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.
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