Review - The Lost American

The Lost American: From Freedom To Exile
By Michael Lee Johnson
iUniverse
ISBN: 0-595-46091-7
$13.95

When I first began reading Michael Lee Johnson’s The Lost American: From Freedom To Exile, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve read several of his poems in the past and our styles and experiences are greatly varied. There is a whole generation between us and our backgrounds haven’t that much in common. For these reasons I was – at first – skeptical. But this book – containing 87 poems divided into 4 sections – opens with a richly painted biographical poem titled, “Skinny Indiana Boy.”

With a heart as big as Texas
or Alberta where he came from
the draft resister tries to erase
the memory of his sordid past . . .

The imagery alone is breathtaking . . .

. . . coming out of the Rockies
down over the slate, out of self imposed exile,
he leaves the northland shaking his bandaged fists at the prairie sky . . .

But when the author mixes it with raw emotion . . .

The night looked long in his deep green eyes
robbing his faint life away
The scream of loneliness has turned
his innards inside out to pity . . .

It creates a stirring piece, making it the perfect opening poem.

Several pages later the emotions are more deeply felt by this reader in a poem dedicated to the author’s mother titled, “Speaking Of Death – Mother.”

. . . I come to you
blurred eyes, crystal mind
countenance of grace
as yesterday’s winds
I have consumed you
and taken you away . . .

There is a gentleness to this poem as it takes one through the pain, grief and acceptance of the death of a loved one.

As I continued reading, delving deeper into the context of The Lost American, one thing became clear – Mr. Johnson is very dedicated to his craft. Having revised and refined poems written as far back as the sixties to create this book. This book that was forty plus years in the making.

“I felt proud,” beamed the Indiana-born poet during our recent interview. “I was surprised that it turned out to be a poetry book since I expected it to take the form of a narrative novel or biography.”

This book is a must have for anyone who struggled during the Vietnam Era. Because as the Prelude states, The Lost American is about one man’s journey into exile during the Vietnam War many years ago, his struggle, his survival, his road to recovery and strength manifesting itself through his prose and poems. From the simplest of love poems and lyrics, to the more complex, exposing his inner self – he stands firm with his convictions over time!