chug and lug and tug
and shrug
where to belong when right is wrong
from sorrow to song?
faces ahead
faces behind
geese will follow
and foxes will find
The world is taking us away
not just the vapors of the mind
or beasts tip toeing through rising waters
or gristle spewed amidst cheering crowds
or bodies dangling for midnight inspection
or walkers cursing and reeling onto blackened trails
or children awakened in the shadows of forgotten symbols
or clanging and whispering in the green speckled dawn
or sounds of unbearable laughter at revelery’s end
THE WORLD IS A GIVEN
AND IT TAKES AWAY
THE MYSTERY POEMS 2
---------------------------------------
In the midst of forgetting
I have been forgotten
counting the turns of the earth
I’ve been turned aside
walking I have stepped upon what
can not bear the weight of skin
or butterflies
in truth I glory in redemption tied to words
not deeds
found words beguiling as they rescue
moments anchored
in the drag of time
THE MYSTERY POEMS 3
---------------------------------------
Oh how lively!
I flip a curtain and there’s the answer
a manacled tiger ridden by a cobra whose eyes
are red glowing gems
in the deep forest background are children
armed with flutes and horns and mirrors
collecting
the beams of a long dead star
over all there’s an aura that hints of a flooding of choices
or the need to withdraw from the truths of one’s age
THE MYSTERY POEM 4
---------------------------------------
lovers
always lovers
and again lovers
in doorways
on rooftops
under storm shaken branches
over rails and trails that carry strangers
to meetings where systems of wisdom are linked
by breath and touch
lovers
and again lovers
the proof of their science always a test beyond
except
when testing confronts a voice
for remembrance
that wills echoes into facts
THE MYSTERY POEM 5
---------------------------------------
I pressed for a base in a forming sea
LAUGHTER FOR TEARS
I called to an owl who was half way home
WONDER FOR FEARS
I built a tower of ribbons and maps
SWEETS FOR ANGER
I dug into the earth when the season was dry
and conceived a name for a way that was barred
HOPE FOR REGRET
SINGING FOR LOSS
BEGINNINGS FOR PUZZLES
THE MYSTERY POEM 6
---------------------------------------
at dawn
or down
or when dawn is down
or up
and the ups and downs swing into the pictured
past
creeping out of sleep
oh see or say
nothing comes out of a vision
in the shock of day
the strand of what can and will be led
into the sunny bed
begets a lie
a chilled rejoicing
awakened
by awakening
when is the time for timing
the timeless?
at dawn
in the dawning morn
when songs and all
are best forlorn
THE MYSTERY POEM 7
---------------------------------------
everything flies up and strains
to know the why and how
the downward push is nature’s goad
compounded by infinity
or questing god
or goddess weaving robes
from dust to dust
a game we’ve yet to learn
and must
a cosmic spin
that we the spool
must run
and rule
until downward speed
makes flying up
a balanced need
and destined goal
THE MYSTERY POEM 8
---------------------------------------
alone
in the moonlight’s dripping spell
I come for warmth
fierce warmth
drawing an eye
through tunnels and passes
filled with the gifts
of the unlucky
the unbidden
the victors
the laughing mates
of the one
free joy
the joy that seeks itself
through the catching of its seeker
the beggar king at play
an image
my folly’s great
reward
THE MYSTERY POEM 9
---------------------------------------
we go
we are going
and rainbows
and stars in the making
and clouds
are bubbling
into the lips
of a species
our future
our history
made real
given plot
intent
design
real
as real as the clutch of dreams
and sighs
that lay the trail of our going
THE MYSTERY POEM 10
---------------------------------------
I asked
and the center of my desires
was swept away
dancing into light
I asked again
and my pleasantries of song
became howl
borne by dust
I asked yet again
and my comforts of youth were thrown
into the air
forming steely planks
on which I huddled
listening listening listening
THE MYSTERY POEM 11
---------------------------------------
mark it
describe the pacing
keep it under thumb and nose
wrap it in bands of flame
measure a stick and wave it a time or two
beneath and around
sleep on it with it through it
allow for its expansion diffusion relation
be prepared for its collapse
into nothing
or reappearance by surprise
in the guise
of another new clue
mark it
mark it well
tumble it into the jumble
mark it until marking itself is the game
and there is nothing left to tell
except to mock
the mocking of the mark
THE MYSTERY POEM 12
---------------------------------------
play and pray I say
pray and play
moon moony moon
and croon
sun sunny sun
and run
play and pray I say
pray and play
I will go meekly into unnamed valleys
I will be welcomed by the elders who will
chatter and murmur their comforting rules
I will stand in the circle of their warming fires
that once dazzled and brought a journeyer to trembling
I will laugh like a babe at the silliness of fear
and I will lay down awhile
as its been foretold
pray and play I say
pray and play
THE MYSTERY POEM 13
---------------------------------------
to live
up or down
alive
quietly
perplexed
yet at ease
amongst the hostiles
alive
in a life
drawn by patience
and awareness of patience
as if one were walking of an evening in a garden
untended
yet filled with prospects for imagining
a riot of plantings to be
and outside
marchers streaming toward the entrance
nearer and nearer
ever nearer
their song
THE MYSTERY POEM 14
---------------------------------------
menacing terror
connects the people
ghosts and fog
creatures of dwellings thought razed
and buried
loom in the corners
to be in the night
is to be chosen for the taking or
perhaps the taker
the grim blur
befogs the eye
and who can see what is and is not
the shadow that swallows
for good
and all
THE MYSTERY POEM 15
---------------------------------------
in the money pit
in the golden craw
near a mad machine on a tilting floor
the voices I heard were like none before
oh weary are the plodders
and wearier the pulled
but we can’t go back
there is no slack
the noose is tight and the road is black
and what does it mean
when we all convene
and kiss the mouth of the spewing machine
as it spits and sputters and befouls what is clean?
what does it mean
that the voices I hear in a sing song whine
are always the same
and always mine?
THE MYSTERY POEM 16
---------------------------------------
space makes
everything so in doubt
are we in it? of it? for it?
when we sleep and dream do we stand aside? above?
within the unseen heart of it?
are we clothed
or do we design?
breathe and make
or take?
when we enter life is it the cloak and mask
borrowed for a time
or do we impress our bit into what is
to be forever?
I ask and in that do I confirm a working role for space in me
or I in space?
THE MYSTERY POEM 17
---------------------------------------
next
to contemplate
to agitate
to mediate
manipulate
the last
the next
until remove and move
are but a single stroke
next last
last next
next last
each sequence smoother
closer to the end intended
all along
next?
THE MYSTERY POEM 18
---------------------------------------
words and words
creeping into images
into action
or resistance
or resiliance
or forgetting
or dismissal
or contention
or surrender
words
the word chewed
softened
armed
aimed
made or making what I and all can never think to be
until reviewing words agree
or burn
and burning
burn away
the obvious essential
me
THE MYSTERY POEM 19
---------------------------------------
everything breaks
inside and away
look look
listen
walls
and gates
and traps
and facades
creaking and cracking
be with it
raging angels of the night
you waiting tribes
everything breaks
to break the seal on
your commandments
THE MYSTERY POEM 20
---------------------------------------
contain
be absolute
I whispered
everything is
everlasting
the one folds into the many
and/or vice versa
the arcs of the possible merge and emerge
relentlessly
toward limits
flee from belonging
be greater than the sum of products
outdistance the star
outdistancing the light that shapes itself
into the pose and pause
to be consumed
by your reflection
THE MYSTERY POEM 21
---------------------------------------
what is lost?
where is the losing?
apes and grapes
masks and tasks
rogues and vogues
tints and glints
the stuttered welcome
and the cringing farewell
condemn them if you dare with regret
and what never lost?
a single glance at a face
the mind sews so tightly
into its weave
it can never be unravelled
even when the weave itself unravels
and is lost
forever
THE MYSTERY POEM 22
---------------------------------------
the flower
a holy loss
a numbered record
a symbol
a convenience
a lure
I hold it
revere it
consult it
devour it
out of need
out of wonder
out of passion
out of the thought of its being my unquestionable equal
in manner and purpose
given the uses of the world
THE MYSTERY POEM 23
---------------------------------------
pay in
pay out
pay down
exchange
demand
retreat
bend
collect
interplay
when
cross currents
allow
for positive
reaction
and image
blue sky and rainbow?
or eternal masquerade?
the questions are endless
the answers build one by one
and connect to dissolve
while atoms dance dance dance
together and away
dance into chance
THE MYSTERY POEM 24
---------------------------------------
I raise a banner that awaits its marking
I study a page of a book that crumbles
I speak of riches to a man who weeps
I master a ship where waters once were
I uncover a gem but the flaw prevails
I tie a rope but it never serves
I kiss a stranger who curtseys and wanders
I search in the dark for a house that’s a home but
the moonlight fades and the wind circles round
I carry a hammer that will only undo the work that
its done
I eat from a pot that will never be warmed
I punch a hole and sharpen a pin but one can’t be filled
nor the other fit in
I have fallen into strangeness
all shining with the clarity of dreams
and stranger than strange
is how reason and logic sink
sink sink into the spill of masks and magic
then rise rise rise and fly
into the body of a poem
and poet
THE MYSTERY POEM 25
---------------------------------------
how can I say no
when everything that is cries no?
the leaf denies its heritage
the grass its place
birds sit
they can not fathom the heaviness of air
young girls ponder like sages
the aspects of dread
while old men near shedding their bones
waddle and giggle from treasure to treasure
the weary pack arenas
their complaints barely carry from one to the other
sing sing
the merry-o die
and who’s to be king?
the days run afoul
and the mad preach cures
how can I say no
when everything that is carries no
no
no
past anger past regret past despair
past the heaving of mountains
and the darkening of rivers
past the quiet losing of the sun’s deepest pulse
past the death of the earth
past even that
into the waiting yes
that bred the no
to be devoured
THE MYSTERY POEM 26
---------------------------------------
there is weight in the pulp of the merest atom even as it vanishes into its source
and weight in the source before it exists
there is weight in the light that makes things whole
and weight in the light that scatters forever
there is dancing weight in the strain of beginnings
and positive weight in the coming to rest
there is weight in a dream and weight that compounds as the dream is remembered
there is weight that is stretched through the cycles of passion
and weight that freezes both the hunter and the prey
there is weight that cripples the hand of the weigher
and blinds the eye to the judging of weight
there is weight in doubt and weight in the comfort that is married to doubt
there is balancing weight in fault and cure--repose and swift thought-- love and regret
there is weight in the wave that carries in and weight in the wave that lifts
what is found for the breaking
then blessed be the weight that blesses and curses
worship the truth at its center
revel in its antic scrambling for purpose almost always in vain
be counseled by its secrets
yield when it yields
glory in its rule
its passing into traces that construct
the measures of the future
and the shelters for what’s been our truest selves
our angel weights of hope and joy
THE MYSTERY POEM 27
---------------------------------------
prophecy and remembrance
drums and fiddles
masquerades
pauses for contentment
the hungry eyed cat
at the final station
waits to be noticed
there is no answer except to say
goodbye goodbye goodbye
to the day
THE MYSTERY POEMS THEME 2
--------------------------------------------------
I will come again sweet lady
lady-o
I will whip through the grass
I will tear up the moss
I will wind back the currents of bursting stars
and escaping moons
when I speak none shall think to wonder who I am
lost lover of the woods
hidden pools birch and alder
holies of a dreamer vowing his resolve
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