Ethereal Passage

Trees adorned in velvet shag

Sing with iridescent sunlight

As the sky calls forth a rain

 

Bellows rumble o’er all the land

Escaped from pregnant clouds

Delivering omens with a shaded hand

 

Sparks and fire singe the ozone

With a serpent’s purple tongue;

Electrons swarm me like angry bees

 

Free me from my gravity

Too much my soul to bear –

Wishes manifest as feathers

 

Take flight, my feather children

Color drab and diseased dreams;

Imbue the dreamers with life

 

Unbounded now by vessel

My intention tangents the horizon –

Arrow to the eye of the sun

 

Divine light of wisdom

Floods my forsaken soul

Absolves me of my waking sin

 

Essence exploding in a swirling mass

Paints the sky with supernova;

Cosmic epiphany at long last

 

Pyramid in the Sky

I toss a pebble for every thought, summoning rainbows in the fragrant mist where the sun beams flock like sparrows. The tattered wings of a raven ruffles the air overhead – woosh, woosh, woosh, every flap. I freeze and stare upward, pondering.

This valley is quiet. A river runs through the ravine. Water laps continuously over a shallow stream-bed of rocks, carrying on a long, calm conversation with the redwood giants and the woodpeckers. Echoes here are prone to the curious effect of time, dilating as they splash off the walls.

A crystal mirror reflects roots and branches and boulders, symmetrical contours allure the naked eye. Illusions are strokes of imagination – man’s bleeding desire to impose himself on that which he need not ever touch. His actions will be erased by the breath of Time, but he does it all the same; he burns to create.

Thrown stone erupts in ripples, dissolves the painting for a moment. The canvas is clear for a fresh beginning. When the moment passes, illusion manifests: at the bottom of the stream-bed stands a pyramid of my thoughts. My secrets appear safe for the moment, but that’s not bound to last.

I’ve only one question that burns me from inside: will the pyramid ever arise from the reflection of the sky?

 

Here I Lie

Millions of rocks whisper softly

to my naked feet, as light ignites

an ocean vast as imagination

 

Here I lie, a breath from nowhere

Juggling thoughts of uncertainty

Like abstract balls of fire

 

Indecision is the jester of fate

A lizard says, as he flicks his tongue

To drink of golden nectar

 

A single gull flies swiftly

Like an arrow on the horizon

To dwell in the flame of infinity

 

Here I lie, a breath from nowhere

Paralyzed by fear

As life revolves around me

 

My shadow swells then vanishes

As if carried on the wings of a bat

Into the black fabric of night

 

Ponder a shadowless existence

Until the moon ascends, invites me

onto her nocturnal stage

 

Dance upon a sea of shells

Alive with moonlight melody,

Smile and remember all I don’t know

 

Here I lie, a breath from nowhere

Free of future, past, and vessel

Happy just to be.

 

Fireflies

Fireflies light the jungle

Like stars in a distant galaxy

Seduce me to follow

Into the unknown

 

Water splashes my feet

on the slick river stones

As I seek the cascade

Whose voices fill the night

 

Rainbow in the mist

Paints my skin with auras

As I swim alone beneath

In dark and dreamy waters

 

You appear on shore

In flowery mango essence

Slip free from your concerns

And dive into the depths

 

Ripples move the moon

As they dance across the surface

Our souls finding transcendence

Where all dissolves to one

 

Floating in the nexus

Our skin sparks on contact,

Like fireworks unfurling

Our fiery wings to the night.

 

photo cred: Kevin Adams

Paralysis

Droning, the incessant droning….
Ononononononon
Buzzing in my head it never
Stops it never stops

Time trips over itself
As it derails from the linear
Synchronicity it knew once
Upon a time

Cylindricals and circles,
Like a record spinning
Three ways at once
Axis revealed from an invisible
Indivisible state

Past future now – stir until blended
A congealed blob worth
Tasting…here, have a taste–
An ice cream cone without
singularity

Fury

Engine steam froths like venom,
Synaptic flames lick the horizon,
Landscape cuts the clouds in half
And crickets wake to fury.

Esteem is for older brothers,
The poet woefully writes,
And cargo is a useless weight
In the fight for basic rights.

Plight spreads roots
Like a tall and gnarly tree,
Cracks and crumbles white cement
Strength in a single seed.

Water falls from ether sky
Cleansing the air of fury
Bat wings splash the liquid light
Sucking the nectar from cloud-black night

Bitter Morsels

Bushels in the orchard ripen
With the land
Soil and sun give morsels
To hungry hand.

Starving mouths will eat albeit
Ugly shriveled fruit
Glean what they can because
Desperation can’t discriminate.

Grown on ash and bones
The fruit tastes
Bitter with memories the land
does not forget.

Nor can the people forget
Their darkened past
Shadow stifles, suffocates, grows with
Every infant seed.

Death killed glory but hope
Will never die
The land still slowly bleeds
Always and now.

On the Wings of my Illusion

I first saw her in the dawn of my childhood. White, pristine, a thing of beauty, and she was mine, all mine. I named my mare Illusion.

“That’s great,” everyone told me. “Enjoy it while you can. Soon, you’ll have to give it up and be like the rest of us.” They seemed like they were happy for me; I didn’t see the envy in their smiles.

So I did. I woke up in the morning and went running to my mare. I rode her all day, only coming in for lunch and water. Clinging tight to her mane, flapping like feathers in the wind, we galloped through fields and valleys and cloud-covered plains. Illusion and I galloped all day, till the sun went away. I never felt so much freedom as I did with my mare; together, we could go anywhere.

Then I forgot her. I listened to what everyone told me, and set my mind to other things. She died and I didnt even mourn her. I thought that’s what adults were supposed to do.

But she came back to me in my dreams. We would ride together across new landscapes, which neither of us had seen. Exploring together, and now she had wings. We were bound by less than even before, free to glimpse the world with a view from the skies.

Still they told me, “you can’t be wasting your time. There’s too much else to be done.” I didn’t believe them, but I listened anyway. At least, I tried.

I got a job, I bought useless shit, I accrued some debt, I paid the debt, I bought more useless shit, and society deemed me worthy. I went around in the circle of delusion, dancing to the same tune as everyone else. Yet, still I wasn’t happy.

The only thing that made me happy was flying with my mare, across snow-glittered peaks and through blue misty clouds. Streamlining with the geese on their perpetual march south, to the lands of blissful warmth, with lakes steaming from beneath. Soaring to steep heights trying to get a taste of sun, or at least bask in its warmth until we absorbed it into our being. Then I got an idea and set to work.

Putting my pen to paper, I brought to life all the adventures we’d had, my mare and I, because what is a joy if it’s not worth sharing? And I brought them to life for the people who told me I had to do something meaningful with my life, to show them what meaningful meant to me.

Now everyone is happy and joins me in flight, and they’ve given up their lives they realized were just lies. For true happiness I showed them, and I’m happy to share it with all, is on the wings of my Illusion.

Take my hand, close your eyes, and take flight.

Sundream Reverie

Furry calico cat on my lap
Groans in sun-drenched sleep
No concerns or cares in the world
State of zen too deep.

The hour of mystic light’s upon us,
As we breathe beneath the trees,
Our souls and vision stir to life
In light shining vehemently

Not until now have we truly lived
Or seen things as they’re meant to be
For in this light that drenches all
Secrets surface before unseen.

Strings of strong silk silver web
Bend graceful and majestically
Insects flutter like stars from home
On the hunt for obscure galaxies

Vines on stone and stripes on wood
Names inscribed in runes
When golden sunlight disappears,
They fade away too soon

For now in hour of mystic light
The truth is unveiled on canvas
What will change when the hour is gone?
Nothing and all, so time passes.

Seed

Strawberry-mint fizz,
Icicle sky on my tongue
Makes my head fuzzy
With sparks of ecstasy
as I breathe this moment
through my mouth, my eyes
and my lungs.

Seed bursts within,
Spreading leaves throughout
The substance of my being.
Roots take hold in my head,
My heart, and my veins
Anchor me in the ethereal
terra of time.