Massage

Gentlest violins in the air
Of musk, myrrh & patchouli

Sweetest basil of brightest dreams

The lovely forms of women and men
Make music like violins

Beneath all colors of beautiful hair

The lovely arms and feet
Above thighs and waists.

May

From gray
Skies
Foreboding
Rain
May comes
With green
Corn
To capture
Eyes---

Out of
Brief-spun
Silken
Homes
Butterflies come
To greet
The June bug
As she flies.

The Nature of Love

It is so true about love,
About you and me,
Like roses we bloom, we die,
We flee---
We must keep this love alive
With the industrious sowing
Of our kindness and hope and gentleness.
Yet, there will be nettles,
Awful windstorms and fiery voices crying dread,
Anguish and sadness.
But then we hug
And cry our tears
And laugh
And shed our fragile
Egos.

The Sacred Tree

I wonder have you ever been beside a river?
I would like to be there with you
Any spring or darkest winter
Will brightest fall
As long as you are there!
If I truly love thee I must try to rhyme
Feeling and reason
And discover the Sacred Tree,
If I truly love thee I must love the sea
And all the things that live in me,
If I truly love thee I want to love you
Just once before the end and the dawn.
I want to unfold my life
As beautifully as
You have bloomed
Into mine.

To Wendy G.

Your house is a palace
Of hope above fear
Love before hatred
Freedom after slavery
Tears wet and warm against cold talons
Of sordid greedy vipers---the world's leaders writhing and coiling
In their madness---And yet
We still smile and live;
Because the sun still rises
The moon will shine
And the stars will keep their brightness
And the flowers,
Yes,
The trees
The skies...
It is a miracle
When I breathe before
Your eyes.

Tonight

Tonight I want to live in New York City in a
Small apartment or big condo with a big view
Of Central Park I want to go to Big Sur and
Watch the waves pummel my body and live in
The mountains of Washington State where I can
See the ocean and smell the pine trees next
To a river's bank tonight I want to visit the
Bottom of the Mariana Trench and see what the
Fish look like there and live in Paris or
Wales and live in a house surrounded by
Shakespeare's flowers tonight I want to be a
Famous painter of realism and drive a Porsche
Mercedes, Cadillac and Jaguar on the same day
Tonight I want to own a bookstore and live in
My castle and own McDonald's and get cows
From my own ranch
But maybe tonight I'll stay home instead.

Triad

Above the city
Above the mountains
Floats a long galaxy of a cloud
Soft microcosm of our Milky Way
Disappearing.

The night smells of mesquite
Wind blows leaves
Eyes rust in redness
Growing older keeps me awake at nights.

Silence, alone, is comfortable, like
Meeting strangers, is living, after
Drinking the last beer in the refrigerator.

Visit

The dark rook came into the steel-colored
Cold town one early morning in a month in the
Future before fires of stars had melted into
Oneness with the flames of the next sunrise
One could look in all directions and observe
People who fled across the country to flee
The dark shadows flying in their wake of
Time and space shadows with perpetual
Appearance throughout history but larger now
Progress, decay, machinery and war...
Nature stood warning and watching the
Masquerade watching the petty parade of
Mankind the dumbfounding circus of man she
Watched through tears of rage but
Darkness remained it reigned and light, yes,
Light brilliant hopeful light was the
Stranger, stronger force for the rook spring
And new blossoms became his religion
Nature was his priestess.
The rook lived in hopeful light.

Why This War?

Why this War?
Why this War?
Does anyone know anymore?
What was the real cause for this War?
Who knows anymore?
America the Beautiful
Is going bankrupt
Why this War?
Why this War?
Who knows anymore?

Yesterday

Yesterday the rain came before we saw it
In the stars it was already here and now
There is no umbrella with me to shield these
Tears no one with me to say it is raining on
Us though there are people striding wet
Sidewalks and roads as I enter a large cafe
Filled with many people smoke one cigarette
Drink the dregs of my coffee and walk into
The rain again I enter a different cafe and
Sit by three policemen who eat Spanish food
And who must listen intently to their
Portable radios for more criminals so that
They can come back into the cafe and eat
Their Spanish food again I am back in the
Rain out of one bar into another cafe
To hide and be warm to listen to the rain
And wait for the rain to stop though
It will snow and we would like to know so
Many places at once if only we can find our
Own time machine.

Robust Nuclear Penetrator

The lilies of the field
And the meek shall inherit the earth
But no robust nuclear earth penetrator
Can plant flowers or grow the grass green

The lilies of the field
And the meek shall inherit the earth
But no robust nuclear earth penetrator
Will leave the air bright or the earth clean

Written after Reading about Vachel Lindsay's Love for Animals

I am sorry for killing
All the tiny ants
All the gardener snakes
A few sparrows
(I am most ashamed of this).
I felt the pain when my pellets flew into their tender skin.
A few I say
But those few seem like a million today.
Forgive me, O, god of sparrows

Forgive me, O, god of felines
The torture I gave to one black cat
Inside a cardboard box
Shaken and whirled
In
Breathless darkness.
Yellow eyes were aflame with fear and hate.

My jealousy was
A kind of madness.

I never hurt a dog.

Lost In India Part I

I was thinking about India and
The white Brahma bull.
I was just standing around.
Wearing a colorful quilt.
When I turned around.
The Brahma bull was touching my nose.
Life's movements
Quickly move like that Brahma bull.
Attracted to colorful motion.
Suddenly it is here.
Life.
Death.
Romance.
Then I got onto the cart.
Being pulled by a different bull.
The dark Indian man lightly touched me.
Felt my ribs.
Wondering in silence.
Who was I?
Why so thin?

I Love

I love the silent clouds & the silent wind
I love the silent water & the silent stars
I love the silent night & the silent moon
I love the silent heart & the silent rainbow
I love the silent machine & the silent candlelight
I love the silent clock & the silent time
I love the silent love & the silent death
I love the silent flowers & the silent grass
I love the silent child & the silent turtle
I love the silent butterfly &
The silent handshake
I love the silent eyes &
The silent smile
I love the silent bones &
The silent morning
I love the silent embrace &
The silent life
I love the silent silence.

That's Show Business

Let's put an
Oasis on the
Moon;
Snow,
Video games;
Pizza;
Bowling;
And
A
Zoo
Too!

Seasong

Until the sundial
In the sea
Arrives again
Upon the sand
Naked children
Jump & dance
In the salty sea
Happy dolphins
Feel the breeze
On their soft
Lily-white knees.

Rebirth

Bruised face of Autumn
Rest under savage
Snow
Sleep long sleep
In winter's
Glow
Spring will softly step
With golden light upon
Thy crimson
Frown.

Quintilis

Rain and snow and flowers
Were enough for her
River mountain and sky
Were enough for him
Sun moon and stars
Were enough for both
To live and die for.

Literary Criticism

Rimbaud always travelled
Light
Twain always smoked cheap
Cigars
Berryman was always
Tight
Hemingway was always ready to
Fight.

The Power of Yellow Lights

The big war room with yellow lights had big
empty desks that reeked of power.
The big war room was locked.
I stood inside waiting for my inquisitors.
They arrived in shiny suits of blue armor.
This was a laboratory of brain power
Computers hummed
They spoke
We know what you know and now you know.
When did you get your implants?
During one of your blackouts.
My pleasure center is sending signals to
their screens
My brain cannot hide the democracy of the
21st century
Only the Interstellar Space Agency can rescue
me.
The big war room with yellow lights had big
empty desks that reeked of power.

The Plural Form

All of the
Knives
And all of the
Wives
Are with all of the
Elves
Who have sat on all of the
Shelves
All of their
Lives.

The End of Terrorism

In winter this white giant
Will fall on its face
Wait and see it wrinkle and fall
On wrinkled knee
Bones and cancer will sunder wind
Veins will gush jet-black across the sun
In winter this white giant
Will fall on its face
Wait and see it buckle and fall
On wrinkled knee.

After the white giant's breath
Has breathed on snow
Another spring will show
But neither blue sky nor river
Will cleanse the dying giant.

Ravenous hunger of red worms grows in the snow.

September 14, 1989

Be quiet like the rain
Beautifully silent.

Dry your tears
There is already enough rain.

I have rain-like feelings
Today because it rained
Last night.

I didn't hear
the rain.

Was I dreaming?

I can't remember that either

But still I know it rained.

Love.

Seasons

There are no seasons here
Yes, you may consider flowers
Newly bloomed
Or strange birds
Seasons but truly there are
No seasons on this island
There is plenty of heat
And a lot of rain.
I left a place with rocky mountains
And I miss them now.
For a long time I yearned
To see the ocean again. I had seen the ocean
Once on the East coast
At a place called Revere Beach---
For one hour. Once on the West Coast
In Golden Gate Park---For one sunset.
The oceans live in our blood
But pine forests, rivers and mountains
Live within my heart.

Purple Splendor

Shiny and purple trumpets

Tiny bright and purple
Hyacinth flowers

Make fragrant hours

Fragrant trumpets

Bright purple hyacinths
Inside an artichoke jar

On a marble table of carved cherubins

I love thee more than
My color TV.

Poem for David

The Earth is beautiful
When you see the sun
And smell the air
And plant life
Because you are
The sun and Earth
And a moon child
You are beautiful
Like when you smile
You are alive and growing
As a seed in the Earth
You were born today
And tomorrow you will be
An older gardener of
Corn and strawberries
And I love you
Since you plant life

Ode to Albert Camus

He subsided on flowers.
Cloud. Bird. Sun.
He never paid taxes.
Everyone including his mother thought he
was a lazy commie. Once he wasn't.
Anything. Except maybe a poor Socialist.
But he hated funerals. Weddings. Bombs.
Wars. Bankers. And he slept a lot now.
Hoping to quietly pass through death in his
best dreams.

Nigel

 

In your dark eyes
I saw your soul
And it was there
I had to go
In your dark eyes
So like the sun
I saw your soul glow
Within your dancing form
Is your beautiful soul
Forever living
Inside
My
Heart.

My Date With Florence Becker Lennon

Feeling bad I told her I had reached level
Zero and offered her some of my ginger beer.
We were going to see Bergman's
The Magic Flute and I told her I hoped it
would cheer me up.
On our way down the sidewalk I saw
An empty gerbil cage with its door open.
Except for a little pile of hay inside
Where had the poor little gerbil gone
I wondered at the stoplight.
For opera the movie was ok but
life still exists on the streets
Like that sad-looking gerbil cage door open
on the street.

Most Peculiar

I came into a park to sit & sun
And found a man
With most peculiar gun

He moved his gun
Like a blindman would his cane
And swayed it across the grass

At once he stopped and
With his little knife
He poked the ground

But I could not tolerate
One more thrust to my heart

I screamed

"Help, a man is killing the grass!"

But no one came
To see my blood & tears, alas!

Man

Man
Once
Had
Tiny
Bones
In
His
Tail
But
Were
These
From
The monkey or the whale?
Holy cow!
Man had muscles in his ears
And somehow
Wiggled them to show his fears.
Was this Creation or Evolution?
Is man a God's Divination...
Or
Some Devil's Abomination?

Logos



 Sconfitta by William Blake


 

 

Step lightly now into thy own dark way

Go where thy will

Put away your toys, hopes and dreams

The radio is no use to thee now

Heaven or hell awaits thee or

A detour will keep thy soul

In some church or purgatory

Until the king of light makes up his mind

Step lightly now into thy own dark way

Go where thy will

Death as a thief lights upon us

Do not bring a friend

Leave behind

Woman, sun and flowers

Death steps in like light

Out of darkness.

Fin de Siecle

DEATH AND THE MAIDEN By Egon Schiele

***

Time and radiation will not erase
My name from thee
Our love came before this cancer called the
Atomic Age.
Man's radiation will not diminish us nor his
Geiger counter trace us
We are the great bright stones silent and
Alive
We shine in the stars
So look at us
Wish upon us
We will answer
Resplendent gods from the original nova fire!
Time and radiation will not erase
My name from thee
Our love will grow and grow
Before and after atomic war.

Drooling Limmerick

Quotations fall from his mouth like running
Spittle

He cooks them on his philosophical
Griddle

He serves them to his guests well-done
Or rare

But sometimes they turn out more foul
Than fair.

Dirty Poem

All that dung
Man
Look at all that dung.
Dung of bombs, bullets and cars,
Plenty of plastic and tinfoil dung for
God and His angels in Heaven to wrap all
Their vegetables and stars.

Dung, dung, dung.

Man, why did you create
So much dung? Dung!

Who gives a dung about dung?
But when God gives the
Cosmic enema look out for the
Dung.

***

Below is the original version of my Dirty Poem.
Which is the better version?
The clean one...
Or the dirty one?


All that shit
Man
Look at all that shit.
Shit of bombs, bullets and cars,
Plenty of plastic and tinfoil shit for
God and His angels in Heaven to wrap all
Their vegetables and stars.

Shit, shit, shit.

Man, why did you create
So much shit? Shit!

Who gives a shit about shit?
But when God gives the
Cosmic enema look out for the
Shit.

Cocoon

Where do butterflies go
When it rains?
Do they keep little umbrellas
At their sides?
Do they find warm and dry places
To always hide?
Where do butterflies go
When it rains?

Chain of Love

You are the missing link
far away chain of love
soft, gentle yet strong
like the eagle and the dove

you unfold your wings wide
and your heart opens
like the jeweled sky and
the sparkling tide

you are the missing link
far away chain of love
the woman God chose
from far above.

Calliope

Is the door locked?
No, my heart is open

Is the window shut?
No, my soul is sanguine

Is your love sleeping?
No, my body is dreaming

Do you hear the clock ticking?
Yes, my life is singing

Bulletin

FoOlisH sCiEnCe
Go To SlEep
FoReVeR
tHe UbIqUiToUs NiGhT
iS FuLl Of ScReAmS
iT iS rAiNiNg oN fLoWeRs.
BuLlEtIn:
ThE KeYs To HeAvEn HaVe BeEn LoSt On EaRtH.
iF tHe MoOn Is PoWeR tHe RaVeN (sNoW) iS
DaRkNeSs.
RoAr Of ThE lIoN aNd ThE gEnTlE lAmB
wHo WiLL WiN
sAiD a ChIlD oF nOwHeRe
ThE lIlAcS iN hEr HaIr?

Bring Back Old Trains

Enlist world despair into the war of peace &
love,
Guard turtle eggs & gargle sea water & eat
seaweed,
Punctuate desire with loving not fantasy,
Recycle your toothbrush & bottles &
newspapers & cans & park your cars forever
Walk

Rock
&
Roll

Out the red carpet for the king of new sky,
Let cows chew their cuds into old age & use
their dung for more
Gardens planted in former stockyards & the air
will smell
like life.

Birthday

He looks for new dreams
Behind old mirrors

That condemn his stares
Of frightful reflections.

Flowers are the things
Which he can understand

Or perhaps a reclusive
Stone yet unseen.

Biography of Faith

Mary carried Jesus into the
Golden Room,
Men in dark suits demanded
Identification.
Mary showed them her precious
Smile and her infant's laughter.
They killed both.
"It was for national security,"
said the first.
"It was in the interest of our
vital interests," said the second.
"I'm tired of inflation," said the third.
"They looked like terrorists," said the fourth.
"Let us go find a war," said the fifth.
"The state is all that matters," said the
sixth.

Baby

You
are
a
mirror
of life
dancing
always
dancing
gently
dancing
as
thunder
waltzes
down
my
nerves.

At The Bank

Dedicated to Nature

The shape of trees
Amazes me.
In these limbs lives
A family
In the breeze:
The
Father
Mother
Daughter
And
Son
Touching
God's
Infinite
Sky
With
Every
Breeze.

Asylum

Powdery snowflakes
Create

A dancing fog
& trees

(although the sky is gray)

Give this day a precise brightness
No shiny computer will ever see.

Angelus

He took that large buzzing
Fly in a carefully closed
Hand

And walked to the backdoor.

He opened his fist
And threw its bright blue buzzing
At the full moon

And Christ resurrected
The next morning.

Children Are People

People are hippies, dopedealers (mostly
business men)
And lonely old ladies and gentlemen

Shipwrecked idealists
ordained by a headless horseman
with muscular flanks

galloping, galloping
in you and me.

Children are people
who are not hippies, business men,
lonely old ladies or gentlemen
or shipwrecked idealists

Children are flowers, trees, butterflies,
birds and bees who constantly keep a sense
of humor and sadness around hippies, business
men, lonely old ladies and gentlemen and
shipwrecked idealists who talk about God (who
might be a business man) with muscular flanks
galloping, galloping in you and me.

Demiurge Haiku

Behind the first black
Hole God waits for man to kick
Another field goal.

Last Appeal

Atomic madmen
You dancers
Of doom
Leave my Earth
Go live on the Moon
Leave my universe
Atomic madmen
You don't scare me
Boom.

Letter To A Friend In Italy

Settle for the stars
When the sun is not here
Keep the moon in your heart
When your love falls apart
Remember all of summer
When all you have is winter
Choose each minute
Of every hour
As if it were your final
Chance to smell a flower.

Timbrel

puremoonglowalmostgone
skyterriblemonoxidefog
grasslovelyoldmemorydawn
bluestoceandeepblackhole
mankindyoudamnedfool.

Time Capsule

The cold machines from earth
Traveled as far as they could
And traveled empty paths
Through endless spaces
Filled with myriad stars and
Galaxies
For one thousand years.

It didn't matter, after all,
Since life on earth as men
Had known it was gone
And the men, the intelligent
Knowers and machine-lover-makers
Had also disappeared.
The sun never felt a thing
And God remained inside
His big laboratory quietly thinking
About what to do next.

To a Mad Physicist

Men made computers and color TVs with
microwave minds.

A malefactor of the new math
he scrubbed floors
and used a pocket calculator.

The issue is Centrifugality, my good sir,
and a Centipede impedes my way!

Infinity is a misprint
in Heaven
said the
Universe.

A flea will flee at three
said the knee in the tree!

In his haste the chaste man ate some paste.

I was fed in the red bed said ned in his shed
to Fred.

A frothy sloth who hath no math
hath great need to take a bath!

TV Thrills

Tv thrills
Of laser guns
& neutron bombs
Tv thrills
Of drop by
Biological germs
On easy terms
Tv thrills
Of satellite eyes
& supersonic speeds
Tv thrills
Of commercial
Messages on
Soaps & bras
Tv thrills
Of potent pills
For cosmic chills
Tv thrills
Tv thrills
Tv kills.

Xerox My Love So Green

fields of gold

arms of your everlasting

love

pearl star flower

my only sun

hold me.

Reverie

The beautiful face of the child
Looked across the open world
And saw the sky and ocean turn upside down
All the myriad stars fell into the hair
Of the beautiful child
And he burned like a sun
And on another intelligent planet
The face of another beautiful child
Smiled as he saw in the dark heavens
A huge brilliant explosion
Of ten billion stars
Disappearing
It was the Fourth of July.

Voyages

THE FACE OF WAR by Dali

The cries of power!
The steeds and golden saddles of nuclear horsemen!
Chariots racing closer and closer to the shore of Englightenment!
"Start again," said the bionic man.
"Bone and blood are irradiated."
"Go on smiling," said the beggar man.
The Stone Age, the Metal Age, the Dark Ages,
The Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution...
Voyages in oceans and galaxies!
The Gold Rush, the Golden Lust, the Garden of Eden...
Voyages in oceans and galaxies!
Where are you Adam and Eve?
Where in the devil is God?
Men kissed Prometheus again
When Atom walked
Onto the stage
Of raging flame.

Ode to Life



The Goldfinch by Fabritius

The heart is a seed which
Grows in the rain
A god in every cloud
Rainbows in the sun
A universe in a seed
Peace in a raindrop
A million suns
In the human heart.

Bright As Snow

I could not find
The laurel flower
Such a flower I have
Never grown
Only dandelions
And roses have I known
And a woman called
Laurel bright as snow.

The Atheist Insect Seer

I am the architectural wonder
Of the grand and crawly insect world

I can bend my body better than
Any flag that's been unfurled

If I had a mirror to see my fearful symmetry
I'd run away from its awful physiognomy

They say that after amorous romance
I'll masticate my mate after the dance
(But not always)

And after all it's what's in my genetic code
The same wondrous stuff that's inside a jumping toad

So if you see me walking slowly across a leaf
Oh please do not squash my graceful torso
It is just looking for some sweet morsel!

Strange Gods

Baal of Baalbek sat with baboo the baboon
& listened to baby Bacchus dancing & howling
At a bacchanal beneath the holy moon.
All of the loud babble of Babel
Made the hungry sheep of Baalbek
Baa & baa 'til they were unable
While Bacchus babysat the babes of Baalbek
The Bacchae babbled a lot in Babylonia &
Baal yelled at the baboons of Christianity
Who played bacarat with the baboons of
Baalbek.

StArLiGhT

AnD tHeRe It WaS.

ThE vErY fIrSt StAr.

ThE vErY fIrSt TeAr

Of LiGhT iN tHe UnIvErSe.

StArLiGhT.

Oh WhAt A mYsTeRy

Is HeAvEn

AnD

wOmEn

So LoVeLy

An EaRtH.

Some Thoughts While Reading Rumi

Go walk into your garden & pick the tiny
Red fruit of the very old sun
It is just one plant & quite small
But go walk into your garden & pick the tiny
Red fruit of the sun
Go walk into your garden & feast on life
Because life is a feast
Go walk into your garden & pick the little
Red fruit of the very old sun
It is just one plant & very small
But go walk into your garden & pick the tiny
Red fruit & feast on life
Because life is a feast
Go walk into your garden
No matter how small
It is still a garden.

Random Trivium

The most beautiful place I've ever seen: Bamian, Afghanistan.
The ugliest and most sorrowful places were in India.
But the countryside was beautiful.
Rushes include:
Floating on a calm sea beneath the sun.
Drinking coffee on cool evenings.
Classical music and rock & roll.
Beautiful women.
Chocolate.
The sound of a river flowing.

Pathetic Romantic

SWEET NOTHINGS by John William Waterhouse 

You are a pathetic romantic
Running to paradise to find
A jar full of delight
Trying to escape the phantom pain
Under this earthly rain
You want to be in some tavern of eternity
You are a pathetic romantic searching for
Paradise
Wanting to be in some tavern of
Eternity
To escape the phantom pain under this earthly rain
You are a pathetic romantic running to
Paradise
Trying to find a jar full of delight.

Muse

You have now become the bright 

Heavenly ink of my dark soul 

That writes about the night and love, 

And the tight, painful feelings 

Of loving you that

Soften as we touch. 

O, to write about us! 

The Moon! 

Truth lives in your eyes. 

I will dwell there until we sleep again, 

Silently on the bosom of the warm, dark earth,
Waiting to change into dust

That shall touch and recall
That hour of our mother's
Warm and watery womb.

Illuvias Electricas

I've got some big storms alright
I've got some big electric storms in my mind
In this world that's blowing up all humankind
I've got some storms brewing all the time
In this world that's making more & more slime
I've got some big storms in my heart
In this world that's falling apart
I've got some big storms alright
In this big beautiful world tonight
I've got electric storms inside my soul
In this world that's become a superbowl
I've got storms that flood inside my door
I've got storms that swim across my floor
I've got some big storms alright
I've got some big electric storms in my mind
In this world that has been treated so unkind.

Lost In India

 

 

 

 

 

I walked & walked until my shoes fell off
When I saw green I jumped off the old train
When I hit the ground & rolled over I was
Surprised I was alive, I had bruises,
I walked into a medical clinic, they said I
Was ok & so I left, I had on my dark
Sunglasses, mysterious-looking dark stranger
Wandering, the sky got gray, the night got
Cold, it started to rain, I climbed onto a
Haystack to cover myself with straw, it was
a lousy idea, so I climbed into a small
Grain bin with a little roof & covered
Myself with corn meal, so warm & cozy, I had
on my dark sunglasses, I slept, I woke up,
It was a sunny morning, my dark sunglasses
Were gone, men were staring down at me & as I
climbed out of that warm corn meal heaven
Someone handed me my sunglasses, I was so
Relieved, I could see again, I started
Walking, walking, walking & my feet bled.

In Time and Rain

We have both died No one can tell by our tone of
Voice or by the color of our skins Or by the
Words we speak It goes deeper than that We died
because we had to It was not our choice And we
Died at different times in a different place We
had no consciousness of our deaths Yet we felt
them The sky was not there No stars Just an
Emptiness When most people die they Are called
Dead and Others say he died today Or I will
visit Her grave tomorrow But for us death has no
Permanence We died and we live now And we will
die once again And we will never have graves.
Yesterday there was a war Today there is no land to
till Tomorrow there will be another war Tomorrow
there will be no land to till You and I have
been captured Tomorrow or next year We will be
executed We are dead We will be executed They
cannot kill us Today we exist Tomorrow
We exist yesterday.
Blossoms begin to open.

Dragonfly In The Night

AS BRIEF AS A DRAGONFLY'S REPOSE [James Russell Lowell]

What does it mean when a
Dragonfly in the night
Comes to your door
In the summertime
And Snoopy your Siamese cat
And your white poodle Daisy
Try to eat, kill & play with this
Dragonfly in the night?
Don't say, 'It doesn't mean a thing.'
It does mean something
When I have to push the cat & dog away
After both had swatted the dear daylights out
Of the
Dragonfly in the night
Who wanted to fly upwards towards the stars
Or some galaxy in its eyes
But the dragonfly in the night banged its
Orbital & aquamarine head on the metal
Awning of its dreams
And there it stays 'til it dies or flys away.

Monroe Louisiana

On the green, green farm
In green, green Monroe Louisiana
So green, green
Wet-luscious green and alive
So green after the rain
So bright green and clean
Just passing through
On my way to tomorrow
But so green today and yesterday
It was on that stranger's green, green farm
And I didn't stay long
And I didn't expect someone
To fire that shotgun right next to me
The barrel pointed out the front door
Into that green, green world beyond.
There were hot springs
On the green, green farm
In green, green Monroe Louisiana
Back in 1973.

Written While Listening To Mozart's Flute Concertos 1&2

 I discovered this painting tonight, and it made me remember a strange thing that I wrote years ago.  Vanity doesn't prevent me from posting it again.

   By Gustave Moreau

 

 



Dedicated to Peace

The padishah was riding on a bright and
Bejeweled packsaddle, but he really
Preferred to be behind a holy paddle-wheel.

The padishah was riding on a bright and
Bejeweled packsaddle, but it was his friend
The paddock that he sat upon,
Out of its home and free to roam,
Like some hungry pagan in ancient Rome.

The padishah was riding on his bright and
Bejeweled packsaddle,
Singing a paen of peace as he gently
Paddywhacked his friend the paddock.

Both were searching for a padre to give them
Some warm paddy to feast upon.
The padishah was riding on his bright and
Bejeweled packsaddle,
Like a hopeful paladin,
Riding through the
World's palace of sin.

Poetic Justice

You are under arrest Robert Frost for being a stubborn optimist
You are under arrest William Wordsworth for being a cool romanticist
You are under arrest Walt Whitman for filling our minds with leaves of grass
You are under arrest William Shakespeare for being so good
You are under arrest Charles Baudlaire for your drugs
You are under arrest Carl Sandburg for your fog
You are under arrest e e cummings for your grammar
You are under arrest Emily Dickinson for your solitude
You are under arrest Arthur Rimbaud for your wanderlust
You are under arrest Edgar Allan Poe for scaring us
You are under arrest Percy Bysshe Shelley for your atheism
You are under arrest D.H. Lawrence for hating progress
You are under arrest Ezra Pound for your mental illness
You are under arrest Dylan Thomas for your hacking cough
You are under arrest Ogden Nash for being so humorous
You are under arrest T.S. Eliot for being so timeless
You are under arrest Allen Ginsberg for being cocksure
You are under arrest Homer for opening your mouth.

Avatar of Geocentrism

 

Dedicated to the Cosmos

 

There is no
Telescope
To see
The complete
Darkness
Of
The first
Light
From the holy
Big bang beginning
Of
Beautiful
Earth
And
What
Universe is this
One of
How
Many
Yet?

Encounter on Ipao Beach, Guam

A Mountain met a Lily and sat with Spring
All three were conversing near the Sea
What is Heaven? What is Love?

A Mountain met a Lily and sat with Spring
All three were conversing near the Sea
All three were touching the Sun.

A Mountain met a Lily and sat with Spring
All three fell in Love
But all three fell from Heaven
And never met again.

Bamian Afghanistan

Echoes of Tamerlane, Genghis Khan and
Alexander were found in turquoise, opal and
Amethyst dreams,
Young vagabonds slept on Persian rugs
Beneath Heaven's green pastures far below
Tall Buddhas on Bamian's plains.
While bright on earth green grass grew under
Falling rain, above the sky lit up dark
Echoed man's last refrain:
'We hail the rains to bring us back to life;
We hail the rains to remove this mortal rule
of knife.' But thunder shouted and sirens cried,
People hurried, they fought and died.
Echoes of Tamerlane, Genghis Khan and
Alexander were found in turquoise, opal and
Amethyst dreams,
Young vagabonds slept on Persian rugs
Beneath Heaven's green pastures
Far below tall Buddhas on Bamian's plains.

Libra Haiku

 

  

You were earth and we
Had a moon---winter scales
On a summer trout.

Grammar Haiku

By Gustave Klimt

Life is a comma,

Sleep is a semi-colon;

Death is a period.

Plumed Serpent Haiku

Quick! A pen to light

The flame of this brief candle---


Imagination!

 

Dawn

In this small town when the morning is early

It is so quiet

It is then like a ghost town

For awhile the streets have no cars moving

The air is fresh

The street lights continue their mechanical changing

They could be switched off

And the last flicker begins in streetlight bulbs

Then they turn off

The sun is coming up, coming higher into the sky

Soon the quiet morning will be another busy day

But it so peaceful for a few moments more

It is a release

It is another world

Before men arrive

I love it here then

I forget about all the other things

Baggy Pockets

The ocean roars like a mad god
Who has slammed a sandy door on man
The waves rush across my mind
And I look upon the ocean floor:
Diamonds inside buried treasures from chests of ancient lore
A golden ring and a crown of a king
Inside a toy jukebox that makes me sing
A silk handkerchief once inside a pirate's pocket
Now beside a modern rocket
With Jesus' cross all rusted and cracked
Does Santa have a new one packed?
Skeletons of drunk Norsemen with their insane swords
Still shining and ready to use in today's cancerous wars
Sipping mead with a few Greek gods from the Peloponnesian war
And at Gawain's side sits young David, shaking on Goliath's shoulders
Looking at Columbus who has just landed for a second time
To come and take America back to the Indian's fort
But like Robin Hood in a TV commercial
Columbus sells his act for a profit
To keep making crazy rockets and keep filling baggy pockets
With silver, platinum, and gold.

By M.L. Squier

Note: I took the photo above in 1972 during a visit to Golden Gate Park, and immediately after taking the picture wrote this poem.

The words came quite easily and quickly, and I made few changes.

I gave the original to Sandy Leeds.

Sandy...where in the world are you?