En Passant

A youth stares down

On a barren ground

And makes a comment most uncouth;

A plain stares up

At a foreign sound
And remarks upon a vulgar youth.

(lines from an airplain window)

Returning

Unfurling––returning
In seablown wind––the windblown sand
Sans water. Returning
To gritty, weathered in-
dolence wrapped about that ethe-
real one. Widening
to catch the wind––a windmonger;
tightening to catch the
heart, fluttering foul
under the beacon
of sunken knots
of light. Here––
or somewhere 'twixt here and the-
re, sunken dreams a'bubble into foux
skies, tainted azure sighs, pearls of a canner
-y row row rowing gently to no more. Petty things
to sell, fall
into part-
ly the
wrong hands, partly sent
so bubblin' into no hands at all, retur-
ned, sans water, towards kin,
then-maiden knots.
Hold
Me.
Or
better yet––now hold my innar-
ds, kiss
them as a lover would. And lose
me not––unfurled upon
the
cypress wood.





In the end, what is returning but the second coming? From the grave, from the Great Flood, from togetherness, from the one. Unfurl the tale––upon the grave, the glittering shovel take.

Colores (Dolores) (Dólares)

Un arco iris
        de colores (dolores) (dólares)
Después de una tormenta
        de vientos (lo sientos)
Lloviendo frutas
        distantes
                lejanas
Sinfín de frutas
        el fin de frutas
                de rutas
Cuando venga el águila
        Que guarda el tesoro
        ¡Qué ardua un toro!
        Muerto, sin oro
La araña tejiendo su tela
        ––rediciendo la red––
        ––informática sin información––
Ahogando, con su hogar,
        bajo un arco iris





[un poema sobre California, inspirado por Diego Rivera y John Steinbeck]

Untold

...Setting a stolid face...

Why again––
Why did I fill each step with care
Evading your gaze
Eyes only on the path
Sidestepping your shadow
Through the open haze
Seeing through you
Like empty air
Taking from you
Thus
Us

How again––
Have I lost you for so long
Taken into the energy of oblivion
The adrenaline of a lifetime
A windswept windchime
Compassion, passion
Every melody
But your song
A hundredfold
Finally
––For me––
A bell tolled

...Within your infinite embrace...

Cliffjumper

                          If I

                      close

                   my

                  eyes

                  it's

                  easier

Eyes to eyes

The granite margin

Ears to ears

The west wind calls

Impulsive bliss

Only to imagine

A thousand fears

A thousand falls

                     A

                  coward's

                  eyes--

                  what's

                  wrong?

Eyes to eyes

A preterm pride

Ears to ears

Canyon-bound

The seeker's creed

Without the heart

A thousand lost--

A thousand found.

Cardinal

North to none, the void of night,
South to skies and gift of sight,
West to wings of worlds to write,
East to all engulfed by light.

North to numbers' ceaseless flow,
South to souls of winds ablow,
West to wax wicks, waning slow,
East to echoes doomed to grow.

North where naught is different daring,
South with sundered souls despairing,
West of time and words uncaring,
East––the end of world sans bearing.





The longer the winds blow, the further we travel toward unheard echoes, the more we yearn for that which we can never attain. So close, and yet so far...the path in the rubble, the arrow in the dust...the soul is but a sail, destiny but a destination...within the tempest that is time, we all seek our bearing.

seventeen

Don't leave me behind––

They ask for too much,

forever wanting,

Wanting me

to satisfy them in their infinitely individual ways,

to pride myself on their satisfaction,

ingesting their fears,

washing away their despair

I see their countenance every day,

dissatisfaction every hour,

disregard every minute.

It's true.

I can't satisfy them.

In the end, they don't care about me

Why do they so hunger

for eighteen?

What can she do

that I can't?

What is she to them?

Another opportunity?

Another chance to

––what––

fail again?

What is eighteen––

but an artificiality

constructed by the past

disgraced by the future

––What––

Can she

satisfy them?

Can anything––

but their illusions?

––illusive––

––elusive––

When I was with them, they did everything

––to help me––

everything

––to help themselves––

but it's too late, they've given up

––on me––

––on themselves––

They can't satisfy themselves.

Once I lie dying in the dust

they might reach for––

nonexistent freedom,

false hope,

blind conviction,

But they're them.

They couldn't

and they won't.

They could never,

and they will never

Not without me. So––

Don't leave me behind––

Not like the other two millennia.

Not like sixteen.

Don't leave me behind––