MICHAEL WATERSON

Another year of SHINE Poetry Series is coming to a close, and I am proud to present one last feature of the year...Michael Waterson. Michael is a retired journalist who obviously still has his finger on the pulse! Enjoy his poem "Breaking News," among others, and be sure to check out his Bio which follows. Thank you, Michael, for sharing your words with SHINE!

Breaking News

December Romance

Who would have thought becoming
a septuagenarian would be
so becoming to me
that beauty-pageant-grade young women
now hanker for my friendship on social media?
That’s a new wrinkle
to add to my collection.
My scam antennae tingle:
Don’t fool yourself, old fool!
You walk through a dark forest.
But let me entertain the fantasy,
at least until the next time
I look in the mirror and see
my rheumy-eyed, gray grandfather
looking askance at me.

Excusez-moi, Where am I?

I am so impressed by the cleanliness
of the Paris metro, the absence of graffiti,
unlike the New York City subway.
And the suicide barriers display
what I can only dub avant garde
regard for life that’s foreign
to my wild west sensibility
and far ahead of La Grosse Pomme.

And though I scan the color-coded routes
for the location of my station for ten minutes,
my finger pecking at the map
like a barnyard chicken, I get on
the wrong train and have to get off,
double back and try again,
another lost American, but smiling,
enjoying the pristine ride.

Michael Waterson is a retired journalist with stints as a seasonal firefighter, San Francisco taxi driver, and wine educator. He holds an MFA from Mills College. His work has appeared in numerous online and print journals, including California Quarterly, Home Planet News, and The Bookends Review. Michael's collection Cosmology of Heaven and Hell was published by The Poetry Box in 2022. He is Poet Laureate Emeritus of the Napa Valley. His information may be found at: michaelwatersonpoetry.com.  

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