Willow Tree Night and Snowy Visitors
by Michael Lee Johnson © 2008
Winter is tapping
on the hollow willow tree's trunk--
a four month visitor is about to move in
and unload his messy clothing
and be windy about it--
bark is grayish white as coming night with snow
fragments the seasons.
The chill of frost lies a deceitful blanket
over the courtyard greens and coats a
ghostly white mist over yellowed willow
leave's widely spaced teeth-
you can hear them clicking
like false teeth
or chattering like chipmunks
threatened in a distant burrow.
The willow tree knows the old man
approaching has showed up again,
in early November with
ice packed cheeks and brutal
puffy wind whistling with a sting.
Michael Lee Johnson is a poet, and freelance writer. He is self-employed in advertising, and selling custom promotional products. He is the author of The Lost American: From Exile to Freedom , http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-46091-7 . He has also published two chapbooks of poetry. He is also nominated for the James B. Baker Award in poetry, Sam's Dot Publishing. He is a contributor in the Silver Boomers poetry anthology about aging baby boomers, by Silver Boomer Books. Michael Lee Johnson presently resides in Itasca, Illinois, United States. He lived in Canada during the Vietnam era and will be published as a contributor poet in the anthology Crossing Lines: Poets Who Came to Canada in the Vietnam War Era publication scheduled for early 2008. H e has been published in USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Turkey, Fuji, Nigeria, Algeria, Africa, India, United Kingdom, Republic of Sierra Leone, Thailand, Kuala Lumpur, and Malaysia.
Visit his website at: http://poetryman.mysite.com/ . He is now the publisher, editor of Poetic Legacy, http://www.poetriclegacy.mysite.com/ ; and Birds By My Window: Willow Tree Poems at, http://birdsbywindow.blogspot.com/ ; and A Tender Touch & A Shade of Blue: http://atendertouch.blogspot.com/ . All publications are now open for submissions. Audio MP3 of poems, of Mr. Johnson, are available on request.