Part III (a poem)

What will I feel 
If the unthinkable 
Becomes reality 
Crimson death balloons 
Detonating before our eyes 
Will there be pain 
As my atoms go nuclear 
Turning inside out 
Incinerate into nothing 
Will my final thought 
Be one of release 
I didn’t vote for him 
Not the first tine 
Nor the second 
Definitely not the third 
The blood of others 
On other hands 
I did what I could 
To prevent the 
Narcissistic 
Delusional  
Bigoted 
Self-righteous 
Hypocrite 
From gaining power again.
Maybe my last thought 
My last feeling 
As my disintegrating body 
Becomes a shadow  
Silently screaming 
On the wall 
Should be of 
Blind rage 
Rage against those 
Who wanted this 
Wanted him in office 
Knowing he was unstable 
Shoving his first chosen 
Right-hand man 
Under a bus 
For not illegally 
Calling him winner 
Now no one wins 
Maybe not even 
The only kind 
Of people
Other than himself 
He cares about 
Rich  
White 
Straight 
Christian  
Men  
But with your vote 
You wanted that too 
To cleanse the country 
Of anyone 
Identifying as a 
Race  
Sexuality 
Religion 
Gender 
Different than you 
You knew how he 
Hated
Other 
Humans  
Who didn’t fit into 
His homogenized mold 
When you voted 
This time around 
So don’t play dumb 
In our final hour 
Will you rejoice  
With your last 
Holier than thou 
Atomic breath 
Give thanks to 
Your elected 
Lord and Savior 
For making 
The upcoming  
Post-apocalyptic  
Wasteland 
Great again 
____________
2025, John L. Harmon 

This poem is an expression of my fear and anger over current events.  

Freak Out, 
JLH 

FLIGHT RISK (a poem)

Here I stand 
In between 
An ending 
A beginning 
If the door closes 
Should I open a window 
Take a leap 
To see if I can soar 
Never mind the height 
Flying at speed  
Ground falling up
A million miles an hour 
Brace for impact 
By letting go 
Of what I cannot see 
What I can’t control 
Only then maybe 
I will find me 
Swirled in a second wind 
Leaving behind 
All that has been 
Embracing all I could be 

~~~~~~~~~~~~
2025, John L. Harmon  

I’ve been writing a little each day this month and FLIGHT RISK is one result of this endeavor. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S.  My 2019 collection of half-blind poems can be found as an audiobook from Audible… 

On the eve… (a poem)

Can’t you see 
Shadows under eyes 
Tears unable to fall 
For today 
Yesterday 
What may come 
In a world 
Full of souls 
Separated 
Isolated 
How can loneliness 
Prevail with many 
Crowded spaces 
Not enough time 
Avoidance is key 
Survival tactics 
Installed within 
Deep distrust 
Misunderstandings  
Abound and surround 
Suffocating intentions 
Without explanations 
Either this or that 
No grey conceived 
No lines between 
Sight narrowing 
Forcing positions 
You against me 
____________ 
2025, John L. Harmon 

Just expressing my thoughts and feelings of late.  

Freak Out, 
JLH 

Fear of Past Tomorrows (a poem)

Shadows of yesteryear 
reverberate through time  
pounding on the door 
official act demands 
lay your undesirables 
on the unclean floor 
round them up 
rejected  
for the alleged safety 
and greatness of all 
once friends 
and neighbors 
loved ones you chose  
to sanctimoniously vilify 
turn against 
dragged away 
disappeared  
from your 
hateful 
homogenized 
nevermore 

~~~~~~~~~~~~
2024, John L. Harmon 

Freak Out, 
JLH 
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other poems from this author…

A Short Story (a short story, of sorts)

    I stare, glare at the black screen through two pieces of plastic glass.  The white too bright to reflect, refract, magnify my muddled words.  Feeling the syllables crawling, scrawling beneath this growing older by the millisecond skin.  Verbal seeds screeching, reaching for the blinding sight of others to inhale, devour, clatter in their respective collective mindscape.  Fading away fingerprints scrolling through digital pages or tips bleeding from flipping sharp paper edges in a frenzy to discover meaning in nonsense and senselessness in moments.  Watering eyes, tears or sweat blurring lines of fictitious reality and really fiction until the happy or not end is reached, achieved.  My voice spent, digits numb from popping letters into place, trying to place the seen from my head onto the dark screen floating in depth, closer than appears but so far from the soul suffocating inside.  Circling the circles surrounding sighing eyes, unable to see what others claim to see inside out.  Inside me within the lines of a short story that may never come to be.

____________
2024, John L. Harmon 

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S.  Escape reality through my books available from an Amazon near you…

4 things I don’t totally hate from 2023…

I’ve been going through the “everything I write is 💩” phase again.  This feeling comes and goes and will hopefully pass soon.  Until then, here are 4 things I don’t totally hate from 2023…

(You know the drill…click the pics ⤵️ to read, watch or whatever…)

1…  I released STURGEONS  (the complete serials) and now there are over 50 copies in the hands of readers around the world.  

(Photo courtesy of The Dobson Family Archive)

2…. I was inspired to write a poem by a freaky doll in the window of a local auction house and I still dig its dark humor. 

(Photo courtesy of The Demonic Auction House)

3…. I purchased a new pair of shoes and ended up creating a video which has been called my best. 

(Poster courtesy of The FreakOptic Files)

4…. I was interviewed by a local newspaper reporter about my books and chunk of vision loss.  I still appreciate that the article appeared on the page opposite the obituaries. 

(Article courtesy of Custer County Chief)

Thank you for your support of my creative endeavors in 2023 and I will half-see you in 2024.

I don’t totally hate this selfie

Freak Out, 
JLH 

 P.S.  One more thing from 2023… I experienced the script to what could be my favorite Andy Milligan film if a print is ever found. 

Killer Nature (a poem, of sorts)

Take my hand 
As we stroll 
Through the flowering fields
Until our feet meet with thorns
Infection quickly spreads 
Losing the need for shoehorns 

Take my hand 
As we hobble 
Through the wandering woods 
Until a full hugging tree 
Slaps our smiling faces   
Leaving us with nothing to see  

Take my hand 
As we feel 
Through the silent shrubbery   
Until aromas make us crave 
Sweet berry poison  
Leading us to nature’s grave 

____________
2023, John L. Harmon 

I asked a friend for a poetry topic and she suggested nature.  The above words were the result. 🌳🪦

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S. click the pic ⤵️ for a different poem inspired by a different friend… 

~~~~~~~~~~~~
My books on Amazon… viewAuthor.at/JohnLHarmon 

Foreshadowing Winter (a poem, of sorts)

Attempting to embrace 
The autumn landscape 
Stretching before me 
Days growing shorter  
Clocks winding down 
Leaves quickly falling 
Once vivid memories 
Now slowly fading 
Decaying on the ground 

____________
2023, John L. Harmon 

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S. an appropriate classic from The FreakOptic Files for this day… 🎈

~~~~~~~~~~~~
My books on Amazon… viewAuthor.at/JohnLHarmon

Caught Waiting (a poem of sorts)

Words caught 
Like fragments 
Of glass 
Coating my throat 
Blood flowing 
Away from 
What I could write 
All I could say 
Until my mouth 
Closes up 
Until my thoughts 
Run dry 
And I wait 
For the day 
When my eyes 
Completely fail 
To see the world 
And all it meant 
And what 
It never seemed 
To me 

I should use this as my obit pic

____________
2023, John L. Harmon 
Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S. Are you aware October is Blindness Awareness Month?  (Click the pic ⤵️ for my post from 2022) 

Cornered View (a poem, of sorts)

Tell me how I feel 

After you tell me I shouldn’t 
Feel disappointment 
In the drop 
From 5 to 3 
Despite the coverage 
Layering eyes and ears 
Of place and time 
Time allegedly bad 
Never you mind 
This ain’t a ghost town 
From 9 to 5 

____________
2023, John L. Harmon 

(This poem, of sorts was inspired by the recent book signing event I blogged about last week.) 

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 
~~~~~~~~~~~
For more about STURGEONS… 
https://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2023/07/and-now-for-commercial-break-in.html

No time for blogging…

Shouldn’t he be reviewing another STAR WARS film right about now?  Where is a new poem, of sorts?  Why hasn’t he obsessively blogged about Andy Milligan lately? 

I hope these are the prevalent questions in your mind, but don’t freak out!  They will all happen, sooner or later.  I’ve just been busy lately.  I mean, STURGEONS (the complete serials) won’t plug itself.  Well, maybe it can with a few fantastic reader photos! 📗 😍

Feline Approved!

Then I have a book signing event approaching like a noose slowly tightening around my throat.  It’s more of a meet & greet situation where readers will approach me, grab a cookie and (hopefully) pick up an autographed copy of STURGEONS.  I’m not sure if anyone will turn up, but I hope so.  I mean, the article in the Custer County Chief should draw out a few curious folk or at least Ms. Minch! 

Kim, a groovy librarian, designed this awesome flyer!

Yes, I was interviewed for the local paper.   Managing Editor Mona Weatherly wrote a great article about STURGEONS, my vision loss and my writing in general.  The headline, Author fights to get back to writing ‘fun, quirky’ stories is newspaper perfection!  Here are the photos which appeared on a different page than the article.  The purple one is my Amazon Author Page pic and the orange one was taken by Mona.  She said I looked like a proud author, but I said I looked positively goofy, as usual.  

Courtesy Custer County Chief 

To top it all off, I no longer deliver bad news 🗞️ around town.  It was time for that part of my life to end and I definitely won’t miss it this winter. ❄️  My predicted post-Covid 19 career of peddling my wares at a truck stop never manifested, but I am getting wet at a local diner instead.  Yes, I am now a visually impaired dishwasher 🍽️ by day and a queer indie author ✏️ by night!  

I saw the sign!  Well, my sister saw it and told me about it.

Plus, thanks to Vinegar Syndrome and AGFA, I just started digging into the films of Jon Moritsugu.  From what I’ve experienced so far, his very DIY/experimental films are like Gregg Araki and David Lynch had an allegedly nihilistic, pseudo-intellectual punk rock baby.  In other words, this box set is going to take a bit and challenge me along the way. 

Well, until I blog about whether my book event is a pop 👍 or a flop 👎, thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S.  Here is the first review of STURGEONS on Goodreads…

On Kilter (a poem, of sorts)

Coat me in the afterglow 
of words and faces 
I’ll never not know 
until electric synergy 
scratches from inside  
digging to the caverns 
where my true eye survives 
unfurling the lens-scape 
with magnetic flows 
caressing the kinetic level  
where only unconventionals go 

____________
2023, John L. Harmon 

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S.  

For your consideration…
The 5-🌟 review of STURGEONS (the complete serials) from My Gay Opinion on Amazon…

The Effect After (a poem, of sorts)

Words released 
Scattered miles 
Deep breath 
Following trials 

Others waiting 
Spinning round 
Empty pages
Whispered sounds 

Tapping digits 
Captured words 
Another beginning 
Forever absurd 

____________
2023, John L. Harmon 

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S. 

STURGEONS (the complete serials) has received its first review and the glowing words originate from Amazon France! 🇫🇷