Monday, February 28, 2011

Selfish


I danced with you last night
Too bad you weren’t there
We had a great time together
I’ll tell you all about it
If you care to know
I’ve had some wonderful evenings with you
When you’ve not been around
It’s your presence that messes everything up
You’re so needy
You expect so much of me 
I can’t meet your needs
I’ve got to have some me time
Please go so I can have some fun
With you
Our time together is just not the same
When you’re around 
By the way, I love you
(And no, I don’t find any of this ironic)

Friday, February 25, 2011

Yes You Can


All is lost
So much to gain
All is gone
Get it back
All is forgotten
Cherished memories
Yin your yang
Pledge to do more with less
Promise to uphold
Never back down
Love
You’ve got this one opportunity
Don’t lounge in front of your TV
You’ve got mountains to move
When you fall
(And you will fall)
Stay there for awhile
Then got up
All is rotten
Take a deep whiff
And clean it 

Thursday, February 24, 2011

More Please


May I please see more commercials on my Tee Vee
May we please have more guns for everyone
May we please have more fast food eateries available
May we please all hold mortgages
May we please have monster truck rallies every weekend
May we honor our country again by singing the national anthem
May we please salute and honor our troops
May we please go on thinking in monotone
May color be in our Tee Vees and not our minds
May we not ask questions except when asking for more
May we have faster and better communications
So we can talk about all we have
All we have
We have
Have
Lead us not into contemplation
Deliver us from introspection
Let us not mind the great and wallow in the trivial
Please share more celebrity gossip and we won’t complain
About anything 
Except what you threaten to take away from us
Once we get everything we’ll want for nothing
Except more

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Just An Average Joe


“He looks like the emcee of a nightmare.” - From ‘The Waltz’ by Dorothy Parker.
Indeed the imperfect man
Stumbling about so
Everything calculated so nothing quite right
No dapper dipper on the dance floor
Conversations like chewing paste
A mind unsettled upon nothing
But, of course, the rudimentary
Still fundamentally wrong
Universally known as a NICE GUY
Adored by his imagination
But in his reality, even he’s not fooled
Quite the singer
If you like blenders
As an athlete is all big toes 
Can charm a five year old
But not for long
Never met an opinion he wouldn’t consider
But only across its surface
Company man through and through
Nails neatly trimmed
Smells like cheap soap
Acts like it too
A good neighbor and friend
Provided you want for nothing
Curious about statistics 
Can’t be bothered with ideas
There he comes now
Bonhomie
Let’s all settle in for a nice yawn

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Shadow Play


I went to see you
But there was only dust
The floorboards sagged
A haven for splinters
Large spider web in the the corner
Abandoned
Even the insects were away
The sun shone brightly through the broken window
Casting strange shadows
An uneven life had been lived here
Given up for a passing chance at honest riches
No one was so forlorn as the invader
Of a space with no meaning
Left for the ghosts
Who didn’t much care either
I didn’t linger long
(For nothing)
Leaving
Towards the hills where it was cool
And the green echoed
Casting a last look back
I saw the spaces of lives looking for bustle
Caring not for the past
Just as well

Monday, February 21, 2011

Eternity


Death came around and claimed me
My body thus cold and forlorn
The end sudden and desperate
Never to see or hear or feel or taste or touch
All words left unspoken
Akin to the rocks now
Never to share love or laughs again
Finding my way to the void
Floating
Seeing so much that could have been
Angry about much that was
Leaving the Earth that was home
For parts unknown
Gliding
Hoping to find the light
Otherwise lost
Beginning to understand forever
And never
And how inextricably they are linked
Consciousness an interesting concept
For those who are now particles of dust
Free at long last
Happy to have lived
Sad at the ending of it
Now knowing nothing
Not even a soft sigh

Saturday, February 19, 2011

In the World


I heard someone ask: how does it feel to be back in the world again?
Unless you are an astronaut, it is the only place you can be
People often say: wait’ll you get out into the real world
This implies that some of the world is fake
It’s not
It’s all real and we’re all in it all the time
I mean, can you imagine....
Psychedelics sort of take us out of our minds
But never out of the world
A place that surrounds us as we surround it
Yeah we do
Our whole vibe -- if you can dig it -- wraps itself around everything
We ARE everything
We are in the and of and a part of and always living in
The world
It’s all real, any part that you’re in
At anytime
Regardless of what you are doing
Very real 
And we share it!
Get used to the idea brothers and sisters

Friday, February 18, 2011

Reasons


Everything happens for a reason, they say
Bullshit I say
Death from cancer
No reason
Tree falls on your head
No reason
Some things are random and cruel
Meaningless and purposeless
Children burned in fires
Children killed in wars
Want more?
Could be just a start
But I’ve made my point
Life is capricious and most unfair
To some
To others it is kind and gentle
To most there are portions of both
Live with it
What choice have you got?

Thursday, February 17, 2011

The Only Way to Fly


There I am on the other side
I’ve crossed through the looking glass
What a fun journey!
Worth two (2) exclamation points!!
Living to not drink another day
Passing by grief and sadness and depression
Not stopping for the offal
Glad of blessed tidings
Trying to share life’s bounty
Not always sure how
Wondering at the petty
Laughing, always laughing
Trying to remember kind words
Both given and received
Dazzled by beauty
Luxuriating in art
Tender touches and rapturous greetings
Back on this side I see that there’s much to be done
Time, effort and expense
Duty
Duty and debts equating long hard work
Finding the happiness in fulfilling these obligations
Obligations to life
So much to wrap around on either side
Both are bright sides where glasses are half full
Three quarters even
Chins up and stiff upper lips and happy days
The only way to fly

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Nasty Political Cartoon



(A found poem using comments from an online CNN story.)
Ignore him
Nothing he says bears even the slightest resemblence
To truth or reality
Michelle is a biscut away from being 
Lets say plump
No ideas, no results, no Love of Country
Suck it up! 
Everybody gets a good going over in politics
If the heats too hot
Then get out of the kitchen!
She is a fat cow
Who is reaping the vacations and 
Eating to high heaven
Once again, the underbelly of America 
Shows itself to the world
And let's be honest- America is FAT! 
Everybody is fat
For all her talk about eating healthy.....has anyone seen 
The size of her butt?? 
Liberals always get their undies in a bunch 
Over a little political fun
Sociopaths and comedy
They just don't go together
Why is government the solution for everything 
Even lack self-control
This is exactly why I think 
Liberals are lower that worm poop
She should keep her mouth shut at the dinner table 
And in the press
Oh, I forgot
You're an ignorant idiot 
Whose brain goes blank after the first two pages 
Of Dick and Jane
Haters gonna hate

Retreat


Let me back in the womb
Hurry now, make some room
I simply must get away from here
It’s being in the world that I fear
Let me back in the womb
This thing called reality is full of gloom
I must get away from here
It’s all just awful both far and near
I cannot stand this awful life
Full as it is of pain and strife
I’d prefer to avoid it all
It’s life’s truth that do appall
Let me back there in the womb
Every second here is rife with doom
I can’t stand this awful pain
All this anguish will drive me insane
Please let me back in the womb
Existence on the outside is a living tomb
Let me back in without delay
I cannot stand another day

Monday, February 14, 2011

Then There’s Love


I tired of friends’ stories about the horrors of Catholic school
It did not compare to having a leg blown off in Vietnam
I winced when you came in with your account of long lines at the store
It did not compare to a deadly crocodile attack
You mourned
You cried
I whispered
I lied
You read Dante
I watched hockey
You talked of having too much stuff
I laughed at the beer commercial
Someone called, you answered
I did not find it amusing
There was a long lull
Then to bed and we made love
I drank water
You snored
There was a dream about flying pirates at my old high school
Or was it my grandfather mowing our lawn?
I listened intently the next morning over breakfast to you
Fascinating how you recount the previous day
And I, in turn, preview the coming one
Just don’t make me hang out with friends who talk of Catholic school
I love you

Friday, February 11, 2011

What It’s All About


It’s gotta be about something
It has to have meaning
What’s it about
About
What’s it mean
Mean
It can just be
Be
Yes its beautiful but
But
There is no now
There is no never
There is only ever
And within it there just exists
It means what you want it to
And that’s what its about
Stop looking everywhere
For what’s nowhere
But in your heart
You are the giver of meaning
You determine what it’s all about
From within yourself comes all answers
Isn’t that beautiful?

Thursday, February 10, 2011

They Don’t Call Me the Seeker


“One should not look for Beauty and Unity in a work of art so much as character and variety.” - From Sentimental Education by Flaubert
I was looking for truth and came upon luck
How fortunate that it should present its meaning so clearly
No beating around the bush
Pure happy chance smiled broadly
I gave it a great big hug
Then wondered what all the fuss was about
But so capricious was this infernal luck that it soon left
There I was with egg on my big fat face
Dripping its nasty rotten yolk as I stumbled about life
In search of more meaning
If only I could discern facts from the miasma
Not bloody likely
Got a message loud and clear when I learned of a friend’s death
Like a church bell
There I was creeping through the clouds of wonder
Dazzled by the enormity of that ultimate truth
That damned mortality 
Lord its everywhere
And where am I?
Nowhere?
Happy to be thought of at all
Happy even that I stop to give thought to myself
As if I weren’t even worthy of my own consideration
How impotent we can feel in the face of universe’s deception
I need to dig deeper
That’s all
Maybe it is in looking for truth, we find ourselves lucky
I’m not sure, so confused now
Can’t trust in luck 
Its visits are of such indeterminate length
And sometimes its evil twin bad luck comes instead
If it weren’t for either or neither
I’d be stuck again, with my search for truth
Meaning
Stars above, hell below, voices screaming everywhere
Answers provided in all variety
Maybe I’ll just wait to get lucky instead
That’s it, I’ll take my chances with luck

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

So Far, Lucky


I have been loved and I have been hated
But I’ve never been decapitated
I have been in charge and I have been bossed
But this precious head I’ve never lost
I have been slapped and I have been kissed
But the part atop my shoulders has never been missed
I have laughed and I have cried
Yet for all these years I’ve not yet died
I have felt love and I’ve felt pain
But I still possess my original brain
I have stumbled and I have danced
But my head has never been lanced
Oh I’ve had feelings from far and wide
I’ve tasted victory and feelings of pride
Oh I’ve felt mighty and oh so great
And I’ve curled into a ball feeling second rate
Through all these moments of woe and elation
I’ve really only experienced one sensation:
Life is grand in all its wonder
But losing one’s head would be an awful blunder
So I’ll keep mine right where it sits
Living without a head would be the pits

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Morning


The soft moist grass after a night of drizzle
A bird flitting around in search of food
Drops from a leaf strike a passing cat on the head
The morning sun peaks through a gap in the clouds
Heavy footfalls on the lawn as person picks a lemon from a tree
From an overlooking room comes the laughter of a child
Somewhere an old lorry rumbles up a road
It’s belching engine is an assault on morning tranquility
Children emerge from the house
A squirrel scrambles up a tree carrying a nut
A dog sniffs at the tree
The clouds merge and the rain returns
The children scurry inside
They are met by a sleepy mother in a bathrobe
Hot muffins and cocoa are served
The cat meows at the front door
The dog scratches at the back
The father gets in the shower
It’s Saturday

Monday, February 7, 2011

In Answer to a Prayer


I heard God’s silence crashing through the din
It was unequivocal in its solemnity
I felt the rush of end times
But ignored it all for the cheap thrill of a $2 sandwich
I left myself standing somewhere while I searched in vain for answers
Answers to the eternal questions
The why questions
I was met with only dances of illusion
Tricks of the intellect that suggest something that can never be
Is and always has been
I’m not buying any of it anymore
Nor am I accepting shallow promises from hucksters
Cheap or otherwise
Never again will I stride merrily down the lane in anticipation of the divine
It’s not coming and I may as well get used to it
God can ignore me all day and I’ll not pay attention
I’ve music and poetry and those bedazzling arrays of silly thoughts
That will occupy my mind until you shut up
For it was you who told me of God’s message
The one I never heard
Despite my needs, my desires, my lusty passions
There is the sound of God somewhere
To be heard sometime
I suppose
But I will charm my way to future tomorrows
Just to see the dawn break and see God’s smile
Time will tell
Amen

Friday, February 4, 2011

The Higher Plains of Passion’s Art


The higher plains of passion’s art
Where lovers tread on petals
Those places of singing delights
As the listing of the ships navigating clouds
Throws bodies together for rapturous embraces
Only the cry of the songbirds confused by rain
Can better augment the soaring dance of love
When kinships formed of rapture
Lead the misbegotten to hope
We are who we need to be
But only when hearts meld with souls
The angry static from brains must be purified
By the lingering sentiment of childhood’s honest faith
Leave the trivial for other days
Take forever into the mist 
And emerge on the other side of a purity
Born of making love
Keep close to the laughter
Don’t let dawn stray into eternal night
Stand for seconds but prance for hours
You are the Gods and Goddesses that are meant
For all to celebrate
Honor yourself by gladly giving of your smiling honest lust for life
Let no myth tear you asunder
The higher plains of passions’ art calls

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Desperately Seeking Answers


There’s got to be a better reason
Has to be more to all of this
Can’t just amount to that little wisp of a cloud
Where is the thunder and the lightning?
It all seems to add up to zero
No matter what you add to the mix
Meaning
Purpose
Answers
All have gone missing
If they ever were here
Bring us something to hold on to
Don’t leave us clutching at straws
Invisible ones at that
All the lovely lyricism 
All the beauty
All the roaring, flinging, melding, ecstasy
Has to lead us to a higher truth
Not just the void
Not just the pain
Not just the emptiness
Give us this day our meaning
Or how else do we go on?
Do we just live to live
Strive to get
And not know why?
It’s not enough

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Righteous


Righteous:
You are the empresses and the emperors of your own life
Your whole life
Rule it wisely
Abuse not your power 
Over you
Be kind to yourself
Consider always your own feelings
Be thoughtful of mind and body
And soul
Take not from one to feed the other
You have an awesome responsibility
Make not war with other empires
Find the ground you can happily share
Seek alliances, bonds, trades
Seek love
And truth
Explore beauty
Live honestly and with passion
You are the almighty of your destiny
Do not abdicate this duty to the unseen
Dare to be who you are
Let your empire reign as long as your body and mind
Can wield power 
Oh righteous one
Be a mighty emperor or empress
This you owe to you

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

She


Smiling beauty tucked away
To be found by a lucky future lover
She elicits sighs and visions of passion
Oh the fantasies about her
She glides where others walk
Her smile invites desires
Thrilling to be near her
A touch would be ecstasy
So much physical perfection
From head to shoulder to hips to knees to toes
Not a blemish
Her eyes so interesting and so interested in all around her
They are more clever by half than most people’s mind
Nothing can watch her like she watches us
A delight to ponder time with her
We who will never know her can allow our waking dreams
To be of having her
Her power to reject does not effect us
We who would die for her will never know her kiss
Nor the dread of her denial
In our minds she wants us only and often
And always
She exults us
In truth we are like angels flitting around her
Unable to intercede
Just watching
Oh my goodness that smile again
Heart aching
Mmmmmm