mortal man

unwraps paper
     slow, slow
mutters maybes because
    multitudes Must know
hunches in drab tones --
and the jaw's stretch
and the chew's stick
and the breeze on his freckled crown
shrinks his limbs in
    huddled, hunkered, hardly

perhaps at 22, 23
one's ears awake --
this demeaning coda
sings insipid
"what's it all ab-OW-it?  what's it all ab-OW-it?"
sotto voce mezzo forte
throbbing of the soul
beyond a #6, no onions,
    small fry

Community

evening bookended by gin;

dawn by coffee

ah my sweets

you dull the noble itch

nestled deep in hazy(self-important annoyance)

courted by a vapor       a wisp

            a blade of glass

left laughing with

my furniture

Japanese

hotel rooms make up for poor luxury

with rich privacy

so many mirrors make

(you)r world seem bigger

and burnt maps give

that warm feeling          

not being

able to figure where’s

home

must just                      

be here be here

without

blood’s pressure

i feel

i can feel the blood
i can feel the pulse pumping slow
i feel agony
i can feel the ache in the flow

i give my little
i cry your fear
i love you His hope
His hope meets us here

spyglass guards the entrance to my soul
strongest of prescriptions
gives me perfect x-ray vision
it mirrors wounds like they're my own
cuts so harsh they beg contrition

i give my little
i cry your fear
i love you His hope
His hope meets us here

my shoulders so narrow
Your hung arms so wide
Your cross I can't carry
You hold me up inside
uphold this universe:
the gravity
of empathy inside

the fraction of your frightened i can claim
so potent in my heart; can't compare to where you are
but each emotion's height He can contain;
sorrows borne and killed in His scars

i give my little
i cry your fear
i love you His hope
His hope meets us here

stars align

since i don't believe
the planets are gods
(even though we've named them after our false ideas of Him)
and whenever I stand
before electronic sliding doors
they don't sense my personhood
and i've never been able to input
that ESP channel
it must just mean
that things turn a little brighter
as one magnifies the sparkling facets of the other
and the other magnifies the sparkling facets of the One
and spinning in endless cycles of dimpled radiance
a universe swells in creation
uncontainable --
the notes and poems and footsteps and splatters
of a thousand characteristics shone
through as many mirrors
blessed by the Light

~ 1/23/11

romanza largo

in this context, horses must be called steeds

scary things are dangerous perils

pain means one is in distress

being helped is being saved

(despite insurmountable odds)

somehow, our hearts deserve such grandiose

somehow, love grows the importance of antiquated

elevated

terms

reserved for cathedrals

medievals

and holy

substantially, vintage means patience

firm respect for one’s craft

unhurried juices fermenting in so rare a pace

hours on hours enlivening flavor;

gathering scars of character by and

bygone eras releasing their cultural clout as

love

stands

on.

relevance is measured in these years

everyone knows it.

and we only reach the unfortunate height

of an elephant’s sight

when classic divorces creative

written after watching First Knight, 1/10/11

He sings

i am afraid i have no good words left to write.
i am afraid my dreams are only so because they're what i've seen so far
i am warm and weary with the insistence of complacency
but here is what i now know

poetry is how i speak in tongues.
(it is not always pretty or right
but God makes it holy if i claim it to paper)
we are mostly alone, even with others, and it's not an adequate excuse
no man is God.
life is all sorts of ragtime & complicated jazz chords
and when it's not, you're supposed to add the 9th
unless it's a sunset
or a smile
or the closest you conceive of love
then, you listen.

~ 10/31/10