GERALD HOPMAN                   Home       Poems 1956-2012       Latest Works       Bio       Statement      Contact


Book of Life

the mystery poems


 

 

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

 

 
   
   
 
 
     
© Hopman
 
     GERALD HOPMAN                   Home       Poems 1956-2012       Latest Works       Bio       Statement      Contact