Bio
Michael Lee Johnson lived ten years in Canada during the Vietnam era and is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. Today he is a poet, freelance writer, amateur photographer, and small business owner in Itasca, Illinois. Mr. Johnson is published in more than 1016 publications. His poems have appeared in 36 countries; he edits, and publishes 10 different poetry sites. Michael Lee Johnson, Itasca, IL, is nominated for 2 Pushcart Prize awards for poetry 2015/1 Best of the Net 2016/and 2 Best of the Net 2017. He also has 158 poetry videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/poetrymanusa/videos. He is the Editor-in-chief of the anthology, Moonlight Dreamers of Yellow Haze: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1530456762 and Editor-in-chief of a second poetry anthology, Dandelion in a Vase of Roses which is now available here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1545352089
Trigger Warning
Just another poet.
There will always be
another poet to take my place.
In the pillars of heaven & pits
of hell is a particle of those passed.
Beliefs of Muslim burial with honors
in the sea within hours of death.
Hindu cremation in the Ganges River witnesses a transparent
yet raw ritual filters floating dead bodies upside down.
The smell of fish at dinner was so inviting,
that scent of the stench of human flesh rotting & death not so much.
Christians offer prayers at the cross of faith
to raise the poets of merit up from the grave.
Einstein’s physical formula is confused
as he works on this issue of master poets
near his grave; echoes haunt past & present;
he loved so many different women in private, you know.
An online poetry encyclopedia stretches
out pages that best begin to end.
Clay tablets, the Epic of Gilgamesh
Mesopotamia, parchment bits pieces,
yellow padded paper, those restaurant napkins,
scribbled—AI-generated digital design converted fakes.
Ultimately, time guarantees an unfashionable death stamp.
Poets, notices, and rituals are all gone from here undefined.
End this mirror of me, no intellectualism mixing with Jesus’ imagination.
Who are the poetry warriors who rest best on the pillows of gold & silver,
yawning dreams, stubbornness with pain?
Dimly lit, no memory, no response.