Saturday, May 26, 2007

Erebos


N
o i don’t feel like accosting the tide
nor do i palpably access in words
how i feel
           upset
distress
no bliss to bless an unquiet mind
disposition at rest

       tides lap beaches and recede
to found more beaches
greater reaches of impermanency
and sea-wrack
of which i am one specimen
exhausted
from breasting the tide

           unfit . . .
no matter
let sit

mmvi

Thursday, May 24, 2007

To fall to earth


T
o
        fall
                to
                        earth

    falls our lot
as sure as tulips
    in eager shorter session
discard their wounded petals
    on this vacated plot
where hungry persistent squatters
    earn their keep
with striving like ours
    glory thus ingloriously departs
while wider world entertains its purposeful poise

mmvii

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Crags like rockslides


C
rags like rockslides
    will let go
ever so fast
    ever so slow
no magician's art
    dexterity hides
nothing of earth
    takes a bow

mmvii

Monday, May 21, 2007

Alley Loo Yeah Chorus, Part X


A
lley lullaby lady

    wearied child
lies at feet
shy alleyway lady
unshouldering load
makes heart weep
    tears like petals fall
astrew on road
stars their loyal watch
brightly will keep
    shy 'f hullabaloo lady
mend in sleep

    prose hymn to alley yeahway

out of otherwhen came forth exultation ...
out of seminal egg came forth hatchling
out of cheeping chick came forth clucking hen
out of cackling hen came forth cocksure rooster
out of coxcomb rooster came forth flibbertigibbet hen
out of begats came forth lame egg rolling
out of lamentation came forth ugly duckling
out of puddling duck came forth swaddling cygnet
out of waddling cygnet came forth elegant swan
out of elegiac swansong came forth rapture
out of otherwhen came forth exultation ...

mmi

Friday, May 18, 2007

At dandelion's puff


A
t dandelion's puff
    the children laugh
cause of their mirth
    the gardener's curse
grasp the thrusty thistle (ha ha!)
    and ouch! they bristle (oh bah!)

    "every gift a debt to pay" –
who's right    who's wrong
    is every dance a roundelay
is Pan an ass whose reed we play
    to charm with notes of witty worth?
ask the gent that owns the earth
    for round and round we spin a tale
to entice the ear: so have a care
    a tongue well-sprung will pull a cart
read me this riddle -- and then we'll part

mmvii

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

If a prince were a frog


I
f a prince were a frog
    and a frog a prince
    who could tell
what would evince

would a princess arrive
    in a coach and six
    would she tarry and wive
or kick at the pricks

to one she was plighted
    it made no sense: which was which?
might be frog        might be prince
    then again did they kiss and switch?


mmiv

Monday, May 14, 2007

No image


N
o image bears
    identity with what it shares
one is one for certain
    not the other
though shape with shape
    as brother with brother
a shadow is in light made plain
    kept dark the truth may plead in vain
words are thoughts whose tongue is loose
    certainty we cannot choose
as grief's not love we know for sure
    and pain's the mate for creatures' care

mmvii

Saturday, May 12, 2007

TGE # eleventy umpteen


E
xistence is becoming
God is potential
potentiality is imminent becoming
Therefore, God exists

QED (Query Even Dogma)

mmv

Friday, May 11, 2007

A precept


I
nner peace is hard to find
    the peace between much harder
but peace, the peace i have in mind
    the faint of heart will never find
    though it justifies the ardour

through trials, whether hurt or loss
    when harm may hap
    or worse shall come
there's a fine-tuned nerve
    can constant serve
    to brace against fate's rigour
with one's own self
    stand eye to eye
    ne'er flinch from that
    though ever-so beleaguered

mm

Thursday, May 10, 2007

the Greeks have a word for it


P
ay attention please
    nothing up my sleeve
no sly tricks to deceive
or similar feats of legerdemain
    i kid you not!
    nothing underhand or over-the-top
nothing consequential (unless it must)
no lesson    proverbial or moral
    ultimately -- i tell you -- it's just-so
at or to hand willing and ready to go
neither frugal nor greedy
    none of your bally-hoo
by no means hard to tackle -- till it's actual
    tisn't fickle
as for your high-and-mighty doctrinal
    meant-to-baffle final proofs
that tickle intellectual fancy
    bag and baggage
both saintly and holy, even what you might call sortilege
    can be labelled "left luggage" without sacrilege
    nothing judgemental
found by measure or comparison,    big and small
    neither in detail nor as a whole
    only just-so    way-to-go!     plain-no-thrubble at all at all!
as for the pleasure, it's yours
    and the wonder
not to be wondered at, naturally
    unless what's what turns you silly with glee
although i admit to a loss of savoir-faire
    that bristles my hair
when its basilisk stare comes face to face
    or vice versa    take care
this normal state of affairs
    trial or pleasure will accompany you through the years
to be aware of in the daylight
to come upon in the darkness under the stars

mmvii

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

In the mean time


I
n the mean time
    digging the too-little lean time
squandering misgivings
    between breakfast     bed and     berth in earth
let me be chaste of temper
    sic fidelis senex
scornful sufficiency of latin text
    let gone-bys be bygones
death being what it is or ain't
    absence entire
i pronounce a propós demi-urge
    half of providence
ever with property upright in mind and stature
    in midst of baleful indignities
may i relinquish this state of blessed quiet and unrest
    consummate resignation
before consigned to follow those gone before
    sinking irretrievably     bar memory
to deteriorate as any flower or bug or rainsquall
    cycling through this grace
devoid of warrant     majestic as birth
    rumination no travail
dispensing with great question
    what    who    how     bye and bye
laughable    if we could laugh or cry

mmvii

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

To live on sunlight


T
o live on sunlight
elemental as a tree
would be to suffer
a lesson on domiciling
no more fanciful
than a bloody nose
obtained in a mĕleé

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Like a drop


L
ike a drop in the Ocean of Being
kerplunk!     i'm a goner
where can be the honour in that?

mmvi

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Ultimate things

Intimations of what is greater by half than we are (or nearly twice as far)


Ultimate things
    like angels
winged
    belong in our heads

    though we measure ourselves
against the void
    it's a charade
obeisance paid
    with discrete reasons
malfeasance
    against the astonishment
implicit in acute percipience

    don't bother
to insinuate credence into my patter
    i'm hung up
head over heels
    spinning my wheels

    what's said
's said and done
    to exhume is
summary exposition
    of what we dare not fear:
ultimate things
    oh dear!

mmvii