan 2020
it is the first
well it was
unquenchable
thirst

for son of god
cause
we looked to
the

changeable..
i will spend
time
(because
it

is mine)
in worthy
pursuit
of soulful

contemplation..
mostly the
sweet
eternal..

ii

and to the little birds
who sing high
in the agave
hallelujah..!

and to my guitar
a true friend
who continues
to give..

all through the
hesitant years
one a small
twig on great

tsunami
to live
attempting
some semblance

at happiness
as body and soul
gradually
falls apart..

iii

but generous heart
is
a tasty dish
a magnanimous
itch

best served
fresh
taken
in loving bite

with patience
and understanding
a little spice
faith

and wise
floss
less than
one´s strain..
Michael John Apr 19
i told my father that story
leaving out  some of the details
(trying to bond)-but he
said they should have locked me up
i think meaning her too..later,
he said don´t tell me any more stories
like that..how we misunderstand each other..
Michael John Aug 2021
i

it rained through the
night
a miraculous load
i was in the land of
nod-

does nt seem right-
happy!-
the flora and
fauna!life goes on
around the corner..

ii

i dreamed of a lost
sight-
some obscure code
an inscribed lid-

some dark lighted
mystery!
spaketh the distant
star-!life goes on
around the corner..


iii

is white black and black
white
(a predictable mode)
a laughter hid

by tears of old
melancholy
so near and yet so
far!life goes on a-
round the corner..
Michael John Dec 2023
it´s getting harder to
sin
as i get older
unless you include:
bread and butter pudding..
Michael John Sep 2018
i


it´ s around this here
mundane hour
or that there
where i get near

some right now then
higher or low
the mo so
captured when

it nails a tear
to the great cross
some heart
and i know

nothing
that i know
which lo
is comforting

that is to say that
in every and any
i am wrong
certainly if you

listen to my wife..parenthesis
never the less
through comes a truth
what ever it may be..

how do i know
because i have known
thus lost knowing
recalled no

felt
instinct
we were once
so
but no longer..

ii


i recall another
scared the life
out of me..parenthesis
though benign..

he said without
saying i would never
meet another like
him..

he proved a quintissential
cunning man
his glance left
something..

some understanding
some aspiration
a desire for learning
and so on..

though i think his
ways wordless
but natures´
he instilled faith..
Michael John Jan 2022
it seems to be the
way we are-
waiting for a
crash to occur

and then wringing
our hands
like falling sand
saying-ah..?
Michael John Mar 2018
you got it all wrong
it´s you..
you have said it in song
it´s you..

they burrow in your tongue
it´s you..
we look from your eye hung
it´s you..

you will shiver black and brown
it´s you..
they will carry you down-
it´s you..

to hell..while your screaming
it´s you..
if only we were dreaming..
it´s you..

why and fingers pointing
it is you..
one great red circling
you..

something of the fate
something from the past
let our love last
it is YOU..!
Michael John Jun 2023
i

its your life
and that is all you
need to know-
lily rolls a spliff-

what is true?
live spiritual if
you feel so-live
the way you want

to-we regret if
we do and we regret
if we don´t-
understand enough-

time don´t give a
rat´s ****
i mean just to say
because..

ii

in the garden
the spiky thrusts
will not quit

we bleed our
inspiration thus
f or fight

or civilization
to trust
purple insect

flitter through
lust
diaphanous

with purpose
red with purpose
or us..
iv)
Michael John May 2021
iv)
iv)

the next morn
at the town hall
the pied piper

calls-i want to-
the clerk interjects-
if you want to

play in the street
you ll need to complete
form 420 and-

(tchick?!goes jess..)
speak to the mayor-
have you an

appointment?-
i am a magician
stroke musician

and have traversed
considerable
distance

by mountains
and fall
endless meadow

under azure skies-
you ll need to
make an appointment-

(stayed at
a bed and breakfast
last night..)

so as to free hamilyn
of it´s newly acquired
infestation-

viz a viz-
the rats-
you ll need

form 670-
(bureaucracy´s
monolith

has our hero!)
i know-he intimates
in a meaningful

financial way-
by ancient means
mesmerising

and hypnosis-
i could tell
of his where-

abouts-
for a small stipend
he´s at lunch-

(our country boy is
at a loss)
with my newt

jess..
bless!-
he´s at the diner

across the road..
go and bother
him

thankyou
says the pied piper
tchick! says jess..
Michael John May 2023
i want what i
want
what i want i
want
whant i wat
i what
whan i
wht
wan
i..?

ii

all very well lily,
but a man´s conscience
and understanding
is his own..
and we are not in
the business
of the judgemental..

iii

the materialistic
make us sick-
all very well but-
we have to eat-
-we have to die to
live-
-the spiritual,
don´t
put the beans on
to the toast..does it..

iv

in the garden hosts
of color-
tis, verily, the time
of year,
with fused-intellect
as creators-the
love we are-
gods, or purple insects,
through air
flitter-diaphanous..
blooms trickle
red and wet-
dew-all that is to
beautiful
too true!-(like a cremer!)
time is stilled..

jan cremer

v

work is the
word!
(or do nothing
up to you)

stare at a wall,
kick a ball,
hark the call!-
time is true..
Michael John Jun 5
i was eating a chicken wing
this morning-(a strange thing
for a vegetarian..)

when awoken by a building
exploding..there the dawn light
a long sting..
Michael John Dec 2023
i was aware somebody
was behind me
i tried to turn with
alacrity but found me-
a stick in mud
with a stick-there stood
a scarecrow alive!
i tried to run but
there was nowhere to
run -he was all-in-black
an unkempt man-
a desparate dan
with a bottle and a
majick wand-a mystical
one-
you know the type..
(but here was the real deal)
the only weakness i could see
was his surety  he had to
know but this unknowing
made him angry..so in the hush
he asked what i looked at with his
eyes
i shrugged and he looked but
in vain-(ha-they were not there..)
silently ,he looking and i considering
my plight tried not to look superior-
(difficult)..precarious, was a word i did nt
know..
Michael John Jan 2022
i ws examining the contents
of a plastic bag
when i raised my difficult
head

aware of some closely
inspection
on a wall, by a busy
road,

and there in some four by
four
with a beauty of haloed
hair

was lou..
Michael John Aug 2018
i

i washed up for a living,lily,
for a while there
this is something george
and i have in common..

on the whole i was treated
decently
pearl divers are a breed unto
themselves..

mine was a life of ease
over eating and boredem
it was ******* the spine
and knees..

a piece of cake compared
to digging holes
(surrounded by the boss
and his extended family..)


the pop wagon on friday
cement as a whole
the olive oil factory or
carrying bricks..

ii

the pop wagon on a friday
took only two hours
brevity
that was the answer..

the cement truck on
tuesdays
took two and half
hours..

but ended in tears..
the shift in the olive
oil factory
could last eighteen hours..

digging holes an eternity
carrying bricks up stairs
works up quite a thirst..
never mind soon be..

be in pauli´ s soup kitchen
where wine smooth and cool
as honey bees..
chicken and macaroni..!

iii

the cement was high in lime
and invariably chafed the skin
and in that hole it would set
to be picked out with olive oil

and a pin..drunk,the screaming
and carry on..
we laughed and held them down
better digging holes..!

it was so painful..!
down and out in paris and london
by gearge orwell
Michael John Jul 2021
i was jealous of the moon
(for it´s known )
a cereal clown
carry on-

a sugar grin
a floating spoon
milk rounding
a petulant bend-

diane?
a free toy in
a little man
cowering..
Michael John Aug 2021
i was just saying to
to tommy the kat
over the morning
egg-the mystical bene-
fits of sharing-
two souls
touching and all that-
but-
but for his part
he ate with appetite
(even through
ketchup)
licking with gusto
his extravagant
whiskers
and then like a
sad too much
departed
for the hills
to relish waiting
for the ****..
Michael John Aug 2024
tear it all down
one rainy afternoon
we were to be moved somewhere new..

but they could neither
shift the betrayal
(that ran too deep..)

after tradition and war
had taken their toll
(nor render hope..)

a gold fish in a bowl
not sure
free milk

to a future that sparkled
like piles of
dung..
Michael John Sep 2021
i watered the flower
to red and greens
a small love ours
grab at and leans

into our heart..
swept the dust
that ends to start
the same-a must

for what is
what will be
washed the dishes
and made tea..
Michael John Sep 2021
i watered the flowers
with white and black
ready for grey shower
up-down and back-

two tones that  swept
an untold melancholy
elderly and inept
to be or to be-me

through some thoughts
quite aside any point
made tea-
and rolled a joint..
Michael John Sep 2021
i watered the flowers
with blue and yellow
so pass the hours
happiness and woe

i washed the dishes
scuttled crab-like
imagined  riches
a harley d. motor bike

grooved to little walter
and koko t
gonna play guitar
and make tea..
Michael John Nov 2018
i went to model myself
not an easy job
today´ s elf
a sweet old cob

not interested
in what..
lily woke
dream gazed

in the act of recalled
do you want to know
a dream
(a raisin in the sun..)

i was in the shopping
mal and yet all the shops
empty and escalators
named heaven..

all the mirrors and
cameras
played catch
the end said

why what did
you then find
but i could not
stop laughing..

madame,it said
you are a shine
and i began
to be..

i understood
the purest
futility
and was good..

i believed in
love
it was me and
you

nothing was on
sale
knock out
a bargain

only your
only mine
on the air
all about

and when i
reached
and could
get no

there was
around
white forest
the sky blue

i looked into
my hand and
there was yours
too..

i said here is
gold and sand
here is promise
here riches..

i looked into your
great wise eye
and a tear fell
like avalanche..

you went down
and i went up
and then gone..
shopping..

from a dream deferred

by langston hughes

ii

at the local tech
with any ****
looking through
the window..

the moulin like some
happy
space ship..
the night soft

and the river fine
i took my forms
went to the pub
for a jar..
Michael John Nov 2019
i went to the market today
from our new bus station
i bought a solitary book
slowly down the ganges

there is an old photograph
it is worth a look
of a naked man on a reed mat
the caption

reads outside the post office
in benaras
i thought here is a happy
go-lucky kind

and what kind of society
would allow such
relaxation
and how healthy

his exhibition
and how big the smiles
of the children
of india..
Michael John Jul 2024
i will just fasten you here ,
hap,
while i return these-

won´t be long now,
you be good-
good boy..!

outside the library-
(hurry the apocalypse)
ah..the single half-hitch..!?

(a piece of cake-
black forrest but i
am quite unsophisticated)

And away and in!
past an electronic door
past the computer

past the surveillance cameras
past the latest fiction-newspapers
books for sale-50 p..

past the winding stair
past the coffee machine
past the screen

past the future
past a teacher and
laughing children

past the photocopier
past the librarian bending
in gardening

?
past grumpy boots?!
phew..

happy!?
what are you doing here ?!
bad dog!-he is collared

and lead away..
and out side..
mum...!
Michael John Nov 2019
i will never fall in love with you
because cause be
just like this blank
space meaningless but true-

never an accursed determination
rather i am a reed in the breeze
or chaff
one eye on the moon the other

on  your charms..
ah, you cry semantics
well, i am not ******* wordsworth
laugh..

i will not fall in love
knaves fall in love
love sure as the end
because cause be..
Michael John Jan 2019
i will write
three poems
today
it is my women´s
birthday
she is 59
same as me
we met when forty
she worked in the cafe
we and her eight cats
hit the road in my ambulance
we went up and down the coast
i guess we see many things..

we snuggled the winter into
spring..from little white village
and endless sparkling beach
to the touristy places and this
******* river beds..mad dogs
the dusty cacti and hoopoes..


we see lots
early morning dips
bright stars
bright surf
lots of churches
time enough
lazy days..


(and now 17
years on
we go
where has
the time gone..?)
Michael John Aug 2023
i wish for a raspberry bush
and an acre of land
lush and brown!

man will always desire
space
his own

he will call his
choice-
a future..!

we want ours
through justice
and god..
Michael John Aug 2023
i wish for a raspberry bush
a kind of a dream touch
amid the green and red
the futures soft tread
equally shared..

in the insidious hush
you took my hand
and said enough-
long time dead..
Michael John Jan 2019
i wish i were antonio o!
winding the hills so
into and out quilted to
the excited children know

the distant three wheel echo
of imagination -blue and yello
pop ups and quietly through
the sun rising finger drew

across a blinding line anew
a love to page them do
and don´t..lo!
antonio!

in his biblio!
run promises blow
like a wizard´s brew
come all to know..!
as i recall a three wheeled library that served the wild parts of an arid area of southern italy..a man bringing books to the children of the sleepy hamlets and the exciting time..as reported by the bbc..
Michael John Jan 2022
i wish the red would just
go away
i am fed up now
a few days
a lost cow ok...

an unmade bed
some dull party
a mountain low
a sixth toe
taboo

we poets are made
to starve
half is half
and none is
none
truth is economical..
Michael John Aug 2024
i woke this morning lily
amid scenes that were :
in a bar a man with an annoying
index finger and complaints
about the fare..

i went outside followed
by the troublesome digit
only to be confronted
by a curious scene:

a donkey had a fox by
the scruff of the neck
and a large animal could
have been a moose..

seized the donkey and then
thankfully, i woke up..
what do you think it means?
she says most dreams mean nothing

ii

but with out them-we go
insane..it was confusing
but induced well-being..

or perhaps there are deep
freudian connotations
lost in some detail..

iii

we sit in the garden
dreaming
insects are beaming

like aliens-the colours
are  the first time
we close our eyes..

from the oven, aromas,
sweet as wine
spaced like bill and ben

we sing along to van..
pickled by the sun
over our land

old and loved
albion..shining down
the birds sing..

iv

and what do they sing?
they sing it is all
written-

they know..us..
past and future..
small gods..
Michael John Dec 2021
i woke this dusty morn
with dreams forlorn
someone tossed a key
backhand to me but
fell where no-one knew..

we searched high and low
and though there were some
it was not the one
and to what did it cut
anger a hole in a heart or

you..in laughter..or dome´s
ancient tear..
to unlock and free your
love..
or your dying glance
to me..
Michael John Aug 2021
i woke to
tomorrow
sorrow´s

little joke
ok
pray..
Michael John Jul 2024
i woke today dreaming i
was writing a poem
what it was about i could nt
say..still it was better than the
one where i am on island s
urrounded by monsters or
when my guitar is stolen..
Michael John Jan 2020
i woke up in heaven
but fell asleep in hell..
during the meanwhile
my dreams cast a spell..

in your heart was woven
impossible to tell
love as an ancient
coin in a wishing well..

but you had gone!
leaving a tiny bell
that like your smile
began to swell..

in the morning called
a cacophonous knell
that you returned
a sweet kiss to  tell..
listening to jj cale-sub title..!
Michael John Sep 2021
i wonder how things
are there,
do you wonder how
things are

here?..i think that things
are not said
much is omitted
perhaps,

(for our own good?)
is it different everywhere?
bad and worse
there are hints in

silence..
and you would not
believe it
to the same..

some prosper
some fail
read the newspaper
hard to say

how are thing´s
there
statistics
conspiracy

fear and paranoia
what is the
difference
is there an all

consuming mad-
ness
or apathy and in
difference

what is it like
here
hard to say
we have cold beer

and hot sun
today but tomorrow
anxious looks
to

more o
some say
that´s it then
we are done

for-
then other´s
say things are never
better..
Michael John Aug 2018
ii


i would humbly
ask a favour
if you would be
kind to my mother
i will be eternally
thankful..
Michael John Apr 2024
i would like therapy
i would like to be a tree
(i am lily..)

i would like international
peace
i would like to be paid..

i would like a comfortable bed
love and understanding
co-operation..

i would like to be young
no,i would n´t
yes, i would..

ii

i am lily
i am free
as a breeze..

it´s just not funny
the tears run dry
what will be..
Michael John May 2018
i would not have died at 28
though many times i should
there, only felt twice enough
and now being me at 58..

i am on the whole a gladly
person who eventually loved
came to find some odd stuff
and disobeyed future history..

yes,now i think myself lucky
where as previous mad and sad
and time is a little lad
in my heart grows and he say..
Michael John Jun 2024
i would pick magic mushrooms
and eat them as i went
happily along-

it is not advised but
how fine sat in the clouds
and rain

of so many colours
in my heart a song
that tasted sweet but

metallic..i would
go back-in my pockets
cow-pats and

sundry other stuff
a blade of grass
like god smiling..

ii

now, they use the psychedelic
component to treat alcoholism
and depression

we were ahead of them..
there was elation
just find her..
Michael John Apr 2020
i would write a testament to my uncle ron
who only allowed to play the guitar upon
the toilet then

rendered forth with frankie and johhny

a song i love to play
got his revenge by leaving the
door open


i remember going to school
with satchel over my shoulder
stumbling by the door

a tyrant his wife aunt mary


a classical pianist
though a lovely lady
class..

i grabbed some breakfast
uncle ron came downstairs
in his silken dressing gown

and burning the cheroot!

and headed for the bar..

i love that song..
sunday morning..
Michael John Jul 2023
i write my poem
and i don´t know
how or why
it is a tomb
it makes me low
it makes me melan-
cholic
it makes me
cry
sometimes it
makes me go
o
sometimes i
know
though what possible
use-who said all art
is useless-it is
a boil upon the ******-dum-di-
dum-it kills time
i suppose and it makes
me think but ideas will
certainly be the death
of us and a ******* good
job too..but meanwhile..
Michael John Jul 2023
i write my poem
(although not my own-
the internet is sharing-
though we may like it
or not-
be it body parts
or lonely hearts
-the biggest library
the world has ever seen!..)

i write my poem
(so many seeds sown
has it all gone
from the icing  to
the hot-hot- a perfect
start to all this yucky
ness-what has it
become..you tell me..
Michael John Jul 2023
i write my poem,
you write yourn,
you say where,
ill say when!

we have seen!
we have been!
gives a monkeys?!
not you or i..
Michael John Oct 2018
i

i wrote myself a note yesterday
i have never wrote myself a note actually
that is a lie
it said..

it is ok to lie to others
but not to one´s self..
(and watch them for they
are a bunch of no-goods..!)

this proved excellent advise
which i never gave to anyone
(let alone myself)
and put it on the fridge..

one would soon become confused..
two we had no fridge
three one lie leads to two
and so on..

soon enough-
bad things might occur
not known the difference
between fact and fiction..

ii

i have a job telling truths
it is our job
(not bob)
but when they accrue

back to notes and lies
like i love you
do you love me
i do..

i hate you
i hate you too
(one on
the fridge door..)?

iii

i have lived nearly
all my adult life without
a fridge
well that is a lie-

but there were vast swaths
of time spent
fridge-less
as one gets older

it is hard to say what
the truth was
the lies
the notes..
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