three answers

YES
NO
YOU'VE GOT TO BE
KIDDING

three Universal answers
to every question
the only ones
you can expect to hear
from God
to your prayer,
cast as spell
in the dark night
of your awakening

He spoke to me then
unembarrassed
not-explaining
just saying

YES,
NO means YES
and that last answer
the mystery of mysteries
the holy of holies
-- with allusion
to Jackie Gleason
and the deadpan straightman --
will always and ever denote
RELAX,
just try
to enjoy this

little gambits

little gambits we make
with form, matter, light
the echoes of heart waves
we send out ))))))))))) come
back
just when we are in need
of a little warmth

Kirtimukha

the yarble of my thinking
like a trash compactor devouring itself
or an old man who chews on his gums
enjoys the blood, the slick friction
and the twinkle in his own eyes

I wonder where the peace comes from
that flushes out the metal parts, the teeth

the absolute wrong tool for the job
once noted by your discernment
becomes leverage
for a better world

by firelight

by firelight and snowlamp
by the hand of the pineal gland
I see the world
inside me, outside
hold a torch
search the catacombs
of a new moment
while you have forever been
the eye that envisions
its way home

like freedom

breathing like freedom
inside myself
I am a thing in flight
in a cloudless sky
outside, turmoil
alternating with peace
and kindness
from within,
it is the same world
the same life
I'll join you
take a seat
and breathe

an auger eeshin'

the man sworn in
the rest of us swearing
some watch, while others
compassionate, hold
each others' noses
hide their faces in hope
in each others' shoulders
in revolt and revulsion
or in silent protest
speaking screams of disbelief
resolving to love one another
through the coming storms
of possible futures

and I drew a poem

and I drew
a poem,
its arms extended
like a child
sees a gull
and wants to fly
who says he does not
fly?
his little imagination
as big as the ocean
of space and the stars
that drown in it