ZITHER

zither was what I used to strum
and trombone too
could crank a
tune out of

but all got exchanged
traded for bone bagpipe
at the local
           flea market

and yes, feel I got cheated
I definitely do

bought and sold way
below
     true value like
a cracked Grecian urn

down to thing of singld string
which I can pluck for all I’m worth

but no way its going
     to replace Paganini
                    or be up there
with Hendrix

poets and guitar heroes
       naturally enough seem
to
    incline towards
    early graves

EXCHANGE

EXCHANGE

We thought the goddess
was here incarnate
to impart her blessing

we thought Aphrodite
but it was
time of Kali

wrong mythology, wrong
about everything

and you
hot-stove focused
when
I made my move

the chemistry I thought alchemy
much, much mistaken
this
kitchen stuff, basic
premise of our evolutionary trail

exchange of fluids, no
noble elements, grubby
hydrocarbons

no catalyst here for
transubstantiation
trans-
formation of the real

and we, after the greedy, grasping

clamour of our exchange

left wondering
where we were heading
praying
we not taking
our Universe, the Universe
along with us
for some dark ride

and Kali’s dark eyes filling
with the light that is
her darkness

needing
our little, paltry,
insignificant dance

to spur her upon
her cosmic charge.

WAYSIDE

WAYSIDE

Not a doubt
my script is being written
by a severe Russian novelist

giving me really poor lines
a Dostoevsky life

this piece here
being pretty prime example

poem, if that’s what
you can call it
falling
quite by the wayside

and me
wandering through life
seemingly without an arc
let alone
driven by quest, on
pilgrimage

following
the flow (if flow it is) of
words
wherever they go,
wherever they take me

with what false promise,
fatal lure
ot gnosis, wisdom.
sublimation

revelation
that I am no one’s fool,
no one’s text,
no one’s flawed or
anti-
hero, character-whatever

puppet told
to prance
and then put back
in the box

ECLIPSE

ECLIPSE

got kissed
by an eclipse

full
on the lips

nothing sensual:
something industrial
about the sound
of those
suckers locking
or truly confrontational
like the clash
of contending blades

and you
in your headset
oblivious to my
life-and-death love battle

having zoned yourself out
of the untidy range
of all the ambient
swirling noise
and feedback

waiting for the light, the
total light taking
too long
about its dawning

waiting
for new
colours,
different darkness

still
same old old playing
play
rewind
play rewind
the

tunes of our time
tunes of our time

GALAXY

GALAXY

Ah, yes, Professor,
that Gutenberg Galaxy!

first only one Church;
and now
everywhere a church
far as the eye can see
a billion church communities

religion
is booming
Jesus is booming, dividing
and subdividing
splendidly proliferating

first there was one text
now there are many texts

once many
texts, many libraries

but now, when it
comes to libraries
business is
on
a downturn

we are down
to our last one