feeling the heat, i'm hiding from desire
i've spent many nights by that fire
i feel alive by the light of my pathfinder
all of the other fights are minor

i set the sights on a climb ever higher
it becomes my mind's flight decider
widening my heights by trying to be wiser
hoping for my eyes to open wider

What is the dream,
the diary I keep with notes etched to the seam?
What is the goal,
the endpoint at which I determine my role?
The world only skims off the top it seems,
loving only the cream of the crop.

Lost am I,
having strayed from the path,
a world split down the middle,
cut and dry,
and if so,
where can I live,
who can abide my wayward soul?
A soul assembled from the ashes of Descartes and Kant,
a contradiction in continuity,
can I or can't I,
change the hand that I've got?

Listen to the song,
the siren's polyphony,
the refrain rate familiar,
the color tone wrong,
discern for yourself,
what is the bane of the crown?
Stifle your fear and strike at the root,
with shovel in hand bury your sin,
always striving for truth,
rend the tree at both ends.

Yes,
I am a pariah,
***** in purpose and soul,
the wayfarer's failure,
refusing to pay the pathfinder's toll,
and although my map is imperfect,
all roads lead to Rome.

Retreatist,
rebel,
jester,
fool,
gladly I'll claim the whole lot,
each title a badge,
a step towards my goal,
this society is sick and refuses to see,
each individual is a person,
gay,
gypsy,
Muslim,
Jew.

In my younger
and more vulnerable years
I
                  walked
                   on
I was lonely
        no longer
I was a guide
            a pathfinder
I had that familiar
                  conviction
                         that life
was beginning over
promising to unfold
that shining secret
that only
Midas
               and Morgan
                              and Maecenas knew,
that the wingless
had been overlooked
in a fashion
that rather
             took
                         your
                                  breath
                                            away.
I was fragilely bound into
a murmured apology
of moths
among
            the whispers
                                  and the champagne
                               and the stars
Bantering inconsequence
that was made of
infinitesimal
               hesitation
I repeated blankly
a surprising
shill metallic urgency
Bloomed with light
it sort of crept in on us
that I
               had truly
heard nothing at all
In the unquiet darkness
continually smoldering
with disappointment
in the solemn echoing
green light.
a dim hazy cast
lay upon my love
your love
     belongs
             to me
                 She insisted
its too late now
           he scowled
I could only stare
as
she cried
            A terrible
                        terrible
                                   Mistake!
you ask too much
she told me
I love you now.
you cant repeat the past
he said
why,
     of
            course
                        you can!
I paid a
high price
for living too long
with a
                   single
                              dream.

Materialism, reject it
Consumerism, constrict it
Minimalism, seek it.

Abandon the crowd, become the laughing stock.
Insults and mockery flow through the flock.
Your freed soul a harsh reminder
that they are chained by desire.

Enter a Stanger, leave a stranger.
Do not dare to even take a sip.
You are one, part and whole.
Complete from outside and within.
In your oneness seek him.

Delusions of
Futures untold
Created for
Us, you know: the un-bold

Braying our compulsions
To the big ear in the
Sky
As we seek:

Glor if i ca tion
Being meek likely won’t bring
Gra tif i ca tion
Dulling my senses points to
Stu pif i ca tion
But don’t I deserve it, ain’t i a
Hall u cin a tion

So why put in the work?
Let’s wait

<<<PAUSE>>>

The avalanche will find us in perpetuity
Coming in time cause we been shirking duty
Oh, there it is - it’s time for us to be:
Aggrieved

Shoulda known better but we was:
Deceived

IlWanted to tell my truth, wanted to be:
Believed

Shoulda kept something up my:
Sleeve

So how do you rise above?

Do you got what it takes?
Could you climb your
Kilamanjaro?
With a little training maybe
And a Gut check: to find your bravado
Wouldn’t it be nice to have your own number,
Just like Avogadro

Let’s ask again,
How do you rise above?

Breathe it in
Seethe it in
Find a vessel to
Conceive it in
Now that it’s full
And overflowing

Now let it go

Trying to find answers in a bottle
Could point you toward
A 12 step mis-step

Getting back on the right track:

Use a compass
That’s internal
Realign it, maybe
Through a vernal
Equinox, the universe speaks a language
We are untaught
It’s of the Earth and Sky and
Can’t be bought
Maybe it’s me and
Maybe it’s not
I want to commune with my god
Through thought and
Heartfelt overtures that aren’t constrained
By limitations of my brain
Or systems based on economics
My value is not gleaned from
Gross Domestic Products

Answers are found as you expand past the vessel
You may become part of the trestle
Follow the false path long enough
And you get trod under
The false pathfinder becomes the path,
Did you make a few to many navigational errors
Cause you didn’t do the math
And now, as a part of the foundation of which the unending wayfarers
Can use to go a little further and a little longer in the wrong direction
Your hard work has become a bridge to nowhere
But let’s not dwell, cause

Scrupulosity
Will never guide you to the golden city

Maybe its the meat suit that you’re wearing
The overcomplexity of your eyes
That won’t let you see
The unending nerve endings that make you feel so much
You can’t feel, you won’t feel
You could pay heed to Seneca
Consider giving the suit a slip
Taking a trip
Through the underworld
With everybody’s favourite sidekick: Virgil
Kickin’ it, workin’ it
Trying not to let the lost souls hold you down
Throw you down
Now it’s time, let’s start coming around

On my journey, seems
I can’t shake em’
Me, myself, and my shadow-self
Guess I’ll try and integrate em’

Time for a va ca tion
From thoughts that won’t un-
wind, in breezes

Gonna get around to it, to
Writing my treatise
Maybe I can elucidate this false peace
Via an army of one, en masse
Slipping through the bars of false
Beliefs
As the trees
Lose their leaves

Maybe for the last time

I'm working on the unwind
From a labyrinth that is unkind
So sorry:
Guess I'm playing up the sublime

Ah, never mind - it’s
Navel gazing
Self hazing
I ain’t done razing

Roofs and
Telling truths
Or drinking
Vermouth
Cause at my very root I am
Uncouth

Razing?
Or raising!
Roofs
Finding proofs
Telling truths

Ever listen to Ruf-
Us or Martha
The Wainrights
Canadian brain-trust
Listen too hard make your brain bust

Let’s get back to navels, or
Oranges
But nothing rhymes with oranges
Maybe not
Gotta flip it
Tryna strip it
This noose is so tight
Can I slip it?

It’s geometrical
Said Euclides
We got the Greeks
Or do the Greeks got us
Squeezing us into this euro-centric
Box
Can it be un-wrapped?
Can you un-rap this poem?

Busting brains
And taking names
No one to blame, I
Don’t feel ashamed
When I win
Just means I can take it
In my shin
It’s got nothing to do with my
D N A, eh
Nor the choice piece of geography
I made the conscious choice to arrive on,
genetically

But remembering brevity
It’s time to cut the rambling for the sake of levity
Speaking of sake, I wouldn’t mind some saké

Oh, what’s that:
~~~ boom ~~~
Pulled another one out of my medicine bag

Just sitting here

Shifting gears
Confronting fears
Yesterday I was

Bleak
Er

Meek
Er

Should have been a
Streak
Er

Laying out the facts that are
untold
Thanks for listening to me
Another one of the
un-bold

I will travel this world
just show me an airline
that allows payment in poetry
show me where words buy visas

I can be a hero
who restores peace at a battlefield
where the universe is
fighting the war of words

I can soar high in space
just show me where lines
are stitched into wings
show me how to synthesise words into feathers

I can leave my mark on Earth
just have to turn it into
a planet whose species
actually knows a poet's worth

I can move the world
just give me a springboard
where I can stand and spin
the rest of the globe the other way

I can make you proud
just learn to hear my silence loud
even if you don't practically
appreciate that I'm endowed

I can be a president
just show me a nation
whose politics ain't marred
with filth, controversies and lies

I can be whatever you want
just give me whatever I need
give me a people without greed
and I'll find you a Moses or Joshua
,that I'm sure

I can be anything
the ocean, the bridge, the home under siege
the road, the beast of burden that lifts the load
the pathfinder at the Red sea,
if I'm given the rod

Fire
Eats up the night
Biting the hand that feeds it
Twisting and withering
Dancing and cackling

A source of heat and light
When the sun moves on
Whispering
Singing an unheard melody
Enticing the cold
To enjoy its warmth

Frightening the creatures of the night
When they approach this new sensation

Darkness runs to every corner
To avoid it
Devouring flesh, wood,
And anything else caught in its path

Wicked, cruel, painful
Beautiful, mesmerizing, enticing
"Come share my warmth," it sings
"Rest your tired feet and aching body,
"Soothe your mind and feed your hungry belly,
"For it has not had a good meal in weeks"

A singer of beautiful songs
A melodious sonnet
A pathfinder
Joining souls

Some fear fire and run
Others tame it
Letting it run up their arms, bare chest
And crawl into their mouth
Then spitting out tongues of flames
Playing with it
Encouraging it to bite

A source of entertainment and pleasure
Burning and choking with intoxicating fumes
Laughing at the trapped and helpless
It slowly and painfully takes away lives
"Feed me! I'm hungry!" it cries as it dies away

It mourns when it is not wanted
And rejoices when needed

Keeping your body warm on the coldest of nights
Gives your whereabouts away to your enemy

Treacherous
Beautiful
Cruel
Hypnotizing

On the ride of our lives
There’s no reason for switching sides of the lines
Her eyes steer me on a dash boredom trip
Her feet on the dash when we are crossing boarders
Love in the air and we’re breathing in exhaust
Road trips planned out to a double crossing
Set fire to the bond for the gears couldn’t shift
Her eyes grew for another
While mine lost their tint
•
Bridges burned was well worth the visit
The cars totaled can never amount to this kind of freedom
The trust merged within a group to shoot down a smile
These miles rolled are now thrown down the scrap yard
I had to scrape myself off of a window
Everybody looking through me, clearly a loser
So I’ve set a fire in my pathfinder
Everyone found a way out of the tolls
The evol plugged in the love was found in the start of the spark
Sticks and stones were thrown to cut me off
I’ve pulled over too much
Stepped out to check out the view too much
The love we had was looking too lonely
Do not enters in both one ways of a love light
Now I’m in the street swerving and nothing is stopping me from crashing
Wall bangs from the side panels we now share from the past pictures on mirror panels
•
Hanging off the sunroof
I just need to see a little light
Gas pedal grasping the air
Destiny holds evil and fear
I’m holding the steering wheel
Driving drunk asking for trouble from a 2seater
•
You’re trapped in love
I’m trapped in a lx
The ride boxes us both in
There’s fire in both our outlines
Yet I’m the one slowly dying
Check the light of my heart line