GREENHOUSE
The greenhouse is artificial tropics.
Orchids grow here
like it’s the heart of Africa
or deep in the Amazon Basin.
Outside, a flake of snow
flutters groundward,
skis down the glass roof.
In the jungle below,
a Venus flytrap
slams its mouth shut
instinctively.
SINGULAR FLOWER
All night, snow fell on snow,
like the footfall of small animals.
By morning, under clear sky,
the world wore
its white cloak of homologous mesh
through which some crocus
saw its chance and took it.
A WALK AT DUSK
Sun reduced to small favors here and there,
streetlamps dull and glassy,
but the moon, already up and about,
crosses the field of your eyes,
your mouth, your cheeks.
I take your hand,
stroll into a world
that treasures its moonlight
more than any other shine.
IN THIS PICTURE I HAVE OF YOU
You stand at the blackboard,
before a labyrinth of equations,
wonder who could possibly understand
what you have written –
for all you might have been,
teaching is where you ended up –
you have the look of someone
who’d rather I wasn’t looking at you.
HANDOFF
Together
for the first time
since the divorce,
a child handoff –
she’s looking well,
he’s looking well –
the kid’s just looking,
mostly at his shoes.
ONE JULY DAY IN NEW YORK CITY
I passed by
Paul Shaffer
on Seventh Avenue.
He gave one of those
“Yes, it’s me” looks.
Unlike Paul,
I don’t have
a look like that
in reserve.
TO BE ALIVE
It’s good to be alive.
To not be dead.
Or dying.
Or sick even.
And it’s good to hear yourself say,
“It’s good to be alive.”
Remember,
life is always
in your best interest.
~~~
John Grey is an Australian poet and US resident, recently published in Stand, Washington Square Review, and Sheepshead Review. Latest books – Between Two Fires, Covert, and Memory Outside the Head are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in the
McNeese Review, Santa Fe Literary Review, and California Quarterly. John was first featured in 2020 and then again in 2022. You can click HERE to review them. Selected pieces of his work were published in The Short of It – Volume 1 – The Sound of Brilliance and Volume 2 – Reflections & Revelations.
If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submission guidelines.
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I Write Her 