life – Page 4 – Poétique

Behalf

He stopped playing the piano
But he hadn’t forgotten how to
He stopped riding his bicycle
But he still knew where it was
He forgot to meditate
But he remembered how to return
The path had changed
In the care of his keep
He was busy with life
And the challenges of it all
But he recalled the days
When doing all of these things

Meant something

To be the linchpin
Of ourselves holding the edifice
Together so as not to crumble
Explode or fall apart

Yellow leaves turned up
After the solstice was strolling past
Muddy tiles to witness inner strengths
Washed over and over to reveal
Connection and a use for time
Sliding down the fault of
Memories we attempt to get away from
Churning through the vast nature
If ostensibility is to overwhelm
To congregate in the belly of burden

When to bite and when to chew
Basic principles that should
Involuntarily teach us that
Enough is enough and that
We did all we can do

It’s a beautiful thing
Not to be through with our bodies
But to wake up in said vessels
Alive and renewed
All of our arms and legs
Working and if even only a few limbs
There’s still life in you yet
Old man

Jellyfish

He bent over and heard a phone
Ring in his throat, oh well
Seems natural in the digital age
He said as he pulled his socks on
To prepare for the day ahead
Just keep thinking about how
We’re not dead until we’re dead
So they can keep throwing
Opportunities at you and then
Rip them away it’s just a game
To the big wigs but for the little people
Down here in tiny town it’s everything
We’re all just pretending that we
Have enough to get by feeling like
We’re doing something paying our part
Catching up at the end of the month
Adding to the money pie and still
Can’t help but think it doesn’t matter
Until your chalk full of lead or
Formaldehyde full of dead so we
Just keep moving and living along
Even if it means we encounter
Foot songs of grief dirges of bereft
With nothing left but tears and torn
Blankets our teeth crumbling out
Eventually if you’re not up for maintaining
That’s the end of the route
So the maintainers put their capes on
Pay their nickels at the end of the month
Throw money into programs of
Insurance that never pay off
Of course we don’t want them to
And then look for the crown at the
End of the year! You did it! You survived!
Here here! Applause! Let’s all cheer!
Barely able to stand up
You’ve been sharing your cup
With the world and the gold is
Still empty in your bucket
But you’ll resiliently say
Chuck it up to another
Shrimp on the barbie
We made it thus far; you’re a star!
You can keep going, you know it
I wonder what it’s like
To be a jellyfish

Candlelight

Dressed to impress
Let the mood soften this
Candlelight lit by the darkness
Ups and downs keep us
Spinning round knit to the
Unknown words on the tongue
Never heard or text before
Emotional suggestions of
Whole heart palpitations
Coming out from every pore
No way to really stop it the…
Want to be the complete self
In the moment but also look back
And realize how much of
It is high volume light vibration
The relief comes in waves
Whatever direction from nothingness
More passion when sharing the
Exact story saying the truth
So much more full than
Half moon coming in full sun
It’s certainly more memorable
That way even when the
Glowing is dimming

One

Just going through the motions
Sometimes that’s all you need
Maybe we do it and don’t know it
When he was particularly aware of it
He felt strange realizing that he
Was always doing it naturally before
But now it felt forced necessarily
Waiting for the light to change
Sometimes just running through it
Do we follow every rule and fail
Or are these simply guidelines
Oak trees and moss continue on
Creeping in rain like patterns
Mystical fens flowing on trees
And the random birds chirping
In the air relief from the cold hard
Winter that was approaching briefly
Before it arrived we all stood around
A fire and laughed about the
Doldrums of the past year
A Native American song was
Shaking the background and
He recalled how to be strong
Again but it was for himself this time
He was out of practice because
He was always doing it for others
Going through the motions
Reiterating structure
Humming in the us factor
Problematically difficult
When he was humming again
For one yet both sides of him
Stood ready for two of what becomes

Choice

Grab a random hat
On your way out the door
Can we be happy in the momentary
Bliss of anythingness

Untreasured acceptance of
Being someone’s number one
Proud to be there for them
And one day wake up startlingly
To their absence without any
Why for explanation; gone

Choices were made for you
Who we become is exactly that
Even before we are exiting the womb
Of transitive existence
Thoughts on who you are to become
What great things you will do
Born into the disability
To disappoint the expectations
Of the choices designed for you

As he contemplated the coldness
Of it all there was more than
An empty reminder beating
At the core of his agenda

This is your opportunity to jump
This is how you choose
Not for someone else
But for you

A tale told of folks long ago
Saying,
‘You can choose the life you want.’
In many ways we do
And in many ways he did
Of the available options
To his character

Where was the warning?
That there will be many opposing forces
When will the playbook arrive
Condoning the unrelenting
Unrequested actions happening
Upon us as we eschew them into
Gifts for our benefit
Twisting scripts

One mentor said,
‘You will have everything you need,
to get through the life you will lead.’
And believing he was capable
He made the choice to believe

Another guide said,
‘It’s going to be really good.’
And in his head that was enough
To look forward to
To get him out of bed

Again choices would be made
And how frigid could we all stand it
How many nicks at our chins
Could we take
How many knocks at the door
Till we break
How many smiles would be left
For us to fake

Is there a number for that?

As the light dressed the day
And the night went to sleep
He stood up from his slumber
Of counting tie dyed sheep
In the movie theater of his mind
And chose to breathe again
Another day involuntarily

Contemplating the fantasy
Of the life he’d one day leave
To begin the choice of such a life
He’d yet conceived

Mechanics

He was more than just a piston
Brain control seeping in trying to
Creep into his mind what’s the reward
To be eighty years old and prove
“I too can be a hard nose!”
(He exclaimed)
Whoopee.

Life is so condensed fitting
Our parts into smaller and smaller
Shapes and sizes to accommodate
Our lives into finite dimensions we
Float away and around
What brings us back on track?

In the order of all belongings
Tallying before we lay
Beneath the red marbled stone
That reminds everyone who we were
Do they drink tea in our absence?

What is it to be nineteen again
Learning the world before we knew
Anything grasping at love like
We were running out of air
And knowing almost nothing
Except for how to get from
Here to there
Oh and…
How to make out with a pear
I remember having no clue about
How to pick one out the Bosc is
A true delight in which one should
Have a romantic affair
Lips curled around
Delicious juices filling his mouth

But that was college and now
The ground is thirsty again for
Knowledge and experience
Getting out….

He was doing the work to remember
A recompense for painting instead of work

Raised in a jerkwater town
Moving away was like holding ground
In a place where culture was hidden
Until he lifted the lid one thousand
Four hundred and ninety-two miles away

And the incense was different
The smell of the future unlimited to his
Slippery imagination

A train car is running only a foot away
What’s under the hood?

Ducks

He was forgetting because
Change was pretty stupid
After finding the formula
And being perpetually bad at math

No one stopped to ask him
How things were coming along
Everything looked so put together
Peering in from the outside
There was no need to wonder
If it was working just how he did it

Maintaining a smile while
Keeping the peace he had
Perfected his ability to find reverie
Stepping around, not beyond bounds
As well careful not to mince words

No more questions to others
About how people end up so guarded
Now that he was older the reason
Made presently obvious
Yawning was even a pleasure

He could see the grass crawling
Up in between the cracks of the sidewalk
It felt like nature was winning
In some way though the human intrusion
Was grossly apparent

No lobbying for amnesty
Just a brush on a canvas
Chatter from any bird
A duck’s quackery
Could answer his call
In the lifelike pond he faired

Hopscotch

Wake up and the point is moot
What a relief no need to harp
Or uproot any more of that
Ridiculously obstinate tumbling

Found a rock in the street
I’m convinced that it’s magical
Powers will carry me through
The rest of the week rain or shine

Hopscotch chalk is melting
On the sidewalk underneath
What’s left of the pale green
Tree moss and pine cones
Rolling around like the neighbors
Kids did late summer

Winter is bringing a peaceful
Blanket to cover the chaos
Of people shouting obscenities
One more concert of roses left
To behold a chorus of color
Emboldened by their last
Opportunities to celebrate romance

Squirrels hanging upside down
Like bats in trees for the remaining nuts
The neighbors dog is still barking
Fixated on the possibilities
Of something’s to come apparently

A toast for tomorrow’s unpredictability
A magic punch for everyone to drink
I love the way the traffic lights reflect
After a downpour in the asphalt streets

No one likes the construction
Holding up everything especially
After a good nights sleep

Blue Snake

Blue snake you are sweet
You are like my dog I carry you
With me everywhere you are
Not dangerous although people
Fear you I warn them that it is ok
With a smile you search around to
Investigate from my pocket and my
Hand still trying to stretch away from
Me your neck gets smaller and smaller
Thinner and thinner but I don’t want
You to leave back into my pocket
You go and then I search around
And you are detached you have
Become a blue rope and twine
Where is my pet! Where is my snake!
Now you are red and not so long
Squirming a bit around like a bent stick
Of dynamite but still soft finding now
Who you are figuring out what you’ve
Become and I carry you away
And I carry you home to continue to play
And I am out in the field with a peachy
White colored dog who is happy to fetch
I am hitting the eaten up tennis balls
Now some of them only rubber
Throw them into the air for you to
Catch and the timing is everything
As I toss them up and bat them out
And the day is warm and the sun
Is bright and the lawn is luxuriously green
And the two men on the grass sitting
In chairs aside from me in sunglasses say
You’ll probably hit your target
If you just swing

What do you mean? Blindly I swing