By: John Grey
DRAGONFLIES
They are miraculously small
considering how easily they catch the eye.
But they are real creatures,
from families, with lifelines
and lifespans.
Buzzing above the pond’s surface,
they have that instantaneous
explicit identity.
Substance and light
cut into perspective.
Wings flutter invisible.
Metallic color glints.
Dragonflies make moments
out of nothing.
They resonate
in the flexures of the eye.
KAFKA AND NARRAGANSETT
I’m lying on sand
under blue sky,
heat and light stretching
all the way to my feet,
my guy, my brow,
and beyond –
I bring Kafka along
each Narragansett summer
but get distracted by the gulls,
the waves
and the young women
in bikinis of course –
sometimes
just watching
those lovelies
feels more like sex
than actual sex does
a perspective, by the way,
more Kafka-esque
than anything in ‘The Trial’ –
A BOY NAMED JOHNNY WHO WAS NOT A JOHN
He wasn’t the usual bald tattooed thug
or smartly-dressed businessman.
He wasn’t one of a row of men
like pigs at a trough.
With one young giggle,
all of the women’s postures were rendered absurd.
Their whoredom was wasted.
He was just a kid on the other side of the street.
One of them winked at him
but stopped short of a come-hither.
Low-cut blouses, mini-dresses,
and makeup like paint –
he had never seen the like before.
Merciless neon light came on,
added the years back to their age.
Their nightly work required nothing more
than their backs, their spread legs,
their connivance with their conscience.
There was nothing in there about baby-sitting.
Having just learned
that a woman’s figure is designed to reproduce,
he was intrigued enough to stand and watch,
and surprise himself
with something approaching carnality.
“A little angel,” the women called him.
But it wasn’t all fumbling for loose change
that he was doing in his pockets.
For the first time in his life,
hand and eye
yielded to such intimacy.
Bio
John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident.
Recently published in New Plains Review, Stillwater Review, Louisiana Review, and Columbia College Literary Review.
Also published in Examined Life Journal, Evening Street Review and Columbia Review with work upcoming in Harpur Palate, Poetry East, Visions International and Spoon River Poetry Review.
Other links for John Grey:
Published posts on Two Drops of Ink:
2) Poetry Break: By John Grey (#2)
3) Poetry Break by John Grey (#3)
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My favorite is the Dragonfly. I love to watch them skim across the water. Something mesmerizing about them. Thanks for sharing.