Poetry by John Grey and an Important Announcement
BIO: John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Midnight Mind, Willow Review and the Pennsylvania Literary Journal. Latest books, “Bittersweet”, “Subject Matters” and “Between Two Fires” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in the MacGuffin, the Bayou Review and Plainsongs.
YOUNG MAN IN A MINING TOWN
You live in a mining town.
You grew up amongst smoke
and noise and men and women
with dirty faces.
But listen up.
While you still have wind,
blow that trumpet.
Forgo the pick
that’ll rip the skin off your palms.
Take my advice.
Read the book.
Sure, they keep shoving a shovel at you.
Don’t take it.
Heed this.
Stare at the paintings.
Do your eyes and heart a favor.
Avoid the black‑lung pits
and the ghosts of your ancestors –
the ones who, though dead all these years,
still can’t stop coughing.
Do the math.
Sure it may bamboozle your head.
But at least your spine won’t bend so far
it’ll never straighten again.
Most of all, make your fortune.
Not someone’s else’s.
So get out while the door’s still open.
And if they tell you to go underground –
don’t.
Not unless the whole world leaves you
no other hole to crawl through.
THE GROWING PAINS
Whatever happened last year,
repeats itself this year.
Here comes the cold.
And the wanting.
They’re met by the small hope
that keeps its lantern lit.
It’s morning. You listen.
You ask the old questions
before boiling the kettle,
before the day begins its turning.
The trees emerge from darkness
and the fruit speak
from every stage in their life cycle.
Come February
you kneel in the front yard.
You press seeds into trays of soil,
into whatever warmth you can find.
January keeps its distance.
Five months of wind
blow their way through you.
Everything comes down
to pages in catalogues
that bear your mother’s mark.
Grow these, she says.
It’s your duty.
Thin shoots poke through the soil.
Aphids come,
full of themselves.
You wait.
You struggle.
You fence the deer out.
You wait again.
The time to eat is brief.
More of a warning than a delight.
Slide your hands into the hard earth,
it says. Begin the story again.
Important announcement
📢 Announcement: Call for Submissions
Additionally, the official call for submissions for Haiku: A Global Manifesto for UNESCO Recognition—endorsed by Chairman Kenzo Nomura of the Haiku UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Registration Promotion Council—is coming soon! Start gathering your best work—more information on guidelines and deadlines will be announced shortly.
Gabriela Marie Milton
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Literary Revelations Publishing House LLC
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