THE LIFE IN A DAY
Collected Poems 1989-1998
Copyright 1998

Note on copyright: Feel free to distribute copies, complete and intact, free of charge, to anyone you choose. In fact I encourage you to do so. It is copyrighted only so it is recognized as my work. I view it as my gift to the world. Well, one of them anyway... ;)

Foreword
--
This Poem is titled "Untitled."
It is not untitled.
This is the poem "Untitled."
It is not untitled because I thought it did not need a title,
Or because I was apathetic to titling it,
or because I could not think of a title.
It must be noted that everything does not need a title.
Nevertheless, this poem does.
It's title is "Untitled."

Preface
--
Hi. I'm Scott. Over the last ten years or so I have been scribbling down my thoughts on little scraps of paper, take-out menus, ragged, dogeared notebooks, bus schedules and folded out cigarette packs. Every once in a while someone along the way was kind enough to allow me the use of a computer to type up my ramblings. In my travels I've worn out my welcome at many a friend's home, bedded down under the stars and in million dollar mansions, in cheap hotels and on park benches. I've eaten filet mignon and survived for over a week on a ten pound bag of Idaho potatoes. Many groovy people have opened up their hearts and minds to a wide eyed deranged fool who thought that he could change the world. It happens that way sometimes. One thing sticks out in my mind as I think of all the cities I've passed through, all the lives I've been touched by, all the odd jobs I've held in my search for the infinite truth, and all the joy and pain that I've witnessed: There is but one universal adhesive that binds us all together, one thing that keeps us all going through the darkest night, one constant that is shared by princes and paupers, priests and gangsters, soldiers and scholars, healers and killers. That is love. Without it we will surely perish. As we approach a millenium, a milestone in this incarnation of our species, a great crossroads that is truly "much ado over nothing," there is one piece of worthwhile advise that I've heard. It struck me working in a bar in downtown Savannah. I had heard it many times before. Out of that jukebox Lenny Kravitz's voice rang true: "Let Love Rule." Enjoy.

Time
--

Why do men strap clocks to their wrists?
Locking their own shackles,
Binding them down with time.

Do they not know that the seconds ticking
they hold so dear
are counting down to their own deaths.

Why do they adorn their
watches with jewels and baubles
as though cruel time
would treat them better for making her sparkle.

As though they held time as a docile pet
and not a ruthless predator,
pouncing to devour you.

The Road Buries Him
--

Why does it get so complicated
when the road is contemplative
yellow lines shining back his headlights
interstate sign screaming rest stop, exit stage right

no rest for a fugitive
no solace for a refugee
losing his initiative
speeding by helplessly

His thoughts become his prison
the road his only mission
five hundred miles to go
24 hours till the next freakshow.

Three Cheers
--

The scent of a rose, moist from the morning dew
A salty mist creating a halo surrounding the auroral sun
A chilled and translucent autumn day
Three cheers to the man who savors every one.

A mans first and forever childhood sweet,
A daring man who plays with dangerous toys
A spontaneous adventure of happenstance,
Three cheers to the man who enjoys.

To witness the moon glisten lustrously in the sky,
One who purges not from life, but instead gives
To suck up and appreciate every fleeting moment,
Three cheers to the man who lives.

Which Prison Do I Choose
--

Which prison do I choose now
which hallway do I stroll down
to be locked away for eternity
do I dance and laugh and be free
shackled by poverty and ennui
and pain
bonds of my own forging

do I follow
order
rhyme
and reason
to relax in my cell of
cold comfort
auto in the lawn
waking just after dawn
monthly paychecks
chaining me down

am I dionysus
am I apollo
do I lead
do I follow
which cage do I crawl in
which bars do I die behind

Lessons I've Forgotten
--

Teach me to love,
To dance naked upon the world,
To flirt with mindless fascination,
To swim to the bottom of behemoth voids,
With only a single breath to save me.
Teach me all of these,
And still the game goes on.

Teach me to fly,
The wings of a dragon carrying me away
Beyond the stars,

To be free to follow destiny without reservations
In the bed and breakfast of dreams,
To never look back,
To ignore the fitful death of what could've been,
And become fixated by the bountiful voyage of what could be.
Teach me all of these,
And still the game goes on.

Teach me to weave a spiderweb
Of pure energy,
To spin their intricate spell
Of savage delight on a page of time,
To paint a net of beauty on a canvas of thin air,
To trap my pray
And devour it whole in a solitary ravaging bite,
Teach me all of these, and still the game goes on.

Teach me to fold the universe up
Into an origami swan on my mantle,
Dreaming, screaming, dying, crying,
That I may one day retrieve it To play as a flute To let the beautiful music flow free from The widest river, untamed and uncaring.
Teach me all of these,
And still the game goes on.

Teach me to live and breathe,
To grow and build,
To see beyond my eyes,

Teach me the secret of all that is,
To remember what will be,
To relearn what has been.

Teach me to mold the clay
And place it in the kiln,
To fire and scorch it
As the hardening begins,
For from the fire of death
Shall rise the phoenix of life.

Teach me, teacher, teach me to simply be,
Teach me all of these,
And what have I learned:
Nothing but that the game presses on.

I'm still watching
--

Then there is cold reality,
Old totality
Shouting its omnipresent message
Shrouded under cover of
Autumns breezy voice.

Try as you might,
Hard as you fight,
You cannot escape me.
Take me or forsake me
You'll never break me

Why would you want to?
After all, I am just like you.

Like a puppy on a leash
The entangled plane of reality follows
Into the corner of your house
Under those old boxes.
It crouches in contented silence
Waiting for its chance to pounce
To dance delusions away to the melody
Of the sirens song.

Just when safe insanity is at hand
It sneaks up from its dark forgotten corner
To say
Oh, by the way
Fuck you, I am still watching
I am still here, in the shadows
Always hovering
Just past the edge of vision

Waiting
--
We while our lives a away,
Waiting bit by bit.
That is the hardest part, the waiting.
We wait in lines so we can wait in offices
Where we wait to talk to overweight,
Undersoul old men,
Sour in disposition and perpetually disgruntled.

They, they too are still waiting
For their big break,
For their number to come up,
Still waiting to figure it all out.

We are all waiting to die.
We like to break up the monotony
By cutting up our lives,
Into goals and milestones
Like cutting up the desert in grain after grain
Of sand.

But in the end
None of it really matters.
After all the dreamlike highs,
Every tear of blood,
We just keep waiting and waiting...
Waiting for to break free from the weight of our backs.

You told me
--

Now I sit and listen
Face red from the tears
Lessons of your wisdom
Knowledge of your years

Now I sit and listen
Stories of your youth
Tales that seem like mirrors
Reflecting me in you

You told me so many times
You told me so many times
You gave me so many signs
But I just turned away

Now I sit and listen
Why didn't I before
Take heed of your warnings
You knew what was in store

Now I sit and listen
Hang on every word
Helping be through each troubled day
So much I have to learn

You told me so many times
You told me so many times
You gave me so many signs
But I just turned away

A fall sigh
--

A cool breeze broke
Last nights slumber,
A welcome visitor after
Endless hours of draining
Heat carried effortlessly on summers back.
Autumn winds bring their children,
Ochre, golden, scarlet
Falling leaves.

Soon long forgotten coats
Will climb from
Musty boxes in dark corners hot attics.
Soon days long reign draws short and
Deep fireside nights
Pounce upon us, catlike.

Even now screeching rakes
Are slipping into men's reluctant hands
To collect the fallen tears of trees
Yearly deaths.

Time and time again,
Cool fall zephyrs
Tickle my hair.
Time and time again, I wonder
If I'll ever know summer,
And feel her steamy breath again.

Dawn patrol
--

Off in the distance,
Softly striated clouds are
scattered over the eastern
horizon.
The water is smooth
as polished glass
hand blown by an artisan
until the waves
heave upon it.

Pure liquid emerald
refracting sunlight
catching its first glimpse of today.
Bending it to a quiet ellipse
as the peak curls over your head.
Porpoise joyfully bound
with you,
racing just ahead
at the mouth
of the gyrating tunnel
enclosing you.

You glide along its rising face,
calmly poised between
silent ecstasy
and
furious destruction.

A simple map of the existential dilemma we swim through
--

thoughts leave a trail
as wind whips the sails
of lifeboats
of captains without a crew

the spiraling path is marked
by beacons in the dark
like ill spaced
foot prints in the dew

Time kills us all
--

pity that restless wanderer, time
gears ever grinding
syrupy sluggishness
providing its only respite
when its feeling desperate

never finding the place of rest
just able to settle off
and hang up its home sweet home plaque

stand around
and talk about the weather
with the neighbors
while the grass pushes up
between its toes

time got a bum lot
in a bad neighborhood anyway
but it doesn't care
because when the
garbage piles up
in the tall crabgrass
and the front door
blows open in the breeze
time will be whistling a road tune
and strolling away

Afternoon trip
--

The visionscape liquefies
As pools of textured ceiling
Reflect my face at my feet

Then the waves roll in
Dripping particles
Tripping marvels
Measured soul kin

Lapping at my boots
Worn and weary
From perpetual travel

How and what to
Sit at that shore again
On the ocean of acoustical tile
With sign after sine
Stacking in rank and file
To explode in a fury
Mist at the soles of my soul.

It just keeps going
Fed by dusty droplets
Of quantum surreality

Was that the earth, quaking
Or just me, shaking

Is it all a crystal life flake?
Making these ripples
Above me in the floor

Closed for repairs
--

Alter the perspective,
Change the directive.
Join the collective,
Get in, get connected.

Stir it up.
Soupbowl of time.
Stir it up.
Let it unwind.

Attention! To all those
Out there unconscious, wandering,
Feet shuffling,
Brain pondering.

The world will be closed tomorrow,
For repairs.

When business resumes,
Our staff will come around,
Collecting used despairs,
Old fears,
Damaged grudges,
Second hand smudges
On your soul

Please pile them
On the curb.

Introductory conversation
--

how much does it cost and
where can I get one
what kind of warranty does it come with and
where is the nearest authorized service center
oh, by the way, does it come in blue because
blue is my favorite color
and yours is beautiful
so I really must get one and
to tell you the truth
I don't even know what it is or how it works

but I'm sure I could use one if I got one
and besides you would explain it to me
wouldn't you
because I know how good you are with things like that
you know the ones that don't really
matter to me at all but
you have one and when I grow up
I want to be just like you

so please can we quit with the small talk and
get down to some real issues that

I couldn't care less about
except they interest you so
I'll listen and smile and lend
a sympathetic ear and a kind word
because I've been there before and
I really do understand what you're going through
so take it easy and keep on going
and never stop dreaming
and there, there
lets talk about something else

History and the Game
--

read a history book
its all bunk
overpriced junk
just as what happened
yesterday
changes by thinking
about it
today
so does the omnipresent

now

twist and contort under
a couple
tons of scrutiny

history books
are written by the
winners
of the comic cosmic
game

as a pawn on a chess
board
advances and becomes queen
resplendent in embroidered glory
so are we all
small
tactical pieces
in this five dimensional
gentleman's contest
every move
shifts
the perspective of the
directed

every gambit
alter the gamers
who play until
they find a nice view
a good vision to ride to eternity

Penniless at the wishing well
--

Droplets sing their tempestuous song
of chaotic delight
as they fall in absolute pattern less
order
upon the surface of the pool
at the base of the fountain
like a thousand pairs of hands clapping
just out of rhythma

each carrying its unique identity
in its watery breath
their elegant rhapsody complete
yet no movement is like another
forever changing, realigning
endless,
of quivering voice

Warn them and they still keep on
--
the river of life amused me
that giver of strife confused me
stricken souls all around screaming
use me abuse me
questions of why they choose me

how is this societal craving
mentally depraving
the madman on the corner was raving
of wandering sheep he might be saving

from jumping over the cliff
like
brainless
fucking
lemmings

I saw it on tv
--
is it you or is it me
lies broken dream of misery
all of this in the name of greed
is it you or is it me
what draws me back
renews the attack
when your back is turned
is it you or is it me
when attention is focused elsewhere indifferently

what makes me
what makes me so
what makes me so different

tell me the vibe
keep me alive
for one more day
so I can bear witness
let me testify
no matter what I say
what makes me so different
why do I bear the pain
is it you or is it me

Save us
--

What will save us now?
Is it a thermodynamic hydra of
manic depressive action?
Is it hidden under the loam of a quagmire,
an inscrutable swamp of
nuclear technomagical fire?
What will save us now?
Is it eight percent simply interesting
federally guaranteed lies;
roadkill attracting flies?

Does it sleep covered by newsprint
in the back of a condemned
antebellum cathedral?
What will save us now?
Did I pass it on the mile long
hike home from the spot where
I swapped shoes with a madman?
Is ait suspended in my eighth beer
while the lost soul on stage
wails the blues?
What will save us now?

Can I find it a the dollar store,
or out front from a two dollar whore?
Is it encrypted in a flag
waving on a lonely foreign shore?
What will save us now?
Is it a talking dog unraveling its
tale in a sideshow slideshow?
Is it ingredient X in the
mystical special sauce?

Do I eat it, do I smoke it,
Do I choke it, do I bleed it?
Where do I find it when we need it?
What will save us now?

Porchsitting vision
--

Humid still air
crouched around
cold steel under bare feet
its chill floating through back pockets
up the spine.

I shiver silently
and take another pull of
thick smoke wafting slowly
from the pipe in my hand.
Quite a vantage point

from atop these stairs.
I can almost see an opulent garden
standing under a strata
of eighty years of foot traffic
concrete, oil stains
cigarette butts.

Eyelids droop and there,
400 years to the side and down a little
marshy lowlands teeming with insects

thick with ground cover plantessimals
towering trees long since cleared

for construction

Elegant mossy braids hanging from their boughs;
I lean back in a cleft of cypress branching,
knobby root knees staring up from
mirror pools at the base;
palms muttering softly from higher ground to the left.

I'm reluctant to open weary eyes,
leave the smell of decaying leaves,
calm sticky marsh breeze
leave the owls stately song
and climb back,
back to those steel stairs,
chill lifeless steel stairs
and hard concrete parking lot below.

Pledge of a grievance
--

I pledge a few cents
to the hag
in various states of dementia
a suffering subject
which understands
one patient
under greed
with poverty and hospice
on call.

Welcome
--

Welcome to America
How much are you?
What is the price for
Your occasional servitude

How would you prefer your payment rendered?

I have the drug of your choice
To control your voice
To my liking.

You can come to my parties
Mingle with the starlets and moguls
You envy as they pass on the street
Expensive cars
For you to drive in
Live music bars
The night creatures thrive in

Will it take a little sex to buy you?
Sweaty sheets and handcuffs to tie you
To my way of thinking

Will you take a check?
Cash would be better I think
Welcome to America
Can I buy you a drink?

A few lines of powder
Some luscious marijuana flowers
A seat in the lounge chair of power
Welcome to America
Can I buy you?

Resistance is all we have left
--

When last I scrubbed the floor
There was only grime on it.
When last I cleansed it's cracks,
There was no puddle of dried blood.
When last I examined it this closely,
No man had died on it's tiles.

When last we went to war,
My son was not a casualty.
When last we marched on foreign shores,
It was to free the world for democracy.
When lasts congress voted two thirds "yea,"
I fled to Canada, to free the world from democracy.

When last we found new leaders,
I did not vote; both evils were equal.
When last there was a change of power,
The power didn't change, only those who controlled it.
When last we elected a new god,
I watched on television with a beer in my hand.

When last I was truly free,
There was no McCarthy.
When last I walked without hindrance,
I had a shack in the woods and no taxes.
When last we weren't oppressed,
The government of the people, by the people,
and for the people was anarchy.

Night drawing me in
--

Flow into the slipstream
Ripping open the sleepseam
Of the path that follows you there

Jumping through phase cancellation
Feeling silky crazed fascination
As you can only stop and stare

At the expanding blue abstract
Of waking waning contact
A fading no effort can impair

Without looking back the trail dissipates
A past your too frail to contemplate
Carried away wisping through the air

Until at last you sweep the waves
Of memories in silent graves
Like sideshow booths at the autumn county fair.

My metal rusts in the night air
--

ashes
to nerve gasses
dust
to lust
do I still bleed
or will I just
rust
away

to the great divide
where souls collide
corrode
striving to explode
in full color
instant lovers

ripping their skin away
calling their kin to play
dance on like fools
twisted as tools

at work on the divine machine
frag ment ing
this obscure scene

Beaches
--

If I am you,
and you are me,
then why the
mishmash
soulsash
hanging on my shoulder?
patiently screaming
--I am unique
I an complete
complete and quickly
growing obsolete.

In my paradisiacal paradigm
of selfislandhood,
misunderstood,
as if you could?

Put a label on the infinite reaches
of ocean separating beaches
we walk upon.
A hopeful eye
always scanning the horizon,
toward the shore the answer lies on.

Return to eden
--

On draw of night
I warm my chill bones by the fire
To shy away memory of the days toil
In the snow.

The fire leaps,
utters a crack befitting
close struck lightning.

As the music engulfs me;
carries me back to the garden again.

Go, lad, go.
The garden is there for you,
with succulent fruits
and hot spring dreams of
amazing
dazing euphoria.

Go, lad, go.
She is in the middle of it all,
Hot, ready, waiting.

Drawing parallels
--

Patterns on the floor
Reflect patterns
In the sky.
Images of circles and stars,
Places afar
are dancing in my eye.

I trip along this wanderers path,
Wondering when I will find my rest,
I realize the rest is all around me,
If I may only pass the test.

So step inside this world of mine.
Don't be disturbed by its uncleanliness,
I need but for you to look through the grime
Cast on by life's duress.
Come to me beautiful child,
That I may fill your universe with wonder,
Impart unto you a dream so true,
no fear may it asunder.

Faces
--

Each holds a story book of
years passed by in a hurry.
Haunting melodious memories,
crystal tears,
granite fears,
gossamer dreams,
piercing screams.

Smell the pain on their breath,
like cheap beer in their death.
Turning cold.
Cold
as December on the street.
Ice frozen in the faces that we meet.

Light and anti-light
--

Open-beamed ceiling refracting
a lucid layered cocoon peeling away
with the screech of radial tread

table legs stretch and creak
tweak
the boundaries of shadowy expanses
nondescript glances

hushed confusion
perceptive contusions
of hyperbolic illusion

brick barriers stand tall
strained imagining glimpses
dimples born of weight
carried by concentrated thought
on taut fabric
do they push down
or does the fabric pull away

as the shade recoils
hiding from bright presence's
pounding screams
until scrutiny falls away
and again it may dance and play

Runaway
--

don't walk away
you'll leave me broken, battered and bruised
please walk away
I'm so weary of being abused

run back to me
so I can feel your warmth again
run far from me
its the only path you can

hear my voice
its beaconing your name
make your choice
its really all the same

hold me tight
so tight I cannot breathe
let go your grip upon me
I just need anything to believe

know the chaos in my being
ignore the wild in my heart
no earthly eyes are seeing
you may be a part

feel my pain
hear my words so true
my soul on fire with disdain
that brings me crawling my way back to you

Spaces
--

Wobbling fans clicking
Seconds of life slowly ticking

They pass by the hundreds
Built on fleeting essence
Temporal phosphorescence
Never to return

On the run
Powering through the void

Viewed from afar
Jumbled masses of scattering light
Muted noises
Instants
One after the other
Colliding atop the last
Second after second
Molecules of time
Creating spaces
Between us all

Planet
--

I've got the world in my pocket.
All seven continents,
All the oceans,
Even a tiny moon orbiting as of by magic,
Two hundred thousand and some miles
In less than a half of an inch.

And every once in a while I'll take it out,
Brush the lint off,
And shine it up on my shirt,
Using a single hot breath as a polish.

Silent Seduction
--

U don't have to say a word
But don't change that look on your face
It tells the whole story
Eloquent in it's simplicity
Don't say it
Just portray it
I do not need to hear your thoughts
They materialize around your soft glow
I read it on your skin
When the windows in
Our heads opened

Simultaneously
Through the smoky humid air over
Shouted contrivances
Of babbling revelers
It was so loud there
However, I heard the calling
In your flickering glance

Say nothing now
Words get in the way

On Purpose
--

What of this lowly life of mine,
These days to challenge,
These nights sublime.

What of this fanciful dance with death,
The pirouettes with danger,
The bold steps on final breaths.

What of the pain that baptizes the soul,
The golden spade,
Which never fills the hole.

What of the freedom we all give away,
To the merchants of time,
Carrying debts unpaid.

What of these merchants,
Truly, what do we owe them?
What did we purchase?

What of the power in a touch of grace,
That milky omnipotence,
Resting slyly in the smile of an innocent face.

Buddha at the Mountaintop
--

I climb
The mountain into space.
Seething,
Reeling,
Screams shredding clouds
To make way
For silent shouts
Of flight.
Not in someone's TV
Here in full color.

The sheer face of Olympus rises
Above.
Beaconing.
Calling.
Its mighty voice
Rippling across my skin,
Tickling me to climb again

Till once more
At last
When I reach the shore of the night,
In the soul of the height
Of the mountain.

Once more,
At last,
I fly
Again.

We made up time to confuse ourselves
--

A minute is
eternity
as the
seconds pour past
like an afternoon storm.
As I sit in
this hidden garden
of my birth and
reflect on mirrors of
the past, my thoughts
lead me by my hand

to the most elegant and seductive
of reflecting
pools, the future.

For there reality is
a dream.
There dragons, pixies and nymphs
can run free again,
naked under the milky
way of imagination.

There angels sit triumphantly in
their court in
heaven, and peace stretches out over
our minds like a nap
in a swaying
hammock on the edge of
the ocean of our true potential.

The persistence of
time indeed heals all
wounds
of the soul.
Heaven is all around us in
a seconds passing.

Why
--

bones crack
and vision crumbles
as I lay in by breath
and somberly mumble
why?
why do I live
why do I think
and walk calmly
on the very brink
of destruction
why?

why was orwell so goddamned right
why was I cursed with this second sight
why is it so apparent to me
as I stand at the nexus of all that can be
that perceptions are prisons
and we each carry a key

why?

Addiction
--

What is my condition?
What is my addiction?
Tell me the name
of this affliction.

Soaked in confusion.
Wrapped in delusion.
Show me the cause
of my illusion.

Reveling in disease.
Begging oh please?
Filled with desire
I cannot quite appease.

This is the confession
of my quarrelous obsession.
It feeds me so
hiding in dubious recession.

It will thrill me.
Will it kill me?
Try as I might
It will never fill me

Mortality
--

Are you aware of your own breath?
Are you prepared for your own death?
Did you know that you will know decay intimately?
Will you go into it fitfully?
Do you have any life left?
All of this is for the best.

I normally come in here at night
--

I say!
Today,
I have something to say.
What's on the down low?
Am I late for the first show?
Why has everything gone green?

You wandered in the forest.
You just got here before it.
Nothing but making the scene.
Cool.

So pour me a cold one,
And play me an old one,
So I can swim away into a dream.

So what's new with you
My truest of true?
Just what and where have you been?

Dancing on headtrips,
Growing my soul tip,
And generally acting obscene.

Wow, it sounds like a blast
to wash off the past
and see it all shiny and clean.

Its been a whirlwind ride,
A glittering glide,
That's not always just what it seems.

I've looked back on my youth,
To tell you the truth,
I'm thinking of quitting the team.

Alone with the night creatures
--

Come ride on the darkness,
Turn off the light,
Come ride on the darkness,
Alone with the night

Creatures.

We come out at sunset,
We dissuade all regrets,
Scantily dressed and fearless.
Prowling through secrets.

Come ride on the darkness,
Alone with the night creatures.
Shadowy features.
Ancient mystery keepers.
Dissident night creatures.

Climb in my car,
I'll take you so far.

You'll be safe after dusk.
Ride on the darkness.
Addicted to midnight lust,
Alone with the night

Creatures.

We walk as gods
--

we walk as gods
on the night wind blowing
feast as hogs
on heartbeats glowing

gods in exile
jewels under starlight
darkness so fertile
to our seeds of might

reclaim the garden kingdom
reclaim the garden kingdom
reclaim the garden kingdom

children of the night
the cool black of our birth land calls
the cruel crack of our death hand falls

as ours is the night wind to ride
the garden, its succulent flowers
at rest in our prize

Closing time
--

3 A.M.
Now. The lights come on.
All the incapacitated must go.

You, homeless addict.
Move along there.
Its time for me to close.

Tell the two in the corner
That there is a cheap hotel
Up the street.

Here is a cup, sir,
Your beer bottle isn't
Allowed to walk you home.

If you don't work here
Or sleep with someone who does,
There are exits in the front and rear.

Lock the doors.
Count the till.
85 for the band.

Hey, did you see that guy sitting there,
Drooling all night,
Staring through the window at the street?

Yeah, pull me off a cold one,
and fire up that hooter,
So I can forget and maybe get a little sleep.

Dreamwalker
--

Dreamwalker,
Rider on the ether,
Silent talker,
Hidden lesson teacher.

Tell me how to live,
Instruct me how to feel.
Show me the difference
between the phantom and the real.

Night stalker,
Moonlit keeper,
Conscious balker
Vision creeper;

Bring me back tonight,
Back to where I walk free.
Deliver me from fright,
From shadow in the street.

Every night I die again
--

Soft darkness settles
in,
slowly entering the silent roaring
recesses of soulspace.

Mounting waves crash
as the tempest builds
and the seawall nears collapse.

It, a cherished release as the
understorm sweeps a rapt voyager out,
past control, beyond reason.

Safe shores fade in the distance,
cloaked behind vast cascading tears of sky,
silky spray from heaving peaks.

The mariner exalts
shouts of triumph unheard
as the straining craft slips under,
knowing that soon
its occupant will follow, happily.
A sweet murky calm rushes up.
At last
with one deep breath,
the sailor is free,
leaving nothing but radiating ripples
on a quickly calming sea.

Winter cave
--

Winters chill breath whispered
through my window today
breaking the summer spell
of burning swelter.
Fading quickly are tumultuous days

spent

soaked in sweat

days like driftwood
cast forth and
carried away
by seasons eddying current

hibernation calls me in
tempestuous, icy winter tone
loneliness wrapped in a cloak of silence
with mercury steadily dropping

Discotheque epiphany
--

The day was filled with silver slumber,
The night led by a golden dream,
Such happens when you give yourself to wonder,
Let your mind take wings and your body steam.

The melody frolicked upon my thoughts,
The rhythm shook my body in its trance,
I began to forget all I had been taught,
And finished by giving myself to the dance.

I found myself with divas on either arm,
Leading me down fantasy's path,
All around lay pulsing light and wondrous charms,
As though spirited there by some long forgotten wizard's staff.

Headwraps
--

Layers crumble,
baked on strata of crust
each a shell breaking as if
resonating to its own particular frequency
they peel away and unfold like a lotus
to the nutrient rich yolk at
the core of it all
the heart of the fall
away
the blood surges up and
the head rush comes

sweeping waves of ecstacy
gently breaking over the outer reefs
reforming in deep water
to sing again against the shore
as the foam at the waterline grasps at your feet in
gentle momentary embrace
and the sky falls away to its home
for a good lay down and a cigarette
until the cocoon fills again
as reality resumes its
pitiless toil

Youth

--
her gaze pierced my soul
as though she were the morning
sun and I the horizon,
a moment of magical rapture,
her eyes sparkling like
crystalline globes of gossamer
energy pouring into me.
instantly
her enchanted smile whisked
me away to that mystical place

where we transcend
the truths we cling to,
and dance in youths radiant green pastures
again
like hatchling doves
stealing their first,
untainted panoramic
vision of the wonderment surrounding them.

my stare glazed over as
an elderly gentleman stirred,

rose from his rocking chair on the
back porch of my thoughts
clutching a weather cane
in his callused hands.
lightly tapping his
walking
stick on the ground
to ensure that he had my attention,
he cocked his head
to the left,
smiled knowingly
slowly sighed in satisfaction.

Mountain zephyr
--

The zephyr twirls in,
Tumultuous eddies around me
In a subtle push
A sublime nudge
With rocky precipice at my feet
Heaven in my eye
And infinite expanse flipping between my fingers

I breathe deeply
And jump as it all dissipates
I am falling
Tumbling
Stretching,
Yearning into flight.

Take flight
--

Know now,
I fly
wings beating in
resonant probing
rhythm
against the firm night air.
I soar
so high
to taste
cotton candy clouds
with a golden glaze of honey starlight.

As otherselves we meet
--

light retracts as
senses slip away in compulsive disregard
like a captive shedding his shackles
there
we meet again
as strangers in the desert
nomads of the night
drawn to each other
like summer moths
to a porch light's warm safe haven

...welcome traveler
come ease your bones by the fire with me
...greetings searcher
I've left them behind
but our souls can embrace and merge
till I must depart again
...alas, if our touch could last
not to be forgotten on the morrow

tomorrow when we sink again
to mingle with the cities
when our perspectives
grasp us in their bony cold hands
there we will look with confusing
familiarity across the crowd
in unrealized recognition

The Maniac in the mirror
--

roll the dice
hold the ice who needs it
to stay awake, aware
stop and stare
into my eyes
and realize

I'm the maniac in the mirror
now is it clearer
past the edge
over the ledge

back to the wall, again
when will it fall, friend

come crashing down
the turquoise sound
of trumpets and victory
foolish reverie
as the bricks turn to dust
all around us

Orion guards the night
--

Orion looks down
through cloudy skies
breathes a quiet sigh

chill air tempers the night
its steely presence
its keen edge
a reminder of winter,
creeping down onto the city.

The Atlantic gently exhales
Inland
Suddenly it's whistling
Breath carries me west

Gliding over the sleeping landscape
Crisscrossed by rutted asphalt
Arteries below
Crowded by men tied to the normal track
Never just floating off and flying away

Soft clouds part momentarily
Just long enough to catch a glimpse
Of Orion again
Staring silently
Sword and shield at the ready
Mirthful grin on his face.

The Madman Speaks
--

Solitary footsteps through the night
Wandering, searching past
Business clothes and daytime images
Of restrained hypocrisy
Take it away
Your monkeysuit world
Distract me not with wars and famine
Disease and pestilence
The four straggling riders journeying to
The apocryphal
Apocalyptic epoch

The manifest destiny
Denying clean air and hope
Such demons I dispel at the wave of a hand
Shun from my beleaguered mind
Teetering, toeing
The fence between
Insanity
Genius
Tearing me away from my love
Stripping love from me

Cease bothering me with headlines
As I romance and entrance
Feeling the dance
And caressing the muse
Beautiful twins forever chased
Perpetually playing coy
But there, cherished
Buried deep in my heart
Toying upon my thoughts
Frolicking with my soul

To Schliemann
--

Its closer than ever now
Paradise lost under churning ground

The excavation bill mounts
A taunting reminder of erroneous rout

Hold on past one more sunrise
Even if fingernails are all that comprise

The digging tools
Those contemptuous fools

When they cease trying,
They commence dying

They will never hear the screech
As worn tools breach

The barrier wall
That ruptures, then fall.

Across the threshold mirror
--

Out I stretch
Reaching for the surface of the dream
The order of the chaotic scheme
Across the threshold mirror
A Euclidean plane
Facing me now
Teaching me how
My finger plucks the shimmering barrier
Concentric ripples float and expand away
Just for a brief moment
I see the sound mounting, with

Sharp edges
Dark ledges

Hiding in shadow
Amorphous amoebas
Ready to pounce
Fly through me
Lift and cast me through

Across the threshold mirror

The road again
--

The road again,
The road, my friend
Pale night trips
Through the acrid still desert
The road
The road
My friend

Return of luna
--

Seconds tiptoe past quietly
Without disturbing
The stately procession of dusk

Seductively the night
Disrobes
Into endless pinpricks
Of
Disco ball glitter
Butterflies flittering
On a sea of black satin

Chrome moon drawing high
To preside over her court
A symphony of
Mating calls announcing
Her arrival
In the palace of the dark

Welcome home.
Too long have we
Awaited your
Arrival

Under the mirror ball
--

The steps flow through you
Drastic sweeps,
Pirouettes capped with dramatic flourishes
Feel the music, live the beat
Synthetic drums pounding their hypnotic reverie
Into you

You
Let go, let go,
Lights sparkle let go
Pass by your troubles

Go

Passion overtakes you
And now, building, building
Attack the crescendo
Arms raised in triumph
Let the emotion pour
Dance, dance,
Dance so you don't
Have to cry

You and i
--

Lets disappear together
You and I
Float away
Into the blue sky
Calling our names
Imploring us
To reach
Stretch out
Past the boundaries in our minds

We will just
Disintegrate
Obliterate
Fascinate
Conjugate
Become nobodies again
One body, again
Together
You and I
And away with it all

Lets change the scene
Live the dream
Turn into steam
And
Wisp on
Through the cracks
In society
Around the dog-eared
Corner

Of the picture
In our heads
As we lie
Awake
Contemplating our escape
Under the moonlight
Twisting
Together
you and I

Exist
--

exist
persist
exist
resist
exist

slide on the razor
ride on a laser

ignore the pain
hop a train

explain
to your brain
not to refrain

from exercising
mesmerizing
mystifying
not denying
your crying

exist

Darkness and dawn
--

Pitch black surrounds me
Pushing me along
The enigma confounds me
Where did I go wrong
What makes this deep night
What makes it ride on?

As I dive into the these waters
I hold to one last breath
striving to see our generation
stand fast when it seems nothings left
impenetrable peril, countless odds
the road to certain death?

A ray of light
The blackness feeling gone
The spell is broken
By mornings glowing song
How a an instant can change a world
Its always darkest before the dawn.

Closing
--

Every new dawn is a rebirth, a path away from yesterdays peril,
a trip out.

Afterword
--

The moment comes when you realize
that it is all a lucid dream
a movie viewed from inside out.
Reality twists in upon itself
as the hairs on the back of your neck stand up
and you wonder
wonder why you let it all get to you
why you let the surrounding tragedy of other
destroy the great comedy.
Perception becomes a memory,
reality expands into a glittering hallucination

time loses its meaning
like when you can't find your keys.
But now, the immediate, ever present now
of complete understanding
the point of clarity
the moment of awareness
the existential now
doesn't even look for those keys.
It knows they slid down
into the crack, behind the cushions
in the couch of other

peoples distractions.
Then nothing matters anymore,
nor does it mass
or carry specific gravity.
By then the nothing
relaxes into energetic vibration.
The flat movie screen
contorts into
three dimensional existence
and you play back and forth in
the weakening boundaries

of the fourth variables has been
and will be
The shimmering invisible iridescence
of five space jumps on you
in its religious, transcendental
presence.
The nothing really matters now
evidenced in your deepest fantasies
growing from the soft,
sensitive flesh of your palm

raised from the seed of
dionysian dream
and nursed on
apollonian attention.