Here's Johnny, by Devon Balwit

Here's Johnny, by Lorette C. Luzajic (Canada). 2016. Click image to view art on Etsy.

Here’s Johnny

She would look at me in such a way
that every day became a brand-new 

mountain in need of God to pull me 
to the top, each gesture reminding me 

of the peeling paint, the unmown yard. 
The only thing for it was the whiskey 

hidden in the dash, the fishtailing around 
the farthest curve that she could follow 

with her eyes. Even out of sight, she bothered. 
I could never rest easy on the barstool, 

open an envelope without fearing the bounced 
check. Days became the burn barrel, the shotgun 

shatter of empties on the sagging fence. 
When she finally left, I changed 

the locks, left the lawn to sun-glare, ripped 
each tired geranium from her bed.

​Devon Balwit

This poem is from the just released Risk Being/Complicated, a full-colour illustrated collection of poems by Devon Balwit inspired by the art of Ekphrastic Review editor Lorette C. Luzajic. Click book cover image below to view or purchase on Amazon.

Devon Balwit teaches in Portland, OR. She has six chapbooks and two collections out or forthcoming, among them: The Bow Must Bear the Brunt (Red Flag Poetry); We are Procession, Seismograph (Nixes Mate Books), and Motes at Play in the Halls of Light (Kelsay Books). Her individual poems can be found in The Cincinnati Review, The Carolina Quarterly, Fifth Wednesday, the Aeolian Harp Folio, Red Earth Review, The Fourth River, The Free State Review, Rattle, The Inflectionist Review, The Ekphrastic Review, and more.

Click cover to view or purchase at Amazon.