Long Wisconsin Poems

Alone I arrive, walking from Frederick
over the gaps, across gentle hills
out onto a knoll
overlooking this burnished landscape.
Before me I see countless writhing rows
of indiscernible shapes gathered
in terrible rituals mid fire and smoke
darkening the sun.
From distant...

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Nelson Mandela, crossed my spirited mind today, a visionary legend of peace, love, equality, and unity of all people.

As a prevailer of great affliction, he was like a Greek God fighting for the—"Common man!”

I had...

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Greetings, and "Happy Father's Day," my dear brothers and sisters. I just can't sit and let it go by like that. I have to give tribute to my beloved father (Moses); some called him "Red...

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I wouldn't call Bill Plotkin's WildMind
unmitigated Wild RightBrained,
nor would I call his WinWin therapeutic thinking
with PositivEnergy feelings
entirely LeftBrain domesticated, diminished

Commodified, capitalized,
colonized and conquered,
deduced and reduced
down to a slow-grown dark pearl
of Negative YinEnergy
seduced by Yang Supremacy
yet...

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He'll be 92 in DECEMBER, and before the corona virus, we did breakfast together every week. He is 21 years my senior and just being with him is a feast to REMEMBER. I will be...

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My uncle's farm lay nestled in the central Wisconsin hills
A beautiful location sure to cure this city boy's ills
So imagine my delight when invited to stay a week
During summer vacation, this was certain to be...

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Gretel and Hansel were given 
A seven 
But they did not know why 
Since they did not lie 

They decided to be Titans 
At the time of this writing 
Venturing into the forest 
Just like...

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His praises are upon my lips and shall forever be

what He has done for me some will never see.

The breath of life He breathed into me

made me His for all eternity.

Life He created and placed...

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The Hay Meadow Creek divides my Parent's land
Its waters run clear and true
It then flows into the Prairie
Along untended Lincoln County lands.

The Prairie is a little wider
A little deeper too
Its banks are a little more...

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Occasional cloudiness but lots of wintry sun light with mixtures of foggy, slippery, soggy, dry and wet days.  Such would be my 'one line' portrait of 'my neck of the woods'. There is a...

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I need others to understand the reason for all this writing.  I need to explain to others that this writing of poems and short stories is not about me. I feel compelled to write,...

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The price we pay for our freedom is not contained in a man’s wallet,
Nor is liberty a currency found in a female fancy Gucci pocketbook.


It’s not in anyone’s liquidity portfolio investment bank records,
Nor is it...

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If you saw something beautiful in a people, a place, a thing;
If you heard about something  captivating and fantastic;
If you felt something soothing and wonderfully therapeutic;
If you knew that you were soundly built on...

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I just walked past the restaurant
A terrific place I used to go
Early in the evening hours
Of a chilly and recent past night
The fullness of the moon cast a memory
Reminders of my having traveled to these...

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She was a Sumptuous Blossom...
That was born out of a Winter's Spring
Her face was framed by Glorious Red
Her eyes were the Bluest Diamonds
That the World had ever seen.

She was born with an innate Attitude
That life...

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It was the summer of ‘70 when we first met in Chicago land.
By the summer of ‘71, I had asked your hand in marriage, and          ...

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Foggy Nights, A Letter To A Friend
By Curtis Johnson

I have driven on  snowy and icy roads in Wisconsin and Illinois.  In the summer’s heat of the Sacramento Region, I have driven in cars,...

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I am just an Empty Chair
Seated in a Sea of Flooded Sand
Holding a Personal and Lonely Vigil
On this Riskiest Edge
Of both Soft and Solid Land.

My legs beneath me are Strong
I cannot allow myself to become...

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I stood on the bridge looking at the river below.
A strange-looking man came up to me and said “hello,
“Do you know where I’ll be able to find a job here?’
That is what the strange man...

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Vincent…

This is the time of the year
When I see the ravens and the crows
Especially in an open field...
It's when I think of you…

I catch myself remembering…
I have to stop myself and breathe…
I daydream of our...

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I awaken to the sound of your voice, your words, calling to me...
Calling to me...Petitioning me... like an ethereal Siren's Song
Moving towards me just as waves journey toward an empty beach...
Always and forever...moving towards that...

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I awaken to the woodland scent 
of a favored fragrant herb.

Its aroma transcends nocturnal bliss
and then softly seeks so gently to kiss
the distant lingerings in my mind.

Of a cherished place where I had laid
embraced warm...

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childhood (puzzle poem)

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Red power mode
White digital
Blue logo

My, oh my ...
sweet apple pie!
Patriotic American cheese is turning sour Kraut commie
Democracy is Wisconsin curdling ... penicillin shot
needed between the ailing ballot box,
sho’ ain’t Louisiana Purchase forthcoming

Lady Liberty is bowing...

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