____

It is not a heart, it is an ocean
It is not a nervous system, it is rain
It isn't inside us, we are inside it
You are the rock it uses for a pillow

It is not a boat, but the river itself
It doesn't flow until we start swimming
It is not the light; rather, it is our eyes
It is not your pupil, but a garden

They are not your irises they are everyone's.
It is not the rain you are.
It isn't a river until you jump in.
It's not a garden unless you become lost in it
whose flowers belong to no one but ourselves.

It is the stone held onto for warmth,
the one you pluck from your ribcage
and give away.
It is not the warmth you then
receive from another,
but the medium of exchange itself.

We are not the executors.
We are the spare change
it leaves for the homeless

HAMMOCK

for May Swenson



Caught up
under a star
is that where
you really are?

Where do you rest
in this scene
arrested by
a dream...

Abandoned by
a lost cause,
left stranded
out on two paws?




 

CUL-DE-SAC

The small amount of lies fostered in a cul-de-sac
bring back a flowering of rains fallen by the sea side.

This he keeps in a shoulder pack if only as a half sodden, torn off
loaf of tissue cultivated from a detrimental odyssey of vaporous
decay engineered by the purely incidental inclusion of a privatized
weather system.

After a manner of speaking, the heat driven from this exertion
lifts the cold fronts necessary to impact and darken
the farthest horizons of his brought along mind.

Herein is mirrored the curious resolution of proximity
following function, and form as necessary reflection, like
a cowled dome both protecting and concealing that which has
never really moved.

The upkeep of this quest is a perpetual
illusion he has been charged with maintaining;
that form follows function, and not the other way around,
and that which desire knows it comes from can never be rekindled.

Because function follows form when the last
question is answered, if a pinch of truth could
plant the seeds from which a fruitful crop
is harvested to be dried into bundles like sage
can be gathered from the barren side of winter's hill.

Then it follows that the transubstantiation of cinders
mixed with crushed petals could be carried across interminable
treks due to intersect another wayfaring traveler's lonesome passage.

Here an exchange of dust smoked in each other's pipes
can reverse the forked tongues of forefathers.

Here the untold damage of history's lies can be undone.
It only takes one figment of imagination.

The pouch is woven from the fibers grown from the seeds it carries.
And nothing besides goodwill is required of passing strangers to water it.

WINDSOME

Who arrived on goatwinds eating licorice.
Who peered out from under the tree
grown out from the top of their heads.

Who vacillated from insubstantiality
to being taken out of context
like a drawing propped carefully
alongside a statuette:

One is inanimate, ready to burst free
while the other has been released
in a sinewy, coiled escape.

Just waiting for the rain
that will help grow the tree
inside their brain to the wide open blue
to get lost in that terrain again.

At what cost does freedom become moot
when all dreams get covered in soot?

So shake the dust off the motes in your eye
and peering out from under your branch
follow the wind, my friend.

MADEIRA

smoky ruins run
between hills

the faint scent of
slaughterhouse sunsets

distills where pepper
and spices help
hide the deed

with a whole brood
of raisins crushed
for this need

TRUE SENSE

together cause to stand. system.
mutually turned into one. universe.
to gape, I yawn. chaos.
of this world. cosmic.

away from the sun. aphelion.
the upper pure, bright air to burn. ether.
not a cutting. atom.
age of man. world.

period of life. age.
about the whole. catholic.
not to be. agnostic.
a taking or choosing. heresy.

the valley of sacrificed children. gehenna.
man courage. wormwood.
near kindred. flesh.
that which flowers. blood.

to mark with blood. bless.
carry away secretly. spirit.
to bring into confusion. war.
that which is invoked. god.

situated above. supreme.
not to have. empty.
to lie on. incubate.
corruption of the virgin. marry.

flowing poison. virus.
one who has been initiated. mystic.
to hide together. conceal.
turning point in a disease. crisis.

to lay eggs. warp.
the eye socket. orbit.
wandering star. planet.
to carry across. transport.

smooth over. oblivion.
letting go. forgetting.
legal property. possession.
nothing but a thing. reality.

steadfast as an oak. true.
to find one's way. sense.
secure against falling. stable.
free from care. secure.

sorrow, anxiety, grief. care.
quality of setting apart. secrecy.
to the side. apart.
indefinite continuous hardening. time.

INIMICUS DISCIDIUM

for my brother(s)





Blame assigned to others is directed with folly,
For all woes stem from one's own heart and mind.

~

This is not a wisdom that can be taught;
It must be learned by one's own hand or not learned at all.

~

We alone are the ultimate source and cause of our own misfortunes.
Changes must be made within ourselves if we are to overcome them.

~

Every individual carries the mob mentality within their own mind.
With every generation it becomes increasingly difficult to overcome.

~

This is the nature of the Beast we each carry within our hearts:
The more progress civilization makes, the wilder the Beast inside each one of us.

~

Why the current age must be the speciality of the spiritual warrior:
Only through greater intellect and wisdom may the sword's reign over the pen be brought to an end.


~

When the pen dictates a thousand swords to be drawn, it is not mightier, but weaker.
In this fashion the pen's nib becomes the sword's tip, and ink turns to blood.

~

Only when the pen manages to sheathe a thousand swords,
May it truly be considered to be mightier.


~

The sword has kept the pen in bondage for as far back as memory reaches,
And blood has filled our inkwells for a thousand generations.

~

The transubstantiation of this blood back into ink parallels that of water to wine.
The alchemical secret of this process is not lost, only forgotten.

~

If a saviour's message was that water is to be valued over wine,
Then our message today is that ink is to be valued over blood.

~

For men to value ink over blood, they must realize
That there is something more valuable than their own blood.

~

That value can be attributed to the greater worth of all men's blood.
Here is the recurrent sin of the fallen: Not seeing the forest for their veins.

~

For all men truly are brothers, regardless of race, status or enmity.
When one man hurts another, he hurts his own brother.

~

Retaliation for being attacked amounts to joining the ranks of the enemy.
In striking back at those who have harmed us, we join their cause & support it fully.

~

The word "enemy" is derived from the Latin inimicus.
The Latin word inimicus means "not friend".

~

Since all enemies are made by the division of friendships,
Friends are made in dividing the enemy.

~

In this dynamic lies revealed a choice every one must make:
The choice becomes which army to stand with.

~

We may choose to stand for the division of the enemy's ranks,
Or we may choose to stand for the division of our friend's ranks.

~

There is no other choice available to us.
One army grows while the other weakens.

~

The word friend is derived from Old English, "free" and "to love".
To seek revenge upon another is to surrender one's freedom to love.

~

Seperating one's self from the Beast inside is one pathway towards love.
This is accomplished by mastering the Beast inside and rising above.

~

This is how one becomes a true individual and friend to everyone.
Failure to do this leads back towards joining the ranks of the enemy.