by John Muir
POEMS, PROSE & PENNILESS
Vol 1.
JOHN MUIR
Copyright John Robert Muir 1982. John Robert Muir asserts the legal and moral rights to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent and permission of the publisher.
DISCLAIMER:
These poems and prose are works of fiction. The names and characters are from the imagination of the author and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental. If you think the author has written about you, your ego is greater than your imagination or common sense.
Licence Notes:
Thank you for downloading this ebook. It remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied, and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favourite retailer, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.
Acknowledgements: The author and publisher wish to thank the many individuals for ideas, inspiration, editing, encouragement and support.
Published in EBooks 2014
EBooks ISBN:
Authors Note
I published many of these poems in a collection in 1983. As a result of requests I have made them available in eBook format. My grateful thanks to Noeline Grant, artistic painter and photographer, from Kati Kati, New Zealand, for her permission to use the cover art.
**********
INDEX
Two Words
Pick me, Pick Me
My Wants With You
I’ll Always Remember June and October
From The Party To The Reality
Unceasing Search
Circles And Confusion
Astrology
Love Is Continuous
The Unbreakable Bond
Cupid On Glass
Public Relations
That Damn Jigsaw Puzzle
I Am Part Of You My Friend, And You’re A Part Of Me
Reminders Of Home
What Are Teddy Bears For?
Up Front
My Secret
Fair Weather Lover
Windsurfer, Windsurfer
For Someone
Bed And Blankets
Love Is Crystal
It’s Like The Way
Effigies Fail
Flying Friend
Under The Headphones After Sweetwaters
Won’t You Ever Learn
You Are Everywhere
For Michelle’s Birthday Card
Another Day
I Love Your Need To Be Cuddled
Words Can Say Anything
About The Author: and for list of other works
TWO WORDS
“You.
A word so small,
but meaning so much,
For that simple word
contains all my love.
But a smaller word,
Us,
contains all my happiness
and all I want.”
**********
(Previously appeared in Cosmopolitan Magazine circa 1984)
PICK ME, PICK ME
“Sit alone in a ‘Singles Bar’ for two hours.
See everyone come in pairs.
The groups of guys,
each to give the other courage.
Some with wedding rings removed,
showing faint finger band white on third finger,
left hand.
An unintended revelation of the night,
and deception.
The girls too in pairs arrive,
many finger band white on third finger,
their vows hidden in the purse for the night.
It’s not done to enter alone.
If the hunters are blatant they sit
next to the entry.
If they’re subtle, they sit
in the darker recesses, to asses the prey.
The blasē salesmen
crash their way to introductions;
run over the same well rehearsed lines,
and hope for some miracle
which sometimes does occur.
Hey miracle, I’m over here!
It isn’t done for guys to be shy.
But without a hunting mate
I’m no match for salesmen
or other pairs.
So miracle,
Pick me! Pick me!”
**********
MY WANTS WITH YOU
“I want to hold your hand,
as we paddle between the breakers
and the shore.
To laugh with you
as the sudden shower
wets our hair and faces.
To lie with you under the sun
and feel its warmth
on our backs.
To watch with you
the sunset over the sea,
and the stars at midnight.
To hear with you the morning birds
that wake us from our sleep.
And turn and see your morning face.”
**********
I’LL ALWAYS REMEMBER JUNE AND OCTOBER
“I’ll always remember June and October,
the months you came and went.
Thank you for a dream.
For a while I could plan
for what seemed reality.
You gave that hope to me.
So I thank you for the time.
It is only I who remembers
placing the long pillow by you
while you slept.
To keep in the warm
and avoid your waking.
Like I remember watching
you put your arm over the pillow
and kiss it in your sleep.
It was a shame
I woke from that dream
into a nightmare.
With no understanding
of why you left.
Though it is only my history,
I’ll always remember that year,
and the months June and October.”
**********
FROM THE PARTY TO THE REALITY
“I looked,
then looked again.
My chemistry surged,
my body sparked.
Could you possibly sense it?
You seemed to react to my presence.
But surely,
my mind is playing tricks
by reading what I want,
not reading what is real.
Then we speak,
Our hands touch on introduction.
Sensory overload so magical,
together.
It is all going well.
Too well.
We make arrangements for tomorrow,
without consummation tonight.
Then tomorrow arrives,
I phone you.
The atmosphere is gone.
The magic dissipated.
Last night’s feelings flopped.”
**********
UNCEASING SEARCH
“My unceasing search
is all that keeps me going.
I know I’m ready now
for love,
and loving.
I think I’ve been ready
for quite a while now.
The sense of urgency
and feeling of desperation
is felt more pressing each day.
Almost as if the race
is nearly over,
and I have yet to start.
As though my time is close
to being all used up.
As if any day now
I’ll hear a voice call out,
‘come in Boat 5 – your time is up’.
It’s not quite like that,
but very nearly,
For this pressure inside me
is screaming to get out.
It’s love that’s built up
looking for the right release.
A pressure not as easily relieved now
by the distraction
from my search.
I look at so many pairs of eyes,
and wonder,
are you the one?
I cross streets unnecessarily
to catch another’s eye.
Some look back,
but most don’t.
Even with those that do,
my embarrassment means
I do nothing about it.
Too fearful I’ll be obvious.
I so often wish I had courage enough
to simply say –
‘I’d like to talk with you awhile,
as I will likely never see you again.
And if I miss this chance,
I might miss the chance
of ending my search.’
So, if you see me looking,
please smile back,
and say ‘Hello’.”
**********
CIRCLES AND CONFUSION
“I often work out where I’m at,
then wonder why I’m there.
And if I’m there, just where is it?
How did I get to here?
I know I’ve been right here before
I didn’t like it then.
So I ask myself once more,
‘why me, why me again?’
How do we learn? can we look back?
And learn things from the past?
But if the past does hurt too much
how long can hurt last?
So if you ever wonder why
your muddled mind can’t cope.
We live in circles cruel and hard,
but try to live in hope.”
**********
ASTROLOGY
“I still read your horoscope every day
and hope they foretell some miracle,
like your return to me.
But then I fear,
that if the miracle as written
did not occur,
how could I cope?
But what if as is written ,
if it did occur,
and you returned to me;
how would I cope?
So I am sad and happy
when I read
your stars every day.
For to date,
no miracle is forecast.
So I don’t have to face
whether I could cope”
**********
LOVE IS CONTINUOUS
“I love you
in the only way I know how.
It is not material,
and able to be touched.
It is an emotional thing.
For I love you as much
in a group of a thousand people,
as I do when
we are by ourselves.
My love for you is not a secret,
only to be shared
behind closed doors.
Not there to be switched off and on
when it is convenient.
It is uncontrolled and continuous.
I can no more switch off my love
than I can stop my heart beating.”
**********
(Previously appeared in Cosmopolitan Magazine circa 1985)
THE UNBREAKABLE BOND
“I’ve seen them,
lying on beach sands,
bodies apart,
yet fingers touching.
I’ve seen them,
on busy and quiet streets,
hand in hand,
keeping their pace together.
I’ve seen her,
caressing his neck
with her fingers,
as he drives through city traffic.
I’ve seen him,
holding her arm,
to guide her safely
across a busy street.
In groups of friends,
she briefly touches his arm,
to reinforce
the bond between them.
He smiles at her
across a room,
that smile that says
we are one.”
**********
CUPID ON GLASS
“The window covered in condensation
from our hot breath,
Formed from a night of lovemaking,
while outside the frost chills.
I write our names
inside a heart
pierced by Cupid’s arrow.
And wonder if its rapid fading is prophetic.
The cold morning air
delays my rising,
As you could delay me
with your warm breath
and fitting body.
Allowing me smugness,
with snugness,
knowing you love me.
Knowing you’ll be here
to love only me,
nearly as much as I love you.”
**********
PUBLIC RELATIONS
“Public relations is smiling.
Even when you’d prefer to put a knife
into the gizzard
of some hypocritical pig.
But that makes you
as big a hypocrite
for smiling.”
**********
THAT DAMN JIGSAW PUZZLE
“I am happy and sad
when I think of you.
So very happy that I
was lucky enough
to have met you.
So very glad that you
allowed me to share
your life for a while
But very sad
that the jigsaw of our lives
could not meld as one.”
**********
I AM PART OF YOU MY FRIEND, AND YOU’RE A PART OF ME
“All the beings in this world
must surely be one body.
And each of us mere atoms in
a body shared by all.
This makes me part of you my friend
and you a part of me.
So you’re an atom in my body
and I’m a part of you.
So I must feel what injures you
to help you put it right.
‘Cause if I don’t then your sad soul
gives pain in our joint mind.
Although the world seems large to be
one body of us all.
It all makes sense when looking out
to see our total soul.
Like Einstein said, if we could see
so far past space and time,
we’d see so far that we’d look back
to see ourselves here now.
So you’re a part of me my friend
and I’m a part of you.
But just how much you are in me,
and how much I’m in you,
I’ll never really learn my friend,
I can’t divide my mind.
My mind has got you well entrenched,
or is that mine in yours?
So you see the minds are one,
But which one is just me?”
**********
REMINDERS OF HOME
“It was good to see a sparrow
flitting through the plum tree,
a sight I know so well.
It’s something that’s familiar
from somewhere that I love.
The pigeons whistled in,
and cooed around the bread
I’d tossed them from th
e porch.
Its not quite as familiar
having pigeons in my yard.
I’m used to seeing them
in the greener pastures of home.
Even the warmer winters
make me miss the cold
of the night.
The cold that made us
snuggle in close
for warmth.
And me?
I’m just a country boy,
now in a big city.
Trying to keep country values
in a city of many faces
that in total count two.
I’ll try and keep my one face
and my one smile.
Then hope that I meet you
before my face splits
from hypocrisy.
Then perhaps we may share,
or visit,
the place I call home.”
**********
WHAT ARE TEDDY BEARS FOR?
“Lady, you don’t have to justify
this night in your mind.
Between missing real love and loneliness,
there is so little difference.
We both are alone, and we both need a sharing.
a feeling of caring and warmth.
Let your mind concede
you want company
Let your mind concur
with your body.
If it forestalls the loneliness
just one more day, until tomorrow,
then it has been worthwhile.
It’s nice to be cuddled in warmth,
What are teddy bears for?
You don’t go to bed just for sex,
that just happens,
it follows along the way.
It’s the warmth and the cuddles that follow
that puts off the lonely todays.
If your partner is feeling alone,
just like you
they too need the cuddle.
Then, what of me?
If you find me easy to share with,
then let’s just share the time
in warmth and cuddles together.
Let’s just share the night as friends,
maybe lovers,
should the mood take us.
But tomorrow,
don’t think we are chained
in commitment to each other.
I don’t want to own you,
and,
you won’t own me.
Let’s just have our little secret
and remember,
we were lovers once,
and perhaps might be again.
But most of all let’s remember
we are friends.
Friends who have taken down
that last barrier between us.
Friends who have conceded
they needed warmth for a night.”
**********
UP FRONT
“The pretty girl,
not wanting any rival,
has her ugly friend in tow.
She carefully chose her hunting mate.
While the ugly duckling
is content to feed
Off the crumbs tossed away
by her pretty friend.
All the while learning
That she must develop
what the self-centred pretty one
will never possess.
Personality and feelings.
In the final summation then,
the ugly one wins through.
So perhaps it is
the ugly girl
with her pretty friend out front,
to attract the bees.
The pretty one,
In shiny cellophane wrapping
is revealed as a plastic flower.
And all the sweet nectar
is with the ugly rose.”
**********
MY SECRET
“I think of you, your face your eyes,
You’re everything I’ve sought.
But I am me and I’m with mine,
And yet you are my thought.
Cause I’d looked round for such as you,
and now you’ve come along.
Am I too late? I live in hope.
Please tell me I’m not wrong.
My mind says No, my heart says Yes,
But common sense reveals,
