Dream Time

                                                                     

Last night

I tried my best

to kill myself.

I was in a brightly lit gymnasium

empty except for a cot, a stool,

and a white coffee mug.

I drank whatever

was in the white mug

laid down on the cot

slipped away and came back.

A stronger dose was needed

so I got up, walked over to the stool

and drank out of the same white cup

expecting a “better” result.

The second time I came to

counselors – older women in black –

had arrived and were talking amongst themselves.

A friend

(ask and I’ll tell, otherwise protecting the innocent)

ushered me out of the gym

and into his pickup.

He drove me to a gun shop

to try an ice-cream sundae

made out of snakes.

He was sure that

would

          snap me out of it.

Maybe it did.

RW

Guanajuato, Mex

01.29.2020

(photo:  storenvy.com)

GUANAJUATO 2

for Fer Garcia

A world tree

growing from

deepest soil

reaches down

through blood

and minerals

reaches

into

bodies

kings

priests

invaders

artists

miners

workers

more than

we will ever

know

reaches up

through all the same

uniting

sentient eons with light years.

We lean against

centuries of stone

as eagle & serpent

scream dance ignite the air

crash against iron bells.

The cantador

softens the night

with love songs.

RW

Guanajuato, Mes

01.24.202

GUANAJUATO

       

          

(for Ana Cervantes)

Guanajuato

rests on silver & blood

Ancient and stone buildings

hold it in place

In the plaza

small explosions

remind us we’re awake

bell tones fly like darts

prompting souls back to

Christ’s heart and the Virgins womb

In all the Churches of Ancient Voices

          (las Iglesias de Voces Antiguas)

prayers are like smoke

rising into the baroque

gilding ceilings and walls

Grandmothers’ know

it’s breath that matters

because breath will carry them away

If Guanajuato could weep

pastels would flow

as streams and waterfalls

streets would run rainbows

We would drink color

and to spite heaven

we would be happy on earth.

RW

GTO, Mex

01.18.2020

DREAD

Dread has taken up residence

in my never placid imagination

as if the next conflagration

were coming for me and I’m running

from dream-terror getting nowhere.

At my trial

the jury box is packed

with kangaroos, koalas

and crippled veterans of foreign wars

my defense’s mouth is sealed

with that ever useful petroleum product

duct tape

melting into her throat.

The charge is Ecocide

our greatest absurdity

the garden we’ve made into a shit-hole has become a fire pit

and we’re stockpiling

batteries

bullets

and bibles.

Oh say can you see clearly now the day has come bursting air red glare tattered cloth inverted hung out to dry in the Australian bush that’s everywhere.

Think nothing of it

follow the boss over the cliff

there might be a job down there

Dread is shorting my circuits

we should all be pissing our pants.

RW

Guanajuato, Mex

01.05.2020

(photo:  unattibuted)

CALAMITY HOWLER

The storms

on the wine-dark

were as nothing

to the currents

that coursed through her.

Red is what she saw

curtains

carpets

and

cloaks.

Red was the song

and sound of her voice

Red was the shout

that raised no alarms

Red was the blood

from their wounds

Agamemnon

and his calamity-howler

curseʹd Cassandra.

RW

Guanajuato, Mexico

01.02.2020

(A friend asked that we pick from a list of antiquated or little used words, and write a poem.  I chose calamity-howler.)

SURROUNDED BY THE SACRED

 

novica.com

SURROUNDED BY THE SACRED

When I was a kid

if you dropped a prayer book

you had to kiss it after you picked it up

I feel that way

about most any book

          well, not Mein Kampf, say

                    but any work charged

                    with the love of writing

                    or of making

         

          The Joy of Cooking, say.

The sacred can be so embarrassing

          not so much when we are alone

         

          more so in polite company

          where a fervent

                    Thank God, or even

                              Oh my goodness

          might be viewed as quaint

and where a sign of the cross

          (Christian or Elemental)

would be thought deranged.

We’re surrounded

by the sacred

All Life – All Living

Why would that be embarrassing?

You are the blossom

the

hummingbird

visits

sacred

If you fell

I’d pick you up

and if you’d like

I’d kiss you.

RW

Guanajuato, Mex

Martin Luther King Day

01.20.2002

(I have no financial interest in the novica website.)

THEY LIE ABOUT EVERYTHING

THEY LIE ABOUT EVERYTHING

of course they do

they lie

and they lie

about their lies.

***

One fine evening

checks signed

and sent

Gentlemen and Ladies

tuxedoed and gowned

warmed by quiet conversation

dine under chandeliers

at artfully negotiated tables

in carefully selected seats

accompanied

by the delicate sound

of cutlery and crystal.

After

having been

wined and dined

they lean

shoulder-to-shoulder

stupefied and dozing.

***

A podium and microphone

rise from the floor

unexpected feedback

rips the room awake

a tuxedo taps the mic

and introduces another

to polite applause

the featured tuxedo

sounds an incantation

swirls and arabesques

of lies fill the air

precious gifts

rarest minerals

oil and dollars

conquest

power

respect

the guests thrill

to their histories

and the tuxedo ends

with the greatest lie

the lie

that brings them to their feet

and pulls sound from their bellies

the lie

that they are

alive.

RW

GTO, Mex.

01.13.2020

DREAMS ARE CRAZY

                                          (The American Dream:  not attributed, but it's after Dali, for sure)

1 January 2020

DREAMS ARE CRAZY

Right

?

right.

No –

not right

On this side

of dreams

dreams are crazy

On the dream side

they’re just dreams.

Some

many of us

forget them

some

few of us

remember

but

we all have them

because

if we didn’t

we’d

go

crazy

on this side

right

?

right.

No –

not right

oh ok

medically right

but

I mean

who’s to say

it’s

not

crazy

on this side

dreams

or

no

dreams

anyway

?

(I’m much less inclined – that’s for sure.)

RW

01.01.20

GTO