Michael Owens
Michael Owens writes from his Texas home in Cypress. He is a member of several poetry associations and writing groups including Poetry Society of Texas, Poets Northwest and Austin Poetry Society. Mike has won several awards for his poetry and has been published in the Poetry Society of Texas 2011-2014 anthologies, the InSpirity publication Peace Works edited by Anne McCrady, the Tenth Anniversary Poetry At Round Top Collection, the Twelfth Anniversary Poetry At Round Top Collection from the Round Top Festival Institute, the Texas Poetry Calendar, and Blue Hole publication of the Georgetown Poetry Festival.
Mike credits a middle school teacher for encouraging his writing. He has an undergraduate degree in English from Stephen F. Austin University. Mike enjoys the narrative form mixing memoir with an active imagination.
Mike credits a middle school teacher for encouraging his writing. He has an undergraduate degree in English from Stephen F. Austin University. Mike enjoys the narrative form mixing memoir with an active imagination.
Michael's favorite quote from a poet:
“The truth is, nobody’s waiting for you to press your poetry into their hand. Nobody knows you’re writing it, nobody’s hungry for it, nobody’s dying to get at it. Not a living soul has big expectations for the success of your poem. Let time show you some of the things you’ve done wrong before you show your poem to somebody.” - Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006 and Pulitzer Prize Winner for his book Poetry Home Repair Manual
“The truth is, nobody’s waiting for you to press your poetry into their hand. Nobody knows you’re writing it, nobody’s hungry for it, nobody’s dying to get at it. Not a living soul has big expectations for the success of your poem. Let time show you some of the things you’ve done wrong before you show your poem to somebody.” - Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006 and Pulitzer Prize Winner for his book Poetry Home Repair Manual
Hospital Room
Years ago sitting in the icehouse nursing a beer
wondering why
my thirty-four year old bride is consumed by cancer.
We had so much to hope for,
our three children
every moment needing their mother.
Doctors had the preacher come to me,
hold my hand, re-explain their thoughts
about your coma and the sepsis.
Wait and pray their only hope.
Predicting it is unlikely you will
return home or see many more days.
I wondered would my meager prayer be heard,
what could I offer but to share my grief,
plea for help and beg forgiveness.
Now sitting in this hospital room
Thirty years since your recovery
I know why prayers are answered.
Our daughter beams with joy
watching you cradle our new grandson
in your arms and kiss his brow.
© Michael Owens
For permission to publish or otherwise share this poem, please contact Michael.
Hospital Room was awarded 1st Place within the Poetry Society of Texas 2016 Marjorie Morris Memorial Award offered by the Permian Basin Poetry Society in memory of its 1967 founder on the subject The Human Family.
wondering why
my thirty-four year old bride is consumed by cancer.
We had so much to hope for,
our three children
every moment needing their mother.
Doctors had the preacher come to me,
hold my hand, re-explain their thoughts
about your coma and the sepsis.
Wait and pray their only hope.
Predicting it is unlikely you will
return home or see many more days.
I wondered would my meager prayer be heard,
what could I offer but to share my grief,
plea for help and beg forgiveness.
Now sitting in this hospital room
Thirty years since your recovery
I know why prayers are answered.
Our daughter beams with joy
watching you cradle our new grandson
in your arms and kiss his brow.
© Michael Owens
For permission to publish or otherwise share this poem, please contact Michael.
Hospital Room was awarded 1st Place within the Poetry Society of Texas 2016 Marjorie Morris Memorial Award offered by the Permian Basin Poetry Society in memory of its 1967 founder on the subject The Human Family.
Emily and I
Brought into this world with expectations
now with reluctance she is entrusted to me to teach
Emily’s stiff walk carries an unmoving stare
gazing directly at some unknown object
Uncomforted by any touch she lives in
a world beyond our own for years
Hours on end, one on one we exist
side by side, close but apart
I was reading her a story she never acknowledged
without warning, pretense or pause
She shouts Grocery Store
in anticipation of the next page in the book
Dumbfounded I smile,
hug her,
laugh,
and turn the page.
She reads the next sentence laughing at each word
This joy of breakthrough carries me for years
knowing the mysterious mind is never frozen
© Michael Owens
For permission to publish or otherwise share this poem, please contact Michael.
Emily and I was awarded 1st Place within the Poetry Society of Texas 2016 Kristi Kaye Carr Prize.
now with reluctance she is entrusted to me to teach
Emily’s stiff walk carries an unmoving stare
gazing directly at some unknown object
Uncomforted by any touch she lives in
a world beyond our own for years
Hours on end, one on one we exist
side by side, close but apart
I was reading her a story she never acknowledged
without warning, pretense or pause
She shouts Grocery Store
in anticipation of the next page in the book
Dumbfounded I smile,
hug her,
laugh,
and turn the page.
She reads the next sentence laughing at each word
This joy of breakthrough carries me for years
knowing the mysterious mind is never frozen
© Michael Owens
For permission to publish or otherwise share this poem, please contact Michael.
Emily and I was awarded 1st Place within the Poetry Society of Texas 2016 Kristi Kaye Carr Prize.