poetry

My hunger is more red and blue.
More holiness craving passion.
More core to me than your imposing
Dark-kindness and darker-laws.

And were the rolling hills of Kent
seaward through
boughs on roads well bent
to cross the slender shoulder
that separates
Calais and Dover.
Attuned the ear
to blades of grass
listening
afar from spires
stained glass
glistening
There between
my heart and fears
There among
my thoughts and tears
Straying cautiously
Still unseen
‘Cross Augustine’s stone portal I went.
Cathedral of Canterbury

Dr. Thompkinson sat at his highly polished oak
and emerald leather studded library desk
reading a hand written note
from the Patient in Room 23
of the Secure Ward at Block Six.
‘From the dirty gutter of a fractured mind,
up out of the ashes of a childhood digging graves,
escaping the derelict dockside of a vinegar-pumping heart…
I shall riSE UP and take back dominion of my soul.
Untwist my fate, unfearful of consequences or surprizes…
for I have sunk as low as spirits go, and then some.

i.
there is a deafening quiet
in the stillness of the park
it is hollow without you
out of habit I strain my eyes
to focus on the row of trees
as I walk back from the station
or catch myself looking out the window
for the 19th time hoping to spot
your brown childish frame
Buangkok boy.
Kang kang.
you brought us together
to save a life, yours
but really you saved me
ii.
it is hard to grief in a manicured city without a heart

Enlightenment
is the grass stain
on your white pants
when you fall hard
but come to find
that you landed
in a fresh patch
of lucky clovers.
Paint me every angle
of evolution
in a spectrum of green
more electric
than what these weary eyes have seen.
Awareness
is the kick
in your throat
when you learn
how to choke
and cough up
black cancer
in waves.
Sing to me
across the seven seas
in triple threes
as blue aces
rise with a roaring tide.

Springtime in the greening desert,
a genesis of rattlesnakes.
Cholla burrs drop to rocky ground,
hatch into mad tarantulas.
Old desert rats plant lies in spring,
“They spray acid, digest you from
fifty feet. That’s why bones shine
so good in desert sun.”
We are collecting specimens,
lift a few sharp rocks,
herd a lone scorpion slowly,
sloppily into a paper cup.
“They can go 90 miles an hour.
One of these little ones can kill
a bear. Big scorpion year wiped
out all the mammoths in these parts.”

Born beside water
Thrown into it to float,
Grew up, a fish
Survival, inside it.
Born in the shanty
Bred in the slum,
Suffering in the ghetto
Drowning in the island.
No boat, no ship
No bridge, no border
Toxic waste, gaseous water
Muddy water, moody life.
Rains wash the farms
Floods sweep the shelters,
Rivers overflow their banks
Tragedy booming the doom,
Aquatic land, dead people.

“…the greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return…”
‘Nature Boy’ by Eden Ahbez
Jet black gondola
glides across the resting lake
to Bata drumming dock,
African ritual;
Double rainbow of
Family and friends,
Connect like braided bread,
Waiting to share coconut,
white chocolate, lemon zest treat—
Our seven hour chat
“covering everything
from Ellington to
Engels…” earned Us…
Steamed tears stream on
Bent notes of
“The Nearness of You”

Split atoms convey
the fission of social
architecture
Stratified in
a swirl of rudimentary
logarithms
Psychosocial
trembling
gives birth
The children
of the apocalypse run freely
on hooved legs
Baphomet laughs
causing blood
to pour forth from mouths
of Seraphim

It starts with division
'We' the majority all powerful against fewer 'you'
righteous in our indignation against your beliefs
and much aggrieved by your actions
even if there is no evidence of your actually doing it
your caste or religion is enough
to multiply our aversion
your name alone aggravates us
your beards, caps or turbans are dead giveaway
that you don't belong here