John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many literary journals, online and in print, since 2009. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online. AS SUNDAY BECOMES MONDAY The shower-water still saturates my beard an hour after. My hair is in the way. My stomach growling and a fistful of nuts are not enough To shut him up. I’m thinking about her but you know I do that And I’m sorry but I also know that you know I can’t help it. The bed is becoming swaybacked And the clean laundry waits for me in a pile in its far corner. … Continue reading John Tustin

John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many literary journals, online and in print, since 2009. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online. THE CLOCK Man will someday die out With woman right beside him In the for-better-or-for-worse ritual That is just natural Then no one with the capacity Of poetic expression Will look out upon the mountains Smell the sea on the wind Hear the calls of birds to other birds In amorousness or in warning While the waves crash upon a naked shore That lies rife with the living and the dead of the sea Or know the … Continue reading John Tustin

John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many literary journals, online and in print, since 2009. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online. THE WORLD IS JUST FLOWERS “The world is just flowers In dirt,” Says me, the great philosopher After six beers becomes seven And forty hours worked in three Days falls down on me. “The flowers are just waiting For the sun to set them on fire,” Says me, the expounding poet After eight beers are gone And the music plays Against the backdrop of little sleep. Now here I sit in my glorious anonymity As I watch … Continue reading John Tustin

John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many literary journals, online and in print, since 2009. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online. CHAINS I am much less than those Who doff theirs chains, Break through the wall And into the uncertainty of The darkness outside the place Of our internment. I am more like those Who defy the guards, Spit invective out of our windows’ bars And struggle like worms on hooks All the way to the room Where the men with rifles are waiting To blindfold us and open fire – Putting us out of their misery, The chains rattling … Continue reading John Tustin

John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many literary journals, online and in print, in the last dozen years. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online. THE GHOST OF LUKE KELLY The ghost of Luke Kelly Is haunting this room As I lift the lager And hear his banjo trilling On the wind; His voice gutting The meanderings of birds outside And the silence of this room That is slowly closing in As I wait for the real and final rain To fall. The ghost of Luke Kelly Like a mosquito in my ear As I crash to the bed And struggle … Continue reading John Tustin

John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many literary journals, online and in print, in the last dozen years. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online. EMPTY STATION I wait for you In an empty station: My footsteps echo, Unknown breezes irritate stray paper Into little whirlwinds just above the tracks. No passing trains, no announcements, As I pace from the bench to the information booth And then back to the bench. You will come. It is a cold and grimy station And I pass the time humming to myself And reading the advertisements flaking On the walls. I do not pray. … Continue reading John Tustin

John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many literary journals, online and in print, in the last dozen years. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online. AGILE ENOUGH You pretend to be clumsy With those ungainly hands and feet That knock over water glasses And trip over stones   But you were agile enough To duck my forward pass To block my affection And avoid my tender words   Leaving me dejected enough To hang my head To drop my cards To cry into my empty hands   You’re an emotional running back You’re a pitcher that gets out Of a bases … Continue reading John Tustin

John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many literary journals, online and in print, in the last dozen years. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online. MY BODY My body, soft and pallid; Shaky and stooped; Withering and bulgy. My body so close To the precipice of unholy. It is sad and it is fragile And it is yours to keep – My pathetic offering, All I have to give. It is yours to love And adore And you do! You do. NARROWER As I get older I feel everything becoming narrower. I feel life getting smaller and the inevitability of death … Continue reading John Tustin

John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many literary journals, online and in print, in the last decade. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online. IT USED TO SLAY ME It used to slay me Watching her clean her ears So carefully and fervently With cotton swabs After her eternity in the shower, Wearing nothing but a t-shirt and panties – Thinking to myself about the moment, her in the moment, Me witnessing the moment, Thinking about the perfection of it: A masterpiece of a moment To be painted over and over In different contexts, from other angles Until the day one … Continue reading John Tustin

John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many literary journals, online and in print, in the last decade. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online. AS I ESCAPE THE BURNING BUILDING As I escape the burning building From the middle floor Shimming down tied bedsheets Fastened to the iron bars on the window I finally chiseled away   I realize all my love letters to you Reside in there About to blacken and crumple And burn to dust   And I fall to the ground Lucky to only break my leg   And as I writhe there On the winter hardened yellowed … Continue reading John Tustin