Saturday, May 07, 2011

Recent 2011 poems from other blog

Longing

I long for something truthful
Is it too much to ask that I find it in your face?
expectations never satisfied, for each moment creates anew
excitement builds and magnifies until
disappointment becomes my view.

My mother says its the meaning you make of experiences
and that when you are older the difference is made plain
compassion for our young inner selves,
reveals realities and
inevitably relieves the strain.

But tonight I lay in my memories
child victim mocked for his excitement
looking for love in all the wrong places
stomach sick, head down
so as not to see the disgust on their faces.

Yes I long for something truthful
a moment of understanding between us
I won't say love, for of course that takes time
but just a hint of receptivity could allow me
to leave the shame behind.


Keeled Over with my Stomach Caving In

I know its hard for you to understand
-like its hard for me to understand when you question what is in front of you.

Is a chair a chair or isn't it?

and I wonder why you are calling yourself a chair

but I do understand past my impish smile, these are the worries caused by those chains deeply hidden... and I recognize myself in them now.
Recognize their grasp as the doubt that keeps me from moving forward,
cold digging shakes my frame,
piercing, so every dream is punctured,
and the dark ever enveloping, shroud of confusion, panic building.

and these are my outbursts, tears gathering at odd moments.
lack of comforting gestures, clenched responses -held like shoulders and teeth grinded
arms crossed and hunched over
so that everything returns to the child's pose



Tonight I contemplated writing your death song
you know the one that pours out from some primordial place in my throat
all bawling salty sting and spittle
all heartbreak, center shaking, inconsolable
lost between the nothingness of wanting to be numb
and the nothingness of bleeding void
lost between hoping for relief, unsure that time can fill such vacancies
and with anger that time would dare try
if there are words, I am sure "no" will be featured prominently
as will that one word question.

From Last Year

"A New You"
I find it funny how I recognize you and yet not. As if I thought memorizing every look once would be the completed set. Would mean I had total access for the lifespan, and now I am caught off guard, disturbed and dazzled (?) by a new photograph... is it you? I cannot sense the true weight of things, the temperature, the static in the air... cannot sense the warmth in your breath that urges me to believe such a thing, this mimic of your moment is it real? I'd have to hear a confirmation from you to know for sure and even then I'd wonder, what did the sun feel like that day? What were the noises that kissed your ears and who's eyes and who's love attempted to embrace you with a gesture, who's longing to remember these serene moments with a picture kept them from touching your soft skin, your supple lips, your sweet taste? Who made the subtle mis-calculation that kept you enshrined, a digital alter, a token gesture of worship the same mistake I've made a million times rather than gluttonously devour the moment with each sense, and revel in the pleasure, discomfort, torment and ecstasy of the presence of heaven's sacred creation, you.



My dreams of you are not my hands reaching to hold you, but my heart still pumps to keep the blood you offered warm. In the warmth within me somewhere there is still a sectioned labeled "home" with your name on the mail box, and forever and ever a welcome mat (and at least dreams of hugs for your homecoming).



"Stress Coaster"

It’s funny how stress waxes and wanes
like tides and the moon or the amount
of chocolate I consume, but
to be clear it’s not the stress itself
that rises but the level to cope
with surprises or even the expected.

For instance, during summer I neglected to
keep my coping skills blazing so
while lazying about, I lost my ability to deal,
then as the end of summer neared the feeling of tensions crept up my calves, through my limbs and my lower back, and eventually my shoulders which rose to the occasion and completed the picture of me hunched over tight shoulders and burdened with nothing truly unpleasant, nothing unbearable, not rare not painful, not malevolent, uncaring but rather something exciting, productive, enlightening
The return to school though I felt it like glaciers on my frame,
but isn’t it just more of the same- so why so stressful?



When sedentary for so long it sometimes feels as if I have never done anything. Like I am the dirt, my planted roots take the form of the house and it feels like I could never leave, like I have always been. She says this house is 80 years old, it’s my cranky knees but it'd be so easy to set me adrift tornado, strong wind blow me over, I could be anew. I am the walls, I am this city, I am this job I am secure and unchanging. Revolutionary ideas are surprises, taste of excitement like good poetry, make you feel alive the way you aint been. Am I so symbiotic, I didn't notice becoming part of you, didn't feel you infiltrate me, I thought I had my own long hair, my own wild tongue, my own joyful smile, meanwhile I find you chipping away at my teeth, the fibers of my pants, my many faces all with eyes that reflect you. I forgot my song, started humming a plain one. I thought I was a new born, now find I am ancient or at least middle age. I turned to look over my shoulder and saw what I had been, an adventurer where did he go. I thought I had engineered a new path, find me now a paved one. I been paved on, oil slicken easy, rain slides right off me, aint soaked with passionate sorrow just stained in the meanwhile. Where is refreshing fragrance, where is impassioned discourse, zealous beauty chasing, falling into the plain modelesque notions of pretty, forgetting uproarious laughter, forgetting cosmopolitan color, forgetting statued staring at passing people, forgetting uncomfortable scary, forgetting panic punches to the gut and esteem, the confidence building of day surviving, the chasing of simplicity, the grandiose proclamations of understanding fully and simultaneously knowing fully that nothing can be known so simply. I forgot about dressing scandalously, supported in my ferocity and the casualness -laid back style of being brilliant, brilliantly not normal. Gleam in the eye special. Gleam in the eye everyone. How have I been so detached from my humanity. So blessed and appreciated into comfort, couch pillows, blankets. Not a bum's bindle, not a gifted hat, not a crocheted scarf, an entirely different fidgeting stomach, not tenacious, not disgusted, not angry or in love. Easy to see something is different, the question is how long will I swill it?


How distracting it is
to sit here waiting
always a book or work to keep
me company, but despite my
stated purposes
I come here for you.

And see you in chatting lips,
across filled tables,
what is it you're saying?
and in cheekbones
jaunting out from
Books, I want to know about.

Find in curls and locks that hide
your eyes for a time,
and in your fancy boots
that have their own story too,
and in postures
which attract but,
don't show back
temptation.

So here I sit,
waiting on glances lit
with not just light
but question,
For I know my own have
signaled forth, to every
woman present.




Familiarity in each stranger's face
am I insane?
My memory faltering,
my senses opening to strange beyond
underneath your material guise, you're my friend
my past and future friend.
Only the present then,
is an illusion.

But in every science journal,
I read the opposite
frequently the sacred texts
opposite too.
How I am to trust my senses
listen to my breathing
feel the tightness of my muscles
the dizziness in my step
the queasiness in my stomach
if the underlying, music, is too beautiful
for my unperceptive ears
the truth so magnificent
my eyes blinded
by its flame
either we are one,
or, I, am insane.

February's Storms (Feb 2011)

“ Storms make oaks take deeper roots…”
this seems to be my theme lately.
How many days can the
ravaging winds lay claim upon my
arms before they are pulled off forever
my leaves already a distant memory
my stance continuously bracing.

Each gust, each thunderclap sends shivers down
my already shaken frame
the storm is not yet over BANG
another fallen sister claimed.

Can you hear me through the howling
the staccato of shivering teeth
are you humming your own mantras to keep
from losing those
deep roots you’ve already
put down, from other
storms you’ve survived
because I, need to see you
steady before I release
my own clenched fists.

Master of Illusion (Feb 2011) (rewrite 2018)

In my pocket are two fistfuls of silver dollars
-I find them behind your ears sometimes
and a top hat that folds up, a string of silk handkerchiefs (that go on forever)
a deck of cards to play tricks, a wand, a cane and a walking stick
a live bunny, 3 doves and a little tiny mouse,
a few matches, a metal pin, a key and some handcuffs,
a saw of course and a full length coffin,
and all of that is in just one pocket.

I also carry some stretchy balloons for children’s shows
but in order to keep some mystery, really who knows
what secrets lay in a magicians pocket,
this wandering wizard, a one man show
-in my pockets are the dreams
of all people, the ones they think through
and the ones only I know.
Somewhere deep down I hold your fears,
those deep shameful insecurities that
you think are so hidden.
I carry the spiders, snakes, ferocious sharks and bears
the ones from your bed-ridden sweating night terrors.

The regrets and the guilt from
each little mistake
the words that make you cringe
the noises that shake
and I use them, ever
so slightly, delightfully terrorized
before the big reveal
because a trick is an illusion dependent on your worries
and I the master know
you believe your worries are real.


--------Thought I'd try an edit--------

In my pocket
            are two fistfuls, of silver dollars,
            -I find them behind your ears, sometimes.
AND a folded up top hat,
a string of silk handkerchiefs which go on forever,
a deck of cards to play hand tricks,
and of course, my magic scepter.
As well as a wand,
AND a cane,
AND an old walking stick,
but one secret revealed,
             I’m only faking my limp.
A bunny, three doves and a tiny mouse make their home,
but I’d not be the Master, if there weren’t room for more.  
Matches, AND torches, AND machetes to juggle,
handcuffs, a key, a chainwatch to muddle,
your mind, soon defined by my masterful babble.
And in the deep, you’ll find the bite of my saw and its sharp teeth,
The trick not complete,
without a polished full-length, hardwood coffin, 
And my dears, I have ALL OF THAT,  
            - in just one,   pocket.

Like a harmless clown, I also carry stretchy balloons,
for the children’s shows,
but by now you must assume,
that from there it only grows,
because from the harmless, I incarnate,
the fantastical unknown,
what treats, what secrets
might I carry with me,
perhaps fantastically, I promise the imagining of all human beings,
the ones they dream openly,
and those only,  I,    know…       (---------)
YES!
Deep in my clutches, I hold all your doubts
those shameful insecurities that 
you think are so hidden.
And I carry them, within,
my pockets
so slithering
snake wrapped,
defenseless and bare,
spider eyed and bug bitten,
all your dreadful,
night terrors - OF 
falling regret, such chasms of guilt,
each little mistake, that-
spasms to cringe,
and ripples, and trips you
till no safety exists,  
your mouth wide open,
your stomach in grips,
caught in concern,
and bracing in terror,
and that’s when the Master,
knows it is time to reveal,
for awe, is just the truth unbound from your fear,  
but luckily for me, you believe

your anxieties are real.