an empty room

_______

ding!

i shuffle homeward then
beneath cloud-gray gloom,
doddle emptily
before great Sleep's repetitious void;
i resent obscurity's watchless silence. but
what's healed by fame's bustling anonymity?
the intimate dialogue of solitude
thinly veils--

a petal
as are we all,
flowers forgot.

but soberly, respectful:
for no unplucked stems remain.




4/3/10
12/29/08

mantle gods

ah, i cursed myself,
upset deep magic, offended some
hard, cold, Universal law
--well, these things happen.
there's nothing we can do.

i ran afoul, see: mocked a charlatan
protected by steep vows--
irony, how he disbelieved in them,
but oh! they believed in him!
and i (fool) trusted neither.

Plato, too, questioned the gods:
why do we need such over-men?
is it for Truth? serve Truth
herself! ah, but no, no, no.
innocent philosopher:

we need the gods!
not for Truth, but deliverance
from evil! for without gods,
who shall fell all other gods
on our behalf?

and i: a stupid under-man,
no mantle gods to defend my clumsy reach
or even stay my hand. i struck
a fool's blow and staggered back,
leering, aghast, self-cursed.




april '10
july '09

fortune

the drain has come unplugged in my slim silver pool of luck.
i am a knee-clutcher, warmth-hugger
reminiscing skinnier days in empty bathtubs
hanging behind when the water had gone,
eking wisps of steamy heat from empty porcelain.
cruel life! o luckless life,
what have i ever done to you?
godlike, elegant Life replies:
you think
these puddles of fortune come free?




4/3/10
12/10/08

Return

___________

Then I came back, from nowhere I think, in the first breath of air after too long under water. Love poured through from nowhere and I stood in sun-stunned wonder. Nowhere had I been, now everywhere was. The cynic's breath upon my neck was faint--but what's more: no longer escaping from my own lips.




april '09
april '10