Frances Johnson as a poet is interested in people, places, and things as well as their relationships one to another.
About her poetrry she writes, "Words fascinate me because they have such power. With them we can express emotions, ideas, hopes, dreams, ideals, and much more. We can question, answer, build up,tear down, explore the known and the unknown, etc. Ultimately, I think language will either lead us to our nobler selves or to annihilation. Thus, I see a tremendous but exciting responsibility attached to writing whether it is poetry or a learned treatise.I'm very pragmatic and realistic in my daily life.However, I do believe that each of us has embedded somewhere inside, a mystical side that defies logic as it is usually defined. That side of me wishes to cultivate awareness of life/existence at all possible levels even when it can only be partially accomplished." She has been writing poetry since she began to read.
Frances Johnson's poetry also appeared on page 9109 in the 1999 edition of The Central California Poetry Journal.
Mute and undaunted,
Stoic and steadfast,
The mystery remains, anachronistic
the Joshua tree inhabits the
land and I...I question
from what past age it lingers
with spiky arms
raised in supplication
to the future.
it stands, having endured countless
changes with no memory links
to order its universe,
its history of flowering and seeding,
according to the
immutable patterns
of survival,
unless or until
events unceremoniously
intervene displanting
its time and place.
--out of time, out of place--
a strange and rooted relic
posited for no known reason
on the landscape.
It titillates the mindscape,
bridges time and space,
forces entry into mortal
perceptions, and casts both
light and shadow
across precipitous dreams of
immortality.
The motel shower-song
begins softly at dawn
as one by one by one
waking nomads
begin to stir,
remembering the fog
in the mountains
wondering as they leave
whether anything has been
forgotten.
Walking away was easier;
Walking away from was easier--
chin up, shoulders squared
and a rationalized smile
intellectualized in place
conjoined with logical
determination not to turnaround.
easier than the coming back to,
after all the answered
questions dangle unanswered;
as threatening as
they are inexplicable.
All text and images in The Central California Poetry Journal are copyrighted. Copyright by © by Scott Galloway 2001. All rights are reserved. See main Journal page for
copyright information.
Authors and poets submitting original materials to this journal retain all rights to their original work, except those rights specifically assigned in writing to Solo Publications including the right to publish the submitted work in The Central California Poetry Journal. The poems on this page are copyrighted by the author. Copyright © Frances Johnson 2001.
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