2 Poems by Antony Johae

A Reason for Parting

“The supernatural envelops us and answers us and answers our needs like the atmosphere, but we do not see it.” Charles Baudelaire

In the churches of Rome

I shadowed spirits

You looked for proportion.


In silent chapels

I found space sacred

You measured it.


In St. Peter’s palace

I wondered at magnificence

You took note of scale.


I sounded celestial ceilings

You saw classic form.

That is why we had to part.


We Used To Swim Here

We used to swim here.

You taught me to coordinate my arms and legs

to breathe in time with the strokes

lose my fear of water

ride the waves as they came in.

Now you have gone

I am floundering.


Bionote

Antony Johae is a freelance writer and has taught literature in England, Ghana, Tunisia, and Kuwait. While in Ghana he wrote Guinea Coast Impressions. In 2015, he published Poems of the East. He divides his time between Lebanon and the UK. Lines on Lebanon is in progress. Poetry Salzburg will publish After-Images: Homage to Eric Rohmer in 2019.