The September Selected Poet is

Joseph V. Danoski

Please feel free to email Joseph at:

Dojonaki@Netscape.Net

THE CUCUMBERS OF CAPRICORN

Tending to the ending of summer—
All that’s now fallen and unborn;
Nothing left but the lost horizon
And the ascending of Capricorn.

Here’s a toast to the plants and flowers
That bud and blossom in the gloom;
Fairest children of darkest hours,
With soured spirits
And souls of doom.

And here’s to those of us born too late,
Under unlucky stars, to escape the cut
And the cruel hand of fate.

Cut down in the flower of their youth,
In the full bloom of bearing fruit;
Frozen in a midnight still-life,
A study in moonlight;
Dying in their prime.

Harvesting this garden of darkness—
The last-minute pumpkins and corn;
Nothing left but the sweet memories
And the cucumbers of Capricorn.

Now I cross the field of frosted lawn,
With the full moon of winter’s dawn;
Going where the wild seeds unsown,
Deep inside, die alone,
Long before their time.

THE PUMPKIN MASTER

I’m the phantom necromancer,
Casting spells and chanting incantations;
Raising Hell and the dead to life
Of greater expectations.

Now, after all these frozen years and fears,
Through aftermaths of acid rains and tears;
They’re alive and rising right out of the ground,
Freeing themselves from each burial mound.

I’m the farmer of forbidden harvest,
In a secret garden of graveyard darkness.

Yes, I’m becoming the Pumpkin Master,
Drunken with presumption and new-found power;
These beauties and beasties blooming like flowers,
In the moonlight of the midnight hour.

My creations and creatures of the vine,
With fingers to bring shivers up the spine;
All rocking the cradle and rolling the grave,
Creeping and crawling after what they crave.

I’m the happy Jack-o’-Lantern,
Lighting the night and giving direction;
Leading you down some dark dead-end,
To death and resurrection.

THE DAWN OF MONSTERS

Walking with my shadow growing,
The fallen leaves beneath my feet;
Monster of my weakness showing,
My shape is shifting in the street.

Waking up from the embalming,
The autumn moon a constant friend;
Night of living not yet dawning,
When all us monsters walk again.

THE TIME OF VINES

See the spectacle of stars in the summer twilight—
Sparkling eyes in darkening skies
Of the coming night . . .

It’s the time of secrets and the season of signs;
Of the light of darkness,
The dark and dead harvest—
The starting of the time of vines.

And what grew in a garden out behind the old barn,
Has now outgrown its field—taken over the farm!
Feel the wither and the weeds, a creeping disease
Spreading through the town;
On this night when phones go dead
And the lines are down.

All the pieces of a plan have fallen into place—
Seeds of doom on the sea of sky
From the depths of space . . .

It’s the time of sleeping and the reaping of minds;
The coming to flower
Of the midnight hour—
The darkness and the dawn of vines.

Joseph V. Danoski lives happily on the “plains of his imagination” in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  He published his first book of poems, Shock Waves: Letters from the Edge, back in 1987, under his infamous pen name, Jonathan Konrad.  This book is still being sold in local bookstores, and has been reviewed favorably a number of times.   

Through the years, Joseph has had quite a few of his poems published in the city’s newspaper, The Berlin Reporter, where for a time he had a byline in its poetry corner.  In 1997 he was asked by the Chamber of commerce to write something appropriate for the Berlin Centennial Celebration.  After researching the history of the area and the paper-making industry, he wrote a poem titled, The City Built from Trees, which he was subsequently invited to read at City Hall.

Joseph is a writer of letters and essays on diverse subjects, with strong opinions on many topics; but first and foremost, a poet of horror, science fiction and fantasy.  His other activities include playing music, gardening, hiking, and stargazing.  Recent publications include Penny Dreadful, Psychopoetica (U.K.)  Hadrosaur Tales, The Quest (India) and Black Petals.

Please visit Jonathan HERE