I see a woman hang gliding over the cornfields as I drive to my 9-5 and smile — enthused by this rebellion
of the weekday slog.
And I’m not romanticizing good ole days full of humble famines and quaint diseases. But simply recognizing
my own longing for less separation from the actual world,
to solve my dissonance
with the old gods.
After work, I notice my tomato plants have sprouted
Tuscan-yellow flowers of lace. My little daughter helps tie
the stalks to bamboo stakes,
secure them upright
before the fruit appear. We catch fireflies, naming them
before they leave us. In these moments, I assume body and spirit become one or maybe the spirit
just overtakes the body for a time. Sort of what I imagine flying feels like —
temporarily dialed
into some universal frequency.
John Wojtowicz grew up working on his family’s azalea and rhododendron nursery in the backwoods of what Ginsberg dubbed “nowhere Zen New Jersey.” Currently, he works as a licensed clinical social worker and adjunct professor. He has been featured on Rowan University’s Writer’s Roundtable on 89.7 WGLS-FM and several of his poems were chosen to be exhibited in Princeton University's 2021 Unique Minds: Creative Voices art show at the Lewis Center for the Arts. His debut coffee-table-style chapbook Roadside Attractions: a poetic guide to American Oddities was published in 2022. John serves as the Local Lyrics contributor for The Mad Poets Society Blog. He lives with his wife and two children in Upper Deerfield, NJ. Check him out on the web at: www.johnwojtowicz.com