Posts for June 15, 2016 (page 2)

maybe it’s because you
caught me
off guard  

maybe it’s just that
the sight of your bare
ass in the moonlight
makes me want to do things
to you
i’m not sure whether or not
to be ashamed of  

maybe it’s because the sun
and dark clouds must coexist
to weather the world  

maybe the reason is
the aesthetic pleasure
derived from the placement
of your freckles
is my main proof
that God is real  

maybe it’s because you think ads
are a perfectly respectable form of art
and opposites attract  

maybe it’s because your skin
is smoother than Sade
on the back porch in summer rain  

maybe it’s because
love is more primal
than I wanted it to be  

maybe we’re just crazy
enough to find love
wedged between the cracks
in a ground we never thought
we’d be interested enough
to cross

Robbed of peace and comfort
The mistake was to allow
A deflated brain to govern action
Thus creating a cyclone of regret

It doesn’t take a lot of effort
To only focus on the now
Attain a distant satisfaction
Possibly quite suspect

Now the wounded and the hurt
Will learn to move on somehow
As an almost defeated faction
That would rather just forget

With another shovelful of dirt
Waterfalls of sweat swept from the brow
Basic human strength gives traction
These appalling evils, we can never forget.

Emerald shores, glisten 
no smiles on her today
Warm breeze, waves crash, lost 

Insomnia stinks
decaying worries
Freshly delivered hell steams
steals peace from spirit

Creativity
beckons courtesy
Immersed in nostalgic times
old photos need voice

Cropping, editing
correcting scratches
Smoothing rough edges takes time
hours tick silently

6AM sneaks up
tired, worn, accomplished
Seven brilliant collages
shine through suffering

Sly thief in darkness
chased away by art
Courage, tender loving care
transforms pain to peace

Pillow fluff cradles
hard-earned exhaustion
Negative thoughts hushed for now
aromatic sleep

49 spirits released into the universe
untimely
unready
unaware
unexpected

how many arms were left behind
that will never again feel 49 hearts beating 
how many eyes that will never again
see 49 mouths smiling
how many cries pouring out into the universe 
how many hearts unable to bear the weight
of a pain that has no words to describe

how many more times must we be a witness
to the hate
and the horror

how many

I don’t care about your religion.
   (I take that back)
I care exactly as much about yours as you care about mine  
    (uh-oh)
Here’s mine:
Einstein proved there was God in 1905
Only I know
   (Not even he understood)
Now you will, too
The proof is the quanta
   (but he didn’t call it that)
Irreducible energy packet
Discreet
   (energy equals mass times God’s Constant squared)                                                                                                             (speed of light)
God’s Artifact
    (It doesn’t matter how the packet was created)
   (the big bang is irrelevant)
But I could be wrong
  (end of mine)
Notice the big difference between mine and yours
   (I could be wrong)  

Everyone has a Godplay running in their head
   Please God, If I
         a)      Don’t get fired
         b)     Don’t get AIDS
         c)      Make it to Pittsburgh
         d)     Find she loves me
         e)     Just get out of this
         f)       Don’t die here

   And I
        a)      Toe this line
        b)     Perform this ritual
        c)      Make this sacrifice
        d)     Kill these people  

   You will
       a)      Save me
       b)     Provide eternal paradise
       c)      Cough up the 72 virgins
       d)     Let me come back as a vulture

   I will
       a)      Never do it again
       b)     Love You
       c)      Worship You

I do, too
Even though I look with open eyes and know that God doesn’t care about me
   (ask the fly in the web)
   (ask the pig on your plate)
I’m not even sure God cares about life
   (We might be contaminating Its’ experiment)
But I don’t believe that
Compete
Eat
   (Darwin’s genius)
How else did we come to perceive this beauty?
   (this horror)
My granddaughter will probably have to become a cyborg
   (compete, eat)
Biology manipulated to accept silicon intelligence
Luckily, her offspring will be made without that pain
   (horribly)     (bird genes increase neuron density)
   (hyena genes to keep thin)
          (compete, eat)
Unless that repressive philosophy wins
   (two choices proving God doesn’t care about me)
       (and lending credence to our being a virus in It’s system) 

Name your demons,
call them out
and they shall have no power
over you.

Poem 15, June 15

Chester Johnson, Poem Seven  

I can’t begin to tell you

how much strength our military showed

for the signing occasion.

Maybe that picture up there on the wall

will give you a way

to judge the importance of the event

that was unfolding before my eyes.  

bodisatvas

and desperados lined up

at the bus stop

wheelchairs on the sidewalk

waiting for nothing

Our family vacation (travel hacked by our daughter)
included driving down a gravel path, playing parts in
a comedic mystery, Scandal in the House of Cards,
a day of penguins, sea lions,
and dolphins at the Georgia Aquarium,
and steampunk: Cirque de Soleil and the Cabinet of Curiosities.

When I was half her age, I would drive my father crazy with questions
beginning with “I wonder why . . .?” The Wonder Questions
in The Book of Knowledge were my favorite. Living
in my head was my ticket to exploring the world.

As a child, she responded to the world with “It’s a mystery!”
Now when I confront the wondrous, it exhausts me.