Category Archives: 1, poem, poetry,

BACK THEN MACBETH

BACK THEN MACBETH

watched Shakespeare’s Macbeth
with all of my school class
back then in the sixties
marvellous setting: an outdoor
stage in a park.
surrounded by woods

and me in the front row
suddenly suprised by
my Jewish classmate
rushing up
to sit next to me
let me share her blanket

and so,
we watched the play
(later I would audition
at this same theatre
to join the cast, as an extra,
in Anthony and Cleopatra

later
as a student, and as an intrigued
observer of the authorship
controversy, would
take Shakespeare in
fat doses, not exactly
in quantities though
to take me up
to my ears

but then I thought
good things in woods, bad
things in
woods
   soldiers with tree branch
camouflage to peversely
help realize
hidden divine justice
at the heart
of evil prophecy

and as for Lynne
with her blanket
        she got me in her
school play, saw
her around at University

wondered about
magic and
evil
    and things beyond
human understanding,
re-defining the limits of
malignity and cruelty,
hatred of other
politics
   of pure power, fear
and revenge

a witches’ concoction
brewing away in
the dark
core of
    this darkness, deep heart
of the forest

I wonder now
what we all
of made of it, how it
shaped us
    in what ways we
too might think, dream
of murder,
         the grasping of power
believing
it is what we deserve

back then
Macbeth, for three solid hours,
prisoners of that imagination

WHO KNOWS

WHO KNOWS

who knows
what all humanity lost there
what lights to lead
us into the future
were extinguished?

little lives
    unlimited possibility
lost in one fell swoop

i cross the devastated lives
and, landscapes, burning
in the flames choking on
the smoke of war
watch and listen
       moving steathily from
video to
video

hear that this
is all about force-feeding
the world the need
to express deliver
the fulfilment
of prophecy
            arcane mish-mash
of ancient promise, necessary
alignment,
   second coming and
those of exclusive,
brutal faith

sheep and goats, meek
and, powerful
         those who hear themselves
called and
those who
      believe what the heart
cannot but feel

so here we are
with Mary, and her last
tattered gospel

telling us what it is
that
     in this dark, dark
world

keeps
     the connection, keeps
us
    knowing
who, what we really are

in essence,
despite everything
          

NEW YORK HAIKU

NEW YORK HAIKU

twenty two years
since was
in Manhattan
since then been
working ceaselessly
on writing
my New York
haiku

nothing bridge and tunnel
something right
out the island
one
hundred
percent city

figure
    a year for each
syllable, a decade
for revision

forgetting about everything
extraneous, in
no way conducive
to the
realization of
the dream
I am chasing

the final
stroke of
my pen
distilling
everything  

AT THE PODIUM

AT THE PODIUM

I talk big
at the podium

for I
have stealth
I have wings

radar guided
and direction findered
I cruise up
onto the stage

explain
that this is war
victory is everything
there are
no laws or
rules

blitz through
everything with
shock and awe
never
seen before

no need for
tactics, intelligence
or strategy

just missiles bullets,
bombs until
we have
exhausted our
stockpiles
busted our store

At the podium
I talk big
look warrior
no one
could be bigger
no one could have more

ABUNDANCE

ABUNDANCE

waiting for something
to reach me
bending over backwards
to get close to light speed

nothing ruffles
gets under my skin

I start to forget
what day
it is
what the names
of the days are

whether I was born
in the year of the microwave
or year of the washing machine

too many levels
my brain fuming
maybe
it is heat
death out there

those gray cells
running low on oxygen
checking my anguished
protein levels
starved of everything

whilst if I remember effectively
we were promised energy
and abundance

the very idea seems
so out of synch now
could kill
to have
this all reframed

SOUL MATE

SOUL MATE

you asked me if
I were still
looking
for my soul mate

in turn, I enquired
about your ideal lover
and how you
would recognize this
from how
he made love to you

suggesting what I felt
on this score
providing you with
an admittedly limited
graphical illustration

which seemed
to spark something
all cylinders firing
beyond my expectations

as you rushed off
at top speed
to search for a soulmate
to match these criteria

ready
to scour the planet looking
for the rest
of your life
if needs be