sometimes i wake in fear
to the sound of anguished cries
to the bleating of war drums and the
rumble and thud of bombs
i awake already sobbing
our tears, all running together,
tiny rivulets in the mud until they reach
that place where fires,
debris and strongly held opinions
stand stoically like the hoover dam
a counter-insurgency against
the natural course of our suffering
the resounding roar of empire
mangy hawks across the way shrieking where
a brittle statue of a dull and angry man
rears it's ugly head each morning
sometimes i wake to this abhorrent cacaphony
and then i feel powerless
everyone is saying that they are waging these wars
for freedom
while all our lives and dreams are crushed every moment
will someone ask that man
on the tv with strong opinions and facts
about people he's never met
if he, in his infinite wisdom, knows
how many more bombs it will take until
the seething violence of humanity
cracks open the
forlorn and solemn soul of the earth?
Aug 17, 2014
Aug 17, 2014 at 9:41 PM UTC
sometimes
you call upon me
to visit my island
and usually
i'm not even
in a place to answer
maybe i’m
too disoriented by these
careless,
prevailing winds
or possibly
a bit too forlorn
just not fit for
taking on
such marvelous company
upon your ship
the lantern shines
with a certain brilliance i've
never witnessed before
the beds here are
uncomfortably moist with tears
so i've
abandoned them
for the floor
Aug 17, 2014
Aug 17, 2014 at 9:31 PM UTC
beneath
a very opinionated
garden of
brilliant
igneous rocks
devouring the shattered
seashells
of an all but forgotten past
each moment the soils are renewed
exuberant with light
Aug 17, 2014
Aug 17, 2014 at 9:31 PM UTC
from our shores
we stake out our boundaries
at various distances for safety
outside of them
we are entrusted to traverse
quietly
with humility
with delicacy
because,
when we are lovingly let
to draw nearer -
we are allowed to discover
the light and life that many of us must leave
buried
amongst brush and boulders or
beneath the sand
quietly hidden from
the ravenous wandering souls
staring on
tempestuous howling storms
unconsciously devouring
what we haven't tucked away for safe keeping
& with such great gratitude
to have that arterial vein
willingly
with trust
opened for you to climb in
so you can be let to listen
to hear
to see
to know
the most earnest vibrations
intricate intimacies
the warm heaving and sighing
the most sacred temple
the most venerable *****
a ventricular vestibule
intimating the harshest subtleties
& the most visceral visions
Aug 17, 2014
Aug 17, 2014 at 9:30 PM UTC
where we live
in our temples
we light lanterns
so many plants,
gathered and dried
placed carefully
smoldering
the rising smoke
allows us to see the low
trembling
more pervasive than a wind
a bounty of your spirit
enlivening, riotous,
and your own universe
of kindness
we can never know what to expect
but we like what we are hearing
Aug 17, 2014
Aug 17, 2014 at 9:29 PM UTC
do you know island, that you
are and have always been thriving
on the life that you give yourself?
unmoored you are not.
you are about as adrift
as the coral reefs
that ring your most sun drenched
shorelines
your history
shouldered with love -
you are rife with a certain heaviness
that weighs in a fastening
balance, a brilliant strategy
in cahoots with
all the others
it is true, of course
that we commune with the same sun
the waters drift between us and our neighbors
many of the same clouds are found
sauntering amongst our respective mountains
but you - you are filled with your own stories
they are still echoing,
incantations deeply canonized
from within those temples you call
forests
your very own cosmology that
you yourself
are only beginning to discover
Aug 17, 2014
Aug 17, 2014 at 9:29 PM UTC
some of us are fortunate -
our shores are sandy beaches
occasionally blowing over
with an aching dust-
often meaningless, yet
bearable
clouds drift languidly
over them
as if they were a break from
the balmy days of
self reflection
but most of us
our shores are scattered with rocks,
scree and boulders
worn down by
the relentless whims of ocean borne
storms
hurricanes that feel entitled to destroy
everything that piques thier fancy
avalanches of ignorance
come tumbling
off the great, hulking,
blind land masses
these hulking shadows, these blunt winds
they are
so pervasive
very nearly
inescapable
Aug 17, 2014
Aug 17, 2014 at 9:28 PM UTC
my fellow islands:
i've learned
& am learning that
each of us, we are
a many voiced but endless song of
existence
menageries of life
each and every one of our trees
their very leaves,
heavy with rain
pointing
toward the ground
each of them can tell
more stories than
there are stars in the sky
each of us we are running over -
boundless narratives heaving from every
spring
from under every rock
Aug 17, 2014
Aug 17, 2014 at 9:26 PM UTC
it would seem
this boat we are in
took on some water
were our hearts too full?
too heavy to bring about
the bouyancy that
drifting at sea requires?
were we paddling with impatience?
that song we sang it had
a cadence that left
little time for reflection
no time to notice
the water lapping and rising at
our own feet
despite what we've been told
rarely is one prepared
for such a trip
after all
who could anticipate
the severe solitude
one discovers
adrift at sea,
hearts unmoored,
souls all afire
all aflutter
sails stormily snapping
and lapping up the
tempestuous wind
Aug 17, 2014
Aug 17, 2014 at 9:15 PM UTC
Some people spend their whole lives
drawing all the lines between
the starry heavens
transcribing their ethereal tones
learning to sleep and dream
along to the stellar cadence
that you can hear
resonating in all things
If you aren't careful you'll find
you might miss a beat,
lose count
or cross lines until the map your making
is irrecognizable
It takes a certain delicacy
and a lot of dedication
to hold true to that
low hum of the heavens
Peering out across the milky sky
waiting patiently to watch the stars
slowly slide back to their homes amongst the tired mountains
improbable galaxies whirling about,
an ocean infinitely illuminated with a
mesmerizing brilliance
a sea of wonderment
And what a journey
to walk that heavenly wilderness
maybe there you'll discover
how we all feast upon the sweet fruit of the universe
unknowingly, every day that the sun decides to rise
i'm sure by now
you feel it in your bones
with every draw of ocean breath
with every bit of blood that courses through you
as you return to earth
with those heavenly reverberations
the songs we sing for generations
Aug 17, 2014
Aug 17, 2014 at 9:14 PM UTC