when the time is best described as
"the morning muddled middle"

for it is the middle of the night,
and yet,
we have crossed over the midnight divide,
the new day is well commenced,  
but the prevailing dark sky says,
not quite yet!

this journey,
from the bed to the head,
is an abbreviated 20 steps,
you fall out of one,
unable to recall,
hours of vivid dreams,
now only scraps of script,
visions, whipped into the void
of the current blanket of a
night cosseting silence

in return for this
adventure travelogue,
you are granted free access to the top of your skull,
where apparently,
a new set, a fresh combo,
has been delivered, not by Amazon
not by messenger, not by the USPS,
but by your own,
fermenting, fermenting, formidable,
yawning
brain cells
and a poem appears,
wholly holy complete
space, typed and neat,
and falls from your lips,
filtered by your eyes
with no hesitation,
"and not a trace of farewell

and this miracle,
is no miracle at all,
for it is routinized,
a daily occurrence,
the mystery of it
long gone,
The How,
dissipated, disappeared,
and delivered unto
You

your obligation, your need,
your urgent pungent
purging,
is strifeless,
and you owe
but you have no idea
to whom or what
to thank for this
bestowing

is this poem a stowaway?
or did it pay for its passage,
in cash, by credit card,
or barter ?

if by barter,
what did I surrender?
what item or thing of great value did I trade
for this permissive missive
that was created
for the soul purpose,
of being shared?

it's birth was painless,
the cutting of the cord,
was never felt!

and within minutes,
it went from birth to babe,
child to adolescent,
young adult to middle aged,
to now,
a senior senile senatorial
presents itself fully formed,
weaned wise and wizened
and served to you
on white porcelain dishes,
with black cutlery

so fresh, so hot, so new,
that you are the first
or perhaps the last,
even the only
to ever taste it…

I ask for your forgiveness,
though invited
on this journey to this meal
and it's many courses
and its mirrored ball of
disco discourses,
it is signaling,
like a wise fool frantically waving,
enough!
telling you that you
have arrived
at an ending,
that we each name,
Our Destination


so be it
so be it
so it be

now a shared property

<>
            

  NML


April 15, 2025

labor commenced
at 2:27 AM
and the poem~baby
with all its limbs, all its senses,
was delivered to you,
its adaptive & adoptive
parents
at 3:22 AM

so good night, good day
and good luck!

4:30pm Sep 7 2022
Silver Beach & Shell Beach
Shelter Island


the heavens masters have departed their summer palazzo,
drawn the curtains, residual cloud cover of grayed thickened oatmeal,
a parting souvenir-gift, an 18 hour soak, grasses ****** raised glasses,
the few sapiens that still walk, hike, cycle, feel no need to smile/greet

our pheromones don’t operate properly, without a sunshine trigger,
we move doggedly but dragging a massive sadness, we’re marked;
count! an end of summer, a tree ring closed on our physical cell walls,
summer weather switch thrown, a universal human Cain birth mark

all is as before, but just for a moment, a silver color clarity invades,
all encompassing, everything bathed, haloed, a shining, don’t blink!
we are lit, alight, enlightened, changed, no longer tarnished, as if a
celestial silver polish swipes the gloom, the beach sparking white fire

this a sign unmistakable; cycle yet unbroken, flash card reminder for our eyes, brains, transference neurons ignite continuous continual,
our observations are the connecting links, the tissue human that
remains, reminds, each, this heaven & earth story is never ending!