The Eyes of Johnny Doe

 

Fiddle me off to sleep

oh eyes of Johnny Doe

You make these fun house mirrors straight

You make this fun house feel like home.

Alice the right size

Not squished, not too tall

You like

Pale girls

With moonstone eyes

Blood jumping at the sight

Of the spelling bee queen-

Thank you for breathing me in 

like rare earth

Thank you for breathing me in

like the rain

 

Thank you for leaning into the embrace

For remembering the beginning

the time, & the place

The mugwort tea moonrise

The spell that I cast

The spell that worked too well,

that I made my last

Across the galaxy, cross the highway,

cross the night

for your light,

& my light, red as rubies,

& my muse polished bright

 

In my bed in the deep woods

I wonder: half the night

Why do the men who would love me

grow as dumb as the dirt

& the men who would speak

never speak of my worth?

 

I can't be your ventriloquist,

my Johnny Doe

But you know

& I know

& we don't know alone

That if a poem or a song

which you 

set

down

which showed me 

beautiful & soft

penetrating

& kind

A fire ever-kindling

sparking diamonds in your mind

 

If such a thing landed

by carrier pigeon, by pony express

or by hieroglyphed means

I would think about forging a key to your kingdom

I would think about blowing the leaves from your trees

Your lost chord that calls to me

endlessly

please

The angels from my toes

to my headboard

to my brain

Swarming the pearly gates

like frog eggs in the spring

 

But your hand holds no pen

Your fingers fumble the keys

& nothing appears

but this wish, 

& a sneeze.

 

But the night is not lonely.

My own company keeps.

And the eyes of Johnny Doe

Fiddle me off to sleep.

Comments

[Marina]

Such lovely poems of rhythm and daunting imagistic glee! I love this narrative voice of yours, so full of the future and the past! Write on! Write on!

[Linda]

Ooh beautifully written. You are such a genius.