is God punishing us
with all these tragic fire storms
massive hurricanes and floods
all that mortal mess and muss
will these temporal events
become the tempest's norm
will secular geysers spew more CO2
unbalancing earth's compromised atmosphere
about that terrible view and even more
will tumultuous volcanoes more often erupt
destructive rivers of lava
ranging plumes of toxic gases
corrupting more of the planet
creating even more constant fear
displacing more population
dislocating human masses
permanently removing even more creatures
what about the rising sea
can anything be done now
how will all this affect both you and me
I doubt if prayer can be enough somehow
nature has the upper hand in all these cases
deadly viruses brand doom and gloom
all those scared looking faces
burned into our minds eye
what terrible changes have we loosed
opening a once securely locked door
letting unprecedented climate
changing our once true ocean blue
that unstable sky is looming
above our crowded planetary room
tomorrow will there be even more horror
it seems terror is landing on every shore
is glorious God punishing us
or is this sorry plight all our fault
our greedy uncaring nature
soiling our sacred home
creating all this perverted muss
someone immoral has invested
something villainous so disturbed
raided a once secure and blessed vault
was it me and you that caused this deadly fuss
was it simply because we imitate vultures
emulating that inglorious
short-sighted human stature
or is it inerrant fate and destiny
twisting earth's inherent nature

                       * * *

 

I'm dreaming again
about a perfect place
I'm hearing a sweet voice
seeing a beautiful face
I really love to see and hear
this other wondrous space
where everything is magic
where everything seems dear
what a blessing to find
that perfect uncrowded place
where simply everything
is brilliant and crystal clear
a place where nothing
is ever painful or tragic
some mystical heaven
where you are there with me
where love surrounds us
with its marvelous aura
a place where love empowers
everything we do and see
where each refreshing breath
fills us with supreme divinity
all the brilliant fauna
all the healing flora
exist with that same heavenly affinity
where sacred abounds in everything
including you and me
what a world we could live in
if only all our hearts
could wake to feel the same
what glory would emanate
from our very shining souls
if compassion and empathy
flooded this tragic world
like a welcome healing rain
there's a sudden overwhelming joy
in all these perfect dreams
seeking everlasting love
enveloping that perfect world
would surely feel the same
when splendid love and joy
call our honoured names
when poetry and songs
fill our craving minds
that ready special place
is what we want in kind
when you were there beside me
staring deep into each other's soul-filled eyes
all that pain and hurt we'd felt
simply disappeared and died
as that perfect celestial day
dissolved then somehow vanished
I strove to embrace and hold
all those feelings we had felt
I prayed that forever
I could keep them here
fastened to my needy heart
where I'd eternally feel
seeing them forever dear
clearly as a reflective crystal
that mystic pool of refreshing water
something God had made and conjured
for all of those whose hearts and souls are injured
for those of us whose lives exist in tatters
what a perfectly regal place
where only flawless love and joy
would ever truly matter
  

                  * * *

 

in my wooden life
I find myself
playing vital notes
sometimes two or three
even four and five
accompanying my presumptuous life
performing familiar chords
like intimate words
describing myself
using punctuation
which undoubtedly denotes
my particularly distinct
sumptuously growing tree
a fluctuating rhythm
keeping me alive
a lively dance
with all the ladies
and the lords
a profound waltz
inscribed by me
I've broken into pieces
some separate part
for each new day
one token note
lifts me up
into the waking sky
the very next
I'm somewhere
far out
in the soaking sea
when I'm playing
a full wave of chords
it's the spoken key
describing me
I find myself
speaking notes
that sometimes
aren't all free
I'm leaving notes
some drawn on a wall
other singing notes
I'm leaving hanging
in the ringing air
bringing at times
those epic feelings
I'm like a caged bear
pacing back and forth
across a greasy floor
those unctuous notes
making bear fat ice cream
thinking too fat life
is full of strife
I just want
to escape hardship
find a path
that I can wander
where I'll be truly free
but that's a dream
I can only ponder
knowing full well
that time and circumstance
may never deliver
that ever precious
dancing key to me
beyond each stasis note
every chord I'm playing
far past equilibrium
those dominant songs
harmonizing in my heart and head
I know that ascendant life
is often upwardly singing
about the curving dead
so I always keep
walking as I'm praying
all those familiar vibrations
I'm always hearing and feeling
all those musical notes
constantly vibrating
through my brain and head
for posthumous now
in this sometimes humorous life
I assume I'm staying
one trying day
things will vie for change
maybe some crying day
I'll sigh when I wake
find I've woken deranged
I'll sound discordant
even though I'm playing
those once familiar notes
scribbled in familiar keys
I won't recognize myself
or those things I've said
my sky high dreams
may just become
nightmares
when I stir and wake
I may find myself
lost in the blithering dark
those times may be
where loathing will
find nobody
truly cares
there will be days and nights
when I'm completely
off the reframed mark
but still my untamed world
remains bright and leafy green
the night sky reminds me
that often I don't feel
anything but blue
at storied times
there is nothing
I can ever do
to make me see
where I've been
is an unworthy path I'm on
even though at times it is stark
when I'm feeling
quite lost
still at any cost
I have to remind myself
timely life is short
nothing ever lasts
in my selfish past
I've done what I can
sensing my deft refrains
often have been gifts
most fairly good
in my drifting dreams
I speak oaths to myself
do all those things
that maybe I never could
but dreams are dreams
sometimes there is no lifeboat
so I should continue
wearing my wooden coat
those notes that would resonate
leaving me eating pudding
knowing that I could float

                 * * *

 

this house of cards
our reckless lives have built
staring at those phones
forever grasped in sweaty hands
all those daily feckless events
that shape our petty world
everything today happens
beating the bloody band
when extraordinary actually occurs
we inevitably compare
all those crazy things
to some staged movie
that enraged digital film
compared and replayed as groovy
seriously displayed
upon that miniature
my phone screen
we feel betrayed
when taunting
bashing tweets
scream and yell
throughout the digital streets
acting out anonymous
trolls and haunting
raging on a fearsome tear
we're torn and feel forlorn
when social media isn't there
on our celebration days
when we feel
like we are let out
escaping for a moment
or at times
on long weekend engagements
released from our gilded cages
feeling like we are meant
have the utmost right
out in the public street
where people parade
drink and party into the night
kicking ass on that oh so familiar tirade
en masse needy people feel entitled
should selfish greedy intolerance
always make that right
what about our ready political sin
those misguided beliefs
we're so often immersed in
I'm watching that old 1975 movie 'Jaws'
I've been swimming there without pause
reminded by those beach scenes
only white skins are ever seen
besides that cruising grey shark fin
rich and white entitlement
that's what this world has been about
certainly not much has changed
maybe now the world
spins even more deranged
twist and shout
while people of every colour
madly dance about
whether you're president or chief
or just some homeless shmuck
stuck and mired in some drug filled street
money still rules the world
making wealthy ruler's
that top percentile of entitled elite
some think a loaded gun
held in their paranoid hand
wielding a forceful deadly shield
equalizes and makes the martial difference
entertaining a safe and level playing field
where everyone can equally excrete
all their internal rage and pent-up heat
now that July 1st has passed
now that July 4th has come at last
what is there to celebrate
should we celebrate
all these national failures
is there a rational flag
equally created bearing any shape or colour
are there people anywhere
waving about saving peace
save some noble street parade
entreating a truly compassionate feeling
where varied beliefs might even integrate
uniting countries everywhere
but we humans have failed miserably
star struck patriots should look in a mirror
realize they are part of their country's complete failure
so many compromised people are hungry
living in treachery and absolute fear
social failure is a modern reality
if we have eyes to see
those hordes of clenched upraised fists  
wrenching complicated days
entrenched both far and near
so many countries and nations
pathetically fail poor and average citizens
corporate law continually skews
new planetary decisions
the common view is derision
raw soulless business
screws the world over
mirroring demonic denizens
there's this domino effect
screwing the world over
spewing pollution and environmental degradation
not correcting things that demonize
that's not progressive education
not what good-hearted people
can honestly rationalize
no one would ever call correct
colonialism fascism racism
imperialism capitalism communism
these misguided isms erecting
every dangerous house of cards
when hurricanes spell out realistic ism
in real terms of relative humanism
people should wake up
realizing humanity is hard
greatness does not celebrate misguided ism
all those made up countries
made up doctrines people hail
which continue to superlatively fail
celebrating and parading
overcrowded stables
full of unstable and unreal egoism
if there is anything
we should celebrate
it should be stable and capable nature
since so far at least
some of providential nature has survived
beyond our careless reckless
heartless human greed and cataclysm

                            * * *

 

in the
rambling desert
there are
ambling dunes
that will
sing to you
infinite camels
will speak
definitive tongues
as the blessed
defining moon
comes out
redefining night
being poetic
a kinetic lover
your companion
when a burning
generous bush
passionately appears
if a serpent
slithers near
hissing prophecy
predictably flicking
a forked tongue
tasting tepid
night desert air
you'll know nothing
is certain
that burning
compassionate bush
rationally exhibiting
a mysterious marvel
a brilliant glow
may be light
an unmarked
irrational way
demand you
heedlessly follow
that serpent's
slithering trail
blatantly towards
morning's dawn
forward to
a yawning sea
black scorpions
shall fondly
proudly attack
challenging you
tawny sand dunes
will react
commanding you
even if
the starry sky
is sparkling
gleaming emerald
or radiantly blue
if you find
an orange oasis
that isn't
a velveteen mirage
but something
believably true
with fruiting
date palms
and a bubbling
refreshing spring
good God
will send you
certainly beyond
that able store
instruct you
somehow sail
across an unknown
fervent sea
before your
heart and soul
will ever
be truly free
before your
weary eyes
could ever
realize
that you are
remarkably
the same
as me
what if
every ocean
markedly turned
to sand
what if
every and all
continental land
intentionally turned
to dust
God must
want us to
eventually turn
to ochre
then red
a rusty must
with all
that dry
ancient sand
enveloping
our ambling souls
how far
can we
ever ramble
should we
amply speak
in ancient
foreign tongues
what if
all our
goats and horses
grew wings
suddenly
flew away
would God
wake us
from that
rueful dream
speak in flames
tell us
we aimlessly
just can't
gainfully stay
what if
that hissing
serpent stopped
to lick and taste
our very
anxious souls
that stinging scorpion
lead us to
a deserted mountain top
where exists
no desert
fruiting palms
or bubbling springs
where champion
winged demons
senselessly appear
sending us
to another
distant shore
more over
both heart and soul
is shackled
so we could
never be free
so we would
no matter
how clever
would never
clearly see
the light
surely know
what's right
never know
you are
the same
as me
would another
vast desert
appear to us
or would
the universe
suddenly dissolve
if rambling
sand dunes
can't resolve
this world
maybe Mars
is where
we all
should be
that finger
perfect entropy
of eternal God
a reaching hand
that divine
imagined creator
a sacred earth
this blessed innovator
wondrous and great
embarkation's negotiator
caringly revealing
some eternal fate
would remarkable heaven
unlock some golden gate
welcome us in
or would heaven's door
be securely closed
because we
this human species
could never
be compassionate enough
convince divinity
that we've been
good enough
rate well enough
to unlock
that shuttered
cosmic gate

         * * *

 

these roots
I feel
beneath my feet
anchoring
the whole of me
my very soul
to this bountiful spot
my heart and limbs
convincingly fixed
to what I've got
in this trim place
mixed by time
this betwixt space
where life rhymes
there is ample distance
consistently far beyond
insistent tumbling
but rumbling thunder
in one rhythmic instance
I woke to wonder
imagining what
that humbling view
might truly be
troubling too
without these
intrepid tangled roots
withholding me
without songs
suddenly without reason
void of this place
mangled images
yet respectfully true
without rights
painting the sorry sky
melancholy blue
vexed by so many
tainted fickle wrongs
such storied angles
without these
strong deep roots
I can't help
but wonder
how and why
this inept world
could exist
or would
this adept living
universe be
nothing more
than spilt milk
some existential mist
perhaps just a bit
of grimy murk
could needled trees
start new
a few leaf out
would wingless bees
ever or never
buzz about
I'm a deciduous one
inked and infused
midst a musing forest
my inkling thumb
bemusing humanity
these wrinkled digits
revealing some
flexed ideals
sometimes curled and rigid
indexing other
growing trees
not neglecting
pollinating bees
I've tried unfurling
raising anchor
navigating on
seeking some
or other
earthly spot
if uprooted life
is just a wandering plot
yet still vibrates and rhymes
somehow wearing
another cogent face
in some other
much less distant
sacred place
tear out
these shallow roots
escape if
we can
believe in
some other
spoken after plan
talk faithful man
walk about
tread another
vast unknown span
let us be
like our earth mother
let mature cones plummet
from this very summit
verily to the ready ground
spread viable seeds
look after
those lasting
various earthly
genetic needs
let the varied sea
birth upon
every alien
sandy shore
something
a rising
expansive tide
can't resist
or simply hide
convinced since
abiding seas
must float
uprooted trees
what trusting nature
lustfully seizes
rafts of beginnings
uplifted by divine stature
a constant sailing notion
navigating wherever
forever in motion
revising each and every ocean
yet venerably contented
advisedly attempting
as this redemptive world pleases

                    * * *

 

I just can't forget
the way you touched
my heart and soul
I know I talk too much
you couldn't help
but walk away
those wondrous days
we spent by the sea
all those nights
we made love together
under the brilliant moon
beneath a myriad of treasured stars
just you and me
unfazed by jealous Mars
I just won't ever
let all of you go
even though
so many days
have come and gone
since you left me grieving
leaving on that sad dawn
all those magic moments
when you kissed me
I passionately kissed you too
love just wouldn't
couldn't let us be

           * * *