Metropolis of Me


The Metropolis of Me

This city in which I live
This metropolis of me
Where skyscrapers stretch to
Reach the heavens
Towers babbling about us being God

Where we are so busy, trapped
Looking through empty frames of
Microsoft’s Windows
That our own windows have become clouded
Panes draped with cob webs and smoke
Residue of distraction and automated existence

Stimulus and response
Repeat, read
Has replaced my repose and regrets
Sorted into files within files
Paperless creations, updates
Statuses are me

 Monkey see monkey do
While buildings tilt
Monkeys stacking sticks and stones on top
Of hollow towers hoping to get a little higher
Closer to the source of us, the cause of me

Jonesing for a fix of divinity

Then one day
Most assuredly these shaking shells
Will fall, down, down
In thunderous silence
Crumbling my place

And in time I will
Tottering out into the remaining ash
Of all I've done, undone, un-filling
Perhaps discover that in
My climbing, building, borrowing of wastelands

In what time remains
Among the ashen debris
Will come to me, this spent man
Shadows stretching from horizon to setting
This one truth

The divine rests not in self-willed towers
Or constant circuits, surging, urging
Affirmations of the deeds of me
But rather in the me of me
That lives in this city

When freed
Of me

In My Hands


in my hands

in my hands
gentle and small
wonder and delight
a mingle of smiles and squirms

in my hands
the future rests
tasks to be learned
surprises of nature and mind

in my hands
a bundle of recollections
my daughter's squirming
my son's gentle dreams

in my hands
folded space carved by deep lines
happy scars, dancing aches
fill
my hands

Weeping Familiar


Familiar

you
this creature with my face and eyes
small and fleet running rampant on my soul

what quest brings you here again
to chase and devour my joy
ever laughing as you go, flinging scorn and distain?

to me
troubler of spirits
rest here on my lap and tell me what fuels your frensy

how goes
your recent troubled flight?
weep with me as we wait together for the rain

waterfalls
might bring us sprites in drops of sweet dew.
let us tarry here
my familiar

The Voice of the Irises


The Voice of The Irises

This morning
Damp with it all
The purple tongues
Of the Irises
Threaten to speak of spilled memories

She always loved the spring
That the Irises announced
Arriving on palates
Of green and violet
Promises of tender possibilities

But, the spring never really changed
Anything of substance and
Colors run in summer rains
Pooling into charcoal swirls

And the Irises died
With a vain promise
Whispered into tomorrow’s
Memories

The Falling


The Falling

pierced by spoken blades
flesh asunder, opened
wisps of life, pouring
possibility

flailing on the edge
frantic fingers grasp for
solid hope, some security
in vain

While Reading Poetry On A Rainy Sunday


While Reading Poetry on A Rainy Sunday

words dance and weave
emotion
these singular assaults
passions with a clash of images and sensations
each kindly interrupted by its cousin
uninvited visits
each roughly terminated in mid touch
all to be known faintly
in momentary memory
and egregious imagining

(Special thanks to Nevine Sultan's poetry for today's inspiration)

Still...the...Pain


still the pain...
shards slice within
crippling, forcing me to bow
feel the pain, yield to
the grip of limitation

NO! shouts my will
i will move on
i, this one of will and power
this man of means and strength

i will move, i will not yield
what are you?
a simple discomfort
a muscle in rebellion, ha!

within, the frosted grip seizes
pain, upon pain, slicing will from reality
leaving me
lying, crying in this moment

i cannot go on
i am beaten and crippled
i surrender
and, still the pain

Something Changed


Something Has Changed

the rays of the morning sun warm my eyes
bringing awakening, awareness
i move, leaving Slumber's serenity
struggling into the commencement of a new day
something has changed

my mind begins to fly
racing through the memories of yesterday
lunging forward into today's challenges
hunting feverishly for the change, the problem
something has changed

have ancient lies come to light
to rest upon me, here demanding restitution?
have forgotten voices spoken shouts of condemnation, final judgements?
something has changed

my mind drowns in the chaos of uncountable confessions, untold trespasses
What!, my soul screams.
What rests upon me today?
something has changed

i move forward into the unknown
lifting my self and standing upon the morning's truth, and i know
something has changed
the pain is gone.

Into The Day


You know those days
When winter is giving way to spring?

When the day begins on crisp promises
Finding us
In layers of comfortable clothes
And gentle expectations?

When both will be stripped off
Tossed aside along the path
Of a beautiful day?

Yep. Today is like that.

Meandering Meaning


Meandering Meaning

frozen limbs bound in fear
eyes too dry for anymore tears
my heart lies latent in my chest
hoping, longing for endless rest

where are the dreams of days gone by
was it all some cruel perverted lie
can i move from this coffin skin
will my iced soul ever live again?

pain within, pain without
too parched my voice to release a shout
all that moves in this locked cage
is the glimmer of fire known as rage

where are the dreams of days gone by
was it all some cruel perverted lie
can i move from this coffin skin
will my iced soul ever live again?

explosion within, shattering these bonds
screams of life, demanding a new dawn
i will live, this day again will be
found zeal for life for i've been freed

here are the dreams of today my friends
laughter and wonder as this drama ascends
playing a part, living again
freed for the journey, ever to begin

freed for the journey, freed for this quest
living again to discover the rest
Truth's guided quest, a path of delight
ever onward, strive for the light

here are the dreams of today my friends
laughter and wonder as this drama ascends
playing a part, living again
freed for the journey, ever to begin

Trudgery


Trudgery

beads of perspiration mark trails
paths of necessary vigilance
arms stretch outward
balancing shoulds, oughts
marking delicate steps along the precipice
of doubt

muscles constrict, pounding
rhythms of familar excuses
tasks that move eternally forward
memories align harshly
jagged anguish and withered cravings
scream rebellious threats
of unwillingness

meanwhile

gentle wisps of liberated mist rise
lifting once bound possibilities
from soil and stone now
rising
supportive caresses
steady goes the step

a small fragment of life's weighty matter
falls
unburdening enough
of the moment

Enter The Artist


Enter the Artist

forgotten rooms fill with idle thoughts
of truth
those well intended dreams of sinless lives
and honest ways
collect, pilled high in remote corners
of memory

what can be done with this misshapen journey
this malformed essence of reality?
what artful transformation is possible from
dry clay, broken shards, spilt oils and trampled glass?

enter the artist, joyous in heart
playful in deed and masterful in work
hands gather fragments and shards
knowing only possibility, beginnings
moments of simple grandeur

glass pellets melt, broken clay softens,
molded into a mess, a mass, a un-shaped heap
of lust, love, zest and tenderness,
human thoughts and human deeds
let the creation begin!

Entangled


Entangled

By the last micro thread of the spider’s web
Hanging
In a delicate balancing between desire to be free
From the casket of this cocoon
And to be safe from the fall to the ground

How came I upon this entanglement
But by little things, single threads of erroneous
Actions
Quiet discontentment resting feather-light
Clinging unassumingly to the sleeve of my façade

Until

Movement through my own self
Became hindered and slowly, progressed to
Halting proportions lost in one immobile
Case
Suspended by the last filament of my attachment

To you

Bound


Bound

the knot tightens
the grip of self within self
constricting fists of self hate and loathing
mauling my soul

doubled over in pain
breathless from the impact
blows of fury born of hatred and distrust
disemboweling my being

healing hands, where are you?
gentle touch of truth, come
come, come
release me, untie me, free me

tighter still, beyond limits and words
is this all?

Tick Tock Birthdays?


Change

Another second ticks past
Another moment that won’t last
Time again yields to nothing new
Leaves behind victories and youth

Those who thought one life could change
Our world from scandal and pain
Belief that hope and desire
Would cast water upon the fire

Yet failures and callused minds
Bind with broken promises find
Brilliant victories shout
Vanquished limits and doubts

Without giving merit to those
Whose lives already arose
From the cemeteries
Of soiled and doubtful policies

All Alone


All Alone

silence, worse still
the echoes of my own thoughts
voices cascading
endless drumming

senses strain to see
hear, know another here
amid the cavern of wanting
infantile cries

and, yet, i know
more than breath
within the contractions of my heart
another is with me

relief.

Even Though


Even Though

even though
our hands have never touched
skin on skin, fingers playing gentle games

even though
our eyes have never looked
upon the crystal hues of longing

even though
our lips never met
in the passions of a lover's embrace

even though
our breath, never mixed
in the words of the early dawn

even so
i know
you

Amusing Awareness


Why do you remain
There
A brush by my world
Radiating
Passion against my senses
Leaving
Me longing for more?

Your voice sang today
Mournful
Lyrics of loss and hope
Ascending
Tones of fluttering union
Scattered
Eternally within my mind

Haunting.

Antidote to Chaos


my head, my head
filled with countless crystals
of confusion
thoughts, dreams, wonderings of possibility

desire dances with hope, fear with fantasy
and my eyes cloud over
blinded again
by the many, the storms of change

welcome the darkness
the shelter of soul within self
encasement of safety where Self awaits
the quiet comes
settles within, i pray

breathe. life fills me
breathe. exhaling the chaos
breathe. i greet my God
breathe. and i move on
breathe...

A.M.


A.M.

Morning's sun lifts its sphere
tendrils radiate into the a new day
in frozen time, that eternity of the moment
they reach me
will i feel their caress and vital gift
or, be pierced and lie spilling myself into the pit?
ahhhhhh. i breath