Ronnie McGinn's Poetry Page

Michael Lee Johnson is a poet and freelance writer from Itasca, Illinois. He is heavy influenced by Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Irving Layton, Leonard Cohen, and Allen Ginsberg. His new poetry chapbook with pictures, titled From Which Place the Morning Rises, and his new photo version of The Lost American: from Exile to Freedom are available at: stores.lulu.com/promomanusa.

The original version of The Lost American: from Exile to Freedom, can be found at: www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-46091-7.

He also has 2 previous chapbooks available at: stores.lulu.com/poetryboy.

Michael has been published in over 22 countries. He is also editor and publisher of four poetry sites, all open for submission, which can be found at his Web site: poetryman.mysite.com.

All of his books are now available on Amazon.com.

Charley Plays a Tune

Crippled, in Chicago,
with arthritis
and Alzheimer's,
in a dark rented room,
Charley plays
melancholic melodies
on a dust filled
harmonica he
found abandoned
on a playground of sand
years ago by a handful of children
playing on monkey bars.
He hears bedlam when he buys fish at the local market
and the skeleton bones of the fish show through.
He lies on his back riddled with pain,
pine cones fill his pillows and mattress;
praying to Jesus and rubbing his rosary beads
Charley blows tunes out his
celestial instrument
notes float through the open window
touch the nose of summer clouds.
Charley overtakes himself with grief
and is ecstatically alone.
Charley plays a solo tune.

© Michael Lee Johnson