E. JANET JOHNSON--POET, TEACHER, MENTOR

Janet's Journal

August 29, 2025
Thoughts in the Kitchen
I remember when it was OK
to eat chocolate chip cookie dough,
no worry about salmonella.
Or when a mosquito would whine
in my ear so I knew it was near,
instead of attacking me without warning,
when South Dakota lakes were full of fish,
no lake on an "avoid fishing" list.
When neighborhoods were full of kids,
running around playing, hating to go inside. When we all owned bikes with bells and baskets. I felt independent, riding to the small local grocery store to pick up a loaf of bread for my mom to make me a banana sandwich, a southern thing from her youth.

August 30, 2025
When Someone Else Cooks Why does food taste
so much better when someone else cooks for you?
I hear the chopping of onion,
ground beef frying from another room. Comforting to know that soon a large pan of lasagna will be ready for all of us to devour as we sit around the table discussing how
the macrocosm has invaded our lives.

August 31, 2025
Cycles
My mother used to tell me
about Arnold Toynbee,
the British historian and
his theory, cycle of civilizations—birth of a nation, maturity, then decline—when leaders start clinging to their power, no longer meeting challenges and needs of people—
the masses become
dissatisfied,
disgruntled
disenchanted,
disagreeable,
discouraged—
disunified.
Chaos ensues, then collapse.
The cycle—usually over a period of 250 years. If Toynbee is right, what will emerge from our ashes?

September 1, 2025

This day makes us face the reality
of another year slipping by
as we face its last quarter,
swallowed up quickly—
school starts, Halloween,
Thanksgiving, Christmas—
they flank birthdays, anniversaries,
seasonal changes.
It all happens with the start
of September 1.

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