i heard that
the supreme compliment or gift
is one's attention
and tonight's moonrise broadcast
has mine -
(and the coyotes)
completely

as if you could not eat otherwise
that's how a poet should write
that's what she told me

but that's not the language
I use
no no no
no

it is and has been
a headfirst dive into
a shallow lake

soul and spine's at stake
it festers there anyway

but beyond that
there's the conjuring of
limitless higher powers

long meditations
on self mortality
sweating through
bedsheets

touching, almost
the azure wavelength canopy of sky
with slow breathing

wow, what exactly just happened?
not déjà vu, really
more of stars aligning in my direction
dripping a divine drop
a touch
from that which resides in the recess of the mystery
of the notyetknown

Baristas, patrons
Even the quicksteppingsuits
Can read you like a book

Your face tells the story
"Tempt not a desperate man!"
They see all your chips on the table
Out like that

A few lines of heartfelt disclosure
Now appear
And you disappear
Back to the world's rhythms

Heed floral and fauna
And grow stronger
Than your appearance
By virtues unseen

See, dear, see

Birds sing you to wake
Waking to the modern dream
Beats of heart-drums
Rhythm of air into lungs
Feeling of earth on bare feet

Curious of when first memory
Was created
Of coffee grounds, universes
And saturn's rings

Do thoughts increase?
Increasing through a lifetime
All lifetimes

Do thoughts focus?
To miniscule photons
What horton heard

And visibility
Over the wall of these five minutes
Of fear and remorse

Inertia of these gentle beats and rhythms
Increasingly miraculous
Increasing mortal language

See, dear, see

Curious of the universe?
Saturn's rings?
Multitude of galaxies?

Do thoughts increase?
Increaing through a lifetime
All lifetimes

Miniscule photons
Horton's Universes heard
In every thumb

The soul exposing immobilization
Of a nurturing lover
In new found aesthetic beauty

Sensation of diving in water
But not water, something more
Awake from the modern dream

Visibility past these five minutes
Crippled not by fear
Crippled not by remorse

Inertia of the turn
Increasing past miraculous
Increasing past mortal language

Beats of heart-drums
    Do more than once thought
Rhythm of air into lungs
Feeling of the earth on bare feet
Birds singing you to wake

See, dear, see

the choice must be made, early on
to break from ****** caste
resign or conform to the herd
imitators en masse

to differ from this path of sheep
avoid more traveled by
for without curiosity
feebly disqualify

in these shallows, lie shallow words
with hint of substance found
remarks of minute, shielded songs
trivial, temporal sounds

lone whispered tales who dared into
dangerous distant seas
souls and hearts tapped by the allure
of what’s beyond the reef

meaning resides in deeper seas
where there is more at stake
and to ignore is praised by most
lacking courage to take

ideas are worth discussing
for those toward meaning go
first color sunrise worth noting
for takers of breaths slow

ignorance is not kiss of bliss
interest charts a new course
sanctioned preceded expansion
infinity’s deep heart

diatribes of desperation
too wonderful for Job
standing on shoulders of giants
visibility ‘n hope

from a shaded view use reason
capacities collide
intelligence, intuition
clear out views of this side

confidence is not inflection
the deep hold a bit more
eyes would rather dart through rooms than
admit what’s in the drawer

follow ideas all the way
carry them to the brink
devote it all to the open
where air is clean to think

the song’s sustenance can increase
beyond a passage bend
if the spark looms advantageous
then chase it to the end

provide occasions to evoke
the theories tracked in snow
uncertain lies the pendulum
of which direction goes

the first foggy ports of entry
where these journeys commence
encompass only distant lights
and often awful tests

allow the stronger light to blind
and bounce it off the halls
sounding boards of experience
ancient or modern calls –

calls leviathan, nebula
noble time unwasted
mysteries must be lost to gain
temporary o’ sacred

a dim reflection skips a beat
complete with foreign tune
matter not wholly familiar
where voice and image loom

inside - or outside - looking in
peering at copy dark
impressing shadow silhouettes
awake only in part

potentials are adorned within
the self-inflicted chains
honest laughs never lean
where unseen depths remain

elude the rank and file marching
van gogh’s for a dollar
valued only after its lost,
tapped or gandered through fire

compassion is never compare
one loves and one condones
one can conjure beings and tribes
the other's shoes, always their own

but fires do not completely fade
for those who stand in awe
love and shadows sincerely make
partial beauty withdraws

beauty comes suddenly, cleanly
when the thing comes at all
for unpursued and dimly lit
zipping boundless or small

evasive through the chattel herd
beyond the unexplored
echoing all senses at once
recognized or ignored

its grandeur through stories to heirs
that echo manifests
its rhythm, bearing, and function
wise to youth, wise near death

beauty's power, intangible
a high altitude veil
unspoken in its reflection
unseen with notice fail

intend on custom prison break
drop union from revel
no suffering o' comparison
the truth now the level

so pass shallows for deeper seas
with curious woken heads
and cast off cares of aversion
for soul’s empathy instead

i'm a lover in form
of passionate, faithful mate
i am a business executive too
setting a horrid pace

a father, son, brother, grandchild
in some familiar roles
also an intellectual hedonist
i am a temporary soul

but my poems will endure
nothing else i fear
generations get forgotten
setting my sights clear

ignorance is not bliss nor kiss
interest charts a new course
sanctioned preceded expansion
infinity’s deep heart

diatribes of desperation
too wonderful for job
standing on shoulders of giants
visibility ‘n hope

follow ideas all the way
carry them to the brink
devote it all to the open
where air is clean to think

the song’s sustenance can increase
beyond a passage bend
if the spark looms advantageous
chase it to the right end

provide occasions to evoke
the theories tracked in snow
uncertain lies the pendulum
of which direction goes

the first foggy ports of entry
where these journeys commence
encompass only distant lights  
and often awful tests

so allow the strong light to blind
and bounce it off the halls
sounding boards of experience
ancient or modern calls

calls leviathan, nebula
noble time unwasted
mysteries must be lost to gain
temporary o’ sacred

if un-packed
i'm a hack
way on back
of the pack
and my yak
yak yak yak
lost the knack
off a rack
my kettle's black
pure hipo-crack

but, I do know
i'm here to grow
still starting slow
with highs and lows
but I won't glow
till I forgo
this eating crow
on death's plateau
with status quo
so here i go

a dim reflection skips a beat
complete with foreign tune
matter not wholly familiar
where voice and image loom

inside - or outside - looking in
peering at copy dark
impressing shadow silhouettes
awake only in part

endure now the present tarry
the mirror's steady lies
and the twelve year old is still here
after shutting both eyes

Community center laughter
Raising its false-eerie falsetto
To a decibel that unlocks
Fantasies of vomits
Why didn't I bring a flask?
I'm owner to the darkest mind in the room
But I can describe beauty with
Tears and heart
Are you too chickenshit?!
Too committed now to your own death
Of small talk, small words, and small ideas
I'm surrounded by slow moving train wrecks
My God, I need to get outside and find a flower

Beauty comes suddenly, cleanly
when the thing comes at all
for unpursued and dimly lit
zipping boundless or small

evasive as an arctic dawn
under an unturned rock
echoing all senses at once
if recognized or not

its grandeur through stories to heirs
that echo manifests
its rhythm, bearing, and function
wise to youth, wise near death

Beauty's power, intangible
a high altitude hawk
unspoken in its reflection
unseen, or quickly lost

I have yet
to write
a single
poem

certainly I can
rhyme and meter
compose a verse
haiku
limerick
and build cadence
yet
it’s
withheld
refrained
restrained
it does not allow nor admit
in fact
it’s fraudulent
a paean sin of omission
omitting truth
vulnerability and
humanity!
why not weep of wide
open
limpid lucidity?
why not the magic of
heartfelt disclosure?
each ****** feature fearlessly
presented with palpable pretensionless
petals that the sun skips
over skin through
sky of algid air as
each lung
animates
all admissions
tumbling down
in the merriment
that transports
grace
eternal, primal
screams
ancient
songs
that release grudges
from muscles
the mysterious immersed magnificence that
confronts a chartreuse day as an
unimaginable
gift
through the lens of immediate
freedom
with burdens and cares
falling away to
a purely peaceful
poise
not a song, sonnet nor
a single sentence
rather the grasping of
a fresh infusing of
divine pleasure

coltrane seems capable of quenching some carnal craving

magnificence and Veracity
entering in a form
so undoubtedly Sincere
un-convoluted by
inconsequential script and scribble

perhaps this is kilmer's Tree
perhaps this is the universe's Love supreme
perhaps this is a Truce for the one who writes

quiet desperation has landed
loudly upon my face

youth-fueled dreams faded
promises now weighted
down
to aching
inside my rib cage
to my stomach pit
for someoneness
for somewhereness
for
me

immobilized and
frighteningly uninspired
standing on the edge
of great love
or the collapse of the coward
relief drives a hard bargain

compassion is never compare
one loves and one condones
one can conjure beings and tribes
the other's shoes, always their own

confidence is not inflection
the deep hold a bit more
eyes would rather dart through rooms than
admit what’s in the drawer

potentials are adorned with
our self-inflicted chains
honest laughs never lean
where unseen depths remain

but fires do not completely fade
for those who stand in awe
love and shadows sincerely make
partial beauty withdraws
for journeys weren’t created straight
nor refuse certain flaws

let us travel beyond
the lacking narrative
in our upcoming
eulogies

forced phrases
hostile headlines
useless euphemisms
knotted nonsenses

deficient and lacking
squeezing
complicated lives
into poems

rather
the old echo
still beats in our hearts
the preexisting condition
of the soul
invisible truths
clearly seen
prose...handing us the
hall pass to
doors
not entered
in awhile

now
with our deepest
and most satisfying
breath
lets be
quiet together
the ancients have
tried to pass
down
this
we are no-age
man in
no-age
land
the wind of
our soul
speaks
there is only
good between
us in the
cool air of this
evening
putting aside weights
casting off burdens
let us consider
grace
and now
my friend
create
and
walk
in the wonder that has
been awaiting
your arrival

eighteenth century basement pub
a scot's alliance grew
with titanic thirst for fear's end
each rabbit hole they flew

intent on custom prison break
union drop'd from revel
no suffering o' comparison
in truth, all, on the level

so it was and endures today
for those with woken heads
who cast off cares of aversion
for soul’s empathy instead

lapsong souchong in hand
and writing
as the sun
blossoms
in the full
expanse of
the atmospheric prism
each shade is now
dismissed to a
short recess
to play
on their own

and the wind
sits still
only an observer now
joyfully allowing the
lake, the colors, the writing
these undisturbed moments
together

In the shallows, lie shallow words
The hint of substance found
Remark of minute, cheap and safe
A trivial, temporal sound

Lone whispered tales who dared into
Dangerous seas beneath
Souls and hearts tapped by the allure
Of what’s beyond the reef

Meaning resides in deeper seas
Where there is more at stake
And to ignore it is praised by
Most lack courage to take

ideas are worth discussing
for those toward meaning go
first color sunrise worth noting
for takers of breaths slow

early nightfall in the canyon
a bat's balletic swoop
complements the alpine tribu-
tary, it's gentle loop

hi! I see you ursa major
you too are part of this--
the lull, the beat, the spell, the sleep
now with a goodnight kiss