Here At Home by Mike James

my origin story starts with whiskey/first shot of light/take that morning/take what the day is/first one thing/call your brother/sure enough is an answer/no i in team, but most of all in always/who thinks that far/no one i know, would want/most of my associates are cats and long lost ghosts/ghosts have a fondness for exit signs/there’s something to collect/my constant is a love of wind up clocks and roman numerals/the calendar gives me trouble if i plan too much/my cat watches me from atop the kitchen table/kitchen windows frame one picture/kitchens hold more secrets than groceries/that’s morning and night/every place i’ve lived/not every place i’ve visited/travel indicates far/visit can be next door

Mike James makes his home outside Nashville, Tennessee and has published widely. His many poetry collections include: Red Dirt Souvenir Shop (Analog Submissions), Journeyman’s Suitcase (Luchador), Parades (Alien Buddha), Jumping Drawbridges in Technicolor (Blue Horse), First-Hand Accounts from Made-Up Places (Stubborn Mule), Crows in the Jukebox (Bottom Dog), My Favorite Houseguest (FutureCycle), and Peddler’s Blues (Main Street Rag.) He served as an associate editor of The Kentucky Review and currently serves as an associate editor of Unbroken.