Luke Johnson

---

---

Like a Fish Gasping

Did I tell you a boy was walking home from school, when a woman asked him if he’d
like a cup of juice?

Did I tell you Jonah heard his mother’s voice and muted her concern?

Did I tell you the woman grew angry, began to weep, threatened to follow him home?

Did I tell you Jonah ran?

Did I tell you she set her three dogs free to harm him?

Did I tell you Jonah found his home, but the back door was locked?

Did I tell you Jonah ran?

Did I tell you Jonah never said no, that he found her offer kind, and besides,
she was an elderly woman anyway?

Did I tell you the home was large with locked windows, no dogs?

Did I tell you Jonah sat down, his brow was warm, he needed just a sip?

Did I tell you he had more than a sip?

Did I tell you as he drank his body began to wobble, he fell, that he dreamed
of fish fondled by blades?

Did I tell you he woke with bloody fingers?

Did I tell you he was my friend, he loved fingers, that he liked to suck fingers?

Did I tell you Jonah ran? 

Did I tell you he woke with his pants undone and a broom stick up his ass?

Did I tell you Jonah liked fingers?

I offered my fingers, found pleasure, strange pleasure, felt shame, I
silenced the Lord.

Did I tell you I silenced the Lord?

Did I tell you I woke with a sheet over my mouth and Jonah began to piss?

Did I tell you I swallowed piss?

I gasped like a fish out of waves

Did I tell you I swallowed piss?

Did I tell you Jonah ran, never came home, his body a house without windows?

Did I tell you Jonah ran?

Did I tell you he put a gun to his head and did what the whispers wanted?

Did I tell you it wasn’t his fault?

 

Luke Johnson's chapbook, :boys, is forthcoming from Blue Horse Press. His poems can be found at American Journal of Poetry, Asheville Poetry Review, Connotation, Greensboro Review, Narrative, Nimrod, Tinderbox and others.