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