J.H. Johns

SINS TO FORGIVE

Can you ever do it?
Can you ever get past—
the sins to forgive?

Your sins;
your deep,
unspoken—
but daily acknowledged—
sins;

transgressions;
by intent;
by default;
by accident;

following you,
talking to you—
consuming you;

is there a way out;
is escape possible;
or
are we forever
unable
to forgive ourselves
of our sins?


Paul Churchill Mann reads "Sins to Forgive":



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J.H. confesses: "Picture—imagine—the satellite imagery of lives; buried, now, beneath angles and undergrowths of all sorts; yet still existing as a silent—emotional and psychological— testimony to the end results of the fits and starts of our sometimes—but not always—innocent actions, that allow the failed ones to haunt us as sins."

J.H. JOHNS "grew up and came of age" while living in East Tennessee and Middle Georgia. Specifically, the two places "responsible" for the writer that he has become are Knoxville, Tennessee and Milledgeville, Georgia. Since then, he has moved on to Chicago—for a brief stint—and New York City—for a significantly longer stay. Currently, he is "holed up" in a small town where when he is not writing, he tends to his "nature preserve" and his "back forty." His goal is to surround his house with all sorts of vegetation so as to obscure it from the gaze of the "locals." He is assisted in this task by his coonhound buddy and companion, Roma.