Cicada Bugs and Carol & Blind Man in Café, poems by Michael Lee Johnson

I walk this pain and joy
like a deity with you
for life it seems inhabits us
like a run on sentence
for no assumed reason.
17 years together
since the last calling
of the cicadas-
nothingness but for their noise,
loud buzzing wings,
no reason to stay
no reason to part.
We smell
lilacs bushes
together briefly-
take down
an apple or two-
ride rusty
old bicycles together
to a destination
neither of us
have been
to before.
Nymphs drop
to the ground
and burrow the wood,
again.
Will I see
you in 2024?

Blind Man in Café

Blind man-
fingertips
dancing across
table tops-
crooked smile
on his face-
searching for
a seat in a
crowded corner.