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Painted in a corner

Smeared about the floor

Chants of lone forgiveness

Quiet in the war



“Deafening the sound of death”



Garden roses trampled

Broken stems abound

Wilting on the visions

Blooming losses found



“Petals of peace scattered carelessly”



Blood along the pathway

Eyes hid in the mist

Penning someone else’s name

On this lengthy list



“Alphabetical to the grave”



Standing from the shadows

Crossing battle lines

Reaching for the freedom

Voices loud can find



“Speak up children, your voices matter”



Put aside your weapons

Time has come to cease

The nation now has gathered

United prayer for peace



*“On our hands and knees we pray… send the evil far away”
I was asked to write a poetic prayer for peace by a young friend in Iraq. This is what I wrote.
All the time, defined by enemy lines,
And all that's on my mind is lies
On lies
On lies

Aye-aye!
                    Tough fight!
Heavy eyes!
           God given rights!

I wanna be someone that you believe
that you'll believe
that you believe in

I wanna hear something that I think
you'll mean
even though you think, right now,
you couldn't possibly mean it
I have no appetite
for pronouncements, platitudes
declarations, meditations and revelations
no patience for wisdom
and cogitations and much worse
regurgitations
no stomach for moanings and
groanings
musings, and working out meanings
much less about how your groin is today
I'd just like to
(like Renoir,  if I may,
just focus and work)
not to be anything,  no attempt
to be
just what is natural and easy
play and laugh
and when it's time
just *yawn and sleep
It is no accident that we have palms
With fingers extending from them
For when we unite our two hands,
They become a blooming flower.
We can follow the veins with our eyes
From fingertips to hearts
Blushing red.

Pumping into us another day
Another hope
Another dream
To find within ourselves the petals
To water faithfully.

I have watered fatefully.
Yet my flower has grown too long
In chilly dark basements
With mold growing in the corners and
Cobwebs decorating cracking walls.

I’ve only the strength to crack a thin beam of light
To dance upon the corners of my flower.
When will the music invite more?
i pray,  meet me there tonight,
somewhere warm and out of sight
a cabin hidden, high in hills,
for many millenia of thrills

two lives there intertwine as they run
in mountains, valleys, hither and yon
imagine then, the heart's rejoice
if eryyman heard such a voice

ring out below, and well up deep
love unhidden, life to keep
the summer night, turn spring, turn fall
the skylark sing, the night gale's call,
the flowers rise, the leaves subside,
and every note, of song of bride

continue on, eer play what's wrote
from first second on,
i devoured what you spoke.
I know of no man who is completely different from me. I own commonality even with my enemy. I find it there, deep, sometimes hidden, but never missing, in his humanity.  

For the sake of love I suffer much, and say “my pleasure”. I mean it.
Sometimes it is harder to mean than others, but i mean it.

Ah, when we come to the moment of the shattering of the mind, so many are afraid to fall off of the precipice. But friends, sometimes, a little insanity is the remedy. It is not the breaking of your reality, it is being freed from a cage you never knew you were born in.

I was not inspired by some grand thing that only i could grasp. I was inspired by bits of simplicity and truth that can be touched by any living person. And perhaps more so the dead.

Have you ever seen a normal person? I , for one, have not.
Everyone is strange.

Tonight i step from boxed in room to balcony. I spy the moon, and i understand that it has missed me. I have missed it much the same. And i do not wonder, but i know, that it is but a sliver of the way that i have missed you . You are more to me, even than the moon. Were it not for the moon, i would be lonely tonight. Were it not for you, i am not sure if i would be, but if i were, i would not be me.


I wonder if it isnt true that every act of love carries the risk of betrayal. And  for that weight is more beautiful. Perhaps some would call me an enabler, but i am simply a lover.

I am hungry. Much in the way malnourished children are hungry, and widows are hungry, and  every man is hungry. There is ever a hole in me, but ever is it being filled. I find this to be but a single blessing of eternity. I am sure that there are many more.  

Everything may recede into chaos, but my heart climbs to bliss. Everything may descend toward death, but it is to life i rise. Every moment may pass by as but a breath or a vapor, but a lifetime is worth living if it is lived rightly.  It is the summation  of those fleeting moments that become something of signifigance. Whether to ourselves or to those who we brush by in the ephemeral.

It is not over. It is never over, but it is finished. Complete since completeness knew itself. It, or he, if you so please, has no beginning, no end.

Welcome, to the grandest of adventures. Only wait and see and you will think  of me as a liar and of this as my lie. Go, do, and you will know me as truthful, and this as my truth,

I would say that thoughts assault me. But smoothely they do glide over my skin. They shrink to  encapsulate and caress, they slide into place and there come to rest, not weighty but tasty, and light, filled with opposite ends of worlds, and outlines that spin dreams, of families, and futures, and cute little girls with freckles and ginger curls.
I've measured her right
Little toe. It's exactly 16mm.
When she grinds her teeth in her
Sleep, just rub her jaw gently.
She'll stop without
Waking up.

If you read to her in bed, she'll
Watch you wide eyed from
Your shoulder; study your features
As you speak.
She'll stop you if you lose her
Between two words she doesn't
Quite understand.
She'll thank you for explaining.
She's worth it.

She's allergic to sugar, dairy, gluten
And eggs. I'll mail you a hundred
Recipes I've created for her.
Tell you all the tricks
So I know she'll eat.
You get used to the hassle.
She's worth it.

She's crazy about cartoons.
Let her watch them; seeing her
Laugh beats the game
Hundredfolds.
She'll love you for letting her
Read for hours and tell you about
The story.
She'll be so beautiful
When concentrating.
Give her space. Yours included.
She's worth it.

Let her grow.
Let her learn in her own time.
Let her be who she is.

She was weaker before me.
Now she's strong enough
To stand up and do the right thing,  
Though both our hearts broke
In the process.

If she goes, let her.
Help her out, send her off
With blessings.
Say to yourself I'd rather see her
Happy without me than
Unhappy here.
You'll
Mean it.

You'll cry your eyes out
And scream at the skies. Then
Thank God for every minute
You spent as her man.
They were worth it.
When I tell you I'm tired
The trouble is my bed
It doesn't seem to fit right
Without the outline of your head

When you tell me you're tired
The trouble is what's said
Typically in times of trouble
Your patience rests instead

When I tell you I'm sorry
The truth is I don't know
My intentions never crooked
Though my weakness always shows

When you tell me you're sorry
The truth is hidden low
You overthrow my worries
Keep tradition and just let go

When I tell you I'm leaving
What I mean is I'm holding on
Staring at the unmarked path
Reluctant to move along

When you tell me you're leaving
What you mean is you've already gone
So far down the crossroads
You can't make right from wrong
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