John Drudge (Western Voices 2023)

Bio: John is a social worker working in the field of disability management and holds degrees in social work, rehabilitation services, and psychology. He is the author of four books of poetry: March (2019), The Seasons of Us (2019), New Days (2020), and Fragments (2021). His work has appeared widely in numerous literary journals, magazines, and anthologies internationally. John is also a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee and lives in Caledon Ontario, Canada with his wife and two children.

Waterlilies 

That day 

When we went to see 

The waterlilies 

In the French countryside 

And I watched the sun 

Dance across your face

For an instant 

On the bank 

Of the old pond 

As I brushed your skin 

Lightly 

Reaching for something 

Closer to art 

Than beauty 

When love was soft 

And slow 

Beneath the shade 

Of the apple boughs 

In the garden

***

A Night in Florence

Beauty

Humanity

And knowledge

A Renaissance

Of ideals

A new age of learning

In the winds 

Of change

Grand visions of progress

Under a new

Medici moon

And the elegant refinement

Of lurid need

In the Tuscan foothills

Carnality and sin

Pressing against flesh

As day turns to night 

With the deep undertones 

Of Florence 

Breathing

***

Dreams

As the night 

Changes

Far too fast

Dreams

Are the most floating sleep 

Of all

Gently they go

The trembling

The shaky

And the unsteady

As the woolly promise

Of tomorrow

Sings like a future

Encased in glass

***

---

Western Voices 2023 :: Setu, February 2023

John Drudge: Poetry (Western Voices 2021)

Bio: John Drudge is a social worker working in the field of disability management and holds degrees in social work, rehabilitation services, and psychology. He is the author of three books of poetry: “March” and “The Seasons of Us” (both published in 2019) and “New Days” (published in 2020). His work has appeared widely in numerous literary journals, magazines, and anthologies internationally. John is also a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee and lives in Caledon Ontario, Canada with his wife and two children.

 

Summer in Paris

 

Beneath

The zinc covered roofs

Of the 6^th

We shuffle aimlessly

Past yet another

Vociferous manif

Chanting in solidarity

In the face of some injustice

Somewhere

The ever present consequence

Of fine weather in Paris

Over to the bookstore

By the river

Across from Notre Dame

To buy something good

To read

In the quietness

Of our favourite park

 

 

 

No Shelter

 

From the cold evening

Into the morning

With the gloom

Kissing wind

Across the frozen dew

Shattered

And staggering

Blocking the elements

In doorways

Walking the boulevard

With nowhere left to go

And nothing else to do

Wandering

In cages of freedom

Aimlessly

On the outside

Looking in

Through pinholes

In the corners

Of our silence

 

 

A Wonderful City to Die In

 

In the mirage of night

Beneath frozen stars

In the silence

Of my steps

With the barkeeps

Closing up

And the taxis

Turning off for the night

I make my way

To the small garden

Behind the old grey church

Sitting in the stillness

Of the neighborhood’s

Collective slumber

With everything calm

Beneath a gentle moon

Thinking about

The lower depths

Of my regrets

As the light

In a second story window

Across the street

Turns to black

And I sink low

In my collar

Against the growing cold

And wait

---

Western Voices 2021 :: Setu, February 2021

John Drudge (Western Voices 2020)

Exclusive: Western Voices, 2020: Edited by Scott Thomas Outlar

Bio: John is a social worker working in the field of disability management. He is the author of two books of poetry: “March” (2019) and “The Seasons of Us” (2019). His work has also appeared in the Arlington Literary Journal, The Rye Whiskey Review, Poetica Review, Drinkers Only, Literary Yard, The Alien Buddha Press, Montreal Writes, Mad Swirl, The Avocet, Sparks of Caliope, Harbinger Asylum, Black Coffee Review, The Ekphrastic Review, Cajun Mutt Press, Dissident Voice, La Piccioletta Barca Literary Journal Cambridge University, Beyond Words Literary Journal, Writers and Readers Magazine, the Adelaide Literary Magazine, and the Pangolin Review. John is a Pushcart Prize nominee and lives in Caledon Ontario, Canada with his wife and two children.

Time’s Up

  

It was a time

Of isolation

Of inward journeys

Through fear

And boredom

Into the blank stares

Of strangers

Through the fog

Of paranoia

And the thorny bramble

Of dark days

Beyond the cries

Of the self-doomed

And the hollow

To connect

With our own hearts

And to each other

To build a New Jerusalem

Of seeing eyes

And those ready

For the shift

Kierkegaard’s Dog

Alpha and Omega

And the one true God

Smug in all their guises

Word art

Warding off evil

In an ancient world

Where all roads

Sometimes

Lead to nowhere

And Rome is wild enough

Without our digging

Where things are better

Left unsaid

Beneath the surface

Of the clear road

With the sounds

Of butterflies breathing

Anchoring everything

To the soul

Gloomy

And anxiety ridden

Like Kierkegaard’s dog

Frail from saving himself

From impossible choices

Setu, April 2020