~Nature~

Fides et Ratio

10 February 2006
Corpus Christi, Texas

We are an accident of Nature's whim,
With mind of convolutions creased so strange,
Mélange of senses formed like bouillabaisse,
Cognitive dissonance rules our brain's ways,—

We love gods that can act at distances,
Hurling lightning, spewing lava or hurt,
ICBM's our closest approach yet,
To that divinity that Heaven dwells,—

We struggle to let go animism,
Old lore that was so reassuring strong,
A consolation for we understood,
All God's intent for nature and for man,—

But no consoling credence lives here now,
It's time for us construe Nature again,
With symbiosis and ecology,—
Lest man's success become His final doom.​

 

They Can be Civilized

11 February 2006
Corpus Christi, Texas

Fierce Yanomamö feast, fart, fight and fuck;
While we try to convince them of their sin;
Thinking ourselves far removed from Eden,—
Foul rotting green vegetation stench,
Perfumed with urine-feces and wood burn;

We bring them Christ Redemptor for their souls,—
Two barreled shotguns for their hunt and war,—
For soon we'll have them proper civilized,
And they can hold a job to get women,
No longer will they have to 'club' for them;

Their children can all live to an old age,
For after epidemics ravage wide,
We'll give them medicines to cure their ills,
The infirm can come fill town hospitals,
Where they can die with professional care;

Soon each one a machete will possess,
And with steel axes will wild jungle claim,
Their rightful homes instead of palm leafed shacks,
No longer will the rain fall on their skins,—
Why we can even see a sewer built;

And, as for all that hallucinogen,
It's certain to have made them quite so fierce,
We can relieve stress with pink Prozac pills,
Or Valium or other quietive,—
Or they can learn to drink like civilized …

O,—you see, we have all the answers now,
No longer primitives we know it all,
We have a little book that tells us truth,
We have our science when Faith will not do;
And, as a last resort,—we have our guns.​

 

A Thousand Fireflies, Stars and Ladybugs

24 February 2006
Corpus Christi, Texas

Into one jar,

A universe of stars I'd bring,

If only lights,

Would spark a thousand children's smile,—

Or, black and red,

Filled with round friendly ladybugs,

Prickly small feet,

Should tickle hundred children's laugh,—

Sharp cricket song,

Wavering croon midst tall green grass,—

In summer's night,

As constellations revolve past,

Amazement's cry,—

For all God's wonders on this land.​

 

Without Doubts

24 March 2006
Corpus Christi, Texas

Decades that fell cascading easily,
Slipping careless from life's trellised vineyard,
Without noticing accumulation,
Piling silently beneath green broad leaves,
Days on days, and hours on hours,—now still lay,—

Memories, rich detritus for new earth,
Long ago lost sugary their flavor,
Bitter or angry they no longer taste,
Just deep red of iron and its blood smell,
Where new life has taken root and sprouts forth,—

Stretching upwards to sun's bright yellow hope,
With an aspiration that no doubts holds,
For endeavor consumes all heart's longing,
Energy unraveling life's pathway,—
Twisting patterns,—rising inside spirals.​

 

Momentum

25 March 2006
Corpus Christi, Texas

¿Big gun or fast car,—which is more deadly?
I'd say a car on any given day,
Momentum builds up and can only swerve,

Once at speed its direction has taken,
Like brown massive river surging to sea,
That once rivulet could not move boulders,

Now rolls mountains down to alluvium;
So two hearts form lightning from sky to earth,
That with intensity sears all in path,

An energy consuming and consumed,
A Eucharist of life that fate deems needs,
For its release and crash like meteor,—

Is in God's universe of form divine,
Black chaos that burning stars inhabit,
Before they Nova and burst in fireworks,

To dandelion seed new worlds and moons,
Where blooms can form dreams that an Eden make,—
Like love that struck its mortal collision.​

 

Approach

25 April 2006
Corpus Christi, Texas

Anticipated storm is readied for,
All our current affairs are fastened down,
Loose bits are brought together under tarp,
A temporary shelter for our things,
Usually floating disparately;

Candle flame rises straight on its wax wick,—
Even mosquitoes have taken refuge,
From sky's buffeting that will soon come down,—
Lightning ripping heaven's vault down black clouds,
Thundering to the drift dunes of life's shore;

As if all the sand's accumulation,
Was but brief prelude to storm's dispersion,
Foreshadowing our own mortal end,
With no more understanding than Nature,—
Force acting and reacting endlessly;

So we wait weighing each moist molecule,
Knowing that the invading horde soon comes,
With fury that will defy gravity,
Lifting all our plans and hopes past anchors,—
Cleansing earth and sky for new beginnings.​

 

Autumn's Refrains

8 May 2006
Corpus Christi, Texas

My age of lust has come and gone so quick
Now eyes can women see with loving care
Unlimited sly pleasure old age gives
Knowing where each stroke should go symphonic
To form a climax then a denouement

There's so much patience with so little time
All life's reversed translucent negative
Impressions long time formed now sudden leave
As autumn showers sprinkle earth moist cool
It matters little that soon all gold leaves

Will dry to tinder that will glow with fire
Razing black leafless trees once spawned their birth
That ashes may form newer layers rich
Upon which cycles of attraction may
Deposit new seeds that will bloom and grow​

 

Ancient This Dream

12 May 2006
Corpus Christi, Texas

¿Why is seashore's soul embedded secret?
Crown jewel sensed by heart's direct being,
Its susurrating sound creating dreams,
Upon which barks of joy can sail wide seas,
Among white gulls that glide upon breezes.

¿How can unfurling waves so mesmerize?
A mind grown jaded with modernity,
Their symbols older than man's grunts and scrawls,
Propel us backwards with their briny blood,
To a beginning that horizon grows.

¿Why do these gray sands come and go, then stay?
Accruing incremental like short days,
Along the interface at water's edge,
Where airy storms can shred with force hard rock,
Eroding firmness into finest grains.

So many years we lived along this shore,
That siren songs we grew to understand,
Now stranded on firm brown of earth above,
We long for blue-green heritage of old,
That fairy tale of Eden,—Atlantis.​

 

So Young Back Then

16 July 2006
Tannersville, NY

Not long ago she was the girl next door,
With pony tails and teeth not coming straight,
She'd take you to a patch of blueberries,

With innocence to delight in their blue,
Surrounded by a grove of sunlight ferns,—
In green Eden there was no furtive kiss,

It was a time of flowers and berries,
That endless flowed in games and make-belief,
With sun's full measure of yellow daylight,

As energy flowed forth in boundless play,—
So azure clear those eyes that gazed with joy,
Straight into soul unbound by fortress walls.​

 

Rain Storm Shallows

6 August 2006
Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic

It's grey and raining here in paradise,
Turquoise has faded to purple and wine-blue,
Yellow sands have dulled to tawny auburn,
And, every sound's augmented through moisture,—

We walk out to calm ocean for a swim,
The water's still, reflecting a grey-blue,—
Rag remnants of what once was a storm front,—
A sheet of rain comes moving from our right;

Advancing at a jog it reaches us,
Pelting skin with fast moving drops of cold,—
A tingling hard massage au naturel,
That ceases as we swim beneath the waves,—

Quick wind's motion picks up lots of wave chop,
No longer is there a smooth surface flat,
While shore's edge rapidly starts fogging far,
Behind a curtain drenching atmosphere,—

So we stop our advance towards wide sea,
As thunder booms ensonifying all,
Its booming traveling through water's veil,—
Deep bass's roll vibrating our bodies,

As we bob up and down as little corks,
Surrounded by sensations made by splash,
As primal sea caresses our smooth skin,
And lightning makes the chemistry of life.​

 

Innumerable

6 October 2006
Headingley, England

I cannot count the ones that now have turned,
From green to yellow bright and duller brown,
It's far beyond my slow capacity,
To with my mind alone calculate this,—

Enough to watch the clock tick seconds off,
While breezes jostle leaves to their downfall,
To form a layer new of earth beneath,
That will give rise to new trees glorious;

Yet, I know that a photograph captures,
That momentary number on branches,
& A computer scanning can discern,
With accuracy beyond mortal eyes,—
The count that once existed in a glance.​

 

Unwittingly

6 October 2006
Headingley, England

O we of sleek machines that fast move steel,
Inside of which little of touch we feel,
When our momentum something small does kill;

Though our intent is not a hit attempt,
We're driving quick 'cause something heart does tempt,
Then accident throws in something not dreamt;

A mistake from a creature on the road,
Even an amphibian like a toad,
Can leave us in a wreck that must be towed;

While our feelings at having mashed a beast,
Fly from disgust to sadness at the least,
& May even require seeing a priest;

Yet, more and more concrete is poured each day,
Despite anything anyone may say,
& Like a bullet we speed on our way;

Looking for a magic Eden's garden,
Where we can calmly sit and wits sharpen,—
& Innocent deaths never day sadden.​

 

Uranium Flowers

17 October 2006
Headingley, England

I bought 2 tall strands of chrysanthemums,
Yellow on the outer swirling petals,
Deep burgundy inside their rounded forms,
Much like this Fall that's turning all outside,

To Reds & Oranges words scarce describe;
Each moment of this chemistry of change,
A moment sacred in its dappled face,

With camouflage that shifts on day's quick pace,
Just like short life with all its memories,
Smooth change transcending what just went before,
With radioactive decomposition,—
Hourglass measuring each atom's tick.​

 

Barren in Autumn

12 November 2006
Headingley, England

The cloak of green I wore just yesterday,
Has fallen prey to winds of cold and grey,
Dismissive yellows and browns fill my form,
As each day bares to sky more branches twigged,—

It was in sun's more generous summer,
I could afford to bask and absorb heat,
Productive all earth's elements combined,
Inside my sap to make a fruit on seed;

But now as barren air surrounds my shape,
And sun a miser with time has become,
While cold moon and stars fill day with dusk's dark,
Life has become a dance so slow with pause;

As empty branches that once swayed with sails,
Now whistle as wind slices through their edge,
A root beseeching sky for spring to come,
For frozen earth no longer life sustains.​

 

Here Lies a Love in Tenderness

5 December 2006
Headingley, England

Etched as they were in tender memory,
-In loving remembrance of dearest one,-
Small words of poignant magnitude recall,
Warm feelings of a family Death stormed;

¿How can Heart not therefore small monument,
Attempt to raise above a grave so sad?
¿How can Soul not desire a marker strong,
To stark remind a passing Soul not grieved?

That here lived men & women & children,
With passions & desires so short fulfilled;
That here were buried families bereaved,
As disease raged incontrollable fates;

But nothing, not even End's permanence,
Could separate a mother from a child,
Or husband from a wife truly beloved,—
Since some mysteries of Heart transcend All.​

 

Riderless & Untamed

26 December 2006
Stuttgart, Germany

Black stallion rides through time on wingless hoofs,
Unshod, yet bearing scars of human hands,
Two ears will perk at baying of wild hounds,
Wide nostrils shun strong smells of walls and homes,

On moonless nights dark wind swift roams deserts,
Where open air breaks past all life's despair,
By day he'll gallop to water's demand,
Wild splatter and mud splashes in delight,

No stirrup or bit ever controlled him,
Whose motion pounds on earth unending hymn,
As rhythm's breath in lungs clear ether hums,
Vast herd or lone rider both he now shuns,

But once a girl with eyes of malachite,
With silk milk skin's touch would move darkened sky,
To quick roam arroyos and canyons wide,
As freedom flows when spring lets loose flash floods.​

 

Unseasonal This Time

3 February 2007
Headingley, England

A million blossoms will soon fall prey to
False Spring that fills day's hours with yellow sun
Unknowing that brief days of warmth early
Do not foretell dire cold that may soon come

For seasons have their time well circumscribed
As tides with moon flow back-and-forth each month
Incessant pendulum repeating strokes
As changes come in cycles without end

So illness follows health, and death all birth,
Without an effort or a care of sweat
As Zephyr blows from Winter into Spring
Eventually some flowers will take seed​

 

So Civilized are Ants as We

19 February 2007
Headingley, England

In Tartarus did Sisyphus toil long
For Hubris mortal in his trickery
An anguish permanent of toil and sweat
'Gainst gravity an endless rolling rock

Yet Myrmidons so tiny heave thrice hard
Their works wreathed caverns reaching into earth
Each one upon their back huge mountain weighs
With ceaseless effort constant slavery

Breathed scents sure guide and dominate dark ways
A life less vision chemical domain
Makes power when multiplied millions
To ravage forests with sharp mandibles

Or with a sting ferocious swell men's skin
Or with an acid strong melt rock to cave
Such little creatures in their multitude
So much that we as humans replicate​

 

Immortals in their Hubris

19 February 2007
Headingley, England

They live immortal Youth each day blindly,
For Age is what befalls somebody else,
The functioning of Time foreign to them,
Comes as strange surprise unexpectedly;

That hair should whiten & bones crumble down,
Is the sad Fate that other Mortals pay,
For an Existence not by Fortune blessed, —
But there's no turning back Entropy's frown;

Tidal force raising all Barks equally,
Towards new heights not anticipated,
Where some ships crash on shoals once barren rock,
While some slip moorings and float out to sea;

Leaving the Fleet in chaos & dismay,
Surrounded by flotsam & jetsam bits,
& Bloated corpses of unfortunates, —
From Death with her sharp scythe disconsolate.​

 

Galicia

15 March 2007
La Coruña, España

In this land always intermediary,
Where tulips bloom next to pomegranates,
Here wild Teutons met Arab hordes and clashed,
& Here Europa's bull bleeds in sand rings,
As man and beast fight till one lies in rouge;

There are no ancient forests that endured,
They lie a-rotting near some distant reef,
Or long ago gave up their carbon fires,
To heat a forge to smelt red iron ore,
Then form sharp blades to cut through earth or skin;

We've left and then returned to feel her sun,
We've gone into her depths and left our paints,
Abandoned our carcasses on her rock hills,
Yet still remain blue mountains with grey shrouds,
Upon which beat sun intermediary.​