{"id":10277,"date":"2024-04-20T15:15:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-20T20:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/?p=10277"},"modified":"2024-04-20T15:15:02","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T20:15:02","slug":"the-mountaintop-other-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/the-mountaintop-other-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mountaintop & Other Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

3 Poems by
John Grey<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

THE MOUNTAINTOP<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Above the tree line, winds blow other winds around.
Wildflowers flutter among their brethren.
The mountain\u2019s details are close at hand.
But its awe expands in all directions.
Some of the mind pushes toward the sky and outer space.
The rest, stunted like the dwarf tree, roots fiercely to rock and earth.
Thin air cheats the lungs but flashes in the head
We have made our way from the gutters to the Edens of oxygen.
Clouds are sucked down like soup,
quickly dispense with human hunger
Bodies struggle to imitate the toughness of what survives here
for we have come from the land where nothing survives.
No more weak and fumbling city speech.
The voice, loud and framed by hill and valley, sounds like legend.
To think I labored in the dark and dismal cellar of the dream
and here I am in its penthouse, and no rooms, all balcony.
And the wind is not some purveyor of dead leaves, old newspapers.
It is blustering host to both climber and to stars.
It plays a golden trumpet by day, and a mournful flute at night
It the music we see with our eyes, hear with our sweat. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

BOOTHBA<\/strong>Y<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\nThe waters are sunset calm.
\nThe tide\u2019s full reach is on display.
\nThe moon is too new
\nto partake of its own reflection.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nFrom the east-facing porch,
\nI watch the last of the moving lights
\nreturn to dock
\nbearing buckets of live lobsters.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My free hand claps.
\nWhy not?
\nThis is the kind of place
\nwhere everyday happenings
\ndeserve a city boy\u2019s applause.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t cheer
\nthe passing trucks on the highway.
\nI don\u2019t salute the slaughterhouse
\nor the all-night factory.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the gruff folk in their boats
\nsprinkle stars across the bay.
\nThe night sky glows in perpetuity.
\nFor these, it is a struggle to stay.\n<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

A GATHERING<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The old men in the coffee shop
\nare as reliable as the sun coming up.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their bodies may be weaker
\nbut their voices are still as loud,
\ndrowning out the blender whir
\nand more circumspect conversations.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their coffee goes cold
\nbut that doesn\u2019t bother them.
\nWhen they open their mouths.
\nit\u2019s not to take a gulp of that brew,
\nbut to complain about a politician,
\nor lambaste some sports star.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their kids have moved out.
\nTheir wives are more enemy than friend.
\nBut they always have each other,
\ncan always be counted on
\nto gather at the same table,
\nevery morning,
\nin their flannel shirts and jeans.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m by myself,
\ntrying to read the newspaper.
\nBut Monty got ripped off by the garage.
\nPhil\u2019s all worked up
\nover the price of his new prescription.
\nWhat\u2019s going on elsewhere
\nis for my eyes only.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/em>John Grey <\/strong>is an Australian poet, U.S. resident. He has been published in <\/em>New Plains Review, <\/em>Perceptions, <\/em>Sanskrit, <\/em>South Carolina Review, Gargoyle, Owen Wister Review and<\/em> Louisiana Literature, among others.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Mountaintop<\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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