Carl Martin Johnson
Poet, Author, Slayer of Dragons
© Carl Martin Johnson, All rights reserved
WORDS FAIL
By Carl Martin Johnson
I have ideas of depth and wonder,
Of colors yet unseen,
Of sounds far beyond thunder,
Heaven, Hell, and all between.
In my thoughts I clearly know them.
They are full being in my mind.
Yet, when I try to show them,
The words are hard to find.
I want to share these things.
I have much, I feel, to give.
Beauty from my soul springs,
But I cannot write to make it live.
Only when poetry flows
Direct from mind to mind,
Can I describe a rose
With its fullness unconfined.
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THE FALL
By Carl Martin Johnson
She made sure I’d see her fall.
I was the audience she wanted.
I was the reason for it all.
She made certain I’d be haunted.
Had I loved her not so well,
I would have turned before she leapt.
I should have followed her to Hell,
Where together we’d have slept.
But, I watched the tragic scene.
After all, I wrote the script.
It would have played different on the screen.
I would have caught her as she slipped.
I had found them naked on the floor.
She had wanted her revenge.
She got that, and much more.
The sight still makes me cringe.
When I left, it was for good.
We had both cut wounds too deep.
She had said she understood.
We had sowed, now we must reap.
Now I look out on L.A. lights
From high in the Hollywood Hills,
Recalling our Hollywood nights.
Reliving our Hollywood thrills.
She is swallowed in the dark below me.
She is dead, and my soul’s dying.
Did I know her, or she me?
Or was our love just lying?
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SENSES
By Carl Martin Johnson
I taste you with my eyes.
Know your beauty on my tongue.
A lacy sweet surprise,
Like cotton candy when I was young.
I see starlight in your voice
When love phrases leave your lips.
I watch as syllables rejoice,
Setting sail on poet’s lips.
I hear your body’s scent.
It calls me to your arms.
Such a musical event.
A symphony of charms.
I touch your searching gaze
As you study the morning sky.
My heart feeling the secret ways
The world filters through your eye.
I smell the perfume of your soul.
Its pure fragrance soothes my own.
Now I’ve embraced you, part and whole,
In every way that’s known.
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THE MOMENT
By Carl Martin Johnson
The Moment is what matters.
The Moment, nothing more.
It comes together or it shatters,
Nothing after nor before.
We view through one end of the spyglass
To look back, though oft in error.
The other to see what will pass,
To find comfort, or, perhaps, terror.
There is no truth save now.
The past is colored, the future blind.
All time but present will endow
Thoughts with falsehood in your mind.
As the second hand ticks past,
The world around us rearranges.
And, truly, just as fast,
The person we are changes.
The man who wrote this rhyme
Has evolved, first line to last.
And you who read it are in a time
That is already past.
Yet the Moment is God’s great bequest.
The gift that sets us free.
For the Moment, which never stops to rest
Makes up Eternity.
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IF YOU FIND ME
By Carl Martin Johnson
Tell me if you find me.
I have lost myself, you see.
Somewhere on the road behind me
I left the man I used to be.
He had standards, he had goals.
He knew well wrong from right.
He was careful of the souls
He sent to Heaven in a fight.
Have the years made him lazy?
Does he now take the easy way
Has his lifestyle made him crazy,
Fighting dragons every day
The old me was a fine man.
He stood strong for what was right.
He fought as only the just can
Against the evils of the night.
If sometime you see that man,
Tell him I want him back.
He took with him when he ran
The virtues I now lack.
When he returns I’ll be reborn,
Ready to crusade again,
In honor’s armor once more worn
By me, the Paladin.
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LAUGHING AT THE DEVIL
By Carl Martin Johnson
Satan save your flings at fright
For children and the weak.
I assure you, when you prowl at night,
I am not the prey you seek.
Once an angel of the Light,
Royalty in Heaven’s choir,
You could not be very bright
To have traded that for fire.
How can I not hold you in contempt?
Or treat you with disdain?
After such a stupid attempt,
Simply because you’re vain.
You try to outwit the human soul
To lure us to your lair.
Do you think you can control
The force Man has created there?
You take a foolish pride
In the evils of my race.
Allow me to confide,
Our sins have a human face.
Cain killed Abel without your aid,
With only the jawbone of an ass.
So you will not make us afraid
By what you have not caused to pass.
I laugh heartily at your conceit,
At the arrogance you’ve shown.
Our wickedness is ours complete.
Man’s evil is his own.
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WIND RIDER
By Carl Martin Johnson
I think I’ll ride the wind tonight.
This life has made me tired.
I’ll go out where the stars are bright.
Where I can be inspired.
Perhaps I’ll catch the southern breeze
Float off to someplace warm,
Just drift around doing as I please,
It would surely do no harm..
If I can soar up very high,
I might catch an angel’s kiss,
And listen well as she flies by
For a whispered secret I might miss.
Maybe I will hear the word
I’ve long been searching for,
Making my soul so passion-stirred
That my verses hence will roar.
So I’ll saddle up a friendly gust.
Give him a spur and a loose rein.
Leave the real world in the dust.
Let dreams refresh my brain.
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NEANDERTHAL BLOOD
By Carl Martin Johnson
I feel the caveman in my soul,
From my ancestors’ promiscuous breeding.
It rages against my self-control,
Gives me a daring I’ve been needing.
My grandfather Neanderthal
Passed down his genes to me.
I hear primitive instincts call,
Setting my spirit free.
I close my eyes and see the past,
Not mine, but those before me.
Exciting visions, moving fast.
Urges seeking to restore me.
The savage buried deep inside
Scorns my current mildness
Questions why I like a coward hide
My inherent wildness.
Yet, though his blood flows through my veins,
I must keep it well controlled.
Leash the violence fast in chains.
Use only enough to make me bold.
But if you look deep into my eyes
You will see him lurking there.
Hear his ancient hunting cries,
Warning my enemies to beware.
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MORE WORLDS TO CONQUER
By Carl Martin Johnson
Man is ready to move on.
There are new worlds we must gain
Before the chance is gone
To advance our species’ reign.
We huddle on this rock,
Afraid to set our sails.
Frozen in timid shock,
While the world around us fails.
Petty tyrants bribe the masses,
Whose own votes keep them in chains.
Dividing people into classes,
So that no fellowship remains.
Let us leave them all behind,
Taking the best of us away
To the new worlds we will find,
And give our kind a better day.
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BEEN A WHILE
By Carl Martin Johnson
A long time since I’ve seen you, friend.
I hardly recognize your face.
I thought you would have met your end
In some unsavory place.
You seem far better now
Than when I saw you last.
I believe that, somehow,
You have overcome your past.
Don’t worry about me.
I’ll tell no one you’re back.
I’ll swear to secrecy
Until you are on the proper track.
Just looking into your eyes
Pours hope into my heart.
I see you realize
You can have a brand new start.
You’ve conquered the demons that held you.
Knocked down, you rose again.
Took sword to those who felled you.
Now it is you who win.
We will push on together, friend.
For in this looking glass I see
The one who is with me to the end,
My own best hope, is me.
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KNIFE FIGHT
By Carl Martin Johnson
His hand curled ‘round the knife.
He really did not want to use it.
But he must fight for his life,
Or most surely he would lose it.
The bigger man’s blade caught the light,
Blood red from the dying sun.
Only one of them would survive this fight
When all the bleeding was done.
His opponent was drunk, but strong.
His eyes darting wild and red,
As if they should truly belong
In a raging fire dragon’s head.
They held the blades forward and low,
Each waiting for the other to spring.
Their movements were wary and slow.
Both feared the deadly blade’s sting.
Yellow dogs ran through the crowd,
Yelping in excitement and fear.
The onlookers shouted out loud,
Placing bets with those who could hear.
The insult he could not recall.
He should have let it go by.
But he was a man, after all.
For honor, a man sometimes must die.
The duelists were partners now,
In this death dance about to begin.
Whoever survived for the victor’s bow,
Neither one of the fighters would win.
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THE MASK
By Carl Martin Johnson
He is not what you see.
He has a secret part.
He keeps the mystery
Locked inside his heart.
Amongst us, quiet, he goes,
Attracting no attention.
Hoping no one knows
That he has another dimension.
He prefers, now, to live in peace,
Let his past remain sleeping.
Perhaps the memories will cease,
Lie still in his mind’s safekeeping.
The things that he has seen,
The things that he has done,
Remain behind the screen
Of his new life, dearly won.
The first verse of his life’s song
Was much different than this last.
Neither one is wrong
His soul sings softer now than past.
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I EAT THE WORLD
By Carl Martin Johnson
I am here world, I will eat you.
Bite off chunks and swallow whole.
Tasty universe I greet you.
You are nourishment for my soul.
You were created just to feed me.
To give me strength to grow.
Because in time you’ll need me.
Without me Life won’t flow.
I will devour, but not deplete.
I will give back more than I digest
In the beauty I excrete.
What comes out of me is blessed.
Do not try to flee.
My hunger is too great.
I am what will be.
I am Master of your Fate.
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VIGILANTE DEL PUEBLO
By Carl Martin Johnson
You have threatened and burned,
Beaten us and killed.
At long last we have learned
We must protect the life we build.
Your bandits have better arms.
All are trained to fight.
We have only our families and farms,
But we are in the right.
You molest our girls and wives.
You slap our children in your way.
They hide, fearing for their lives.
I declare this ends today!
We may die, but we will fight.
We will hunt you down and kill.
We have courage where we lack might,
Determination where we lack skill.
Brave hearts make short swords long.
We have God’s angels on our side.
They will make us strong.
God will bless us and take pride.
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PUT YOUR HANDS ON ME
By Carl Martin Johnson
Put your hands on me, dear.
Can you feel my heart?
Come closer now, I want you near,
Not a single breath apart.
I tremble wildly at your touch.
For release I need no more.
My passion rising up too much
To keep it held in store.
Your love is traveling through me,
Exciting places where lust lives.
If you knew what you are doing to me,
You would be amazed what your touch gives.
You have brought me to my peak.
Now I explode in orgasmic delight.
You have delivered what I seek.
Your hands magic in my night.
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PAST LOVERS
By Carl Martin Johnson
Your past will always haunt me.
It sneaks into my dreams.
Although I know you want me,
I am insecure, it seems.
Do old lovers cross your mind
When we are in love throes?
Are their faces intertwined
With mine, the one you chose?
Do their caresses still thrill you?
Send shivers down your spine
Can you feel them as I fill you?
Your moans from their love…or mine?
When we lie side by side,
The fire of passion quenched,
Was it me, or one you hide,
Causing the sweat in which you’re drenched?
Come, comfort me, my love.
Tell me the past is gone.
That only me will you think of,
From this moment on.
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FIND ME
By Carl Martin Johnson
I am lost in the Garden…Find me!
Don’t make me wander lonely.
I see nothing before or behind me
Save weeping and anguish only.
Surely happiness is near,
Hidden in these groves of sorrow.
Must I shed tear after tear,
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.
Let your love reach out to me.
Give me comfort from my grief.
Let me taste what joy can be.
From my pain give me relief.
Now through melancholy mist I see you,
Chained to heartache, just as I.
Come closer and I will free you.
Fly with me to Love’s blue sky.
Under Passion’s sun we’ll heal.
Our hearts will mend back strong.
Never again sadness feel,
Full sweet eternity long.
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