Jo Janoski

The Veteran

Shoulders droop.
Hair black bold streaks
softened now
with white wings.He ambles on squeaky feet.
A balancing act
befitting his age.
Clutching a cane
like a maestro's batonor
chestrating the walk
with quick jagged strokes.
Eyes outlined in gray pencil
what used to be black
bold lines
painted by experience
in point
illistic pain.That was then.
His eyes still whisper
what he knows
like a snake swishing
through the grass
muffling its rattle
in the soft turf.
The legend of the damned
lurks behind a cloak
of civility.
The man knows civility.
He gave his youth for it.


Remembrances

On hot summer nights
Sitting on the porch
Absorbing a velvet night
Into my wrinkled skin of ages
Rocking on that old chair
Grandpa built with his own hands
While gazing at a supper dish moon
I recall with a smile resembling boyhood
Running through Grandpa’s cornfield
Many a July day filled with freedom
Arms wide, rustling the husks
Sun making me feel yellow and glad
Its glow brimming my youth with vigor.
The passing stalks were like the years
Each lasting its own short season
Enjoyed and soon forgotten
While anxiously awaiting the next


The Photographer

Mind's eye
Ribbon unfurls
Revealing misty earth
Colors colliding with black Mind's eye
Ribbon unfurls
Revealing misty earth
Colors colliding with black lines
of truth.


The Writer

Pursuit
Black Ink Abyss
Iron-cloaked scribe
My pen issues gray hollow flow
of words.

White Blast
Passion discharged
Released in sonic boom
Shooting inspiration bulletsin verse.


Storm Dragon

Storm Dragon roars in tempestuous skies.
Fetid breath drapes surprised world in darkness.
Strong winds swirl, stealing, demanding their way.
Creatures dash about, fleeing the starkness.
Storm Dragon's roar shakes ground while trees shiver.
Animals gather like leaves on a vine,
predator with prey, together, solemn,
joined against same enemy, of one mind.
Storm Dragon hurls glimmering balls of fire.
Dark sky electrifies with bolts and screams.
Shimmering curtains of rain swallow all,
assimilation, as Storm Dragon deems