My Time in That Other City by Mike James

On sunny mornings, I took long walks on the boulevards. 

On rainy mornings, I walked farther. 

Some days, I’d find a house with a ladder to the roof. 

I’d climb to the roof, then let the ladder fall. 

Those days, I’d pretend there’s always a daytime moon.

It’s good to have something to look at, even if it’s pretend. 

Mike James makes his home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He has published in hundreds of magazines, large and small, and has performed his poetry at universities and other venues throughout the country. He has published over 20 collections and has served as visiting professor at the University of Maine, Fort Kent. His recent new and selected poems, Portable Light: Poems 1991-2021, was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His last collection, Back Alley Saints at the Tiki Bar, was published in April by Redhawk. He currently serves as the Poet Laureate of Murfreesboro, TN.