Between
(triple haiku)

I must grow leaner
With thought and age: from wine to
Water, beef to broth.

Between here and there,
Should a man of decline choose
Prayer over repair?

When my final choice
Is finally made, one more
Comes around again.

Oldness
(triple haiku)

I’m old, and yet grand –
Of fables that raise a name
And remain. . .I claim.

I’m old and better
For it: less guess and excess;
Less conquest and rue.

I’m old, but able
To seize the last refuge of
Weakness for satire.

When
(triple haiku)

In the shadow of
Contrasts, the older I get,
The simpler I mean.

I grew tired growing
Older, so I decided
To lie low instead.

It is not enough
To know how the world works – we
Should also know when.

In excess of 50 poetry journals, plus numerous newspapers, have published J. Chester Johnson’s poems. Outlets/venues include: The New York Times, Literary Matters, Best American Poetry Blog, Poets House, Harvard College, Trinity Church Wall Street, Troubadour (London), and the BBC, among others. Recent poetry books by Johnson are St. Paul’s Chapel & Selected Shorter Poems (2010) and Now And Then: Selected Longer Poems (2017).

Image: czu_czu_PL, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons