my sister called
"they shot that ******* in the face.
finally justice served!"
she yelled

from a squalid pit
an angel rose
to kiss
my cheek
she was someone
I once knew

she told me
she loved me

her kiss
warm and delicious
as I remembered it
her lips as soft
as my now
opened soul
once felt them

through tears
she implored me
to let her go

she could
see my heart
was still beholden
to her kiss

her tears
an earnest
homily
of absolution

she long ago
forgot she was crying
yet I could taste her tears

her sorrows finally
released me
from my
primordial
grief

jbm
Oakland
5/4/11

i straddle
rainbows

one foot
firmly planted
on an
elusive dream
the other slipping
on a rock covered
with forgetfulness

a palate
of roygbiv
masks
my face
and covers
addled hands

both
bear
witness
to tomorrows
green pastures
and yesterdays
blue hues

thankfully
all the colors
of my endless
rainbows
slip
through fingers
that always fail to
remember my
inability to
perceive

jbm
Oakland
9/27/11

i given nothing
i abandoned
i adopted
i dropout
i garage
i Apple
i NeXT
i Pixar
i Apple

i pilfered i
i invented i
i produced i
i market i
i retail i
i am i
i am
i

i tech beauty
i consumer fetish
i whom you love
i sleekest widgets
i Toy Story
i Macintosh
i macbook
i Lisa
iTunes
iPod
iPhone
iPad
i more

i rebel
i genius
i visionary
i entrepreneur
i world changer
i exceptionalism
i capital market hero
i bigger then business
i cool capitalism

i myth
i "the man"
i worker
i employer
i boss
i thief
i savior
i billionaire
i venerated
i vanity

i Buddhist
i prophet
i redeemed
i 1 in 300 million
i America
i sing the pathos
i am the creed
i define the ethos
i  Steve Jobs

i amassed riches
i accolade crowned
i ingratiate world

i virtue
i success
i creativity
i favored
i Midas
i bedeviled
i tested
i afflicted
i retire

i human
i mortal
i succumb

i eulogized
i leave legacy of i
i am an MBA case study
i employed workers
i peddled intrepid product cycles
i subject of amusing anecdotes
i am heroic corporate folklore
i grew pods full of music
i incite kids to thumb phones
i captivate consumer imagination
i built rock solid balance sheet
i erected toxic Chinese factories
i enriched investors
i am the cool corporate brand
i inspired a million unused i apps
i hipster capitalism
i imposed my will
i insisted
i am that i am

i cannot take it with me
i leave blue jeans
i leave NB sneakers
i leave black collarless shirt

i will be asked what
i did with the time
i was given?
i did the best i could
i played the hand dealt
i parlayed it into a royal flush
i filled it up with i

i ask why
i am no more?
i leave the world
i am no more

Godspeed Beloved
Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs
(February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011)

jbm
Oakland
10/6/11

nimbus clouds
evoke

apparitions
of evolved

yogis sitting
lotus

deep in
states

of solitary
mindfulness

rules of
law

tales of
prophets

no longer
apply

yesterdays
pristine portraits

crumpled into
dust

compose today's
Mandala

memories
of fables

accruing
critical mass

become
nimbus clouds

Oakland
3/6/11
jbm