Coercion ~ Sunday, August 25, 2024

For me, as you know
other things happen, not great
really not that bad

maybe, I could show
everyone, maybe even

a judge, some debate
some lives are just sad

yolk on my face, such disgrace
only roll seven
under duress, twist

knife until you hear a scream
now, untwist your wrist
only in this dream
wisdom takes wits to save face

Transference ~ Sunday, August 18, 2024

One day, she woke up
never for a good reason
everything changes

decidedly, cup
after cup of black coffee
yet, as each season

shifts and exchanges
heat for cold and back again
each sheet of toffee

shattered and broken
holds sweetness in each morsel
every unspoken

word, how Nita fell
on hard times, as if to feign
kisses and bear hugs
empty promises

undermines her provinces
projects words at slugs

Therapist Priest ~ Saturday, August 17, 2024

Traumatized as a boy, he confessed how
heaven knows how he knew, how to follow
each person in his parish to see why

Boredom, the Almighty, creates the now
uplifting the heavens, to allow lust
truth hidden in desire, empty, hollow
loquacious as a duck, cooked in stir-fry
everyone knew the priest, I knew him best
researched my whereabouts, within such trust

Despite the fact that I did nothing wrong
in prison, on Death Row, I rot, justice
defends the innocent but for a song

If a serial killer, Augustus
tricked the law to frame me, then, be my guest

Petite madeleine ~ Saturday, August 17, 2024

When I was a child
how freely I spoke and felt
each emotion grow
never mild but wild

I was born as a shipwreck

waiting for the belt
adrift ice floe
sunken with all my treasure

as I stood on deck

children in lifeboats
hold hands and wave goodbye
in vests and pea coats
left behind, I cry
dust and sand, tears of pleasure

Kalingādhipati ~ Thursday, August 15, 2024

Kalingādhipati

Brilliant! If I say so myself, Ātman
underneath the veneer, the veil, the guise
talent weighs on the scales, in the balance

talent is practice within anātman
hidden in plain sight within selflessness
emptiness, Śūnyatā, wears a disguise

trust not appearances, let your talents
rule as a guide to truth, for sooth, I speak
under guard, lock and key, my carelessness
took hold, a prisoner, in a dark keep
hold on to your horses, this is my home

if I earn what I deserve, then I sleep
soundly, underneath the big, blue sky dome

only appearances favor the weak
never mind the guttersnipes, those who know
live within reflection, contemplate mind
yet, words get in the way, to overcome

kindness as an idea, watch the light show
needles pierce the fabric, perceptions melt
objects in the mirror appear unkind
wicked, smoke and dragons, as we become
nervous, full of anxiety, dharma

builds by actions, choices, decisions felt
yet, directed by a moral compass

guttersnipes, Joe Strummer, I missed The Clash
until disappointment fades, comes to pass
truth is simply a word, a sword I slash
time and space as concepts, all is karma
except not vendetta, vengeance, revenge
remove schadenfreude for ahiṃsā
serve not joy within misfortune, resist
needless acrimony as to avenge
in principle, one wrong for another
perhaps war for the Lord of Kalinga
escapes civil conduct, as we insist
serves all, father, mother, sister, brother

Unification ~ Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Now everybody—
on your marks, get set, and go
winner takes it all

what is samādhi
how collective unconscious
arises, shadow
transforms as the fall

of old orders coincides
round bored, obnoxious

witnesses, selfish
how we desire property
and wealth as shellfish
there, our poverty

needs to look up, as the tides
over and above
witness a hard shove

The Big Fish ~ Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Needle pops balloons
emergent gas creates sound
escapes from prison
dives into saloons
lifts up skirts at Moulin Rouge
enters each unfound

perhaps with vision
organs on the Black Market
provide days in Bruges
seldom seen by sick

bludgeoned folk left in bathtubs
as a candlewick
leaves a scent of scrubs
lingering in hospitals
only their patients
organ-deprived wait
necessarily, patience
serving them as bait

Temporality ~ Wednesday, August 14, 2024

To connect the dots
obviously, before time

creates perceptions
ordered into slots
not that we can imagine
needlessly, a mime
eating conceptions
connecting the dots with light
transforms a famine

that all time is one
how time, before the big bang
explodes as a pun

decisively, fang
or claw, to defend our site
time implodes dharma
seen within karma

---

Imagine that time
moves within our perceptions
as if a straight line
gives meaning to crime
in the street or in our homes
now these deceptions
emerge as a fine

torn away from what is real
how we write these poems
as if what is right
takes place before our own eyes

time becomes the light
if past the disguise
maybe we could break the seal
even solve the prime

Sailor's Delight ~ Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Your relationship
opens at dawn in the spring
under clear, blue skies
rust creeps up your slip

rust oxidizes your pipes
ends your time to sing
leaves you with your lies
as summer comes, your beach reads
transport tinder swipes
introduced in bars
on trains and planes with cocktails
nearly wrecking cars
so, as autumn fails
how to prepare for what breeds
in winter, the sun
pulses cold, no fun

Mirror ~ Saturday, August 10, 2024

The old man is my old friend, Nemesis
he is not my father, nor my brother
exactly what he is is uncertain

older than stellar dust, he believes bliss
little does he know, comes from ignorance
decidedly, this dolt is the Other

mark my words, you can lower the curtain
as he snores through Carmina Burana
noticeably, he farts during the dance

if the mirror of language were applause
still, he would stand up and bow in response

my old friend, Nemesis, is not the cause
yet, he is not the man either, ensconce

old age in ageist terms, turn arcana
lightly over the green felt card table
decidedly, The Fool, his fate is sealed

friend or zero, my foe is my downfall
rise from the ashes, as I am able
imaginary bird, Phoenix, am I
even the clairvoyant, her blood congealed
not from the laying of the cards but small
decidedly, imperceptible sounds

Now is her house haunted or is my mind
eventually, in such decay, the tricks
my old friend, Nemesis, plays on my eyes
enter the mirror stage holding two bricks
such golden bars weigh nothing to the lies
inflicted by stardust in leaps and bounds
such is the burden found within a kiss

Murmuration ~ Sunday, August 4, 2024

Wu Ch'i said: 'I am able to inquire into what is hidden and by means of the past investigate the course of future events.'

---

"Blessings!" as they say
yet to stain the floors with blood

mark my words, disdain
emulates full sway
anarchic pendulum swing
naturally, the flood
sidles past the slain

orbits via elliptic
forces on the wing

travels in the sky
hoi polloi, starlings in flight
eagerly, they scry

positions of slight
affluence, status cryptic
status, a measure
to praise their pleasure

Augustus ~ Thursday, August 1, 2024

August is for atoms and atonement,
understanding Partition takes its toll
grieving history is impossible
unless it happens to your kind, hell-bent
set to make governments pay symbolic
taxes only poets know of this goal

itinerant claims, incognizable
stalk the earth as soldiers, as veterans

forgotten in their trauma, all too sick
organically in distress since childhood
remember your children do not fight wars

atom bombs drop, celebrate as we should
that we think we should celebrate in bars
or create monuments on deaf islands
makes a mockery of millions who died
suddenly, in a flash, ripped off their flesh

as radioactive energy, dust
necessarily ends carnage, they cried
dry tears of determination to show

atonement as a strategy to thresh
tried and true economics and lust
over the journeymen, what they endure
necessary for a country to grow
expiation for sins, actions of hate
men argue and debate the need for war
eventually, something breaks through the grate
needless surprise attacks, carnage and gore
trust not ancient rivalries as the cure