Mojo on the Menu
previously published by Oddball Magazine.
The arched waist and stiletto heels that linger beyond my doorway
remind me of that woman who used to serve blues gumbo when I
strictly ordered a mojo muffuletta. It’s what you call a subtle niche,
the scent of seawater that infuses everything I ingest. I cringe
whenever she raises her glass to me! I didn’t come all this way
to be this lady’s labial bougainvillea, left to rot on Frenchmen Street.
I have this same problem every time I wander far from the
Garden District: dead leaves and flickering stars, the blues daddy
black cat with acoustic intentions who insists on crossing my path.
Supernatural longing with a side order of juju jambalaya!
And no matter how much that randy runner wants to bang
at my door, I know she still ain’t got my order right.
And Then We Said Goodbye
the day you became my peep show savant
is the day we reached a new understanding
we became obsessed with Charles Mingus
but that was to be expected
Boogie Stop Shuffle
Moanin’
it all suddenly made sense
a sphere of light all of our ill-kempt memories
you described me as your body of work
o virtuoso bass of harvested time
an assemblage of dreams
scalded by the sun upon awakening
intentional beauty in the way you stood
naked to the world
wearing nothing
but your pork pie hat
BIO: Connie Johnson is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer from Los Angeles, California whose poetry has appeared in several journals and anthologies. Her publishing credits include The Muleskinner Journal, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Sport Literate, Glint Literary Journal, Cholla Needles, Writing in a Woman’s Voice, Sheila Na-Gig, and Syncopation Literary Journal. Everything is Distant Now (Blue Horse Press) is her debut poetry collection; In a Place of Dreams, her digital album/chapbook, was published by www.jerryjazzmusician.com