jopomojo

halfway to halfway / between winter and / summer according to lore // no sunrise is a good sign / no shadow's showing / and river's flowing

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

Jesus in 1920 / was erected on the shore / in front of Saint Joachim / to stand there and herald the / freezing and the melting and / the seabirds celebrating / the hope of Jesus' shadow.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

Photos by Jonathan Potter ⓒ 2024

1. (7:20am) After days of gray and cold and no sunrise to speak of my beloved suggested I should look out the window. There, I was surprised to see, the sky was a backdrop of mauve, pink, tangerine, and gold.

2. (7:23am) I hopped in the car and drove down Saint Charles Boulevard where the naked trees greeted the rising sun with grateful limbs spread out and their backs turned to the Tuesday commuters tinged in golden light and mauve.

3. (7:26am) Then, lost, except a sliver, I drove till the searchlight sun pierced the trees from its orange waiting room in the clinic of solar psychology, spreading a carpet of light across the icy river.

4. (7:27am) The sun alive and alert above the far horizon, a spear of cloudlight through it, a yellow beret atop its jaunty head, a jumble of orange shadows and light like layers of a dessert.

5. (7:28am) A little further along I come to the memory of summer where the pilings of the yacht club meet the piles of stuff and things with nowhere to be stowed except in dreams of flying south in a song.

6. (7:29am) The old convent on a point stuck out into the flowing river now mostly frozen reminds me of a time I tried my hand at monastic life. But the climax of the sun risen there I now anoint.

7. (7:30am) The lion's mane of the sun holds this moment together. The turbulence of the joy above and the love below, with purple waves breathing in the wash of umber-orange everything and everyone.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

on the saint lawrence / the ice is forming / the morning gives nothing back // that the night withheld because / the day and the night / have this icy truce

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If I were a bus driver

And you were a skin-diver,

Would you take a ride with me

To the bottom of the sea?

If I were a bus driver,

Would you take a ride with me?

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Should I wait for you or should I roll on?

Will you, won't you, won't you, will you get in?

You're looking at me like you think I'm kiddin'.

If I were a garbage man

Emptying your garbage can,

Would you throw yourself away for me

In spite of your family?

If I were a garbage man,

Would you throw yourself away for me?

Tell me, tell me, tell me.

Look into my eyes and do not fail me.

Will you, won't you, won't you, will you say it?

Love me with your body, mind, and spirit.

If I were an artist

And you were a florist,

Would you let me

Paint your flowers in the morning?

If I were an artist,

Would you let me paint your flowers in the morning?

Show me, show me, show me.

I'm an open book and you can know me.

Will you, won't you, won't you, will you stand up?

I am on the ledge, I need a hand up.

If I were a bartender

And you were a pretender,

Would you pour a drink for me

On our anniversary?

If I were a bartender,

Would you pour a drink for me

On our anniversary?

[click on the voiceover link above to listen to this song]

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i. after completion

exhaling the morning gray

inhaling the thought of sunrise

recalling consummation

and the softness of the darkness

the solidity of love

the bright future laid out

ii. extended family

the strain of travel to you

your welcoming preparations

your father and your brother

your buoyant cousin visiting

we navigate together

we begin to build a life

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe