"There is a wisdom that is Woe........
But there is a Woe that is Madness"
-Moby ****

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To speak from inside of it is impossible
The words carry layers, just too many to count
References and explanations the obstacle
Terms laden with meaning, impractical to mount

To speak from without would simply be of no use
Layout of the land does not reveal the anguish
To describe it leaves too much for you to deduce
Imagine all the people, no common language

Certainly no shortage of proposed solutions
Entire industry devoted to the thought
The result, one observes, wholly new pollutions
Bottled, put on the shelf and waiting to be bought

Even the most innocent added to the mix
The symbols of childhood given a new context
However, so trite to now offer some new fix
To pretend, needed just a change to a subtext

This will be done, or not, by the patient alone
If history our guide, the result clearly known

the reversal was shocking
what had started out

(no that's not right
it started long before that
the history in fact went all the way back

to the beginning)

as an explanation
(an expression)
of

(and here is the heart of it)

a simple fear
simply
got the best of him

the reason he had not said it
(and to be truthful
he didn't know this ahead of time)
was
that, finally
made it real

(Once you say it
it cannot be taken back)

And....
it was if the floor fell away

If she hadn't been there
begs the question of what
would have been the bottom

But she was...

It is here
Long breath is needed
Only the Great Ones will reach
The small ones must wait for their return

The Season is coming
The time of New Life
There is a long journey
And the timing must be correct

There has been Death
The Song still rings the World
But there are fewer singing
I remember their Voices

When we go down
We will sing the names of the Great Ones
Those who have passed from the Now
Their echoes will show us the way

has the meaning been found
or found not to be findable?
see what can be done with words

that thought that those metaphors
the things we use to signal something else
are the basis for how we see ourselves

start with some simple rules
build a reality whole cloth
our own personal Genesis

I see you sleeping there
can compare you to a million things
yet not one of them is you

not really, in a real way
if that can even be defined
where I run up against the edge

looking for a sign, something like
the moon rising out at sea
right here, and still so far away

There was a moment
it was like what they call deja vu
She was one of those women
I think she worked in a store

Or a laundry, its been a while
Tell you the truth, I didn't care
Listening was never my my thing
Her mind wasn't what I was after

But what I did hear
Seemed like a script, well practised
She claimed she already had a man
But it was like the words were meaningless

And I remembered another one, a while before
Like her but not the same
Saying something roughly similar
And it didn't hit me until later

And when I say later
I mean after the fights and the yelling
After the slammed doors and tears
Just like the times before

Those very available
and yet somehow impossible to reach
Women, that seemed to fill up my life
Found them everywhere I went

That went on for a quite a while
Seems so **** obvious now.
The only excuse I have
I was young

Blue eyes, wonder. open for the first time
A place, serene, cold water, stars above
Forgiveness, no need to even speak of
a truth, I have found, wrapped up in a rhyme

A stranger, Kindness, an act without fear
The giving done without thought of payment
To walk alone, no thought of containment
A morning, deep fog and a white-tail deer

The chance taken, Lots thrown in league with Fate
Still Lovely as I watch time sculpt your face
A quiet hour, you, in my embrace
The moments pause outside a well-known gate


Cast off, set sail, nothing ahead but sea
The touch, that to this very day, heals me

If you are going to write poetry
you want to write something everyday
get into the habit
of finding something to express
Today the challenge is
say something about rain

I could write about driving
a couple of hours right into the teeth
And right at that time, this time of year
when it is getting dark
The headlights are on
but they are not doing very much

The experience of that little tug
The water on the road sends a message
slow down, there is no hurry
All those commercials come to mind
selling you new tires
the ones that hold the road

Then you hit new pavement, construction
they don't have the lines down yet
so it is kind of a guess
you look for those little marks they use
where the lines will be
other people don't find them

The back roads at least you know
just be careful the harvest is still on
that big machinery can track a wall of mud
and drop it right in the middle of the lane
you are currently trying to stay in
and make for a bad few seconds

There is also the element of the ground
the fields are emptying, left cold and wet
the rows are starting to fill with water
it is coming down hard and has been for a while
There is the thought, at least it's not snow
Not yet...but that will come and soon

But this is not new in any way
Everyone, well, anyone who drives
either knows this, or will learn
but really that is not the point
the point is to get home safe, sit down
and write something about rain