Milky Way

I think of the Universe as a living, breathing thing, not without its own tapestry of mortal woes.

On the land to which I am tied I rest with eyes peering up;
Among the steal-alpine slopes now colorless in the darkness,
I submit myself to the earth, no longer one, but a part of many;
And these stars above look back at me;
No words spoken, but a common bond, a million-million times stronger than mine alone,
ties me to something bigger.

As brothers and sisters, these siblings are a part of me, a family;
A galaxy.

In our eternal-dance of spinning and colliding, we face the endless days;
And together we become old and wise, we live and die;
We watch other galaxies disappear and live again;
new and wild, young and strong.

I rise from the Earth as the man I was before;
I rise now center-weighted to a dawn like a virgin-blush;
an honest thing that shows coulours and true-like expressions;

Today I seek out my brothers and sisters;
(spinning and colliding, facing the endless days);
I show them the stars and tell them that whatever is possible is theirs to seek;
But warn them that even though the world is a small place,
we each make a difference in the great fabric of reality.

Because we are family.

Chalkboard

Seeking perfection can be a catalyst for success as much or more as it can be for failure. You try enough, you are bound to succeed. Yet by failing you temp arming your fears with failure after failure, each threatening to bring your walls crashing down. The best of us continue to fight because we have nothing better to do. But is it not also for the joy of the fight we wage this war? In winning we would be lost and suddenly stranded without purpose, but those momentary successes keep us going like a mouse hopping from one cheesy morsel to the next. In a way that is what this poem is about, a moment of complete failure followed by the bliss of understanding and meaning.

A blank page
lines but no words
I scribble
just to
riddle the page
unclean
but still no meaning
no Madge to show me
the way
to clarity
I bleed frustration
by balling up the sheaf
of paper
an invitation to failure
A new page sits in front
of me
Only clean now
I press on
but I think
no genuine thoughts
no light shines through dense clouds
no sunshine
brightens my meaningless
day
with insight

So instead I draw a picture
I’m not
an artist
but in this picture
I see
beyond the farce

Again, after a moment
I concentrate on
another
blank sheet
somehow becoming entangled with words
obscene!
naked and alive they primp and preen
sentence after sentence
I write down my dream
and it makes sense
these footprints into my past
that I leave for others
at least they make sense
to me
and no other, maybe?
But that doesn’t matter
not at all

The Natural Order

Nature is one of those forces that I most respect. It creates all that I treasure and asks for nothing in return. She teaches me. She fascinates me. She lights the fear of the devil under me and forces me to see myself for who I am. This poem is of Nature painting her masterpiece.

Awake from the calm you storm;
Come hither you clouds bring your rain and snow;
Rise up you winds, violent and passionate
And taste the rocky spires and the snowy slopes.

Weaken Rock, avalanche Snow;
Etch your beauty Storm;
Carve this art into the land for all to see;
The beauty of Earth and me.

(Clouds part, eons of time gone by);
Valleys deep and rivers strong;
Mountains high and forests wide;
And Life you are here, alive. Look. See. Know.

Grow and die, rise up from the ashes;
You must live LIFE, you beasts and plants;
Love and worship, be humbled and learn;
Face the lonely day, the year, the eons.

Future days they are yours;
Let not my image live forever;
It is evanescent. You are free Storm. Life. All.
Go out this early morn with the rising sun;
Partake in the beauty of Earth and me,
and make of it a reflection of you.

Diamond Ring

Okay, how 'bout a sappy poem :) to brighten your day.

Give me a book and I will read
give me hunger and I will feed your needs
give me a reason and I will do
give me clouds and I will give you blue

give me hope and I will dream
give me language and I will talk obscene
give me death and I will remember
give me tears and I will hand you a rose in December

give me desperation and I will learn
give me a match and we will watch a sunset burn
give me love and I will boil your passion
give me a hammer and I will build you a mansion

give me time and I will accomplish
give me talent and I will seek to amaze
give me winter and I will warm your eyes
give me a song and I will sing you a lullaby

give me a pen and I will write you a poem
give me your ears and I will never roam
Give me darkness and you will lighten dark hallways
just give me your moments and I will love you always

“Heart Knock”

This poem is about a bad person and a good person. The good man wants to destroy the bad man, but what does this gain him, satisfaction? There are often no winners. Maybe it is the bad that defines the good in us? This is from two perspectives and is somewhat confusing but worth posting I think.

Tick-talk, tick-talk, the heart knock
I follow you. I swallow you. You ripe me out. Eat me from the inside.
DECIDE!
Rise up. Row out to sea. Trample your enemy.
Could you help, would you help me?
Let me free. I am dying. Death is crying for me.
Tears of joy - knowing - yes it cries for my coming.
Loving, disturbing curbing my lies with truth.
But it is not apparent this parent to my plan, sifting sand.
A crowd in the park, a lighter, a spark.
Cowards run, others stunned. Who holds the gun?
YOU hold the gun!
Now do you run or do you get your final revenge?
Piles of life burning. No pain. Blood spattered. No gain. No ladder to climb!
Sane? Sanity is to blame? My sanity is sane, your sanity grey. Stained!
A smirk, this jerk who stands before me deserves justice, sweet justice.

BANG!

You miss....
The smirk changes to fear, so pissed, this fag. The cure?

BANG! BANG!

No tears, no remedy. Dead and dirty rag. Clean hands?

This is justice?

---------- ------------- ---------- --------

Days checkered forward measure us, our lust with this life always borrowed

This man like you melts the brew and drinks it.
Never sick. Never wrong. Always right.
This banner is carried by many. A battle song. A battle cry.
But you are neither strong nor right as this man who killed others feels right
There is no line seen in the dark where your only light blinks “START”
Push it. Press it. FEEL IT! Kneel before it. Submit. Give up. Quit!
Do without thinking. Think without thought. Act without reason.
React. Attack!

OR?

Reason. Rationalize. Be reasonable. Put yourself in another’s shoes.
Allow not emotion to behest emotion, a whirlpool of commotion.
Temper your temper with time. Find the rhythm. A rhyme.
Remember any justification has a propensity to be out of proportion with reality.
Allow just and fair. Allow your whispering conscience that cares. Allow yourself to be kind.
Allow this inner cop to SCREAMmmmmmM

“STOP”

Don’t be blind.
Let the beauty that emboldens us to smile to shine.
Let the spacious quality of this day that follows tomorrow remind.
Let the color, the poetry of your life levitate love to no longer long but belong.
Peace you can be sure, is a balance that we each weigh in for good or bad.
Each hour. Each day. Every morning that we face.
A decision is passed. A monthly check is cashed.
Each morning a rising sun. Each morning you hold the gun.
Protect. Defend. Listen. Learn. Hope. Dream. Cope. Be free. Believe.
Hear the cries. See through the lies.
Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out.
Breath in.
Breath out

Shout!

And free yourself from the clout

Convictions

Jump!
But I don’t
I’m afraid of landing in a swamp
Diving!
Now that has more style
a commitment to your convictions
and a determination to dance
with the consequence of your intentions
but why not just sit and think
while away the hours
and do nothing
go the safe route
I guess I just like to test the foundation
to see if it is as solid and I think
It creates confidence that leads to success
This, of course, is a fruitation of risk
and any risk means that I need to jump
Either feet first or headfirst
The only difference is:
with one you are smiling
while in the other
a grimace is your sole companion
and I much prefer to smile...

“Spirits”

I blind myself from this dream
I capture it in a bottle and hide it
I often drink from its spirit
so these days ahead may be something of merit

Scared and broken

Three older poems I thought worth posting?

The silent voice
It speaks to me
It grasps my mind
And tears it apart
The days they pass
From light to dark
And in there time
I awoke to see
A life
Scared and broken
Cast away
Never to return
I walked
I wondered
I stood alone
The wind
The rain
I felt so cold
I came to stand
On a bridge
So high
I looked below
At the water flow by
Then cast my eyes
To the sky above
“Why,” I asked,
“am I so alone
in a world that
never gave me a chance.”
Again I looked down
And saw my end
I lifted my foot
And stood atop the rail
In hope
Relief
I spread my arms
And lunged
To fly
To death
I plunged…