Poetry By Matthew Johnson

Amy Jade is Alright
 
I put my headphones on,
And shuffle through the albums,
Studio, live and posthumous,
Of Amy Winehouse.
 
Down the rabbit hole I go,
Filled with brassy, smooth jazz,
And shifts of love and heartbreak.
 
I hear the pleading cries of
Nobody’s sweetheart,
And I simply take them as lullabies.
 
It’s all genius. But I wish
She didn’t have so many
Lady Day-like blues in her life,
And that her pain wasn’t so catchy.
 
Oh disassembled heart,
I wished she didn’t go to the place
Where she lost her innocence.  
 
I’m tapping my foot to her spilled-out soul,
And I hear her final words
In each of her songs,
He’ll treat me right… ​





A Runaway’s Reasoning

Because I
Wanted to hear the Earth’s pregnant, petal chimes,
And be an old man in springtime,
Calling for my bushy-tailed dogs,
And walking with a wife and grandchildren
To sooth my limbs and bones,
I ran away. 

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Bio: Bio: Matthew Johnson is a poet and an irrational sports fan. His writing has appeared in The Coraddi, The Yellow Chair Review, Jerry Jazz Musician, The Roanoke Review and elsewhere. He has poetry forthcoming in the The Stray Branch. You can find him on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/Matt_Johnson_D

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