gonna break out
the final ride
the other side
of all elaborate eyes
there's life exploding in the night
while my heart beats for more
plight flight - freedom's fight
desperate to the land of too many choices
to the end of all things
to dragon lair and blonde locked hair
there's a chance

with a disposition of see-both-sides
you carry enormous doubt
that a single soul shares
the immensity of feeling
towards this morning's joined
moon-and-sun-rise

while also knowingly-free
from lessons learned
from childhood whisperings
from connection with stars
from rationale conclusion
this to not-to-be

perspective lost in current caste
fractured scenes through warped glass?
vertigo pools below highest dives
grass' color, either side?
dear friends who turn and wound
mirages of heros and majority rule?

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

pensively breathe
as the breeze - pleases -
subtle dancing summer leaves
of the mother, a ritual
call out the soul
from dna truths
drop tribal rue
back to air to lung to soothe

Almost all hide truth
Almost all
It is the few that are essentially mad
Who expose the private
Compulsively divulge
Who, nakedly unknow
    any and all shakles
No time to receive
    your judgements
They're busy with deep enlightened laughs
    for days
And we dare not overcome our terror to look these souls in the eye
These tidal waves of truths
These callers out of our ****
These unpredictable prophets!
There's no telling where they may point their magnifying glass!

To the mothers pouring coffee
On mother's day
    In to-go cups
Handing them to half-awake dads
    Who take it to their co-parent
Still asleep
In between satin, down
    and flannel king size ambien sheets

To the mothers, who reason
This holiday to be their last
Summoning ancient strength
Yet again, at the end
    For their own

To the mothers
Who made plenty of mistakes
Who let their kids down
And somehow
Someway
Have swallowed all pride
To do their best, now

Thank you

This life-sacrifice IS seen
But is too often, too heavy
And holy
And sacred a thing
To speak about

you wounded soul
what comes over you
to clothe you in disdain
your joy and love
used to overfill every cup
in pouring distance
do you remember?
you emanated joy
your face
your speach
your walk
good lord! its in your eyes
you insolent desperado

did you hear that?
a song calls us to dance
a joie de vivre
calls
and if you can't hear it now
i will give you all the sacred
space you need to find
your way out
of the pit you've found
yourself in
until then
there's a loud hawk around here
with stories to tell

Feet planted firmly
On the earth
At a favorite park
Sky is vibrant
Exploding with color
High altitude
    enormous Clouds
The kind that could get dark and angry
If they wanted to
But will probably leave
Well enough alone today
There is no wind
And I am here
Looking for the truest truth
I can find
Which seems to be
Only heard
In ears lacking arrogance
And I
Standing here
Am going to have to carefully
And gently
Listen
    to hear it

Slow down as slow as possible
Fill lungs with sky
Use your feet to feel the earth
Feel it all, think high

remembering a high school photography teacher
teaching that it doesn't matter
that a similar photo had been done before
what matters is that I have not done it before

with that in mind
I went on a break of day hike
carrying as much concern for originality
as a grasshopper
or Shakespeare

to the top of the Boulder flatirons
approaching from the east
arriving at a rocky cliff
of the same flat sandstone rock
that the flatirons themselves were forged
where a bench had been constructed
from dozens of stone pieces
tucked into the cliff
with still enough distance from civilization
that one could only hear the faintest siren
positioned to receive the mid-morning sun
I accepted the invitation
to recline and relax my eyes
to consider
the collection
of other high school lessons
most of a training to perpetual middle-class non-identity
but occasionally
something worth remembering

there is always more beneath
the surface of seas, skins, and deep sighs
these visible clues, cues, and rues
tip off the astute to a sublime prime with possible power
the antonym and antidote to social media political posts
worlds in nether realms
offset the cliff bells
erasing the modern monotone monolith ringing tinnitus to us all

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

we are all from women
women try to become as good of women
as where they're from
or much much improved
men are from women too
but don't understand their origins
remotely
and try to connect with another woman
who is usually
some sort of version
of their origin

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

our hearts
beat time
we are adam
newly awake
enjoying the sparse
beauty of life
eternally changing
eternally the same

our hearts
beat time
we are trees
giving forth fruit
enjoying the universe
at our feet
eternally changing
eternally the same

our hearts
beat time
pure light
sets thoughts ablaze
our fates
not equal
impermanence
supremely and sharply
sensed

develop taste for the cheap stuff
the simple stuff
put your mind at ease

pass over not, enjoy it all
and go where thy please

I recited some poems
    from old English masters
At a recent funeral
And the christian minister
    asked me afterward
If I have found
    Much poetry
        In the bible

Being rather familiar with the text
I stood there
    Silently confused
        And didn't get to respond
            Before he walked away
                grab handing the flock

I did not understand
Had he not read the psalms?
The writings of Solomon?
Or David?
The song from Mary?
Had he not read the first chapter
    of Genesis?
Had he not thought of Paul
    quoting pagan poets?
Did he know of the
    Hebrew rhyme
        in the song of songs?
The original language letters
    of the longest psalm, 119
Had he never meditated
    day and night
       on Jesus' intro
            to the sermon on the mount?

Perhaps I misunderstood
    his question
Or, perhaps, he misunderstood
    the whole entire thing

I take walt seriously
For the questions
Question me
   untamed and reoccurring
They -
Aren't from him
    No, they're not from him
They -
Are light through
    a cracked door
They -
Are rumors told
    of secluded shores
They -
Are forcible ripples
    for what
        and who
           they're for

Space time stretches
Each spring
Days get longer
Morning illuminates
Neighbors walk their dog in pajamas
And all rush off
With no time to spare

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

Unknowing is birth of wisdom
Better to abstain from judge
Most inceptions are so certain
Then collapse after a nudge

as a barista
continues to call out
desperately searching
for the poor lost soul
who ordered the
pumpkin spiced latté
only to vanish into
the darkest depths of
societal, civilized obscurity
so i stand before you
holding out
all my gifts

Life's longing for an embrace
Ceases not
After second eight

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

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

there's two ladies talking
about things
they don't dare mention

never ever ever
******* give up
keep learning
keep loving people
and all living things
keep comforting
keep enjoying nature
the greatest tides can turn
no one knows what is around the bend
let all that has beauty
and peace
consume your mind
and shoulders
releasing the fight
completely

Fellow lost soul
Share a flower-scented thought?
Or still bouncing through the dark
    A hawk scaring off flocks?

The world creates peculiar friends
Difficult lessons to learn
But also bright lights
    Third to the sun and the moon

Like writers and readers
Capable intimate exchange
Or fear-covered nonesense
    With lies for truth's sake

We deeply miss
What we never were
Other's lives - so appealing
So we emulate the best we can
In both becoming and reflecting
Do gifts of passions occur

Know know know
Know know know
No no no
No no no
Let it go
Let it go
To feel at all
Feel it all
Singe your mind
Find more love inside

today's form is best - with
gracious smile, confident chest
for skies lie in deadpan blue
onlookers played, fortune's fool
unleash your comment, set all aflame
is this not why you came?

In a dark Inn of sour brew
I speak it plain and slant
I clothe my wolf in sheep and cape
Exerting can from can't

Pounding ******* the minor chords
I summon all my strength
Stopping for neither rest nor test
But pushing on at length

I will find courage when its lost
With fuel of good or ill
With fire of heart, and lungs that draw
I give up all but will

Finished my work day
Kicked ***
    Smoked a big cigar at lunch
Now waiting for a friend
    To come for dinner
I think we'll open
    That Japanese whiskey
        I've been holding onto

I don't look the part
    But business suits me
        I'm ruthlessly practical
            I deliver results

I studied to be a minister
Suiting me less

Suitability being appropriate; fitting; proper, befitting, seemly, apt

I thought myself a proper minister
As thinking
    Is my favorite past time
But patrons of such groups
Don't love thinking too much

Left that path
Called ******* at the temple
And didn't look back

I'm not much of a poet
It suits me least
    But I write
        write
            write
                write
And I'm allowing this path
To take me downstream
To larger, slower, quieter waters
Where souls rest
Until then
I'll enjoy the feel of
    the cool current best I can
How 'bout you?

This only works
If you judge me
Like your mirror

There are fields that call me out
That I have never seen
Only way I know they are
The feeling in between

Meadows filled with four-legged furs
And older rooted greens
I fit in just fine with them
And I like what I seem

When visits become seldom more
For reasons unforeseen
The call rings to wake my soul
Reminds me of true me

First, come to grips with death
Face the fear
Then move on
Then work your *** off
Giving yourself completely
To your artistic passions
And mountain climbing adventures
And once you've failed
Hundreds of times
Learn from the masters
Be the most absorbent sponge
Capable of soaking up
The whole ******* thing
And take your passions
The ones that are beautiful
The ones that make other creatures
Be filled with awe of something
That is so greatly, greater than
That has been divinely touched
And breathed on from the beyond
And allow
Just allow
That passion to take you
All the way
Downstream

lapsong souchong in hand
and writing
as the sun
blossoms
in the full
expanse of
the atmospheric prism -
a few shades
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

We must face our fears
To begin to create
Art matters
It directs our fate

Conversation that guides
Steps that lead
Hearts are moved
Life to bleed

Living now in the age
We face a willful test
Love and charity are daily as well
Although we notice less

We don't fight hate with hate
Or give up hope for all
Through pain we conquer heart
We unparalyze for call

Summoned now, it is our time
So we push past fear
Our ancestors beat such terror
We have in us, that's clear

So hope on, hope on
We won't give up or in
We will learn through many trials
Past terror and tears we'll win