- John Grey
Selected Poetry by John Grey

Photo Source: Raw Pixel
THE RAINDROP
Like magic,
a drop of rain
plopped from the sky.
A lizard’s tongue
grabbed at it
but missed.
A toad jumped
into its path
but that watery gem
ricocheted off
its scaly back,
tapped the head
of a startled rattlesnake
then fell between
a scorpion’s clutches.
It hit the earth,
dissipated on contact,
with no object in mind
but frustration.
THE MIRACLE OF THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY
It’s our tenth anniversary
and I'm like the bystander
with his head in Lazarus' tomb
or combing the dregs of the wine,
the crumbs of bread and fish
for some clue as to how
the miracles were accomplished.
And how come we’re still together?
And what’s with plumbing?
And electricity?
And us?
And how does a jet plane
stay up there?
Or a giant cruise ship not sink?
And us?
What about us?
There are people who get it.
They’re tradesmen.
Or they’re engineers.
Or they just have faith.
It’s our tenth anniversary.
There seems to be no science involved,
so I’ll just have to believe it.
ON A FLIGHT OVER THE OUTBACK
How flat the landscape,
and dry as an uncle's jokes,
scattered rocks
with grizzled green spinifex for company.
I'm flying over
the grim retirement of the world,
the old age home of ribbed red dirt
and feckless camel herds.
Sun is such a searing dreadnaught in the sky,
you'd swear it's never going to set.
For there’s heat enough down there
to frazzle time.
I look out the window,
waiting for a sign of human habitation,
a tin-roofed shack, a man on horse,
a nomadic aboriginal tribe.
But there's only space,
empty of life,
full of the alternative.
LEOPARD
Sly and solitary,
but seldom seen
doesn’t make the leopard
any less a creature.
Just utter the word –
leopard.
you’re stalked by
the sound of its name.
From
mute feet
to spotted velour coat
to head half-jaw
and teeth as honed
as calcified spears,
its physiology
becomes its physiognomy –
immaculate hunter,
cold killer.
And yes,
always out there somewhere.
John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Soundings East, Dalhousie Review and Connecticut River Review. Latest book, “Leaves On Pages” is available through Amazon.