New Poetry by Mike James

The Dead

“The dead endure.” - Nancy Morejon

They are always going away

They cross the street, go out of sight

Step in a doorway’s shadow

In an oak tree’s shadow

They step towards the sunlight blazing on a rose bush

And carry some sunlight down to a hidden river

The river is darker than the deep grass beside it

And the dead sing to themselves there,

With remembered voices,

As they strum the long river grass

© Mike James 2022

Mike James makes his home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He has published in hundreds of magazines, large and small, and has performed his poetry at universities and other venues throughout the country. He has been nominated for multiple Pushcarts, as well as for the Paterson Poetry Prize. In April, Redhawk published his 20th collection Portable Light: Poems 1991-2021.