poem poetry – Page 6 – poems 2 die for

BREATHE

how do you
deal with what is
ingrained?

chisel
you way out

and now
(as this metaphor
works itself out)
find a
space

in which
to breathe

RUIN smooth so smooth we aiming at connection, continuity, threading stars together but across that ancient sea another Troy is burning a people scattered a tale to be told a tale of legend a tragic tale where the gods stood idle those that did not brutally interfere so smooth in this moment of possession and yet we thinking cannot help but think of all that we know of this civilization stacked with heritage and yet centred on all that defines us in these myths and legends of Troy and Carthage Alexandria and the Levant ploughed under, erased by the victors we seek out that history from the depths of their ruin so smooth so smooth the stars that brought us here

NO EASY MEASURE

NO EASY MEASURE

there are many ways
to start a poem
maybe an image, a theme
a rhythm
bouncing
around in your head
snake-like
rasp of word

many ways too,
to enter a poem
linear or
non-linear
syntactic
or symbolic

feeling your way
set to full tactile

or up
for helicopter shot
to view
as mosaic
put
everything
in perspective

then
fill in the detail
induced, deduced
seduced
at your pleasure

although
linger on
this thought
if you will, let us dissect
this
dark treasure

only
fair to point out,

to leave a poem, however,
(speaking
of seduction)
is no
easy measure

here is the poem
here is we are
unexpectedly
together

not so many ways down
from that height
this height,
routes
out of the labyrinth
this
labyrinth

safe and
without cost

hardly enough
to count on the
fingers
of one hand

so many surrendered
to the poem, dissolved,
got
absorbed by
poetry

something about
the beauty
of this python still
to comprehend

as it
closes the circle
you now mine forever

CORE VALUES

CORE VALUES Yes I know about your core values saw them on display the good the bad and the ugly in that film about the List.

FOR HUMANITY

FOR HUMANITY would like to thank you for what you have done for rationality thank you profusely for what you have done for the truth above all, thank you for what you have done for human decency and humanity but for what you have done for God I think best to leave it to Him to thank you Himself

CHUTE

if we were
aligned skew
during manufacture

and so conjure up
a monstrously concocted version
of original divine image

what hope is there
for us to unentangle

the moment of beauty
is exalted
but passing

no sooner gone than
plunged headlong again

into
theme of survival

Ah, the cycle:

flameout,
parachute

rip cord
again failing

nothing to steer you clear
you clear of those onrushing rocks

about
to hit you at terminal velocity

all I can do
for you: this
song of regret

MERELY

MERELY

chill!

it’s just
a poem
will go

the way of all things

not as if
in this or other simulation

you are playing white
against a dozen black mambas

or
at thirty seconds
trying to out-think, out-run
scorpions galore

outpoint everything that
threatens to make a meal of you

get out of jail
stairway yourself to
Heaven free

over the chaos of life
exercise
sole monopoly

so
chill!
just chill!

it’s just a poem, merely,
will get recycled

we all
get recycled

is the very nature
of the game

NOT TO CONCERN

NOT TO CONCERN

mystery planes, crazy
ambiguous figures
suspect characters

appearing and disappearing
popping in
and out of existence

later we shall be told
move on
move
on

nothing to see here
nothing of interest

do not concern yourself
what you are looking for
is at best
speculation, figment
of your imagination

how can there be
a story to uncover
an
astounding narrative

no words were ever
spoken about such things

in every dimension of
space and time

these are phenomena
that never existed

SLURP

SLURP

I drink your
strawberry
chocolate
salted caramel
hazelnut
even
vanilla milkshake

slurp your sarcasm
as if
it were melting ice-cream

munch your foaming banana
fudge

as if
it were
direct from drug store spigot

sweet Vesuvius, blessed
Krakatoa

fallen
like hot manna
into my lap

swirling like
a spiral nebula in the
machine of your receptacle

thoughts
of cosmic body horror
subsumed by the

rush of your
sudden pink
flamingo
sugar

treacle and absinthe.

TO BE FAIR (BUBBLE)

TO BE FAIR (BUBBLE)

to be fair
not right to condemn you
just so

change your landscape
alter a few
dimensions
can get you

to believe anything
Nietzsche has, I believe,
a clear advantage over Socrates
in sticking with this

caught in your context
lacking the acumen to escape,
or height to
see over the parapet

soon your environment surrounding
you like a hemisphere, a sphere,
a bubble
and that, in truth,
is your whole world

and my world too, and all
our worlds if you had any say in it

not for not speaking and coercing
have you failed in that regard

                 still it sometimes looks
almost pretty, though, observing
from the outside how
        light refracts within
                        your bubble