Kali Ate the New Age

some of them were anticipating
the coming of the Age of Aquarius
with peace signs and tie dyes
acid trips, Hendrix
an unfolding human consciousness

I was the product of two ships
that gasped in the night
in a car or at a concert
at a friend's apartment
a brief allotment of time
for free love

I tracked down my mother's brother when I was 21
detective work turned up his yearbook
when my letter arrived. my aunt implored him to call his sister
let her know that her lunatic bastard child
had found his way home

but Kali ate the New Age
aglow with fierce compassion
she knew we'd need more
than salvation in some quick fix --
crystals, hot yoga, chakra balancing
the archetypal mother's arms

the turning of our Collective Heart
would require something closer to the bone --
pestilence, despair, outrage
the death maw of electronic newspaper in lap
joined hands, an oasis of tears, knit pussy caps

counter-survival

untold stories
untasted experiences
for the starving in us

we marvel
at our good fortune

fulfillment
was never
about satisfaction
but hunger
under-indulgence
eyes forever turned
toward want
and its innumerable uses

one step at a time

follow the somewhat thread
into the microscopic house
the tongue of reality flame
licks your hand
subtle dog

morose mind
under construction
its tender malfunction
drunk on the process
slogging toward conscious

Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own

I had been wanting to play it
on my guitar at his funeral
planning it out in my head
at least 5 years before his death

I didn't play it, never learned it

"a house doesn't make a home...
don't leave me here alone..."
when the lines come up tonight
during Bono's elegy to his father
I bawl, like I haven't in the past four months
5 seconds that bring tears, ugly snorting
hand to wipe face

I pick up the book on grieving
I bought at the library booksale
for one dollar
read about telling our stories
again and again and again if need be
telling them until we don't need to anymore

I sit down, write this poem

the first clue

the music with no source
was the first clue
it came
when I had exhausted
all denial
of the paper folded into
perpetual motion
turning wheel
within
and understanding
at no cost to you
free, for an unlimited time
that this life is neither too hard
nor too soft
neither different
nor uniform
not burning with boredom
nor rollercoaster manic
hurtling off ice track
in the warm rain

every once in a while

every once in a while
a moment of clarity

world gone mad
stumbles on parity

seeing through rose-colored blinders,
duality

all come one in wake
of frugality

The Joy of Crying

“In trying to hold myself together…

I often want to cry, but I feel I can’t”

-- Sam Littlefair



I don’t even think about crying

It’s not an option

Either I feel shame

That I’m actively participating

In the world’s ills

Or I fancy that I have risen above emotion entirely,

Transcendent, free



Cry over the suffering of this finite population

Ever growing, dying out, feeding the ground

Feeding on the fruits of its poorest?

Frankly, I don’t feel worthy



Tonight I am reading “The Joy of Crying”,

An article by one Sam Littlefair

He reflects on what I too seldom do,

What I don’t often enough connect to –

This Whole Catastrophe we are living in



But Sam gives the green light, the thumbs up

The secret handshake



My playlist kicks up, “I Don’t Know” by Sir Paul

Perhaps the superficial Beatle’s first sonic foray

Into soul-searching



A heat and a fullness behind my eyes

With the magnificent opening chords

The feeling blooms, one half tear

Leaks from each parched orb