John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many disparate literary journals since 2009. His first poetry collection from Cajun Mutt Press is now available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C6W2YZDP . fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online. CARVED IN THE MOON Your face that I carved in the moon, that night when magic brought out the ladder, the one that reached the moon, the one I climbed with you, now ten years ago and still, tonight, long after the magic has dissipated, ladder fallen, fog lifted, snow melted, revealing the bodies strewn, the bitter battlegrounds, the moon brings down its special light, that old magic … 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. WATER Your eyes were still water, your hair a gushing spring; your body was quivering steam, your words small hunks of ice; your breath was an ocean, your anger gathered in clouds; your smile condensed on the windows, your sadness languished in a hidden well; your hands were hot water on a stone, you drifted away as subtly as the tide but not before I drank/I bathed/I swam/I drowned. PASSING STORM She was a passing storm But … 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. PALM LEAVES STREWN Palm leaves strewn on the path before us On our way through the town to the temple. All you have to do is take my hand and walk with me. Walk with me toward the open doors of the tabernacle That emits a wondrous and warm light. Ignore the rabble who appear on either side of our road; Who hurl rotten produce and insults, make threats And harbor ill will. They do not exist … 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. 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