Unlocked

Ink to pen
to paper
words
thoughts locked
in time
the battle begins
save for nature's laws
all else must change
thoughts unlocked
as words
dissolve
in time.

The Fall of Icarus

Like Icarus too
we who escape
the maze of life
seeking wisdom's light
we the moth
drawn to promise
of revelation
yet soon find
our imagination
not enough
to grasp the fiery truth
that shines from afar
and burns all
that dare to venture
too close
with but
everyday minds
disguised
with feathers
of imagined
angels.

Hand Jive

I raised my hand
a flag waved
attention getter
the tool holder
the shaper of vessels
the caster of seeds
the plucker of fruit
from the tree of life
the grabber
the holder
the maker
the examiner
the connector
touching you
and me
inspecting
and admiring
beholding
I lift the apple
it feeds me
too
as it writes
my thoughts
for minds
to see
and touch
and hold.

Midnight

It was cold
and dark
and the flashlight beam
seemed to bounce
before me
the trail revealed
nothing but whiteness
the snow still falling
and up ahead
I could hear
voices
as the guard tower
came into view
"Halt! Who is there?"
it reminded me of
old war movies
on a Zenith TV
in the warmth
of the living room
and before I heard the challenge
with the password
on the tip of my tongue
I was struck by
how beautiful 
this white landscape was 
at midnight
in Korea.

Under the Sun

Did you say
what has been 
will be again
what has been done 
will be done again
there is nothing new 
under the sun?
Yes the building blocks
atoms and quarks
and all 
the tiny stuff
are ever the same
but the assembly
taking this 
or that 
shape
makes forever 
new
all under 
the sun.

Once Again

Earth spins
once again
sun rises
so I think
inside my head
a rooster crows
from long ago
memories rise
as I wake
to begin again
to construct
another day
recollections
from my collection
of days
when wonder and
anticipation
were 
all I had.

To Be or Not To Be

A tree is a tree 
and by being a tree 
it shouts 
to the universe
a tree I am
just so. 

But you and me
can we be
like the tree
just so
or need we be
one a tiger
another 
a lamb
all because
we chose
to be
or not 
to be?

The Porch

Giving thanks
for a chair
to sit and stare
at the stars
from the porch
for a time
and to listen
to words 
thoughts
feelings
and to share 
my say
and at times 
overcome
with memories of
youthful zeal
the kind that
blind the eyes
to all but one's
own rhapsody
yet to some ears
much too much
to 
deal
with
so they say.

The Table Saw

The table saw
had no safety features
just an on-off switch
and rising from the steel bed
a whirling steel-toothed blade
that divided the pine boards
as fast as I could
feed the hungry blade
saw dust filling the air
with smells of a pine
forest
and as a young lad
that was enough.

Home

Happy trails 
to you
as rivers course
seeking home
we forever choose
the right way
to return home
where we all
meet on shores
waves lap
to midnight
ebb and flo
stars overhead
never change
by candlelight
we feast
and call
this place
home.

The Useless Tree

It seemed a useless tree
a stump rooted
for countless years
firmly to the earth
yet now a safe haven
for rootless insects
inside and out
boarders
that if they could speak
would call
this former home
to eagles and owls
and raccoons
and once a robin
and always rustling leaves
of greens and golds
their own.

Autumn

It was tall
taller than me
the sunflower
petals were no more
and half the seeds
gone too
the head hanging
as if weary
of all those
summer days
following the sun
yellow petals
before blue sky
no more.

Cell Phone to Ear

The next best thing
to experience
are symbols
that recreate
everything
that can be 
thought of
symbols flowing
from out fingertips
a quill pen and jet
black ink
an imagined keyboard
glowing on a glass faced
iPhone
a finger drawing
in the sand
sounds uttered
from evolved
vocal cords
that come to life
in ears
that hunger for
symbolic sounds
that waiting
minds 
understand and
bring to life
experience
inside heads
that are forever
constructing
reality
out of symbols
in the dark.

Evidence

It was evident that
he came this way
the footprints cast 
in dried clay
stride across the
dried riverbed
to the stand of
green fluttering
leaves in the breeze
cottonwoods
that today shaded
bleached bones
of what appeared
to be
a dog.

Army days

What was I doing 
in the motor pool?
Paying a debt
for goofing off?
The clipboard in hand
nosing beneath
the huge truck hood of 
the olive drab 
deuce-and-a-half
yet I inspected yesterday
so I checked the tiny boxes
on the clipboard sheet
now seated behind the wheel
with time now to spare
until the captain came
making a beeline to 
my assigned vehicle
now clipboard 
in his hand
he inspected 
the tiny check marks
tiny frauds resting 
in tiny boxes
for oil unchecked
battery unchecked
water unchecked
a deuce-and-a-half
uninspected
and he shouted
"bull shit!"
to which I found myself
in that motor pool
for another week
at the breaking
of seven Korean dawns
inspecting a row
of deuce-and-a-halfs
with greasy hands
in cold silence.

Every Moment

Every moment 
can be sacred
the gift of life 
oh so overwhelming 
that in wakeful 
moment-by-moments
one can be moved 
to tears 
by what God 
has made us 
a part of. 

Are we yet
awake?

A Knapsack of Truth

Truth cares not 
that a telescope
reveals a bit more 
and changes 
unknowns 
into knowns.

Now we all 
can have a knapsack 
filled with truths
truths that our ancestors 
never imagined
so here we are
the load upon our backs
but will we find happiness 
easier to come by
or kindness towards others 
easier
or empathy 
for those hurting around us
an empathy 
that translates into actions
actions 
to make wrongs right? 

Science gives us this knapsack 
but can we be wise 
with newfound truths
when it becomes so easy 
to exploit 
the entire earth 
for the sake 
of our short-lived 
comfort? 

Science can't answer 
these ultimate questions 
of human motives
for science 
doesn't care. 

Gratefully some scientist 
do care
but if as some wish 
for the future 
a world without religion
then I wonder
will any then be left 
that remember 
what caring 
for those that are hurting
really means?

First the Big Bang

First the Big Bang.

Then a chain
of a zillion causes
and effects.

And here you are
with that backpack
of ‘all time’ on your back.

And every breath you take
is that which moves you
into
the ever present.

And you ask,
now what?

Beyond Monkey Business

Matter is dumb
yet springs forth
from dumbness
intelligence
found inside
the very
bits and
pieces
when
pieced together
just so.

Where does
this manifestation
come from?

From complexity
built upon
simplicity
and simplicity
built upon
a potential
beyond
monkey
business.

In the Beginning

In the beginning
no time
sprang to
time
and evolution
started
and in time
produced us.

Then we
lived
and thought
about all this
then we died.

Then all was
silent
and time became
no time
again.

If a tree fell ...

The tree falls
and the air vibrates
in silence
with not an ear
in sight.

Autumn Leaves of Green

In summer when we seek comfort
under those trees that work mightily
to deflect and reject
the cool greens
and stand tall with leaves shimmering
with the absorbed reds and golds
yet it takes autumn
for us to realize
what summer held
when in turn
those trees
of grandeur
finally accept that tiny slice
of the electromagnetic spectrum
that we call green
hidden to our eyes
dazzled by
the now rejected waves
of reds
and golds.

More or Less

We live between 
the nothing more 
and the nothing less
bologna 
between slices of bread
and like sacred words 
to be consumed 
chewed
champed 
munched 
and the less 
becomes more
and the more 
becomes less.

Creator of the Universe

Creator of the universe
are the building blocks
one by one
assembling into this
disassembling into that
again and again
we too for a bit
assembled into this
and later changed 
into that
and Jesus too
a creator
of the universe
just like me
and you
too.

Autumn Leaves of Green

In summer when we seek comfort 
under those trees that work mightily 
to deflect and reject 
the cool greens 
and stand tall with leaves shimmering 
with the absorbed reds and golds
yet it takes autumn 
for us to realize 
what summer held 
when in turn 
those trees 
of grandeur 
finally accept that tiny slice 
of the electromagnetic spectrum 
that we call green
hidden to our eyes 
dazzled by 
the now rejected waves 
of reds 
and golds.

Fishing in a Sea of Sand

Years ago I viewed a Zen rock garden
with not a petunia in sight
just sand
raked into swirling patterns
of the sea
and a few large rocks
here and there
I guessed then
they represented islands
the sand
the watery sea
with the raked swirls
which created the metaphor
in my head
of watery sea
and not
bone-dry sand.

I returned a few times
to that garden
once watching a solemn monk
carefully dragging a rake
as he first made a course
around one large rock
then the others
he seemed to have
the courses
already memorized
for he dragged
that rake
as I recall.

I used to push a lawnmower
in my youth.
In the backyard
I cut the lawn
not as my older brother did
in careful overlapping rows
but I would push
that old lawnmower
in circles and swirls
and zigzags
anything
but in straight lines.

It was fun
drawing with a lawnmower
I would stop to admire
the meandering course
cut through the tall grass
but in the end
I would always do
a quick
back-and-forth
to clip the tall grass
before my father
returned home
from work.

The Buddhist
dragging the rake
didn't appear
to be having
much fun
not as much fun
as I had
pushing
a heavy
lawn
mower.

Then
I wondered
why?

Rock On

When the creator departs town
taking care
and concern
and desire too
all that is left
behind
goes the way
of all that is forgotten
former complexity
seeks its origins
constructs destruct
bricks turn to dust
old men rock in chairs
awaiting the youth
of their mind
to rock
once again.

Wind Chimes

Wind chimes 
did I hear?
my eyes closed
and my outdoor chair
creaks as I adjust
myself again
thoughts of 
a long ago 
late summer breeze
filled with funky smells
of rice paddies
that surround my way
and the dragonflies
hovering, darting
while rivulets of sweat 
stream down my back
and the air filled with the crazy 
whaa-whaa-whaaahaaahaaahaaahaaa
of countless 
hidden 
cicada.

Cargo Pants Man

Dawn split heaven from earth 
this morning 
as a long-shadowed figure 
walked toward me 
silhouetted by the rising sun  

cargo pants man 
greeted me with a smile 
he with knapsack filled with tools 
to record the mysteries 
of prehistoric desert peoples 
a laptop to capture thoughts
a Nikon to record burnt fire rings 

a Clovis Point 
would be the jackpot 
he said 
in his quest to imagine rituals 
and ceremonies 
that excited his speech 
in a mysterious sort of way 

his excitement suddenly 
turned to sobriety 
when I told of my quest 
to imagine 
this fellow called Jesus
he too 
from a desert clime 

seated atop large boulders 
he told tales 
of Anasazi 
and Hohokam 
and Mogollon 

and I shared 
my tuna sandwich 
when he unexpectedly 
cracked a smile 

then I told him 
I imagined Jesus 
wearing a pair 
of cargo pants 
just like his

the smile disappeared
as he reached 
into his knapsack
and produced 
a large arrowhead
and handed it 
to me

saying

I 
prefer 
real
things.

Hunters and Gatherers II

With twine we bind   
all that we find   
to later dine   
on our feast   
of memories.

FIRE

The F leans
against the I
a tepee
when R
then E
ignite
a fire
that leaps
to life
when cried
out loud
some panic
while others
fall dead
to just
the sound
of
a single
word.

Words and Apples

I imagine
the human brain
evolved into a mind
when words
became as real
as an apple
in hand.

We Journey

With memories
we journey
through space
and time
as if
past
and future
were naturally so.

Imagining Nature

Can I imagine
rain drops
striking my face
or a wind
that attempts
to blow me away
or thunder
that gets
my attention
or cold
that sets
my teeth chattering
or a stillness
that quiets
even my thoughts
or sun rays
that bleach
white bones
that once
imagined
it all?

Two Generations

See? See?
Isn't that enough
to do?
To look and muse
about the wonder
of it all?
I want more
to do
than to
merely look
and see
when I can
make
things
happen
in interaction
talk and listen
read and write
cause and effect
communicate
my world
is more
much more
and it happens
right now
again
and
again.

One More Miracle

The paradox
of gathered knowledge
is that
former miracles
become
common knowledge
so abundant
that one cannot count
so widespread
that one cannot grasp

stars, cells, atoms, time,
evolution, water, eclipses,
DNA, metamorphosis

yet the mind
has room enough
for one
more
miracle.

Think It Real

Forever change
neither good
nor bad
locked in time
and space
mind too
tries to
halt time
grasp space
just long enough
to
think
it
real.

I Think

And inside the mind
hidden among the memories
and behind the facts
were bits and pieces
of the soul
and if one looked hard
one could catch glimpses
of feelings and beauty
truth and love
curiosity and insight
compassion and imagination
integrity and emotion
the mind claimed it's own
yet when asked
to explain
the essence of the soul
the mind could but say
I think.

Loss for Words

He was at a loss for words
yet in his pocket he had
the entire alphabet
more than enough
to say everything
that has ever
been said.

To the Point

If we look close enough
we come to a point
where matter dissolves
and the best
we can come up with
is point
without matter
yet in this infinitely tiny world
we can pluck one
a quark
and attempt to grasp
that inside our very cells
inside the atoms
that compose those very cells
are quarks
and stars are composed
of quarks
air is composed
of quarks
you and I are composed
of quarks
rocks and mountains
and bears and wolves
and whales and turnips
and automobiles
are composed
of quarks
the many
in oneness
did God created?

Meditating Upon Forever Change

Sometimes deep into the night
deep into the desert
with but the canopy of stars above 
and a meandering breeze 
that seems to come and go 
as it pleases
and a kind of darkness below 
a circular horizon that stuns the eyes
and tiny sounds about
some familiar 
some strangers
and seated atop gritty sand 
with still warmth from the long departed sun
new smells tickle the nose
and the body slowly finds an ease 
and seems held upright 
by that breeze
and the mind
oh the mind
wants to take it all in 
as the senses grow bold 
and bolder
what was once ordinary 
becomes extraordinary
then the mind lets go
the voice 
in the brain 
is dumbstruck
and what was thought 
to be stillness 
suddenly becomes 
forever change
and in the blink of a blind eye 
the entire universe 
slips into 
that silent mind.

Flooding Forth

That 'I'
which experiences
and acts
and thinks

that 'self' which is forever
dwelling upon itself

like Adam at the very moment
of self realization
when the 'I' came
flooding forth

a river
a lake
an ocean
that separated Adam
from innocence

humanity now all alone
with but an inner monologue
in stead.

A Blade of Grass

But then I stopped
stooped and plucked a blade of grass
and it was this blade of grass 
that I sought to ponder
but then it struck me
that this too 
was too much for me to grasp. 

A single blade of grass? 
I marveled at its greenness
then held it up to the sky 
and with the bright sunlight behind
could see the individual cells. 

Ah, I thought, perhaps I can grasp 
just one cell 
of this singular blade of grass. 

But no, this too seemed too much 
for my mind to apprehend
for even upon close inspection
this green island in a sea of islands
was a vessel of enormous complexity. 

Botany 101 taught me this. 

This so tiny cell 
was in fact 
a dynamic powerhouse
a manufacturing plant
a converter of mystical rays of sun 
into food for growth. 

Ah, the enormity of it all
I thought
within this single cell 
were more and more realms of wonder,
all the way to the carbon atoms 
and protons 
and the very 
very tiny quarks. 

And there it was
held between my thumb 
and forefinger
but now not dynamic life
but a plucked blade of grass 
dying a quick death. 

Bless even you blade of grass
an enormously complex creation 
a fingerprint from the hands of God 
yes
a beauty of which I will not 
soon forget.

Forgive me.

Light

The moment 
when light turns to dark
inside our brain 
imagined light 
then comes to life. 

Thoughts are ever evolving 
expressions that can morph 
from this to that 
in a nanosecond
then disappear in a blink
to might or might not 
ever surface again
while words are thoughts expressed
thoughts solidified
in that they take on a life 
apart from the solitary mind
and become part 
of the collective mind
with dictionaries as arbitrators 
when the collective disagree 
on a once solid word 
that begins crumbling 
into ambiguity.

I'm out the door 
and with mindless resolve
point myself in the dark
toward the east
toward the crescendo 
of lightness 
that will halt me in my tracks 
when night becomes day
like  marching toward an idea
an idea that me 
and the sun 
and the earth
for one brief moment
have reached an invisible point 
a point only imagined 
in my mind
a point in time 
and space
when eyes blinded for want 
of what feeds them 
are suddenly fed 

daybreak 

photons flood the landscape 
and my eyes 
are fed! 

Oh so ordinary

Oh so ordinary  
is a hot summer night  
when the whirl of a fan  
is music in the dark  
accompanying   
croaking frogs  
in the distance  
oh so ordinary  
is waking to a glowing  
herald of break of day  
and the frogs   
now deep asleep  
and quiet  
oh so ordinary  
an electric coffee pot  
percolating   
as a toilet is flushed  
and a faucet lets go  
cool morning water  
oh so ordinary  
a day goes by  
in a rush  
while someone  
in a market
stacks oranges  
and red apples  
and peaches  
and apricots   
in perfect rows  
oh so ordinary  
that someone  
pushes the wheelchairs  
and lines them in  
a large room  
perfect rows  
and there they sit  
oh so ordinary  
memories of  
a seasick morning  
on a day called D-Day  
and another of  
a train station farewell  
and that was that  
he never returned  
and another  
of sawing two by fours  
under a cloudless blue sky  
in a backyard   
of a tiny two bedroom house  
in East L.A.  
and another of  
a wedding day in 1942  
with just a week   
before that train farewell   
and I still feel the rice  
a handful my brother threw  
as if it were yesterday  
and another of  
peeling an orange  
near a stream  
in the mountains  
in that beautiful place that  
just right now  
I don't seem  
to recall  
but I can still  
taste  
that orange.

Time and Place

How unwieldy
time and place
never together
but for a blink of an eye
to grasp time
this very moment
in Ireland and Brazil
and inside an atom
and across the starry sky
this very moment
takes hands larger
then the entire universe
yet place
this place
without moment
is but a way station
for a gathering of atoms
like a pew in
St. Catherine
in Ventry
where countless souls
in this very place
over time
live the same space
yet only
one
at a time.

Who we are

We name
the unnameable
we describe
the indescribable
we apply attributes
to that which attributes
cannot be applied
so that our minds
can create words
like heart
soul
love
to imagine
who
we
are.

Vexing Word

Vexing words
with  hammer in one hand 
and tongs in the other
gripping another vexing word
another of those misformed words 
that needs but the smite of my hammer 
to enform it to its should be shape
and smite I do
and to my amazement 
that thought to be iron-like word
that word that in my mind had but one shape
yielded to my smite
not like red-hot iron
but like clay
willing
if not eager
to mold to my mind
or to any mind
and assume a new guise
for that was its soul
to mean whatever like-minded minds 
wanted it to mean
and always ready to change
from this to that
and not from hammer beats 
but from minds
minds that are ever reshaping the world
with its words.

Chance

Chances are
but an idea
in minds 
that design a world 
of befores
and afters
when the universe knows not 
past or future
always
right 
now
memory less
foresight less
chance less
when all 
just is
and we think
it could have been
it might be
just because
our minds
think
it so.

Be Careful 2

Be careful
when you enter
through a door
that changes the way
you see the world
in ways that never
your mind thought
in the black and white
days of your upbringing.

Be careful
when the nonsense
suddenly makes sense
and the world springs
to life before your very
fingertips
and you and that
and here and there
and it and it
are one
and life
too.

Be careful

Be careful
the knife is sharp
be careful
electricity will shock
be careful
words are dynamite
when pieced together
just so
be careful
when light and dark
feel the same
when solid and space
look the same
when motion and rest
are but blinks of my eyes
or yours
between birth
and death
when knowing and the known
are one
and the same
be careful
when good
and evil
are but part of one
be careful
when you and life
and self and others
and this and that
a mockingbird
a Jaguar XKE
Alpha Centauri
sweet basil
and my nose
are what matters
between the just now
and my
and your
very next thought.
Be careful.

Ever changing

Change is in the air
where every molecule
itches
for change
my mind a swirl
of ever change
the now always
the was
seeking
the will be
and in the midst
of the ever twirl
you ask
where I stand?
and all I can say
is
does time
stand still?

The biggest

How big is big  
when the biggest of the big  
in the whole wide universe  
is but invisible to my eye  
the cesium atom   
the big guy  
we think the biggest  
and to think the entire universe  
has nothing bigger  
with all else   
cobbled together  
atoms upon atoms  
a shoe  
a mountain  
Jupiter  
a galaxy  
bits upon bits  
yet not a bit  
larger than  
the mighty cesium  
measuring in at  
273 trillionths of a meter  
give or take  
an inch or two!

To Be

spirit, wind, breath
and sketchy vagueness
rushing into creation
spoken into existence
breath of life
filling me
awakens
what will be
for all
dreams and visions
set loose
can you see?
listen up!
I tell the truth
in consciousness
little voices
silenced
making room
for it
to be

Is

What is, is
is there regardless
if I'm here
it is 
just because
and needs not
my affirmation
or even
my word
that attempts
to make real
in my mind
what is already
real
yet I must admit
the real inside
my head
is but a construct
known
only to me
in order that
I may try
to convince you
that it is
as real
as that
which is.

Voice and voiceless

With voice
that is heard
that has paused many
to dwell upon each word
understanding thoughts
your thoughts
sometimes dismiss
those without voice
with but wind  
and rock
and river murmur
constant companions
the voiceless
cry
for words.

From this to that

Like a question mark
my small hands grasp
and twisted round
and round until
the wire clothes hanger
came undone
sprang to life anew
two marshmallows pierced
and thrust into
the open fire.

Either Or

Either or
is at the core
always frames
and makes a game
of this for that
or I'll take back
what once was me
and set it free
and let the mind
be not contrived
and stuck in time
as some incline
to do
when drawing lines
that divide 
either 
from the more.

Midday Dreams

As the world slows
to the beat of my being
the hard and sharp
edged and cold touch of reality
slips away oh so slow
that even I
dissolve in the warmth of
mind alone
in the fading light as eyes
shut and all that is left
for me to play
memories
faded and broken
and hastily pieced back
together.

What is This?

What is interesting
is that a human
can believe this,
live this,
and when dying
still hold
to this.

The News of Late

The newspaper arrived
at the crack of dawn
and to my surprise
a fish inside
a red herring it was
and all because
the news of late
has grate my soul
and taken its toll
that all I want
is to distract
from all the crap
that fills the air
without a care
except I dare
to eat raw
while still fresh
red herring sushi
served atop
the funny
papers.

Carbon

We are carbon copies
with elements intact
built to make another
to be almost exact.

Adam's First Day

Tick tock
what a shock
this morn I rise
and to my surprise
I see
really
I see
for the first time
the world to me
is more than this
and more than that
for now
just now
it is me that I see
and I do it
with eyes
shut tight.

Light

The moment
when light turns to dark
inside our brain
imagined light
then comes to life.

"Photons can also be absorbed by nuclei, atoms or molecules, provoking transitions between their energy levels. A classic example is the molecular transition of retinal C20H28O, which is responsible for vision, as discovered in 1958 by Nobel laureate biochemist George Wald and co-workers. The absorption provokes a cis-trans isomerization that, in combination with other such transitions, is transduced into nerve impulses."

Nature is nature

Nature is nature
naturally so
laws and forces
is all it knows
without mind or heart
save for our part
it unwinds cause and effect
with horrific affects
yet minds and hearts
that beat think cruel
when in fact we know
that it is but true
nature is nature
naturally
it
is
so.

Hunters and gatherers

With twine we bind
all that we find
to later dine
on our banquet
of memories.

Inquiry Full

What is this
that some refute
as matter less
worthy not
of mere dispute
yet puzzle is
for some to bear
and seem to care
what it is
is matter full
and ultimately
answer less
but truth be told
question full.

Inside, Outside

Does the world construct us?
Or do we construct the world?
Indeed,
the world constructs us,
and
we construct this world,
two different worlds,
one all,
the other residing
inside like brains
constructed alike
to believe alike
in their construction
of what fits right
to seem right
to make them believe
it is right.

Something and Nothing

Do the structures
of nature
exist independent
of minds that
understand the
structures
in thoughts
constructed in
abstract language
inside minds
that create
blueprints of
it all
so that without
a mind
even 2 plus 2
would never
equal
a single
thing?

Spirit

Spirit
wind
breath
and sketchy vagueness
rushing 
to creation
spoken into existence
breath of life
filling me?
Ah ha! 
awakens 
what will be
in me
dreams and visions
set loose
can you see?
Listen up! 
I tell the truth
aware of
that little voice 
inside my head
now silenced
making room
for it 
to be.

What's new under the sun?

What's new under the sun
besides atoms arranged
and thoughts in minds
with imaginations
that rearrange
to make things
like spears and arrows
and wheels and bridges
computers too
but in the end
they were always here
the atoms
and laws of nature
building blocks
just waiting
to be
rearranged.

Real?

What is my
real world
the imaginations
in my head
or the horizon
my eyes squint
to see
maybe memories
constructed from
things that once
touched my hands
or thoughts
that forever are
just beyond
my
grasp?

It's about Time

Time is a funny thing  
when we think it  
a clock   
ticking  
or a world spinning  
or a sun rising  
or a night falling  
or a breath in   
or a breath out  
or a memory of  
yesterday   
or thoughts   
of tomorrow too  
or waiting in darkness  
for the mind to still  
and then sleep  
when time  
becomes a dream  
that isn't  
real.

The illusion of change

What is change
but the ever present
moment
when memory
is exchanged for
look
listen
feel
smell
I can almost
taste it
Right now!

Shaping young minds

Just as evolution seeks
the least resistant path
in a lazy man sort of way
so too some take that path
to shape young minds
and reign in imagination
with thoughts fantastic
in order to control
and make life easy
for lazy teachers
who have nothing
to give
but their own fears
that long ago
were shaped
by lazy
fearful souls.

Turning Egyptian

Is making a revolution
more ambitious than
building a pyramid
by hand
and is using words 
to draw
eighty million 
fanciful demands
of freedom
and peace
and
democracy
as hard as
using mathematics
to stack limestone
blocks until
they reach
the sky?

More

Why is my grasp 
so weak
I want to grab 
hold tight
to that which 
my mind 
delights
but can it be 
that all I see 
is a world 
set-apart 
without heart
for want 
of a mind 
to set
it free?

The Mystery

Can it be
if I can't see
or even hear
or think I'm near 
yet mystery
I call God
invokes in me
to set free
that piece of me
called mystery.

Nurturing my religious imagination

I had a thought
nurturing
my
religious
imagination
and it arose like an
early morning mist
over an imagined
field of sun-ripened
wheat that filled
my vision to
infinity
rustling warmth
of waking earth
and far away
crows
and above
blue sky.

I do, I do

I do what I want
I do
even if you think
me a fool
for in the end
we all pretend
and matters not
if I get caught
because I want
to do
what I want
I do.

The past few days

Heaven

I imagine  
is it real  
is it here  
or nowhere   
to be  
is it I  
and it  
and one and one  
making we  
together imagining  
or   
just me?

-----
I watched the news today

Egypt in chaos  
the tweet did say  
with cries in the air  
another did dare  
dreams running wild  
I imagined to care  
tear soaked prayers  
from gas in the air  
for want of little  
I wondered who cared  
until breaking news  
made real   
those who dared.

-----
In the beginning

Inside the tiny thimble be  
all the universe including   
you and me  
yet the matter then at hand  
was not the final plan  
for need be time   
and a place  
for stars to race  
birds to fly  
and a porch   
for you   
and I.  

-----
The word

I thought a thought  
and then another  
that the first  
only there  
to provide support  
and in short  
God the name  
it unknown  
but to me   
a simply word  
it a key  
unlocks the door  
and I explore  
the other side  
that does resides  
inside  
my head.

The Miracle

I looked and looked  
and always mistook  
what my eyes had seen  
for the essences of being  
the particulars found  
would always astound  
but the one that confound  
was the miracle found  
I see that  
I see  
and it is me  
that I be  
my  
self  
I   
found.

2 for 1

Nature

Here and now do I care that fish swim and birds fly  
and will I cry in that blink of the eye when they die?  
For all that dwell around the sphere in space and time   
are but here for me to know not why  
yet here I am hidden where it all constructs   
inside the skull  
the tiny sphere
where I see all the world just for me  
and I care  
but why?


Soul

It's all atoms and the void  
was the introit  
entered the white-clad priest  
but doesn't God love us  
the followers cried  
Democritus has spoken  
the priest but replied  
are not we special  
came one lone cry  
all an illusion  
created from matter  
that is your confusion  
and the priest turned away  
but I think thoughts  
the lone voice sighed  
and   
not   
thoughts  
think   
me.

Considering the Garden of Eden -- again

Earth? Earth mother? Sophia? What have you created? Considering the Garden of Eden story, I was thinking that this would be the time and place when dualism was born. For better or worse. Of course everyone seems to latch onto the idea of Original Sin and won't let go, the believers spin and weave in attempts to make sense of the idea, while nonbelievers point to the unreasonable idea that a god would take the misdeed of an innocent and make the innocent guilty, and further, punish the guilty, and atop that, punish all humankind forever more. I think both sides fail to grasp the symbolism of this story. First of all, without humans, not only does the concept of good and evil not make sense, but in all of nature it is absent. In all of nature (apart from humans) only “good” and “nothingness” exists. Bad doesn’'t exist, for everything in nature seeks to exploit it’s own potential to live and replicate. That either happens or doesn’'t happen. You might think of all nature as one big organism that exists, and exists only because each part that makes up the “all-nature” live and die to provide another part of “all-nature” with energy to do the same. Nothing is “bad” because in “all-nature” adaptation to prevent extinction is the only goal (if "goal" exists without humans) and total extinction would be the only "“bad”" possible. Yet again, even extinction couldn’'t be “bad” in a humanless and Godless “all-nature,” for in such a universe, everything just is. Or just isn’'t. No matter. For to matter requires intelligence to create the idea of mattering and not mattering. 

I think the Garden of Eden, this metaphor, explains the need for intelligence, for awareness, for self awareness, before the ideas (and concepts) of good and bad/evil can exist. Adam (aka mankind) before gaining knowledge of self awareness (or if you prefer, evolution before the brain/mind developed self awareness) was as innocent as a tiger pouncing upon a lamb and ripping it to shreds for a meal. Without self-awareness, “pre-humans” did whatever was required in order to live another day and replicate. After self-awareness (Original Sin) humans became aware of their every action and the consequences of these actions and further became aware that life and replication at whatever cost was no longer possible, for the new brain/mind was not only aware of each action, the consequences of the action, but also if the action had a good or bad value. And for the first time "“bad”" had a meaning other than failure to survive, the human brain/mind continued to develop this concept of “bad” until it became a powerful force that identifies all that would or could harm the individual, the family, the group, the environment around the group, and today the entire earth. These are things that no other life/creature can think, humans not only think, but can act upon these abstract thoughts. And so in the story Adam and Eve with full self awareness watched as their sons fought and one became a murderer and the other a victim of murder. Good and evil sprang to life as if it were an entity, a concept so powerful that not one human evermore can return to that Garden of Eden, that ignorant state of innocence where good and bad have no meaning. Or so it seems to me. 

Dividing Rhyme from Reason

Hammer came first
a fist are you
to pound anew
and pliers too
now a tool
like thumb and finger
but then the saw
not tooth nor nail
can excel
when mind did combine
back with forth
to forever divide
rhyme from reason.

Red tomato in hand

A tomato in hand
to be or not to be
did I hear that right?
I bite the firm fruit
the skin explodes
seeds and juice
half in mouth
and soon lick seedy pulp
from my salty palm
the garden overgrown
in the summer heat
the last red bite
and I wondered
how Shakespeare could
have had such lofty thoughts
yet never once
did he hold
a red tomato
in hand.

Should have

We mourn
most
those little girls
so full of hope
and life
and even beauty
as rose buds
yet to blossom
but now gone
open petals
sweet scent
in the summer sun
but our imagination
of what 
should have
become.

Tucson

In the blink of an eye
this can sudden 
become that
good disappear 
and reappear
as black 
as that midnight stare
now awake 
to the glare
of daylight
for all to bear
witness to
the destruction 
caused
by 
a 
single
sick
mind.

Language

With eyes closed
I create a sightless world
of slippery words too
hard to hold for but
an eternal moment
in time that suddenly
vanishes in that dark
place where thoughts
are constructed from
the countless observations
that the Me failed to see
and the I too busy to grasp
the enormity of what was
to be
invisible worlds coming
together with 26 wiggles
of the index finger 
on the smooth sands of time
symbols that we create
for only ourselves
in order that we 
may make sense of
non-sense
that is the stuff 
that makes
us think
we are
alive.

Happy New Year

Three hundred 
sixty five spins 
one revolution 
a year
two spheres
life bound
together
whirling round
our 
tiny
minds.

The unthinkable

What is it 
that is not?
That is 
and forever is
yet is not?
For all our thinking
is not enough
to make 
what is not
to become
what is.