Dedicated to Nicholas Johnson and Maureen Holm, co-founders of BigCityLit

TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

by Nicholas Johnson

All families have their lore, their mystery

and nostalgia to put on movie screens.

My Lady of the Cinema still screams

out for revenge, love, abuse; she leaves me

to contemplate the ruins, the old house and sea.

Where is the bright light sent to intervene

and save us from our loud and squabbly scenes?

These minor parts are still the parts of history.

Oh the sea, the sea, who’s crying in this hurricane?

I look for you, for signs along the way.

Others pass me by but listen to me sing.

The wind out here sounds totally insane.

A good time is not enough for me I say.

The wind, rain, sand in my face just plain sting.

 

Originally published in Poetry in Performance #39, Annual Spring Poetry

Festival, The City College of New York, 17 May 2011, Edited by Gregory

Crosby and Lynn Dion, p. 204.