Mike Turner is a songwriter and poet living on the US Gulf Coast. Named 2017 Male Gospel Entertainer of the Year by the North America Country Music Associations International, Mike’s original songs have received airplay in the US, UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and on the US Armed Forces Radio Network. He is co-founder of Music For World Peace Records, an indie record label specializing in original songs that promote world peace and oppose war. Mike’s poetry has been published in numerous print and on-line journals and anthologies; his first published poem was placed with Spillwords in 2019. His poetry collection, “Visions and Memories,” was published in 2021 by Sweetycat Press.
BEING THE BLUES
I rise from damp rumpled sheets
Sleep won and lost in snatches
Room suffused with gray
Teetering between night and dawn
A long breath escapes my lips
As though a heavy stone weighs against my chest
And I feel the tiredness of the ages
Centuries receding behind me
Forgotten hopes and dreams of multitudes
Collapsing into dust
I make my way to the kitchen
Opening the refrigerator
Its harsh white light illuminating the emptiness
Switch on the coffee maker
Awaiting the mystery of mud turned to elixir
Satisfying nothing
Settling into an old chair in the living room
I light my first cigarette of the day
Reactivating the taste of burnt cinder in my throat
Recalling the dark bars and cheap whiskey
Of a lifetime ago
And last night
And contemplate my coming day
One of weariness
Dreariness
Ennui and despair
As so many before
And those yet to come
Knowing my only respite
Will be those moments where I again no longer wake
Nor dream
And my only hope
Of light and color
Being the blues.
