From My Heart to Yours

James Monroe Johnson has writtenpoems since childhood.¿ His compilationsof poetic works can now be read and enjoyed in both this volume and hisprevious book, Just To Spend A LittleTime With You: A Lifetime of Writing Poetry¿(also by 1stBooks), where Johnson tells of the experiences in his life,including love, war, world travels and dreams. Johnson estimates he has writtenmore than 1,000 poems in his lifetime.¿ Starting with humble beginnings in rural Bellefontaine, Mississippi.¿ His poems capture his experiences in Australia, Thailand, theFlorida Everglades, the Tennessee Mountains, British fog, Germany, France, Mobile, Alabama and Los Angeles.¿¿¿ Johnson¿ also¿ writes¿extensively about his two tours of duty as a soldier in Vietnam.¿ He speaks¿ of ¿love,¿from¿ the¿ magic and bliss of new passion to the achesand pains of bitter endings. In publishing his work,¿ he¿ hopes to open readers' eyes to those thingshe's seen,¿ felt and dreamed throughouthis life. The poem, "About Me" as illustrated in his first book, shows hisvivid style:"I am me/a black, a man/I was ablack before I was a man/I am tall,¿light and¿ tan/slightly heavy/nomore moderate to medium/I am educated slightly, common sensical/artisticand poetic, instinctively . . . I have many thoughts/few ideas/envious ofnobody/jealous of no one/follower of few/leader of none/I identify witheverybody/but I am me,¿ a realist and adreamer/and now/you think you know me!"