Writing Poetry
for me
is
Entering
a
dream
fully conscious.

Time & Distance
Erodes
Friendships
Families
Flowers
Sad
we know.

Remember
the
good and bad
news
Time
keeps on passing.

There's
no fiction
which is
more
perfect
than the
truth.

In your ship of
white sheets
you set the sail
you leave the shorelines
of consciousness
and begin to drift
from the docks of reality.

First you cast your fantasies
then your visions
in hypnagogic imagery
cast you
as you wait for the winds
to take you
into the currents of unconscious seas.

what do you see?
what do you experience?

Those living memories
of
other places
other times
other lives
a string of faces
a hotel with many rooms
and no exit signs
and
as you open doors
on different floors
you find
yourself
at different ages
on different stages
familiar terrors
sometimes vivid
make you shutter
falling into
quicksands of blood.

On the roof of this sea
you take flight
and are free
when you hit the heights
you're in your car
with a stranger and me
we give you directions
and
at each turn progressively lost
panic sets in
late for work and can't find the way
your GPS
keeps pointing to the fact you're here.

Small craft warnings come and go
the lighthouse beckons you back home
to the shoreline and the dock
but first you crawl into the
arms of the sexist soul
you know
as your finger tips touch
this night's
journey is done
as
your alarm
sings out
The Four Seasons.

Headlong to the shore you ride
your breath is taken away
you throw your rope to the dock
of reality
and have that moment
of longing and wonder
when dreams can be life
and
life can be dreams.

A big sigh.

You've bought your ticket
for
tomorrow night's voyage
where it will go
you just don't know
but
when you get there please let us know.

You get out of that
cozy warm white sheet ship
and
put on clothes
with the sunrise
and
the half cut moon
your traveling companions
into
your awakening.

There's a little boy
crying out into the night,
His mother's arms
hold him tight,
He puts his head
on her shoulder,
Nightmare dreams,
They disappear,
With a shudder he begins to feel,
a little sanctuary
so near.

There's a homeless man
sleeping outside tonight
behind the mall,
His beard is long,
His hair is *****,
He changed his clothes
in a thrift store
late last week,
the voices scream his name,
All he's looking for is
a little sanctuary.

There's a politician on
the stand
had *** with another man,
Tried methamphetamine
religion too,
Even hypocrites
are looking for
a little bit of sanctuary.

There's a woman on the road
tonight,
Two kids sleeping tight,
Johnny Walker's asleep
in front of the tv,
There's an internet
between her and her lover,
She turns up the music,
Patsy Cline's singing
Stand By Your Man,
All she's looking for, though, is a
little sanctuary.

The money's gone
the house is going,
The ***** is flowing,
The tears are rolling,
He steps outside
on the deck,
looks up at the stars,
Smokes a cigarette,
Looking for a little sanctuary.

Lover's up in a cabin loft,
twist and shout,
Grasping at straws,
Grasping each other,
Holding on tight,
For a moment of bliss,
Come on in,
Give'em a little sanctuary.

Insomniac mind,
Racing thoughts,
Won't shut off,
The days are long,
The nights are longer,
Every fear and dread,
Keeps raising their ugly head,
Quiet her thoughts,
She would if she could,
But all she can do is wait,
For a little sanctuary.

Soul survivor knocking on
the gate,
Waiting for the light,
Waiting for a world just right -
Putting away all sin and vice,
Hoping for a little sanctuary.

Garden Buddha sits on the path,
hands unfolded,
Quarter smile on his lips,
Serenity's smile,
Mastered the art of waiting
and just being,
A little sanctuary.

These poems I write tonight,
Words all tumbling
through my hand,
I don't know what I write them for,
I don't know where they go,
Where they land,
Only trying to see through
sanctuary's door,
maybe there's a little more,
A little bit left for me and you.

It can be so hard to find,
Maybe it's just a state of mind,
Sometimes so close
Sometimes so far,
We long for the day
to have the night,
We long for the night
to have the day,
But either way,
We're all just looking for
a little sanctuary.

Scattered showers
Shattered moments
Running through the rain drops
Running through the tear drops

Trying to find
a shelter

The past is unchangeable
The future is unpredictable

The present is drenched
Wearing the wrong rain gear
Again

Shivering
Cold
Alone

For now

But, if you never leave home
You never get to come home
You wind up
Looking for it everywhere.

White boulders
laying side by side
on the Mad River
incline
at low tide.

Boulders breathing
sliding heaving into
the waters currents,
Inquisitive
black eyed faces
with
perpetual smiles,
Maybe they're just built
that way.

Babies crying their mother's name,
But only the River
hears their call
until mothers
as they usually do
return
to nourish their off spring too.

One day not far away
these babies cries
go quiet.

Sand banks fall into the river
the only sound
as the tide
starts flowing back on in.

The ocean one way,
The river the other,
Converging at the mouth,
the two mingle
singing to each other,
Ocean waves
River currents
as the tide changes
from in to out
somehow just like life itself.

One day not to far away
boulders slide
moving into the water
without a mommy cry,
The Mad River
by their side
or
immersed
in the comings and goings
of the tides
sleeping
white boulders
side by side,
Barking from time to time.

In the dimming light
those shadows start to fall
disintegrating as the sun sets
The scene begins to shift.

There's a guy in a trench coat
he has no pants
There's a woman in a wolf mask
she recently went into a trance
she started writing poetry
she started thinking she could dance
putting on the mask
put her into that trance.

Her husband's in the back
watching ***** movies
thinking he must be the one
but she knows he
doesn't have a chance.
It's why she wears the mask
she'll wake up too late from her trance.

There is a singer on the stage
naked as before
battling that stage fright
he's seeing you in your drawers
every time he starts to sing
a coyote is running around the room
he's always laughing at you
every time you think you're doing fine.

The librarian dressed in scarlet
has a **** story to tell
and you are the star
on
the walk of fame
everybody you say knows your name
while in neon on the avenue
their all laughing
and claiming your shame.

There's a smirking sycophant
begging for a war
no humility
usually means
a shadowed soul
and a tiny ***** to go along.

If you wake up screaming
from a dream
a shadow figure is hidden in your brain
their all screaming your name
go ahead and scream
you'd better
while the old crone
laughs and laughs and laughs.

Better zip it up
put it away
Halloween only comes but once a year
it's then shadows are free to appear
better put away the gear
take off those flowered knickers
all those shadows
they hold all your fears
one of these days
will they commandeer your soul
who knows?
Well you know.

There's no escape
turn on the lights
open the door
open the window
close your eyes
the dawn has come
all shadows will disappear
put on your pants
Walk out the door
pause for a moment
look around
it's all as it was before
that's a big sigh of relief
I've heard it before
I know that sound
it's the sound before
those shadows started to fall. . .

She lives for the mornings
when all is beginnings
She lives for the evenings
when all is endings

She slogs through her
days
dazed
and
numb
no words rhyme
no lover comes,
her morning songs are sung
in baptismal
daily showers,
her dreams are
strewn in patterns
on curtains
in warm night winds blowing,
she sings again when the
nightbirds
sing.

Her mornings are
hopeful
Her nights are
resolved
Her games are
played at noon.

If she looks you straight in the
eyes
you'll know too soon,
She knows everything about you.

Her words will
come when they are ready,
Her beginnings are short
Her endings are long
like the night

Lady of the morning
Lady of the night
I will be beside you
when you finally decide
to take flight.

Light and darkness
while in her day
she pretends
as
she moves along
in
her own way.

She was once a true love of mine
She treated me so kind
She came to me
when I was stuck
when my heart was dark
and shed
her loving light on me

She held me close
and
kissed my lips
brought
warmed wash clothes
and
******
to bathe away my pain.

When she was done with me
she moved me along
to
the crummy little apartment
by
the river
the perfect spot for me.

Life is lived
in chapters
one after the other
She once was a true love of mine.

Sometimes
you
need to call
in
sick
to
your
self.

The curve of your smile
The curve of our land
The fruit on the trees

The bull frog sounds
The crickets too
The heat of the sun
The heat of you
Lovers in love with
Nothing else to do
But be in the moment
This moment of me and you.

Why do we go through
all of this stress?
So easy to forget.

Smoke a thousand
cigarettes,
Another ****
another hit,
another poke,
Another whip,
another mindfield to avoid.

A ****** cut,
A ****** mind,
A ****** mouth.

Not just another disembodied
mind
in the ether's ink.

Skin & Bones & Flesh
until
that
sharp and shooting
pain
so easy to
forget.

Ate lunch
alone in
high school
yes.
That was me.

Sometimes I'm the hammer
Sometimes I'm the nail
When sometimes I think
I'm sure to win
I know I'm bound to fail

Sometimes a blackberry
is going to getcha
when pulling weeds out on the trail

Sometimes
It ain't easy being
green, black or blue or pale

Sometimes
Stand still long enough
something is bound to eatcha
Or running ******* the treadmill
getting no where fast

When I'm hungry
I'm going to devour
meat or grain
fruit or flower
Sometimes
starving on a Friday afternoon
no money coming in

Sometimes love
Sometimes desire

Sometimes I'm alive
Sometimes I'm nearly dead

Sometimes I'm riding lightening
Sometimes I'm thunder calling out
for salvation

Sometimes I'm standing knee deep in deafening silence

Sometimes I'm going to see
Sometimes I know I'm blind

Sometime time is going to end,
I know
there won't be
sometimes to do again.

Sometimes
I find myself
finding myself,
and sometimes I find myself

We talk it all
over for a while

Sometimes resolution
Sometimes revolution

Alone again
Wondering which steps
to follow

It's tough being human
All frailties and all

The fact our days are numbered
kind of  says it all

I told myself
in a short story
at a young age

Not to forget the dream,
The main character
He forgot the dream
And, oh
so
did
I.

Sometimes though
when the music
is right
feeling it inside
in a trance
higher and higher
some may even call it
flying

The moment though
it always passes

Sometimes when the mood
is right
it comes on back
again.

Sometimes gotta go
Sometimes gotta stay
Sometimes wounded
Sometimes healing is
on its way
Sometimes in wise mind
trying to figure on out
how to stay.

Sometimes we're
going to find ourselves
finding ourselves
and find ourselves
along the way.

They give you the wings
To fly,
Music makes you smile
Allows you to glide
Allows you to cry

The old man with the dementia
sings along with every lyric
He remembers from the prom

Music takes the mood
turns it into something new
Blows the emotional weather
everywhere

Music gives you Grace
Takes you into it's embrace
Songs say what you mean
reveal what you see
reveal what you've seen

Every break up
Every getting together

God comes and goes
in gospel tones

Every one knows
About war and peace

The rhythm of the heart
is the music before sleep
The sound track of our lives .

As poets
we listen for the songs
of the singing trees,
There is no road map as to where to go,
Our GPS, it doesn't know,
Goggle maps hasn't gotten there yet,
The internet will tell you what it knows -
Some rehab
some restaurant
some business selling shoes.

It's not on Facebook,
My phone may be smart
but it doesn't know a thing
about the songs of the singing trees.

My Twitter account was attacked by a cat,
I swear I tried to rescue it,
But it tweeted away
as it got jumped over the fence.
The t.v. drones on and on,
HD pictures explode.

Our eyes, tho, are far away from all this,
Our voices, they long to harmonize
with the songs of the eons,
The songs of the singing trees.

You and me and Thoreau
sitting by the pond, the river, the ocean,
All day long
in this solitude we know,
Watching the light dissolve,
The moon, it rises too,
While we
together
me and you,
Thoreau too,
Listening so carefully
for the lilting epics
of
the songs of the singing trees.

The Nevada hillside
led me down
among the Pinion Pines
past the filled in
silver mine,
the cowboy coffee ***
on the ground.

The wind blew
through the trees
without a sound-
before my eyes,
I saw a sight,
as spider webs
one by one
one after another
spun
glimmering in the afternoon sun,
Spider webs
spiraling past,
Thinner than thin
stronger than strong,
Blowing from where?
Blowing to where?
Spun and spun
through that air.

A mustang came through the trees,
I looked at him
he looked at me -

These mountain hills
held
the echoes of  dreams,
come and gone,
Spider webs blowing through the sun,
riding upon the horses of the silent winds.

Standing at the edge of mortality
is my work really done?
Looking over at the black abyss
what is one to think?
Time to find god
root for heaven
root for reincarnation
call for your mother
bring a flashlight
the black sack and that's a fact.

Standing at the edge of mortality
my hand over my brow
block the sun?
Too dark for that
Try to see better?
Too late for that.
The precipice stands waiting
and all those who once lived
forever gone
took that plunge.

Standing at the edge of mortality
waiting for the momentary mirror
reflecting backwards in time
highlight reels
lowlife deals
ecstatic moments
unwound in regrets
achievements
done and gone.

Standing at the edge
my children come to me
wondering what breath will be the last
too late for all regrets
all those
if only I hads
there is a tear for that
that's for sure.
If it could all be undone
to do again
what would one do?
These are the thoughts and feelings too
one finds
when standing at the edge of mortality.

But still here
another chance for us my dear
more work to do
on this side of
the edge of mortality.

Step Right Up
Puts hair on your head
Grows neurons in your brain
Makes you take a dare
Connects you with
elves and faires
Turns your fears and anger
into a rarity.

Step Right Up
Dance with me
Dance with her
Dance with him
Spend a week there
one night.

Step Right Up
Gets your expectations
in line with reality
no rejection
All your relationships
will fall into line
Everybody is going to be kind
You're going to jump for joy.

Step Right Up
Money Love Sleep
They are all going to come your way
Open wide
Stick out your tongue
Stick out your hand
Close your eyes.

Step Right Up
A sucker's born every minute
A hustler's a thousand words a mile
We're pulling bucks
out of our pockers too many times to count
Trick and Trap
that's our motto

Step Right Up
Smile
Dial
Email
Text
Promises of total intimacy
and
total isolation
simultaneously

Step Right Up
We've been schooled
We've become tools
Whose the fool?
That's the ticket
Your number's up
Step Right Up

Death was sticking a gun
in the back of my neck
It hurt like hell
I started to beg.

I realized than
If death pulled the trigger
There would be nothing,
The deepest dark
Just like before we were born.

I became totally calm, peaceful
and
content.

Surrender

All that remained
Was a whisper
And the endless silence.
The end of fear.

The dream it knew.

My days were never to be the same.

Novices
Our love
stands on stilts
twisting weaving
struggling
to maintain balance
a strong wind
could tip us
a pulsating bass
could trip us.

Eye to eye
but yet
so
high
wobbling.

Trying to find
our footing
if we lean to close
we are bound
to
stumble and fall.

But your breath so sweet
kerosene
beneath my wooden feet
ignites
the fire
too hot to handle.
Have you ever tried
taking off
your clothes
when
eight feet high?

**** the stilts
she cried
and in
mid air embrace
rotating in ****** embrace
the stilts were gone
my legs were gone
circling each other
round and round
We fell
Calling for that
one true sound.

In simultaneous
bliss
a holler
a harkens
Link's Zelda song
a lightening storm
we screamed
for the sound
of our
exquisite joy
and
far too fast
we crashed
to the ground.

Bang!
Wake on up and its already started
The monologue won't shut up
Talk
Talk
Talk
Blah
Blah
Blah

You coulda
You woulda
You shoulda

Shoulding on your self again
What's wrong with you?
Anyway

I listen to this all day
Sometimes first person
Sometimes third person
It doesn't matter what other people are saying
Doesn't matter if anyone else is even
around

Thinking is talking
loud or soft
talking to myself
Sometimes my best friend
Sometimes the critic that never ends

Quiet the thoughts
Stillness
A peaceful place

Breathe in
Breathe out

Time keeps passing
All anxiety eventually
goes away

Read for a while
It'll be okay

The lights are out
The cats are in the laundry room
It's foggy out
No San Francisco planes are coming in
tonight

Should I **** myself?
No, maybe tomorrow

Cozy in bed
Silence
Lights out.

Bang!

God, I just wanta sleep
sometime
tonight.

There is a road
a narrow path
with darkness ahead
darkness behind
flashing memories disappearing
neon traces trailing.

The seekers of wisdom
a flash light in hand
darkness ahead
a Diogenes searching
for
wisdom and a wise one
knowing
this way lies madness
that way lives love.
Behind is birth
Ahead is death.

Pitfalls
Skyways
through the sinkholes
the marshes
deserts
the mountains
the ocean too.

Periods of walking alone
Periods of walking with you
Blindness fills our eyes
the dark it is
always all encompassing
as we feel our way along.

But you are the light
your life is that
small shinning
flash light
illuminating
each moment
of our searching lives...

Eckhart Tolle found
while sitting, homeless
on a park bench
watching the world go round.

You think you
have it wired,
just before it all
falls apart.

A bagpipe empty of air,
An accordion on its side,
Gasping for air.

Shaking rockin and rollin,
Nepal ground,
It all unfolds
after a while
captured
dusty and dying
under the rubble.

**** with nature,
It'll **** with you.

Beginning as a solid silent
predictable mix
until it isn't
what it isn't.

It'll take a while
until it all settles down -
streaks and slumps
we've been over this ground.

Structures erected
nature's forces take over,
Life changes,
You hold on tight
searching for solid ground
when the waters come around.

Self inflicted,
Victims of circumstances,
Bad timing,
"Structures are known to become unstable,"
Eckhart Tolle
said
just before he became
rich and famous.

I don't want another Vietnam,
Iraq or Afghanistan

I don't want another wild fire
Flash flood
Or hurricane

I don't want another mass shooting
Famine
Drought
Or
Circumstances which are dire

I don't want to hear
All these cries
I don't want to hear
All these lies
I don't want to know
All these scams
No, I don't want to come over
And hold your hand
I don't want no stinking badge

I don't want a see a magic
Number
I don't want to wake,
come
Out of this slumber

I don't want to know
What I'm supposed to do
Supposed to see
Supposed to be

No, I don't want to
be your friend
I don't want to have to extend
No, I don't want to have this conversation

I just want silence
And the end.

Really
What then?

Blessings they come everyday
In everyway
There is beauty in the lullaby in the winds
The starlings, a river flowing
From this tree to another
The woods green in the fall sun

Which way is it going to be today?



It's going to be
What it's going to be

I don't know

I don't want to know
But it's all a blessing
So they say
Which is it going to be
Today?

Surely one more breath and to our present,
We'll keep on fighting
while we
Surrender.

Take me my darling
take me my love
take me
somewhere
I've never been before.
Take me my love
take me my darling
to a world
of make believe
where I can be you
and
you can be me
where surrender
is a victory
and
screams are whispers
of
"I love you".

Take me my darling
take me my love
give me all you know
or
ever knew.
Where we both have paid our dues.
and
have nothing to lose.
No more silence
no more rouge
all
masks are started a new
when I am kissing you.

Give me a circle
give me a square
give me a triangle
make me a dare
to face that fear.

Take me my darling
take me my love
take me on a voyage
and
leave me
there.

The sheets
are on the windows
to
protect  the night from rising
sunlight
take me my darling
take me
there.

Called a cab
It had to be Yellow
Checkered at least
A rumble seat

Old school,
an Uber
it
just wouldn't do.

The cabbie asked me
What's your destination?

Take me to the end of time,
I don't think it's on your GPS
Do you know the ride?

He hit the meter
never replied

Looking out the window
Saw it all fly by

When we arrived
I was surprised

No charge, he said
for this ride.

Do you want to go dance in the moonlight?

Where?

Dry Lagoon around the rocky bend
Just past the tide pools
Anenomies and Star Fish
Where the beach is
Where the agates, glassy yellow shine
in the horizon sun

Sounds good
When are you coming?

Around six thirty-five
There's a harvest moon rising
I have Del Shannon and the Drifters on the Spotify

My mom is in a mood
I don't know if she'll let me go
She's being way to profound
yelling at the t.v.

It's okay
Tell her you're gonna find some bliss
She won't know what to do with this

You're my sweetie
Come and get me
I've got a baggie for the agates
A "bonnet" for the sun
I don't know the Drifters
But come on around
and
Give me some

K.

Remember, save the last dance for me.

Mt. Rose rises
10 thousand feet
Of treachery, deceit and defeat.

Every storm
Every wind
Every drop of flooding rain
Every blowing snow
Converges on this terrain
Until no visibility remains
The glistening diamond asphalt promises riches
But that doesn't remain.

That ******* has tried to **** us many times.

Its serene moments
And panoramic views are a lie
For its treachery
Resides in the one false
Move when you can't hide
And you are sliding
Side to side.
Twerling
Wherling
Spinning
The landscape flying by
The blowing snow
Blinds your eyes
It comes at you
Horizontal
Lateral
It comes from below.

Doing 360's
The back becomes the front
The front becomes the back
The blizzard sweeps you up
And all your doing
Is going along
For the ride
Wondering
If
You are going to
Survive.

A magic finger
Stopped
Us there
The cliffs and the air
And we hang suspended
With the panoramas and vistas
Right there
A foot or two
A foot or two away.

All in all
That ******* has tried to **** us many times.

It's become a symbol and a sign
Of knowing we're okay
Because unless
I'm sliding sideways
Down
Mt. Rose
Everything is nothing
But my mind imagining
Treachery, deceit and defeat...

Walking miles
on a
desolate beach
never losing
my path back
to the highway
home,
inside
I know

My eyes
will once again find
the healing white light
the beacon
of
The 4 Trees
guiding me
to the long
highway
home.

Along the way
losing sight
of
them all

There is confusion
fear and trepidation
feeling like a child
waiting in front of a
movie theater
for their mother to come
watching cars
counting trees

And of where I am
And of where I am going
Somewhere along these dunes

Familiarity will
set back in
focus will find
the  4 Trees
quaking in the salty breeze

The ocean is rough
storms blowing on through
calling
beckoning
with each frozen wave
the end of all issues

Sometimes looking out
Sometimes looking in
writing in the sand
knowing the tide
is coming in
erasing all.

The  landscape always changing
Easy to become so lost
And tho
the landmarks will decompose
and fade

The 4 Trees
for today mark the way

Easy to miss
along the forest
Panic
a breath away

The phantom captain
the voice within
reassures
not lost
just misplaced
our spot on the map

The spirit guides
the dance
in a spot of the healing
light
the rustling sounds
of the 4 Trees
guiding me
back to the highway.

The it upstairs
thinks it's God,
But it isn't.
Man or Woman,
It comes in a thousand genders.

It's only has one mind,
Its own pleasure,
The power of Now,
Well, that's what it's all about.
The cost,
Well, that's no problem.

It begs
It borrows
It steals
It pleads
It lies to you straight faced.

If you bleed,
When the consequences are paid,
It says, "Not me"
"We'll deal with it later"
"One more time"
"One more round"
"One more rodeo"
"One last time for the road."

It's pretty smug
most of the time,
Can't move your
arms or legs,
But whips up anxiety
if
you say, "No. "
It'll show you resistance is futile.

Though it only hangs
around
for little while,
It'll let you know.

It speaks to you
in the third person voice -
You deserve it
You need it
You've been so good.

It'll talk you into trances
strange self-destructive dances,
Twist you upside down,
Inside out.

It ain't God,
Somebody needs to talk to it soon,
Let it know,
These days of running the show
are numbered,
There's more to life than this slumber
Numbness has had its abundance,
Talk to it soon
While there's still time.

A whisper, though, says something different,
"How's about
one more
time. "

I'm wearing one now
the noose is tightening

Problems that won't get resolved

You know the ones I mean

The refrigerator died
The roof is leaking

Everyone in the house
has a
Virus
Including the computer

The boss hasn't taken
a vacation or a shower
for
four or five years

True love that ain't comin'
and
bank accounts they go to zero

All problems, they say are time limited
But when in the midst of an albatross
the grinding wheels of time
come to a standstill in your mind

Anxiety Apprehension
late into the night

But you know
we know
the albatross
goes away or is forgotten

when it's on the scene, though  
life is just plain mean.

The Navigator stands
at the top of the hill,
a spotlight illuminating the fog,
looking for a direction.

The stars are gone,
another moonless night,
all he has is his intuition
and questionable insight.

And so the dance of change begins

Moving outward
while moving in

Like a blind man at a drive through atm,
wondering how he got there,
listening for a sparkle
looking for an animal spirit in the dark.

There are cliffs and caverns
sinkholes and canyons
along the way

He's been known to fall
and rise again -
while heading towards the river

The Navigator, he is an expert
on moving in the darkness
looking for that one flash
our lives on display

The Navigator, he knows the signs,
sometimes right sometimes wrong

The paths have many directions to follow
But with the first step
all other paths
fade away.

Decisions are made

The Navigator, he has his day,
his way.

I
actually feel sorry for him
my
extension
my
avatar

I
wake him
every morning
no matter how sleepy he is
get him out of bed before sunrise
while I hide
deep inside.

He arises
to reply
respond
put out
and
deny.

A hook through the nose
to
catch the bucks
and
cast him out into that
old main stream
where he does his perfect avatar thing
he dances jigs
he placates
he sings
he says please and thank you
can I get you anything
the fingers
waving
at
him
no longer mean a thing.

A master of the palms up
he
can
always say
"who? Not me."

And
when his day is done
I
reel him in
remove
what ever little bucks
he
caught

Sit him down
in
front of the t.v.
gin and juice
and
dancing images too.

Give him a sleeping pill
so he sleeps so sound
no dreams
to
disturb
his life
and routine
a
brown nosed role
in
the
consumer machine.

I
slip
him
into bed
and
sometimes in the late night
I
hear
him weeping.

In
the morning
I
get him up
to
do
the same **** thing .

Every morning at 9
She puts on the
banker's disguise
puts her poetry
in a sacred jar
next to the ashes
of
her husband
her dad
her mom.

She's a river of currents
behind the smile
darkly ******
phantasims
fly and flower

She not only carries
the keys to the vaults,
but also
the keys to wisdom
sublime
She can see right through you
when
she wants to
She can read your mind

Smilies
Metaphors
Haikus
Rap
Manifestations
of
all that makes us human,
These are the currents she rides
while
she
files
e-mails
signs
floats loans
defaults
default swaps

The whole time
she's got on
John Prine's illegal smile

She's watching secret movies
inside
she's alive.

It took many years
to learn to hide
the images
the colors
thought dreams
which flow inside -
while in meetings
behind her eyes
flows
the poetry
from herself, she cannot hide.

The commute ends
The day ends
She unscrews the sacred jar
pen to paper
the currency of poetry
resurrected
she comes alive,
All disguises
hide.

You've rattled my cage
You'd better get out of the way
You've woken up the beast in me.

Sleeping soundly
for so many years,
the vultures
sat by
its side
figuring after that last breath
no other is going to be sighed.

I had paid the mason
made promises to the poet
they were working on its headstone
writing out its epitaph
all in very serious tones.

But
your vacuum eyes saw too close
your breath crept on to mine
your words spun fantasies
your hands shook me awake.

The beast's eyes popped open
this is where *** and love
love and ***
become confused
because
the beast
can't say
and
he can't see
and
doesn't remember what was written
on his epitaph.

"Don't feed or tease
or rattle the cage
better to let him sleep
that way,
that way
everything,
everything
will remain the same. "

We've become a
civilization of diseases
we build
monuments
statues
institutions
thinking death won't ever find
us here.

Our minds are scrambled
our bodies are damaged
our food is poisoned
our skies are toxic
our vices
are forces of processes
beyond our
control.

When we are not humbled
by nature's power
we inflict our wounds
upon ourselves in
the names of greed
and self protection
and no one knows
what it really means.

Fearful of the silence
we fill our skies with
endless noise
babbling on in endless
monotones, droning
while traffic stalls
at a hot stand still
idling engines
idling souls
depletion of every last glimpse
of the past.
Jam packed
in the stench
I am lost today
in
this vitriol
as anxiety, death and desperation
from every corner
screams my name.

That's why I came
to these woods
where the illusion of
peace remains
as
wild fires burn
just down the lane
as you know
as you say
its always been this way
when bodies hung
at every cross-roads
hunger, power, ignorance
and strength
all ran
the show.

I'm sick with
every disease I
know.

I float upon these tranquil
blue waters
and
we are reminded of the peace we all
really can know.

Do you mean what
you say
Do you say what
you mean?
Is this some kind of dream?

You brought me in here
you held me so close
you whispered my name
in that breathy kind of way
which I know
will sing
through
to
the last refrain.

Your eyes they softened
your touch it awakened
I surrendered to you
I held on too long.

I know now
with your leaving
soon
I'll go back to the room
from where I came
I'll be crying your name.

Do you mean what you say
do you say what you mean
Do you really always see me that way?

I thought there was
something so new
something about you
that burned
each night
through and through.

Now our eyes look beyond,
the golden ribbon is cut
lays tattered
in the changing winds
while you walked one way
I walked another
thinking about your spoken words
which said what they meant
and meant what they said.

Now what is left to say
will stay
unspoken.

"It's a frozen morning "
said the earth to the sun

"Please rain"
said the ground to the clouds

"You're going to die"
said the spider to the fly

"Goodbye"
said the woman
to the sleeping guy

"Don't go"
said the guy to the setting sun

"Come home "
said the house
now all alone

"Let's try, one more time "
said the message on her phone

"Our time has come
Our time has gone "
said the four wheels
on the gravel road

"One more log of mother madrone"
said the woodstove to the cold, cold, room.

The burden of all
these lives
is bringing me down to
size
buried in the
sorrows of others
I must confide, my dear
My dreams are
filled with
dread of another day
But my work is never
done - the walking wounded
an endless line,
a samba line
dancing to a thousand
individual tunes
all of which
wind up echoing
in my mind as I listen
for those common themes
search for any magic words
I can bring back to
you, my dear
as you sit in that
four white walled
room
Speaking to a
random sound
and I with all
those questions
all that experience
all those answers
helpless in
my divide
the professional
the personal
both in total heartbreak, my dear
both only left with that
long lost loving sigh.