Saturday, October 30, 2010

Lens

Looking in towards the center
Gazing into my soul
Refracted in a crystal orb
A lens.

Converging rays of introspection
Pencils of light in phase
Illuminating the image under the haze
But there is consequence in the rays

The longer I stare the clearer I see
Allowed by the beams' intensity
The lens for my heart it clarifies
The core of my soul it magnifies

Blemishes in the ghost I find
Muck to which I paid no mind
Repulsive stains I clearly see
Removable only by cautery

Nnnnnghhh!! It burns! Too hot it seems
The irrisistable power of the beams
Once used for seeing,
now searing
Once used to learn
now burns

The heart's lens is now aglow
Compels me to cringe from things I now know

Keats
30 October 2010

Friday, October 29, 2010

Filament

Life is not the sum of our parts
In death we still have our brain, our heart
Nay, tis a hallowed, scarlet, filament
that consumes our life
It glows with use, with effort, with strife

For good or ill it burns away
In use or disuse it approaches decay
All have a measure of this pow'r
Nothing delays the inevitable hour

Waste not your time O man,
to meditate on a mountaintop
Tarry not with lore of karmic harmony,
crystal orbs or ink blots

Life is no wheel, 'tis a spiral
Numbered are your days, finite, final
Simply live with honor, not by morals from rote
Powered by your heart's filament 'neath your undercoat

Keats
29 October 2010

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Bards’ Curse

Feeling is fleeting emotion a breath
Sudden quick ephemeral like death
But I hold the power to shackle you in phrases
Raw emotion imprisoned between phases

Completely surrounded, cocooned by tropes
Your power encased in swift pen strokes
From heart to mind I entomb in paper
Feelings confound no more, so clever

But the captured feelings, they seek their vengeance
Even when bound, they seek my penance
I thought them powerless, in that I err
In truth, the page preserves their power

Each time I read my written verse
My vaunted power becomes my curse
For the pain I once imprisoned there
Renders me beyond repair


Keats
27 October 2010

Display

Despondent on the curb, hands in pockets
Collar high, head down, soaked in the rain, walking
No sense to take shelter already drenched
No cover, nothing over only water and sky

People in shops, in restaurants, warm
Comfortable talking, laughing, shopping warm
Simple matter really
Get in, step out of the rain - silly

I have no reason to go in
Nothing to buy, no need to dirty the floor
Only to track mud and grime
On my way I will be
To be a soaking spectacle I wish not to be

Rain falls harder as I go my way
Turn on the next corner, no desire to stay
Through a hole in the clouds a shaft of light strays
To intrude in my periphery, the glimmer of the display

A perfect jewel, a pendant, an amethyst
My gaze through the glass distorted by my breath, a mist
Hurriedly, sleeves wipe over the misted window
Eyes stare, time slows
Specteres of imagination, memories of the unreal
in the mind stirs
The jewel amongst events in a life of fiction --
the image blurs
Perchance, finally a reason to shelter from the rain
But surely a jest, the purchase may signify a loss not worth the gain
And another reason is more plain
Empty is this billfold on my chain

Pull away
From the display
On this cold rainy day
Trudge, walk away
‘Tis torture to stay




































Return another day
With currency to pay
Greeted by dismay
The bright jewel of that rainy day
Is no longer on display

Keats
03-16-09

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Marshmallow

Sweetness, softness and joy
Enclosed solid cloud
Puffs of white or twirls of colors, pastel
A mystery of ecstasy in this confection dwells

Gentle sweetness, softness divine
In my mouth slowly melting, the pleasure is mine
Soft and light
Puffy and bright
Your simple joy, great comfort it brings
No sharp tanginess, no spicy sting

Fond memories of marshmallow remains
In the dark, by the sea, in a ride, in the rain
Wherever consumed
Erases all gloom
Simple pleasure, in my being treasured
Marshmallow, an experience without measure

Keats
June 2009

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Pearl

I’m a grit of sand intruding
Within this organism
Finding a place, within this space
Hoping to belong

However carefully I tread
However lightly I roll
I cause the membrane to be red
A contaminant to this hole
I sit in place, no further movement
Remaining stationary, no involvement
I dare not move here I stay nestled,
Cause nothing to stir till all is leveled

Yet even my stillness causes you to stir
Drowned in iridescent nacre
Layer upon layer you build my shell
Separating you from me as well
Your irritation
Has caused my evolution

When at last you open
And I am released
I am a pearl
And you are deceased
I return to survey what was done
Empathy, attachment I have none
The oyster that formed me, I was never part
And pearls acquire only beauty not a heart.

Keats
19 October 2010

Monday, October 18, 2010

Truth

Show me what you've got.
Show me what you know.
All the stuff you have within
Not the draping on your skin

Bare your mind
Unleash your thoughts
Do not spew quotes
From books you bought

I tire of smooth cliché
As any simpleton can read a play
Tell me your rough unpolished raving
Reveal your desire your wish your craving

Hide not behind euphemism
Let truth and candor defy all –isms
Speak your mind our thoughts connect
Make it plain, all pretense reject

Pomp bores me
Flair repulsive
Form without function
Is thought without action

You see everyone else has tried excess
But it’s all cut and dry, nothing else impresses
Strip away all frills remain austere
For the purest of all gems is clear


Keats
18 October 2010