النور ~ Friday, April 26, 2024

They take advantage

however and whenever

each and every day

yes, now that I rage

tell me, I am wrong to speak

as you must sever

kith from kin, to say

each day you win and I lose

as it starts to creak

door hinge to the past

visions of mistakes reshape

as time cannot last

not behind a drape

take whatever I can choose

and pull the lever

gain nothing from age

except joy, all but never

Æquilibrium ~ Tuesday, April 23, 2024

So, being human
obviously, we are blind

but to what we know
even as we scan
into past events to peel
not enough to find
given time, we glow

hot bright white or cool fire blue
until we unseal
many locks with keys
as experience unbolts
new prayers, on our knees

old ways send through jolts
broken glass, without a clue
vision sees beyond
information of the past
outside the toy box
underneath the pond
skip lily pad base
like a bullfrog or toad cast
yellow with fear, rocks

work loose to water below
each rings the surface

as ripples upset
relative calm, seeming peace
even flow, a jet

blasts wind, never cease
laughing at the vaudeville show
if you see how things
not only fit together
despite seeming strange

begin with new wings
until flight over landscapes
takes out a feather

to write down the change
over time, the work

wine makes out of grapes
how nothing makes sense
as mundane science unfolds
take a muscle, tense

worked out as it holds
each hand a weight, through the murk

knowledge shifts to free
not simply ideas but plays
order against order, trays
wobble, as we see

Poetry Fails Me ~ Sunday, April 21, 2024

I just want to die

just because nothing works out
until six eggs crack
scrambled, maybe fried
truth be told, sunny side up

welcome to mere doubt
ask when you get back
nothing comes of this but tears
take a broken cup

try again but fail
only words get in the way

decide to post bail
if...then, as they say
every day is full of fears

Ἀνδρόγεως ~ Wednesday, April 17, 2024

This cretin talks bull
how much an idiot speaks
in bully pullpit
shite! how bloody dull

call me a Christian, deformed
recently, for weeks
each time that I spit
tell me never to listen
in one ear, reformed
not unlike the Pope

tell me not to watch the news
at loose ends, my rope
likes to sing the blues
kiss me goodbye, I glisten
since she glisters, gold

bull on the brain, down
underneath the Cretan drain
like Minos, so bold
like The Starry Night

how art and politics drown
oh, stillborn again
woe be twenty-four

manly political might
until I can't stop
can't stop laughing, Muse
how much bull until I pop

abuse me and lose
now I know the score

ignorance is bliss, they quote
don't read the next line
is folly wisdom
on frail geezers must I dote
the antidote, please

sleep along the spine
park bench, a homeless kingdom
each night on the train
and bless you, I sneeze
kiss the Minotaur goodbye
suck ass, bloody stooge

in deep shit, I spy
nothing, two men in a luge

born undead again
under the pullpit
like The Zombie Presidents
like van Gogh could paint
yes, Pasiphaë bit

pomegranate seeds for juice
until I make sense
like I am but ain't
like The Central Park Five jive
place an ad, no truce
in wars with Athens
the need for revenge, priceless

sold out, shit happens
how they're still alive
if I should talk trash
take me for an idiot
each January

help me out with cash
oh, I don't ever dare ask
when I need the shit

begs me, the fairy
like On Cloud Scheiße, wears boots
object: a new task
order government
decisions for the people
yet, while money spent

dictates for sheeple
until Nugent finds her roots
lift the wedding veil
let truth again fail

Προμηθεύς ~ Tuesday, April 16, 2024

The golden eagle
hungers for liver and steak
each morning, at dawn

greet each day, Spiegel
onions, over-easy eggs
laid with a fast break
designed to eat spawn
each morning, at dawn, the dark
night burnt by the sun

each morning, a spark
a stalk of fennel, no fun
greet each day, her legs
looped around your neck
each morning, well, what the heck

Bombyx mori ~ Monday, April 8, 2024

Maoist is not moist
and meow is baby talk
of course, tuna fish
in the can, to foist
shredded meat on your pussy
then I'll take a walk

if that's what you wish
still revolution, abroad

not as in pushy
old, abused person
treated like unwanted milk

make love not worsen
of course, it's not silk
if tensile strength is no fraud
still to exploit worms
they must come to terms

Vipers ~ Saturday, April 6, 2024

Since I get upset when a guy lights up
in a public place and I walk away
needless to say that I yell at the dude
creating a scene he offers a cup
every day, I face the stupidity

I lose my balance, my cool, so they say

give me a moment, I'm sorry, I'm rude
except he calls me a racist, easy
to think, default mode, no one is pretty

until we get fed what we want and need
pretend everyone hates everyone else
solves zero problems, watch everyone bleed
everyone believes something, take belts
the moment you see a guy act sleazy

with his pants low down down below his ass
how he plays pick up with chicks on the train
even with his ass in my face, uncool
no one has the sense to act without sass

after smoking guy called me a racist

guess his greatest wish is not pick his brain
upset by triggers ever since grade school
yes, I lost my cool, the world is not right

light a cigarette in public, I'm pissed
if, wishful thinking, I were racist, names
given since childhood would be thrown about
however, I said nothing, I see games
that people play, sad, makes me want to shout
suckers, they teach lies, not love, not the light

understanding life is beautiful takes
patience, acceptance, not a pit of snakes

Nothingness ~ Friday, April 5, 2024

The truth, the whole truth
hides in the burls of tree trunks
evidence of knots

truth hides in a booth
rented for a conference
undermining punks
troubled by the bots
hot shots, new age grifters, drones

the whole truth, nonsense
hot seat, honest lies
evidence, testimony

witnesses, surprise
honest yet phony
old school jurors, with no bones
left to hold a bribe
earnest, spineless jellyfish

touch down to imbibe
resin from sap, wish
under shooting stars, all lies
transcend the false truth
how judges face spies

Insensitive Blunda ~ Friday, April 5, 2024

Oblique angels fall
blunt force trauma, shut the eyes
lift the veil to face
inquiries that stall
queries lack reality
underground, dull spies
empty out deep space

anxious to get their work done
no one feels pity
given birds still sing
each day sparrows in the bush
let words take a swing
swing batter swing, push

forward the envelope, one
angel survives, call
language central, lies
lift the veil, unreal, eyes bawl

Tropes ~ Thursday, April 4, 2024

Mom made me go to sleep sucking ginger
old folk wisdom to cure a cough and cold
made me suck ginger root against my cheek

memories to share the middle finger
as co-dependent enabler, she made
dysfunctional decisions, nothing bold
everyone united, a weak front week

me and my older brother, we don't talk
everyone for the best, farewell I bade

ghosts as shades in Hades, in paradise
otherwise they suffer with me, no fun

talk is cheap, family the worst, roll the dice
okay, walk away, craps, too bright, the sun

suffer the consequences, take a walk
leave it all behind, California, dreams
enter the underground with a sick man
exit without Virgil, without the screams
perhaps beyond this world, there is a plan

suffer the little children as they weep
underneath the wicked man is the light
circumstances, an unattractive man
keeps to himself, he thinks his liver hurts
if I knew as a child why life is cheap
nothing to hurt a child or to delight
grievously in harm, I am the other

grief is my strength, I overcome, like Kurtz
if to exterminate all the brutes gives
no insight but the horror, the horror
guide me past all the lies, the truth, it lives
even thrives inside the hidden, terror
resolves the imbalance, thank my mother

Daedalus (Δαίδαλος) ~ Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Bollocks! The dog's bollocks! No! I won't go!

Okay! Just don't backhand [...] My bloody lip!

Lip service. Sycophants. That's all you want.

Let me go where I want. Now that I know.

Old father, old artificer, take flight.

Collaborator. Sail south on a ship.

Kiss hypocrisy on those lips, so gaunt.

Suck-ups fawn for your Rolex watch. I'm gone.

This life is yours. Alcoholic. Take fright.

How I never needed this shit. So dumb.

Even this land of milk and honey. Lame.

Difficult to face. Poverty and scum.

Old poor people, starve from hunger. The shame.

Get a move on. Get rich. Work hard. Green lawn.

Sorrow and suffering. You brought me here.

But I chose Chicago. This hell. They smell.

On the CTA trains. Asleep. Full length.

Let me leave this purgatory. A tear.

Let a single tear fall. This city hates.

Only I love Chicago. Shed my shell.

Cast off this molted skin. Snakes without strength.

Kith and kin, Blind Kevin Young sings the blues.

Sexy at sixty-six. Goddesses. Fates.

Never did you know your own son. Who cares.

Only your dad died when you were young. Sad.

I'm not here to find out why no one shares.

Welcome to poverty and lies. Not bad!

Only geese squawk. Seagulls attack. The screws.

Nothing left but to die. How can I leave.

Take an Amtrak to Texas. The border.

Get rid of all the books. Such a hoarder.

Old father, old artificer. I grieve.

Radiant ~ Wednesday, April 3, 2024

There was this moment
how to me so much it means
except for her naught
remember we spent
each year on rides at the fair

well, to spill the beans
at one fair, we sought
salvation just holding hands

trust in fate, we dare
haunt the grounds, your face
if to remember one kiss
such a life of grace

maybe words, this bliss
only tremblors shift the sands
maybe to you, zilch
even boys can dream
not just green-eyed girls who beam
trick smiles, hearts they filch

Amor fati ~ Monday, April 1, 2024

I was born too late

was born in the wrong decade
as a musician
suffer the blank slate

be anything that you choose
only the days fade
rest my decision
no longer to play the drums

trust in fate to lose
only to put ink
onto the blank page with pen

left to swim or sink
as I drown, a hen
takes flight, her claws grasp my thumbs
each day, trust in fate