October245, 2023
sitting on the back porch reflecting
times past - times present - and the
future sometimes as it may need to be,
we are curious and stubborn and full
of the hatred that caused our birth,
we are subtle and kind, especially to
the animals kept in our homes... a
day in the life goes as far as it needs
to go when the night gentle crushes
the light - we can no longer see that
which we want to see or that which
we need to see... hoping for more
but always expecting less, wondering
when the light will finally be gone
and we will rest forever in the ground
and have no more thoughts to share
or to ponder for the rest of eternity.
October 24, 2023
the universe like a fantasy streams
floats through the mind... the sum
total of all knowledge is contained
within that consciousness, available
to everyone that knows the key to
its entry... it is said that the geniuses
of old knew this key and partook of
its contents whether they understood
what they had is unknown and this
leaves the rest of us in a deep quandary
as to what will happen to us... those
of us who are not enlightened enough
to realize this cosmic consciousness
is floating around out there... it is not
an ignorance that we possess but a
lack of knowledge due to our location
in time and space and the juxtaposition
of those around us that may be blessed
with this understanding but have failed.
October 21, 2023
another day has almost died,
we are surrounded by death
and dying as this is the time
of year for that to happen...
winter kills the life that we
were accustomed to and we
do nothing in retaliation,
except stay inside to keep
our minds and bodies warm,
we are creatures of habit
without remorse as this form
of dying happens every year
and we do nothing to prevent
its ravages... dead plants, dead
trees and bushes and dead
animals who were not smart
enough to prepare for it all...
each year that we live we see
it all over again, remarking
in the same way and doing
nothing to prevent the next
year as if we are also impotent.
October 21, 2023
we slip through the night virtually
undetected... or so we thought...
miles and miles of dark eyes are
embedded in transparent dark walls
spying on our behavior... especially
since our curfew has been restored;
we slink this way and that way to
avoid being seen, wearing dark
clothes and trying not to smile...
over our eyes are night vision
goggles, stalking the enemy of
our enemy of our enemy... we
are vigilant, relentless, and to a
degree resolved in the notion
that we must win at all costs...
even when the mounting costs
take out more than we are giving;
no longer do our dark hearts beat
in dark senseless rhythms but
with a sense of helplessness at
the night that does not fight back.
October 20, 2023
like toy dogs on a leash... not really
dogs at all - just pretending to be...
we step inside the memories to gage
the temperature of our thoughts,
knowing that some may be discarded
in order to maintain the voracity of
others - these being those we think
are worth having in the sense of
exploring their potentially dark
passages, not to be confused with
dark matter or dark photons... we
invest just enough emotional energy
to get them flying high like kites
while at the same time, making sure
they are tethered properly to the
source of their origination... we
hold nothing to be self-evident,
except the manner in which we
are taught to perceive the world.
October 19, 2023
weaving in and around our forbidden thoughts
intermixing with our sexual fantasies and if
lucky enough will participate in some of them
from a visual point of view... journeys that
take us to foreign lands we saw in a picture
book or watched unfold on the screen of life
that so many believe is real... from the point
of view of reality based and nothing more...
journeys that we took in our dreams when
young and revisited at an older age and
experienced difficulties with what we saw,
and then there were journeys of a military
kind where we shot to keep from being
shot at... somewhat different than shooting
up or so I have been told... journeys that
were filled with rumors and innuendos of
a variety of types but mostly no good...
journeys of a type where we died and were
brought back to life for some reason that
today we have yet to fully understand or
even comprehend due to its end solutions,
October 17, 2023
falls short of expectations that were
made by makeshift inhabitants trying to
escape a makeshift world... one wrong
word and the thought police will take
you to their makeshift cells in the
basement of their makeshift stations;
the bottom drops out of the makeshift
sky and rain mixed with sleet and snow
falls on the makeshift ground... all the
wild animals hide in their makeshift
caves looking out at the craziness of
the makeshift society that tries to hunt
them down every spring... a notorious
groundhog sees his makeshift shadow
and returns to the cabin in which he
shares with his makeshift landlord...
the rest of us wonder who the artist
was who came up with all these so
unusual ideas and then decided to
put them down on canvas for all
to see and feast their eyes upon.
October 17, 2023
we sit in a chair of air
contemplating the end
of existence as if we
living somewhere and
seeing life for the first
time out of the womb...
we are caretakers of
emptiness, invaded dreams,
and broken promises but
we realign our sadness
whenever nowhere lives
since it moves around
like a vagabond, or a
nomad whose life is not
his own when in spirit
form... we know this to
be true a thousand times
we have seen similar and
not known the difference.
October 16, 2023
changing your thought to suit our purposes,
dressing in black robes to hide the truth
peeking into your thought as if our name was Tom;
slicing the night with our paranoia and
feeling no guilt in the process, making our
presence known to your caretakers...
we are the thought police and when your
thoughts extend beyond our reasonable limits
we enter and reprogram in such a way that
it is never known what we did... a perfect
plan of action that stretches from ear to ear,
infiltrating your senses like a pleasant smell.
October 15, 2023
when not in use and are placed
in the closet of unused thoughts
when not occupied... chains
of hope keep the chair in place
as memories are being reviewed,
fantasy tokens are paid if time
limits are exceeded... we require
no down payment for this service
since the government is no longer
monitoring our dreams... mental
chairs once filled with memories
now are stuffed with thoughts
that can no longer be traced back
to their sources... we are living
proof of that failure and bear
no malice to those who do not
think like us regardless of age.
October 15, 2023
to the left - to the right
blow baby blow...
light spots on the windows
are simply reflections of
the distant light from within,
thoughts stampede the mind
like an old wild west show
and I see the end before the
beginning has even started,
leaves turned upside down
await the rain that will knock
them off the branch before
they can quench their thirst
rain baby rain...
horseshoe road encircle the
village before the residents
can be warned and the winds
blow with a fury, unleashing
the unforsaken into their midst
without checking any passports.
October 14, 2023
gravity bends its fabric like a plumber
bending pipe... we owe our lives to the
cosmos of space just as surely as we
owe our souls to the godfather of time;
we search through the heaves for a sign
the death of a star or a growing black hole,
we see its expansion and wonder when
the end will reach around to the beginning
and life as we know it starts over... a
year or two from now perhaps or maybe
a millennia or two from now... who knows;
we search the stars for answers knowing
we have not the understanding... lost
humans in a lost universe, speculating
on the age of our ancestors and when
they arrived here and from where... we
seek answers but all we find is bending
light and the gravity that holds us here.
October 11, 2023
through the trees and its branches
through the bushes and it leaves
through the grasses and its weeds
as if marching to the gulf... we
sit inside our porches and our
sunrooms, protected from the
elements watching the changes
taking place every season and
all we can ponder is all the years
we have lost to foolishness...
the morning news reminds us of
the debt we owe each other as
parties struggle with each other's
consciousnesses as if they were
some kind of witch doctor casting
spells for the next four years...
The winds change every so often
blowing in opposite directions just
to see if we are going to notice.
October, 11, 2023
white embers in the middle
surrounds a reddish glow inside
corners of wood sit on the ground
waiting for their turn in the pot,
blue gray smoke blows with
the wind, igniting flames, we
huddle around as if we are colder
than we really are, using it as
an excuse to get close... swings
nearby move without passengers
its extended chains squeak as
the move around the screws,
the wood groans under its
weightless seat as one might
expect in space... our words
linger in the air with the hot
ashes that rise and fall, quickly
disappearing in the ground...
more words are offered and all
seem to fade away in the night
when our conversations turn
to politics and heat our bodies.
October 10, 2023
we cannot escape the barrier,
pass the barrier,
or remove the barrier,
we can only face the barrier
as our last official act
of being alive... that is to say,
in the sense that we understand
life in the way that we do...
that it must end; and, when it ends,
in the manner in which we
understand that it will end, we
evolve into something else...
something that is not the life
that we knew, nor is it the death
that we just experienced...
it is something far more profound,
something of which we do not
understand or comprehend...
that is to say that time ceases
to exist for us, if time was even
with us in the first place...
we age and develop and grow
and claim that is an example of time,
but is it time or just our evolution
that has no basis in time...
life just is until it is not...
and has no relationship with time
that does not continue when we die.
October 7, 2023
passes through me
unnoticed, leaving
no identifiable marks
once it changes my
perceptions of life
around me... light
turns in and around
inside me like soft
current on the surface
of a pond after a rock
skims across... light
feels it way around
inside like a surgeon
removing a cancer...
then the lungs and
heart are its victims
enters the bloodstream
and flows where it
wants to flow like a
tidal waves that hits
the shoreline of a
coastal village, not
expecting anyone
at all to live... light
gives me courage,
gives me reassurances,
gives me hope that
one day all of my
sins will be forgotten.
October 6, 2023
the season... not too hot and
not too cold, all extremes are
tolerable... we look inward
for guidance as outside seems
to defy the odds... no margin
of error, no inaccurate calculations,
and certainly no human flaws
can account for the situation
in which we find ourselves...
not wanting more and
not wanting less but satisfied
with what we have like a baby
with a pacifier... we stand mute
to all voices that say otherwise,
our kingdom has come and our
will has been done... we relish
in the fall of the year like it was
the first time experiencing...
and we thank the stars above
for giving us a day like this one.
September 30, 2023
of an earlier time
a distant times where life was
much different than it is now,
a time of innocence and fun
encouragements from friends,
a younger Carolina filled
with sunshine and waves,
salty air and sea breezes that
calmed a humid sleepless night,
a time where fear was unimaginable
and physical pain was impossible,
in my mind that time is reflected
and remembered when I gaze
around at the communities
without trees, without bushes
without leaves to rake and jump
into as if being a paratrooper
and landing on the ground...
a reflection of not just time lost
but values and integrity just as
sure as cutting down the cherry tree,
my mind is full of thoughts from
my younger years, reflecting on
times as if they were yesterday,
and like all who reflect backwards,
see a hopelessness with the task
since it will never return and life
will never be the same as known.
September 30, 2023
as close to me as she dares...
the heat from her body covers
my thoughts forcing them to
obey her will... she had dominion
over me this night, as she does
most every night when I reach
out to her for comfort... I am
wasted mentally and physically,
she dominates my kindness and
circumvents my weaknesses in
the hopes that our union will
create everlasting results... there
is no love mixed in with the
passion as we reach out to each
other, pulling our bodies closer
and closer as the evening passes
and we are buried by the light
of our transgressions, knowing
life holds no salvation for us.
September 28, 2023
sunroom of my mind as sleeping
animals curl up on cat trees
placed in the corners of the room,
mental shadows walk the streets
of thoughts that meander their
way around historical artifacts
sometimes called memories in
lieu of making new ones...
fantasies linger in the shadows
watching for movement and
any indication that their time
is about to happen... rolls of
discourse lay on the porcelain
floor like seashells on a beach
waiting to be snatched up by
throngs of tourists down from
their northern perches of blank
superiority... a morning cough
alerts us to the day and we begin
to clean up our latent appearance.
September 25, 2023
and many colors grows
alone atop a mountain,
it offers life to those who
stop and admire its beauty,
and death to those who
ignore its presence...
it is the tree of power and
greed and has too many
followers for it to serve
them all - picking and
choosing only those who
are deserving... it is a
tree of life and death as
is sworn to by those who
worship its abilities and
those who have perished
when trying to cut it down,
it is a monster tree of life
that gives more than it takes
hoping that one day, it will
have a chance to die and no
longer be life's interpreter.
September 24, 2023
like periwinkle, invading and
creeping around sleeping souls
in a vain attempt to influence
their dreams... magical fingers
play the darkness like a well-tuned
Stratovarius, lonely melodious
sounds stream out through the
dank, dark air winding and
intertwining with the devil's
enbibed a few hours before...
demons on crutches hobble
around like drunken sailors
in search of those who failed
to leave early... magpies howl
at the harvest moon, forcing
an illuminated darkness that
stifles all hidden persuasions as
the morning lays claim on all
who believed in its returning.
September 24, 2023
September 23, 2023
September 23, 2023
September 23, 2023
September 23, 2023
the side like a snake in Eden, turning
into a creek filled with tadpoles and
frogs once it reaches the valley proper,
fawns, squirrels, chipmunks and a few
rabbits drink from its brackish waters
early in the morning when they have
nothing but silence to comfort them,
hawks, buzzards, and a few crows
venture to the creekside during the
day when the sun is hidden by trees
and foliage of ferns and ground covers
that typically roam where moss lives,
dead leaves from previous years and
fallen dead branches lay on the ground
like a quilted comforter decaying and
providing homes for insects... dogwoods,
evergreens, birch, maple, and oak have
their roots firmly planted into the dirt
that is dark and rich but filled with ants,
a black bear occasionally walks by the
creek on its way to new hunting since he
no longer sleeps in his mountain cave,
not sure if it is spring or fall, those who
live nearby it will be cold or hot soon
their outside lives will end abruptly,
they will need to adapt like before.
September 22, 2023
its reflection on the wall altered by it,
on then off the lightbulb flashes, its
original position does not change...
counter measures are formed by
circumstance, and are unlike the
lightbulb yet they appear and they
disappear at will... we honor those
who have served with light and those
who have not with darkness... and, it
is the darkness they prefer, not wanting
to risk their lives for those who don't
care... discounts are given appropriately
to those who have stepped up but
unlike the lightbulb they never shine
or cast illumination on the life that is
all around them... they are creatures of
the night even though they have been
given light, wasting not the utilities
it would take to operate... they are a
strange breed these lightbulb receivers
as they have nowhere else to go now.
September 22, 2023
