Irreverent rant n testymeant: tich backhouse

Got flea in me ear
    caint be shuffled off t hell
widout benefit o appeal t wotzwot
    tis jurisdiction o common plea
taint big deal     tiz bumsteer
    prim or maudlin bible-punchin
brot uz to dis pass
    bended knee to mitred boss on high
nix on blame n guilt     tiz small beer

seems pundit god fabled celeb in ecstatic fit
    went gaga    jines bevy o disportin spheres az wun
blows script    dis wurld on ours slips offen hook
    anomaly wid mind f owen
grate unifying theory unstuck
    cumz orbital spin whimsickal
spurns imperative net o niceties
    regularity aint zactly where itz at
seasons along o nite n day kick traces
    till chancetz lack clout
odds n evens juggle places
    'n wot cuddnt be cumz about

animated matter
    roused frum cumbrous clay
by sunz radiance bidden
    crawls on land    propels in sea
each feedin on remains o tother
    dietz implicit conservation


elemental sphere
    habitat o proliferatin critters
thorough ordeal o happenstance
    provokes urgency ter suffer n persist
commandin guile n craft
    means dat persuade sentient beins
ter triumph n surpass
    ober wot dey were an now iz
till upstart species
    aspires t status atop heap
full o theyselns
    az favoured beyond mortal ken

whan I tich were tad back then
    skipped sunday schoo-ul fer deviltry
clumb up nearby abandoned windmill
    an' lookit far
openin eyes     how prospects depend
    az stature o humans diminishes
view hullo frum on high heady tonic

dig tich filosofusser n gadfly
    axin dis grate pinweelin proliferation
wherewhichwise be you agoin
    sizin up does n donts
I figger how more fools kicks bucket
    dan enters mewlin fer tit

quiz     how cumz about dis burden o care
    arrogatin estate ober earthen naybours
handed down az damnable legacy
    contrary t second nature o give-n-take
tiz greed     tiz prejudice     tiz vulgar pride
    wud deny we iz kin


wotz point o larnin matters
    beyon our sensible ken
if'n they don’t sit obligin
    like painterz model
compliant t perfecshunz exactitude
    till orl wunderz ob dis consummation
seem throwen like gardez loo frum casement
    or night-soil on fields o bishopz glebe

nah quitten tizzy
    we kin wit queriex acumen or mudder wit
resolve wotz nearby an ' at large
    stead o bandyin contumashush pros n cons
as if'n eyen lost touch wi' haid

sez I tich surely conclusive
    opt fer originall provenance
deaf ear t bumptious propheteers
    an' lib owen lot az best t prove
we aint stuckup gods nor lickspittles neider
    accomplex nodes o sentience we
carbon copies haha
    sweet generous birthrite gibben
cos we iz dem n dey iz us
    engorgin n transformin
nut cowerin on fall o hammer
    cum soon cum later by-n-bye
tiz nut ours ter pry

wherezupon leavin off me disquizition
    landlord    tis honour bends yr dooty
tap barrel o feisty forebeerz brew
    grateful draught we sups
in cheer o gran ancestral lineage
    wez tagend on
frum mite to might-be
    you haz dun uz proud
I is toot finis

tich, oct 21st, '008, blaxsmit armz

Kitchen rigs' hop

Crotchetty fridge's
    clackety-clack
catchy hook
    as if on track
with radio's jazz
    trumpet solo
floating by
    sweetlier made
in liquid notes
    to splashing faucet's
funky metre
    plop plop plop per…
lop
oh yeah
    premiere performance
this once only
    my kitchen rigs' hop
man     if I can jive
    wonky joints in rhythm
at eighty-two
    and still get with 'm
ah yes     I'm alive

mmviii

*Upon getting a spanking new fridge that turned out defective.

Dream

I come alone to this unwholesome spot
    shut off from the passersby
where the garbage sprawls over acres
    and I recognize my collected consciousness
site of every care and feeling I disinherited
    and the air smells like the entrails of a disembodied animal

now I know how my natural spring of joy went underground
    choked up and went underground
buried by this debris
    no wonder!
I realize my fear of discovery
    cost me more dearly than any of those paltry sins
I hid    alas!


mcmlxx__ (rev. mmviii)

Distances and magnitudes

Distances and magnitudes
    impress upon our vision
how far seems far?
how high seems high?
    extremes compel our attention
from the daintiest flower
            to the loftiest peak
    we gain perspective and proportion

respect - for which we may long
    as well as accord –
counts less than immediacy
    how feelings feel
thoughts and the words they evoke
    come later

presences transcend the what of things
    whether now or now-gone-by
to touch the indescribable agency
    we call "heart"
prevails, survives, pounds in our blood
    we are embraced
drawn into the bosom
    of the undeniable "it is"


mmviii

Yen for zen or buzz & buzz

To lose is to possess
    wordy logic
refuses to shut up

oh    where may
    rest achieve
balancing act's
    standing start

as paper thought
    ink assumes
command …
    thus art

you know my
    nom de plume
at feather's touch
    ouch!

few    fewer
    not less
more few    less than few

capitals seldom
    refuse to capitalize
on their upper case
    disguise

no can mean yes
    and    come along    goodbye
tears and laughter
    can both be losers
not trying    can try

mmviii

Jest like to wonderland

Yes    your spirit goes to heaven
    jest like you were before
xackly        cept you got no worries
    no bothersome you name it
jest like to wonderland
    snug in yore mother's you name it
only difference is difference
    you got none
difference is wot you left behind
    cos it so worrisome
now you got cosy wall-to-golden wall same as

spirit deft yclept for me
    leaps in veins
you dasnt smile in vain
    nor shed tears neither
you live with circumstance
    for no smiles no tears
both go together
    can't take it with you
alas for the lack
    you realize that    don't you

mmviii

Lilypads float motionless

Lilypads float motionless in midair
    fish glide through an insubstantial medium
            we can only trace by filmy apparitions
        transporting us past our conscious selves
            into an underworld of lurking-places
                as if sketched in child's crayon
        mirrors of the above begotten below

while a white sparkling waterlily
    the manifest star of this unlikely haven
        winks with promise:

    "what you give shall be received
        though it comes out not as you thought
            or perchoice hoped
        it comes out nevertheless
            justly in balance
                at a remove
                    from your browbent reckoning"

a fulfillment as prompt to the heart
    as if to our astonishment
        we realize
    it is here
        not there
    that we belong


mmii

And here we are

Next to precious breath
    next thing to cherish
no    not love imperishable
    nor dearth of punitive hurt
nothing fabulous
    like indulgent life
after the fact

yes    affirmation
    blood's pounding tide
active confirmation
    without doubt of inference
after sedulous thought
    instance at one go
here I am     therefore there am i


mmviii

Dear little spark

Dear little spark
    atom monad or quark
you flame in the forge's breath
    elemental one with nameless ancestry
wonder how you came to be
    particular force or undulant light
star in mimicry    that by day by night
    has spun and shaped entirely
the fabric of our vision
    selfless you lie upon the shelf of my desire
the utmost    yet the least of things
    tell me    where did you get your wings


mcmlx__ , rev. mmviii

Crinoline Bridge

Crinoline bridge
    where once we met
wandered up
    that cobbled street
a place to tryst
    fit for a royal pair
in coach and four
    and us no less

we found a pub
    by instinct's guide
apt with the humour
    of an age before

here we two sat
    with taptser's mild
glad to hold hands
    and no words said
till    alas    lunchhour fled

the clock stood still
    for now I see
that arching bridge
    the shallow stream
and you my dear
    as you were then

what would I be
    not half the man
without the sense
    of yesterwhen


mmviii

Solipsis

Take the eye of mind
    the longing i
    the knowing i
explore its subtle self
    as in a mirror
lit by the psyche's lambent flame

a cavern dark and subterranean
    where streaks of vapour
hide the recessed chambers
    to one who peeps
then looks askance

I have seen those caves
    have groped among the passages of self
explored the unreal dark
    and slept inside the tomb of yesterday
I learned to step ahead
    with ready foot
and ear attuned to echoes soft or strange

where sunlight creeps into the eastern hall
    there I awake to life
and mingle with the throng of feelings, presences
    and thoughts
that market-place    where I belong
    awake to self
my self-meant territory

mcmlx, rev. mmviii

Names

These names, mementoes,
Tickets that by your leave
Can reproduce a past event.
Some names that I've forgotten
And some as well-remembered,
Bringing smiles to eyes now poker-sharp
That blink upon the passing of a sleep.

Say so-and-so, a place to go
When we were leisure-conscious;
A bag of chips beside a pub
And cider drunk in daylight spaces
Between the shady trees.

Still, names like these
Cannot survive our day;
And where they go, to vanish,
Those long-disposed-of memories,
I cannot tell. But wish them well.


mcmlx

All the passions mustered

All the passions mustered
Cannot rule a garden
Planted seeds may spring
And grow; now rain now sun
Have fostered germination; straightly bound
To rise and uplift seeking
Present a shoot, a leaf, a flower-face
To skies as open as an angel's forehead.
So I leave my daring apprehension.
Tension of a need, a loss deplored.
Within this need-less heart I capture
Confirmations, glory and my word.


mcmlx

At Ryder Lake - a weekend visit to my cabin

My dog and cat
    what can I do for them
who sit together on the steps and wait
    upon my going
going out to part
    my life is twisted in the stem
and I who
    last to choose
must either stay or go
    postpone our fate
the estrangement of a file
    in someone's providential
cabinet up there
    no doubt where is father
to a motto

so I drink a brother glass to prove
    the pose of reason
is no match in satisfying
    man's esteem
in short
    I'm getting blotto!


mcmlxiii rev. mmviii

Civilization

A deck of cards
    dealt by the dealer
as they fall out
    and played according to a hoyle
whose rules enforced
    ensure the transactions of the game

a house of cards
    struck as a pasteboard pageant
of foreshadowy perceptions
    within the precincts of a crystal ball

see how the pictures
    dance and shuffle
hearts and diamonds
    lead the motley throng
with the kings and queens attending
    to the cries of
"show your hand!"

spades and clubs are bosses
    run the verbose show
disturbing threats they utter
    whenever dancers slow

come dance the minuet my queens
    come laugh and mime you knaves
aces in a hole declare
    that trumps will call
and cards will fall
    upon a deuce of judgment day
alike upon a judge of deucement day
    alike upon the cracking packing doom


mcmlx… rev. mmviii

Cut down to sighs

Aint outright difference ventually
    standards differ exclusive
peoplez a to zero just-so inclined
    like yer popular bookended
gilt-n-leather-bound volumes
    orl fer show

diffz singular incognito exception
    escapes who's who
can be domiciled by upper-case entitlement
    or yore scryptic latin incantation:
like darwinz heresy
    disturbs status quo vadis

neverbuddyz trueblue pals in concert
    cum down to brass tax
sumz gotta dance happystance
    sumz gotta sing boo-hoo blue
sum follers fiddlerz green
    sum pied piper
whose service we pay thru nose or rue


hasten or tarry
    stay single or marry
dig human logix whim
    how truthz tongue-in-cheek
an we iz turnabout fickle
    demonsterable primitive psyche
frum humblest to vainest
    universal a priori ahem!

nobuddyz exemplary
    imagewise in-mirror-copywhite     nah!
cos diffz me-n-you swapping god forfends
    playing hung-up or put-down
sing-song commonplaces reiterated ad lib
    made-to-measure lies as amends
winner gets booby prize

diffz uz emerging frum womb
    spelling out yer likely prophecies
cum cum    admit    aint we orl
    born lonely in company forlorn
aint we    aint we
    long long to cum despite resumé
cut down ventually
    cut down to equal size


mmviii

Tears don't mend

Tears don't mend
    like tears in cloth
nor does pain stand still
    like unstruck bell

touch to quick of grief
    tugs at scar tissue
vestige of prior hurt
    mortal reminder of event's remove

sap dripping from wounded bark
    birds' and insects' plunder
tree's life fluid
    preserved as amber

injured epidermal layers
    assimilate suffering's burden
memorialized distress
    by benign craft healing



mmviii

I saw a vision once

I saw a vision once
    let's not mock at visions
I have seen what eyes deny
    and feelings understand by intuition
whose world is right by knowing?
    what we have felt is just
and knowing shortly judges feeling

I believe my fancy
    let it play as fiddles dance
the tune my feet will tap
    the barrel-organ and the flute
are instruments of pleasure
    take them gladly or sadly
badly fails to please

I saw a vision once
    it taught me not a whit
about this peopled planet
    although I learnt the threefold rule
what it meant was meaningless
    the visioning was clear
visions are horizons
    they explore the hemisphere we never reach

let us teach ourselves as best we may
    find out the vision suited to our looking
I have spent a lifetime nearly
    searching out my need
the dream I swore to find has dissipated
    the flesh lives on:    the soul-search deprecated

vision as it was    and will be     I adore
    as madmen know the cost
the mind is not lost
    as long as searching searches
and the field is clear
    snuff out the candle when the wick is dim
bury him!     he burnt a flame
    in his own name!


mcmlxii, rev. mmviii

Rich get rich

Rich get rich
poor get poorer
call it "bottom line on top"
is too near the bone
nothing to do with Darwin

mmv

There's sometimes a sunny corner

There's sometimes a sunny corner
    just nicely in the shade
where gloom can gather glimmer
    and no remarks are made
where daffodils or tulips
    spring-born delight to show
they love the clement weather
    and they are good to know
    where love has planted seed
a garden fit is raised
    and folk go arm-in-arm
through rows of life amazed
there's sometimes a sunny corner
    to watch proceedings from
a garden in a nutshell
    a place when no-one's home



mcmxcix

When hope is dead

When hope
    is dead
patience seems
no virtue.
but
    out of
        the
            void
cometh forth
the new.


mcmxcix

Aphorism

People who live in public houses
with a glass in hand
often get stoned

mmv

Behold

Behold how the innocent bee
is seduced by the ravishing maw
of the lascivious cherry flower


mmv

Once upon a goodly Summertime

Once upon a goodly Summertime
there fell a Winter wind
and i fell ill
sick at heart
wilfully whimpering
whimsically caught
like a parachuted seed
on a splintered limb
that might otherwise
gladly land anywhere
to coax the cold earth
through the pale year
to burst into Spring
blossoming

mm

Mere Meme-plexity

I see what you meme
    he sed
a meme isn't a mime
    though it's similar
    not inimical
    but amicable
as if memory were mammary
    seeking same teat
and every meme rehearses
    tedious old rhyme:
memeplex in time-tether
all sucks together


mmv

Summer

Summer's around the corner
with yellow roses and canterbury bells
Summer's an honour
like holding your hand
while I'm murmuring 'Very wells'
that weren't planned
we agree simply and spontaneously
That's Summer to me:
your smile
and how you have a look that tells


mmi

A thousand words

A thousand words
or a thousand days
nearer to expressing    his heart's devoir
the unbidden lover
languishes behind a shut door


mmv

Busier than the busiest

Busier than the busiest, busy thee
none more busy, not even foraging bee
strange that the honey a toiler should prove
though from sweetness comes strength -
or so they declare!
Thine industry is worthier far
than seven-score housewives, each to a chore
for by comparison, their deed is done, that and no more
whereas for thee, my hasty dear
doors bend upon a spacious landscape
bravely unfurled
workings of the heart

As for myself, i fly at what intrigues
the need to know how come how go
tis not my choice, nor vice, nor inkling's homily
that i should, inadvertent me, the bonds of study
take on
i loathe travail
assigned to impulse, driven or drawn
by sensible logic's keen severity

And so in this, being complementary
not contrary-wise to you
tis why, both being suited, thou and i
merrier are we and more loving thereby


mmv

Busy the moon is

Busy the moon is
fair to see
busy to play
hide-and-go-seek with
at night among the clouds

even in my dreams
my fairest dreams
replete with felicity
i have not seen fairer

ah, that i could capture
capture and kiss
those maiden-proud lips

but lo! presently
she shape-shifts
into a haggard old man, listless:
why, oh why?


mm

fragments

one empty word
fills the void

the curse
a skull whose hollow
cranium
conceals a few drops
of last night's rain

funny how being thirsty
i drank from your stagnant pool
and in my delirium
took the fever for love

mm

Walking with Willie

Luv, at the time i was walking with Willie
we weren't mashing, nothing of the sort
he held my hand, turned and said
    "Doris, i want to court you"

what'll Dad do, i thought
get mad, tell him to get lost?
    "there's better than you in store for her"
he might smartly rhetorical
and Willie, what'll Willie retort
    bein' a cobbler's lad?

no, Willie's a billet do, a ticket of goods
    he's smashing!
he held my hand like a proper pal
    turned and proposed, just sesame beaucoup

luv, whatever Dad and Mam may purpose
i stood and gave him my heart, savoy fair
when you get a brave dare like that, take it
luv, i'm walking through life with Willie


mcmlxxxvi, rev. '99

To M, from the North Shore

Across the harbour
lights of downtown city
blinking
into tardy sleep

i, at my window
seat for contemplation
by fantasy of beckoning pen
reach out to you

a restless mood
in fellow-feeling
with those transient rays
bright wands
that play in squiggles on the water

so you, my dear, are present in my head
held luminous or else
by turns extinguished

go to bed…? no, i linger
chastened and sombre
whilst wavery beams
leap from the darkened waterfront
to show
how naked under this evening sky
my hopes can fly
or fall
both high and low


mcmlxiv, rev. mmi

When i go to the Wars

When i go to the Wars
i shall go hence
as if subject to Mars
yet Venus or Aphrodite
she, your resemblance
will be


mmv

Dead grass

Dead grass    the farmer said
   they eat dead grass
as i wondered what the cows did
out there in the spare sunlight
of the frosty meadow
   the wiser i watched them ambling across the turf
and i felt sorry for the cows
with nothing to do a hurdle on their necks
as if i too were a cropper of dead grass
in a bare pasture waiting to be led back to a warm barn
and fed


mcmlxi

Same ol' story

Same ol' story
candle sure don't shine
wax iz burnin' low
waitin' fr that man
scared since he iz mine
'fraid to let him go


mmv

Trains make me sad

Trains make me sad i cried
unaware of the lie
for the tracks run straight to your door
and i am there before the train
can leave the station


mcmlxi

We pay a price

We pay a price for living
is the price too dear?
oh no! fear
is too near the bone
to place a value upon
“turn again Whittington!”

    time marches
in quick step
or slow
just so
the paean and the pang

    one arrow to the bow
many to the quiver
armed by providence
against what accident
may deliver


mmv

To be a child again

To be a child again!
    whittling a ship shaped from a stick
    walking homeward with a skip
being holiday-wise
    or seeing life from the teeter-
    totter tipsy view
    askew or upside-down for fun
and summer’s done through a hoop
    with a holler
wheedling a dollar for the theatre
    or grubbing in dear dirty earth
shelling peas to thieve the culls
these carrots onions turnips
    eaten raw or else disdained
health maintained precariously
    on a diet of
    crust     mouth full sticky with honey
    busting to be gone
    call on favourite pal
britches torn reaching for thrush’s nest
    in hedgerow
feet wet from leaping ditches—
    not quite
    socks soaking in sun to dry
provoking fights with kid brother
concluding nights
    out like a light

oh if i had my druthers
    to live life again…
what a chance to change
    nothing! but zip! happily
    range the gamut of joys and losses
owing no debt to fate
    except a taste i cannot sate
    and a lively heart like a ship that tosses

mmi

To fly a kite

To fly a kite light in the sky
    a streamer-cloud balloons blowing children hallo-ing
looking up wide-eyed

i’d rather be born again
than died in the wool at school     head bent over
    perusing paper with inkblots scrawls marks
        for a hundred per cent the ultimate

    flip your lid! fly that kite! watch it duck as we tug
leaping eager to clamber out of sight
    kids must be wrong as well as right
trust as strong as a heart-string can pull us down to earth
    for a rebirth

    those desks they sit in
with lids like kettles over ids
    simmering
        scrawled on blackboards like toilet-walls
‘two and two make four’     (raise your hand when you know the score)

    jericho blow! fanfare of hope! eye’s opening wider
greeting the spider’s web of kite trails in cloud-streamers
    of windwards blowing children ho-hoing like Buddha

    lap it up! whoop it up!
kittycat can look at the queen
    where have you been lately     growing up?


mcmlxx, rev. mmi

Prison gate, agassiz, bc, dec '63

These children!     doukhobors!
    pretty girls in comely dress
to make us proudly canadians!

    mad anarchists?    to make believe!
who these?
    their shelters rude as beggars' lairs in city niches
yet the dignity of pride is here
    ingeniously-fitted frames of lath and pole
with walls of transparent plastic
    visible to public gaze
to hide no bad intentions

    their site a disused gravel pit
a people shunned
    is that the best officialdom can do?
a misled vision and a futile trek to the promised land
    vagrancy?

    never mind the place    the view
my heart is glad to own a heart of native timbre
    steeple-bells speak to all attentive ears

    welcome is the human touch
in meanest dwellings
    whether clay or wood abode
wherever feeling dwells
    the pealing bells
renew their loud appealing

dec, mcmlxiii (rev. mmvii)

Where were we now?

Where were we now?
the thing just happened
it was neither short nor long
nor sweet nor sour    nor blue nor gay
it was -    as I said

this alone is news    between the headlines
and the classified we find
a piece of mind stamped with the idiom of laconics
simplified and qualified to suit
the tastes of no-one in particular
it is vehicular

as I said:    no-one spoke
or wrote    or thought
it just fell out    -spontaneously?
come    let's agree
the point is missed
if you insist on knowing
tactful as a 'coon at feeding-time
I wash my hands
I'm going


mcmlx

Hesitation

Who hesitates at death – I'm one
    what hinders crossing over?
burden of ownership
once shed … gone!


mcmlx

Singularity

Singularity's blast
    so long ago
paean of praise
    don't serve now
many more
    big bangs due
fabled last days
    or cycle anew?


mcmlx

If i say kissing someone

If I say kissing someone
suits my fancy,     do you know
whose lips I mean?    or if I say
love's will be done    do you care
whose eyes return my stare
unrewarded?
this heart has guarded forty-one
done-to-a-turn     sizzled    frazzled
seasons    those long hot summers
dazzled by the sun
that turned out bummers!
so if I say    kissing someone
come what may will repay
my fancy    do you care
my eyelids stare    fold over
like errant balls
lost in neighbours' gardens
with forty-one summers
beyond recall?
do you care    do you care
do you unreward my stare
debonair one whose lips
I mean    I mean to own?

mmlx, amended mmvii

As the peony bud

As the peony bud
bends on a slender
stalk
my heart's opening
awareness
bends in deference


mcmlx

No exceptions

 
"Each of us
        must eventually be alone
    so why kid ourselves
        love can make any exceptions?"
he said
    as he slipped into bed beside her
    beside himself
she grunted
"brother, don't work yourself into a lather
        before the event
    never fear, you'll be alone soon enough
        after we're done"

together they made out
    hand in hand    face to face
        under the white sheet
    laying ghosts
    comforted

mcmlxxiii

The draught of your going

The draught of your going
has followed you across the room
and I wait in a vacuum of grief
until the breeze of your return

Wotz purpose o life: Leckcheer by Tich Backhouse

Leckcheer deliberated t macadam road senile delinquents club

Wotz purpose o life
whyfor consarned u axes
u wants rewards o virtue extended
u wants orl same benefit o dayly labour
u wants many appy ansum returns o loot bespeculated
lissen up Tich tellz wot sovran purpose
yore breathin goodly air dat won't b wasted iz

purpose o life iz wurk
i sez wurk cos energy subtile dynamick wot drives dis wurld on ourz
frum direpad babbies thru to daffy-down-dilly ol codgerz liken uz
plus frilly matronz gon whoopee in haid
tiz gran prime mobility holz us tergither
youze brite eyes gotta earn keep wid bothersum chores
so duz brawny dodger hoose labourz amountin ter hercules hissen
akeepin u-nanimated iz objeck
ebry cell o body corpuscular strainz nerves t limit
conjining wun fer orl n orl fer wun in determinal mind
wot u callz concert performance
till u stanzaz ereck an attainz stature
each in proper sequins
swich configgerz ackchual critter
human beenz wot we iz bein wot we iz
allus adoin summat no matterz wot
yore walkin talkin laffin dancin sobbin
noddin orf ter zzzs iz orl wurk
wurk taxes care on us – n we taxes precarious
or we flies tangential to curves ob big round O
so jest hitch up yer skirts
r tighten yer bibs-n-braces az maybe
weze destinned ter keep agoin strong
weaken den ony den purpose erecks sanitorial haid
uze gotten rid of
rubbish litterin lanzscape fairboden
tis ony rite circumstanzas given az iz
wot dont wurk dun deal
savvy now up n atom


mmvii

Pride

Pride is the rock
on which my ship breaks
and I find myself
treading the cold water
where once I thought
I walked


mcmlx

Ego

Fuck you
I'm it
the centre pin
of what makes the welkin ring
and I don't apologize
one bit


mcmlx

The Minstrel Passes

To whistle and sing
A trivial thing
But a note that I wrote
Told a tale
And the song I have borne
In my throat
Like the musical call
Of the whale
Or the humming-bird whir
Tells a tale
Fit to hear, from a friend
A trivial tale
With no end
A rise and a fall
That is all.


mcmlx

Predatory Cherry

.







Predatory cherry tree
assaults foundations
of untoward building
fruitless endeavour
enraged colony emerges
topples with blade and saw
full flower of its glory

april, mmv

Little Brown Buddha

Llittle brown buddha
wooden god
before I go to the land of nod
tell me
this yearning for another
is it worthwhile?
I see you smile
stretch    fill out your belly with breath
and resume your yawning


mcmlx

Carnal Tulip

.



Carnal tulip
like arachnid creature
with prehensile crimson limbs
staining escalloped frills
of creamiest cream
black eyes hideous within

mmv

The Blue Tit

The Blue Tit sits on the orchard bough
her avian mind consults the now;
        sun and flowers and crows and bugs
she perches she poses she sniffs the breeze
    she shrugs and sings, “I’m quite at ease
        with sun and flowers
            attending the hours
    as if things were planned to do as i please”
“That’s what i think,” the Blue Tit sings
    on the orchard bough
        blithely folding her wings.

mmiii

We're back!

Due to health and other issues, this blog has not been updated for several weeks.

We're back to normal now, and daily posting will resume. To the half-dozen of you who have been faithfully dropping in, thank you, and keep coming back.

i can't stand

I can't stand in your mirror
    nor you in mine
mirroring brings images to focus
    bounce off in reflections
bedazzlement that embrightens
    the gloom of staring
at nobody in the room
    but yourself
whose light i cannot stand in
    insight ain't inerrantly à propos
0f what we are convinced
    comes like alice's quantum stroll
through the looking glass
    brought to livelier bloom
than is taught

mmviii

What does heartache matter

What does heartache matter
taint matter of what you can earn
taint matter of playing holy on sunday
taint what you hardheaded could learn

what does heartache matter
squeeze my heart like a garlic press
i bleed the sweetest tincture from hurting
and hurting, whom can i bless

mcmlxxxiii

of its own kind

Better than half-lies
    half to be heard
and half to be winked at
    for you to figure

    bettter than half-truths
living out their half-lives
    like impotent sparks
of a damp fire's dalliance

    better than non sequitur
led by the nose
    and off we go
none knows where

    what we stand for
is what we are
    resolute in choosing
more resolute to care

    schooling heart survives
with lessons learned and understood
    sui generis
in fathomed appraisal
    despite your honorific
shall and should

mmviii

New Year's Resolution

Oh lord
     i promise
tomorrow i'm crossin over
    i promise     i promise
goin on t'other side

cant help lovin and hopin for today
cant help it less than suicide
what d' y' do now y' do what y' do
    except promise
        mouthful o' hope
    I cain't swaller
        'n i promise lord
tomorrow 'm crossin over
goin on t'other side

lord     i recognize
    infernal grandiose
        smoke machine's scenario's
            gonna capture y'
if y' don seek eternal rapture

but for today lord
    gotta stay till i get a preview peek
    gotta wait 'n see

oh i promise
    yes i promise
whate'er betide
i'll be yours truly
i'll cross way over
tomorrow i'm goin on t'other side


mcmxcix rev. mmviii

Jesus is the most

Jesus is the most
he's my favrit
talk show host
though julius caesar seizes me more
because he reports from
both ends of the spear

mcmlxxxviii

Having acknowledged...

Having acknowledged
    the great least understood
having tested the quality
    of the celestial garment's hem
having maundered on the rim
    of the joyless void
having clapped one hand
    in response to the keenest zen koan
do I then run about
    like a crazed teen fan
    waving the vaunted signature
nor do I lie back moping
    as if my hands were tied

mmvii