Sometimes poetry speaks more effectively than prose, perhaps because at some level all of life is poetry? What follows are some of the poems that fell out of me, starting in 1991, my 49th year, pretty much as fast as I could write them, as if I were hearing it somehow, or something was pushing it up out of me, or dropping it into me.

Living Poets

Dead poets are poets who never write

Who obey shoulds and oughts

Who live to please others

Who value money over God

Who die without ever having lived

Death is their mark

Dead poets are remembered by the living.

Living poets are remembered by time

Dead poets never sing their song

Living poets never stop singing it

The difference between the two is this:

One worships fear, the other life

To be a dead poet is hard

It requires being someone else

To be a living poet is easy

It only means being myself

One choice is hell, the other heaven

That is what is meant by free will

 (1991)

The Mockingbird

I happened upon a mockingbird

singing its fool head off –

I asked it how and why it sang?

But all it did was look ahead,

all it did was sing.

It never turned to see if I was watching,

or listened for money jingling in my pockets,

or asked if I liked its music,

or expected a recording contract –

It was too busy singing

to pay any attention to me.

Thus did I learn

the greatest sin of all

is to kill a mockingbird.

(1992)

Black Diamond, Yellow Rose

Black Diamond, Yellow Rose,

Odd couple until inside I see,

Black Diamond defends Yellow Rose,

Yellow Rose loves Black Diamond,

Will and Heart,

Heart and Will,

Black Diamond, Yellow Rose

(1993)

Rainbow Fusion

Black is white,

White is black,

When they fuse,

Rainbows bloom.

(1993)

Rainbows(fragment of original poem)

Rainbows know no master.

Fueled by Father Sun

They touch Misty Earth

Only Heaven knows where.

Rainbows are more shiny than silver

and more brilliant than gold,

More valuable than diamonds

and more precious than pearls.

Rainbows paint heavens beautiful,

Make angels sing.

Rainbows are you, and me,

Full spectrums of Infinity

blazing across Eternity.

Rainbows are now.

(1993)

God’s Gifts

God’s gifts are not for sale, but are given freely to angels, saints, sinners, devils and fools alike, because all are God’s children.

(1993)

Crooked Hose

He is but a crooked hose through which living water flows, first to straighten him out, then to water a few other birds of the air and some lilies of the field.”

(1994)

The Poet

He is the paper, the ink his blood, the pen his soul, and the poet is God.”

(1994)

Rules

Who invented the rule that poetry must rhyme, have pentameter, be cast into verse? Yes, who invented that really silly rule? Surely it wasn’t the maker of the first stone — otherwise there’d be no stone to break all those slaving rules!

(1994)

Black Pearl

He feels deep beauty in the dark pool from which his writings flow. She clings to him like fine silk, precious oil. She feels solid, compressed, like . . . a black pearl, growing from inside out, ever larger with each stroke of his pen, pushing her precious waters over her banks into his dreams and life. (1994)

Rosa Mystica

Rosa Mystica,

Sweet Mystery,

Bride of Christ,

Living Water

without which

God is dead

and there are no rainbows.

(1994)

Sacred Prism

Earth,

The sacred prism

through which souls are refracted

into their elemental parts,

Purified in Holy Fire,

The one-forged

and sent on their way

to not even God knows where,

Simply because they are all

Unique Emanations of God,

Evolving . . .

(1994)

Tree of Life

The Tree of Life grows not

on the battleground of good and evil,

But in a quiet meadow

beneath a beautiful rainbow

that knows not right or wrong.

(1994)

Fools

Only fools rush in

where angels fear to tread,

But if there were no fools,

Who’d lead the angels?

(1994)

Initiation

Shaman you now are.

Angels walk beside you

and call you their brother,

Even as you curse the heavens

for making you one who wields the lightning.

Be kind to your brothers and sisters,

But take no prisoners –

Kill them all in my name,

As I have killed you,

So you and they might live.

(1995)

Love and Truth

Love without truth is weak,

Truth without love is harsh,

Two side of the same coin,

They live together,

Or die.

(1995)

Paradise

All fig leaves burn

All ugly seen

All pain loved

All truth beauty

All people one

All time now

(2000)

The World's Greatest Failure

I know what it is

to love fully,

have my heart broken by death

and by loved ones’ rejections,

Over and over again,

So I can love even more.

I know what it is

to be engulfed in pain,

Awash in evil,

Terrified, enraged, despaired,

Believing God has again forsaken me,

Then be given the truth

that again makes me free

I know what it is

to doubt,

Be lost and wandering

time and time again,

Then be rescued yet again

and my faith grows deeper.

I know what it is

to blindly trust,

Then be destroyed by betrayed

time and time again,

Until I trust only God.

I know what it is

to have much

and be completely of this world,

Then have it all taken away

and be in the world but not of it.

I know what it is

to fail in this world,

And fail and fail and fail:

The world’s greatest failure,

I can serve only God.

I know what it is

to give and give and give and give;

I cannot stop giving

because giving is receiving.

I know what it is

to explain God

time after time after time again.

Something demands I keep explaining:

Maybe someone will listen,

Maybe me.

I AM A MAN

I am a man.

I said,

I am a man!

What means it,

being a man?

A man is a warrior:

he lives by a code of honor,

his word is reliable,

his actions confirm his words,

his commitment is holiness,

his enemies are welcome at his hearth,

he fears but moves forward,

he cries and gets up again,

he hates but forgives,

he loves and let’s go,

he doubts but trusts God,

he’s a good friend,

he seeks resolutions,

he demands nothing,

he risks everything,

he regrets his mistakes,

he seeks to make amends,

he puts others’ welfare first,

he accepts apologies truly made,

he expects nothing back,

he lives ready to die,

he laughs when he “should” scream,

he screams when he “should” laugh,

he sings just because,

he shrugs off insults,

he learns from misfortune,

he cusses God for making him,

he wishes he was done,

he loves children and animals,

he relishes a woman’s scent,

he smiles when he’s content,

he knows God’s his master,

he walks in rainbows,

his garden is the world,

his way is nature,

he loves fishing,

his wife is his soul,

his food is life,

his pay is whatever he receives.

Yep, he’s crazy.

(2003)

SHANGHAIED

A calling to serve carries its own wisdom,

which legitimates both the calling and the serving

so that the two are one:

Only the one called to serve

can know this wisdom,

and for some who are called

the knowing comes easily,

while for others the knowing is a fiery baptism.

Each calling is different,

and while some callings can be declined,

others cannot,

and those whose calling is without repentance

know they are in it for the duration of the calling,

and while others may try to persuade them out of it,

the calling for ones such as these always prevails;

thus is it advised to all called for keeps

that they view their calling as a blessing

even when it seems at times to be a curse,

and that they try to reconcile the loss of their captain status

and allow the Spirit of God to man the helm of their ship

and be glad and willing crew members thereon,

knowing that all sailing ships of souls

need a crew as well as a captain

to maintain and navigate the ship through

seas of many tones, depths and flavors;

so consider each league sailed

as part of the overall journey

going to where the captain deigns to go

by using whatever winds and sea currents available

to navigate the ship to the experiences

this ship and crew need to have

in order to fulfill their calling and its wisdom

revealed by the journey of many leagues,

many known only to the ship and its crew,

all of whom come to know,

some sooner than others,

that once conscripted

there is no safe jumping ship.

(2004)

Bi Polar

the world's favorite

mood disorder

the cause of all

human ails,

including wars,

if the demons aren't counted

bi polar disorder,

the destruction of the

south pole,

the feminine,

the north pole,

he ain't been

right in the head

since she's been gone

(2017)

Slam Poetry

I don’t like it.

Eve's Answer

April Fool

Vexing Truth

Life is Poetry,

Poetry is Life,

There's no more to say,

but that would

make God

a really dull boy,

now wouldn't it,

Eve?

 

So, Eve,

What say you?

After all,

You have been,

still are, blamed,

for everything that went wrong with

hu - MAN - i - ty.

 

Well, do you really want to hear

what I gotta say?

Is this one of those

be careful what you ask for

pregnancies?

 

Well, is it?

 

Probably, but say

what you wish -

I s'pect you need

to be heard.

 

Heard?

Funny you mention ears.

Yes, ears.

Such important receptacles.

Yet filled with concrete,

shit, propaganda, beliefs,

certainties, well,

let's not leave out

SUPERSTITION

and

RELIGION,

should we?

 

By the way,

where do ya

suppose

God came from?

Or, out of?

 

And,

why do ya s'pose

I made Eve

in my own

IMAGE?

 

'Cause Adam was

so bored and dull -

so ... predictable

He was BORING!!!

the shit outta me!!!

That's why.

 

Now

    Shusssssh -

Don't go round quoting me on

any of that -

 

I've had quite enough of

the religious right

ta last me

the rest of forever

(2018)

Age Before Beauty

82

Amazing

I'm still here

Good thing

couldn't see the future,

I might have freaked out,

run away,

leaped off a high building

into a volcano

or tornado

or maybe electric grid

or nuclear reactor

or tsunami

or glacier

or a star

yea, even a black hole,

all of which I did anyway.

How many different lives

in one?

Let me count.

if I can.

pre school,

elementary school,

college,

law school,

working for my father,

practicing law,

becoming a writer,

becoming a poet,

becoming a mystic,

8 women close to me

saw parts of it,

8 entirely different lives.

with entirely different

remarkable women,

not easy for them

being with me,

wasn't easy for me

being with me,

then came #9

I was out to pasture

she had other plans,

and spells,

she's a witch,

who'd have ever thunk?

weaving, weaving, weaving,

waking up parts of me

I had lost, forgotten, thrown away,

or never even knew where there,

like my writings and poems

and soul drawings had done,

still sometimes do.

I was praying for the Lord to take me,

my star had run its course,

she has other plans,

I quit making plans long ago,

tired of God laughing at me,

but now I look forward to

waking up mornings,

she did that,

she does that,

and neither of us

can go to sleep at night,

until she rubs my back,

conks us both out,

zzzzz
(2024)