By J.J. Tindall
The Ballad of Johnny Sunshine
If Johnny Sunshine gets the glory,
give grace to John Rain.
One type of grace is raw luck.
Another, the spry, elegant motion
of a youthful finch, vibrant towhee
of modest house sparrow
restive in the last dangling
autumn leaves. John Rain is silent thought;
Johnny Sunshine earnest prayer:
a premeditated collage of desire,
a projection of mores
and mild-to-sharp self-reflective
superstition. Thoughts
“just come,” like birds, like Haiku,
like raw notes appearing
spontaneously until forged into
the distinctive melody of an idea.
Sparrow song. Mantra.
John Rain once remarked that
to where God gives grace, go:
to the rain in the water glass
(grail on the night stand),
to where hyper finches
in the mind flock to do
the dilemma dance, dodging
stressor thoughts spraying
like ammo from an Uzi, which
Johnny Sunshine dismisses
with a blithe flick of the wrist –
blind faith in the light of day –
stressors which stoic John Rain
endures with an heroic patience.
Hope? Useful past midnight as
wrists on a finch
or mores on an Uzi.
Until dawn and the return
of hope, the resurgence of
Little Johnny Sunshine.
Btw: leaves don’t fall, they’re ejected
by trees starving for nourishment
each October, each leaf rife
with the ghosts of April
and the shadows of antique rain.
Johnny Sunshine: pure dawn,
A silent explosion of
burnt orange, mind scrambling for words –
worry beads – to articulate the miracle.
Like hearing cricket song,
the mantra of midnight,
slicing through mid-day silence.
Arresting, like a groovy Haiku.
Grace to the cricket
which the finch can hear but not see.
Rain: the original Blue Angel,
revenge of the lake,
the resurrection of John,
elderly rain.
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J.J. Tindall is the Beachwood’s poet-in-residence. He welcomes your comments. Chicagoetry is an exclusive Beachwood collection-in-progress.
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More Tindall:
* Chicagoetry: The Book
* Ready To Rock: The Music
* Kindled Tindall: The Novel
* The Viral Video: The Match Game Dance
Posted on November 27, 2017