No One Will Ever Understand

No one will ever understand
how bird’s flight
And sheep’s eye
And dog’s bite
will buy the farm
supply the prize
despoil the oily, fungal dirt
No one will ever understand
why the increased sharpness of a knife
can separate smaller and smaller items
This table, carpeted and warm
its avocado green
the chocolate
winter time of the mind
the night, senseless and void
an encomium upon my death
will forever come

unknown knights rush past my grave without
a notice
their cutlery developed to a point
their appetite is as
constructed as their armour
A hooded wart, spit upon the pont
A spindly, reveled beggar
chortling in her brown rags
no hair to speak of
no sight to worry the wind
aghast, a beastly warnick warrior.
The clouds of clownish drowsing splashed
the rainy tundrous roof, And kissing
kindnesses allow the measure of the
hard-rejected river from flowing mid-air,
fragmented and thupping like a martyr
east down to the ground, broken from
the chamber, lolling for the cover of
the others, of the all-confronting lover,
of the union of the ocean, which they despise and
conquer and deny all in silence,
corrupting the aqueous clabber of the
ground with their blubber.
No one will ever understand
how candled masonry and catacombs and
mated rulers devise their eschatology in dreams,
rapine prurient mischief, a doze of calyptic,
sedentary, brave evangelism.

To Eat

There is a molten man within
A man of fire, burning skin
Of domination drowned in sin
Of fury rushing bold and thin

He did not touch the ground, perchance
But in his anger only danced
His wrath entangled in a trance
He bounded forward as a lance

But when he struck upon a start
The unpreparéd, trembling heart
He was repelled, as if by art
And crumbled lifeless, part by part

And so the soul removed from heat
Denied the hour of wrath complete
He blinked his eyes and stamped his feet
And wondered what there was to eat

In Earnest

By degrees, he shifts his weight and settles to the side
He lifts his foot and makes his step into a settled stride
He bounces, faintly brimming with the power that’s inside
Every moment,

time plus time beginning to elide
And glancing at the clock he sees the hour growing wide
Nothing, not the going nor arriving

can decide
To stop him from the journey that is blowing him aglide

Not the innocence unknowing, nor the ignorance of pride
In earnest, not the most dishonest feeling can provide

But with his face determined and yet buckled to his will
He marches on towards yesterday; he lies
completely still

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Eden Is Burning

Rough-handed river
Cold as a lover
Never a giver
Never discovered
Trees unemboughed
Watching the water
Deliver the seasons
Uncover the autumns
Reedy and stoned
Silty and sandy
River is murky
River is winding
Essence in motion
Purposefully banking
Swallows are singing
Of the unmaking*
Daunting and silent
River is running
No one is watching
Nothing is coming
Haunted and quiet
the river is turning
the wind is a riot
and Eden is burning

*I probably owe Ursula Le Guin for the bit “Swallows are singing of the unmaking.” Read her Earthsea series.

No Amount

no amount of shouting
will stop the wind from buffeting the sea
and the ocean
swallowing the sky
towering waves
breaking overhead

no amount of sleeping
will bring a resurrection
you will not wake from the dead
when your head lifts off the pillow
you open your eyes tentatively
and wonder, somewhere, in the back of your mind
if something is different now

no amount of weeping
will bring back lost love
or put a stopper on heartache
to punctuate your life
from here on, no more hurt

no amount of running
will take you where you want to go

the clock ticks fast
the clock ticks slow

Poem for Repentance

I stood high on the hill, where my ancestors were buried
And I called aloud, into the voice of the storm:

“Bring me the strength to do what must be done
Bring me the bones and dust, but bury the ashes
Alarm, come forth alarm, and fear, rise up, and
Prick the heart of courage to his cause

“A lusty warrior is sleeping on this mound
He is buried underground
Five feet and three, he is resting
On his knee are the sword, the crown, and the key”

Repent of your hope for a quiet life, of solitude
And homespun wisdom
Repent of your search for a home of your own
Repent of the love of summertime and
the richness of a heart that beats with feasting
and the gladness of wine

Turn and face the winter at your doorstep
Turn into the bitter wind of destiny, open the door
to death and drink deep from the cup of
needful sorrows

And hold the hand of Christ as you
walk out of safety into the wilderness
of the unknown
Where danger and reward grow
thick and untended

sometimes i wish

sometimes i wish i was molded in steel
the strength of the metal
unwilling to feel

sometimes i wish i was formed of a stone
the hardness of granite
the color of bone

sometimes i wish i was carved out of wood
the beauty of form with
the absence of mood

sometimes i wish i was built out of bricks
the wall between me
and the things i can’t fix