Continuous Present, an E-book of poems

 

In this collection, I gathered and revised poems and ideas written in various notebooks kept across the span of about thirty-five years, a few of them dating back to the late 80s. What they have in common is that they examine a fleeting glimpse, notions, tricks of light, moods -- in a word, motion. I tied them, as well, to my limited knowledge of Tai-Chi Chuan, and what this ancient martial art engenders in me regarding flow, balance, adaptability and the seasonal and tidal and mutable nature of existence.

You can find the book here at Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/continuous-present-john-michael-flynn/1145239310?ean=2940179564157

Also find it here at Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1545115

The poem titles should give a better sense of what I'm seeking to explore. 

Table Of Contents

Expecting To Search

Pivoting On A Third Foot

Rowing, Listing And Turning

Strategizing Counter Offensives

Splicing Fault Lines

Flexing With A Maytime Stream

Raining Dosages

Digressing, Healing

Shipping Off My Vices

Fathering A Somewhere In You

Teaching English To Those Who Want It

Flying Small In Third Class

Bringing Yucca To Yucca Flats

Trending Fashions For The New Cold War

Gadding About Wonky

Steeping The Tea Of Empire

Bowling For Charity

Asking Why Not A Duck

Sliding Rule, Vanishing Trajectory

Appearing Patriotic

Rating Sharks On Algebra Farm

Waking Up Mid-Day During A Heatwave 

Skiing Asteroid Mountain

Staring Eyes Of Every Constellation

Noodling Media

Deconstructing Our Maudlin Bargain

Deriding A Lack Of Constancy

Completing Our Circle

Salting Pretzels, It’s A Living

Holding Open

Stewing Seaside Again

Seeping Into Ruin

Poring Over Deadlines

Failing Well

Growing Too Young

Fueling Rhythms

Looking There

Enduring Those Who Boast Of Their Afflictions

Catching The Children Who Catch Us

Giving More Than Attention

Moving In Harmony Again

Translating The Phrase Prenez Garde

And here is one sample poem from the collection.

Deriding A Lack Of Constancy

Whether it’s after losses or gains

the framing of slack hours resumes.

One must contend 

pulling away from doubts.

A surprising reach in one’s anguish

a deadening instinct, a vibration

heart.

Furious, stuttering

it’s easy 

to mangle imagined renewals.

There was never a furnace.

There was, indeed, a last night

a stampede of departures

a cobra within a mouth

fangs like lightning flashes.