efforts5

*take them back*
*twiddling my thumbs*
*blow by blow*
*roll back the stone*
*up until now*
*outlines*
*exuberance*
*body, mind, & soul*
*a good hand*
*game over*
*FLAME ON!*
*Still Standin'*
*true love #2*
*Baptism*
*butterfly*
*circling birds*
*Giving Thanks*
*Aright Already!*
*No Shit*
*God is IN the Details*



















take them back

Wherever I go, 
I'm expected to be 
something other 
than what I am.
It's almost as if, 
if I didn't,
the whole world would collapse.

Well it won't.

Men,
I know how irritating it is for us
to be something other than 
ourselves, 
especially 
when it's the only thing we know.
I know.

Women
I know how troublesome it is for you to be 
something other than yourselves, 
especially 
when all you really want to be
is 
yourselves.
I've heard ;).

Nothing! 
I repeat: Nothing! 
in the world 
can put out our fire.
Nothing!   
So let's take them back.
ALL OF THEM!

Let's get rid of ALL the junk and
TAKE BACK OUR HEARTS!












twiddling my thumbs

Waiting 
is one of the few things 
I'm good at.

I can out-wait Anyone.
Care to try me?
(That was a joke of course.)
I could do it you know but, 
what's funny is 
that I used an old form of verification, 
(A Challenge), as proof.

What's sad tho, 
is that some people would have risen to the challenge.














blow by blow

FLASH - FLASH - FLASH
(swords)
WHIZ - WHIZ - WHIZ
(arrows) 

Smoke everywhere,
clouding things - things like: 
the black eyes and bearded faces of my attackers, 
or the sea of heads swirling around 
or the glint of the ocean far away.

And the smells...  ahh! the smells  ;) -
the rich aromas of horse shit, burnt flesh and salt air.
Today 
ALL of them smell of death.


















roll back the stone

There are many ways to move them.
Some of them are even pleasant 
   to behold.
But let's not think about that just yet 
rather, 
let's just think about spotting them. 
(the stones)

Each time you inhale, 
each time!,
(in this orchard of course), 
you pull into your lungs the scent 
of what's swinging on the bough. 

Each time you breathe in,
each time!,
you also pull into your lungs
the molecules of emotion 
that adhere to that fruit 
(or to any fruit),
that thought 
(or to any thought),
that memory 
(or to any memory),
that air 
(or to any air).

Each time you breathe in
you're "roll[ing] back the stone".

You can't help it.
Your doing it now.  And now.
Try to stop.   You can't.

It's not that I'm making light of that 
particular stone,  
but really!, 
It's good only 
as an anchor for our attention.  
And we all know what anchors 
are good for,
(stopping forward progress).

It's hard rolling back the stone, 
when you're stuck 
in the past.

It's also hard to breathe. ;)
















up until now

Just about every thing I knew,
everything
('til now that is)
has been but a reflection on the still waters    
of your placid lakes.

Sure they're big,
so big in fact that their shores 
vanish into the distance.
but it's those small currents anyway
that etch enormous faces 
into the stone.

Those faces have numerous looks, 
like stern one minute
or kind the next.
Knowing takes more than looks however, 
more than just pictures.
Pictures are only 
of what's seen, not 
of the water itself.

That's where you come in. 

Remember...
(should you feel faint at 
the enormity of this task),
water always takes the shape
of the vessel holding it.
Always.

Those faces you made 
while showing us how to be water -
(like stern one minute...or kind the next)
spoke ever so kindly of the lines etched already  
into the smooth skin of your face.     
   











outlines

Organizations don't have any life, 
'till they have people of different color in them.  
Then, like pictures, 
they brighten or darken the room.

But also like pictures, they need frames
to help organize those lines
into something meaningful.














                 exuberance

Take a breath.
Another.
Another. 

Welcome To My World!

Sure, there's a Hell of lot wrong with it,
but what the hey!
I'll be god damned if I'm going to let some asshole 
ruin it for me!

Take a big one.
Another one.
And another. 











    
body, mind, & soul

This heavy, wooden door moves air
as it opens.
Gold, ornate handles and carved wood 
silently swish by.
In and Out coexist.

This heavy, wooden boat groans 
as it rides the waves.
The storm puts caps on them.
but seen from the sky -
they're just more weather.

Masts hold taught to billowing sails.
Wind sometimes helps, 
sometimes hinders 
forward progress.














    a good hand

All too often 
we think of value 
as something connected to hard work.
Damn those Puritans.

Somewhere along the way
we got this notion, 
that hard work entails sweat.

Nowhere can you find value without hard work,
except in sex.

But even there things get hard. :-)
Madams, prostitutes, pimps, hookers  
all 
will tell you that sex 
IS work.
It pays good tho. :-)

Cultures come and Cultures go 
but bodies are always here.
Always.

Along with bodies comes Pleasure & Pain.
And Time.
And Death.
Shouldn't we pay people more   
for standin' so close to the fire?

Orgasm in Italian is Little Death.

Ahh!
What a way to go, eh?
















game over

If something's the matter with you.
fix it.

If something's the matter with your family,
fix it.

If something's the matter with your work.
fix it.

If something's the matter with your neighborhood,
fix it.

If something's the matter with your community.
fix it.

If something's the matter with your church.
fix it.

If something's the matter with your school.
fix it.

If something's the matter with your city.
fix it.

If something's the matter with your state.
fix it.

If something's the matter with your nation.
fix it.

If something's the matter with your continent.
fix it.

If something's the matter with your hemisphere.
fix it.

If something's the matter with your world.
fix it.

If you can't do it alone,
get some help.

This planet will do us just fine thank you.
Let's fix it!













FLAME ON!

My favorite comic-book super hero was...
you guessed it - The Human Torch.
The one example of how I handled stress
is exemplified by those two words.

There're reams of paper 
with words on them,
describing, labeling, analyzing or
coming to terms with,
my Basic Impulse.

As I got older tho,
my flames got faces.
The anger I used to have
was attributed to youth.
Now, 
it's cause for alarm. :)






















Still Standin'

After all the crap,
and all the trouble 
that Life has thrown at me -
I'm Still Standin'.

After all the heartache 
and all the hurt 
that I've been thru -
I'm Still Standin'.

After all the pounding,
and all the pain 
that I've taken -
I'm Still Standin'.

YOU CAN'T HOLD ME DOWN!!!














true love #2

Yesterday, all I could hear was the drip drip drip 
of the faucet.
Today tho, I'm much better 
and I owe it all to you.

Yesterday, all I could see were clouds.
Today tho, I'm much better 
and I owe it all to you.

Yesterday, all I could feel was a general heaviness.
Today tho, I'm much better 
and I owe it all to you.

Yesterday, all I could taste was blandness.
Today tho, I'm much better 
and I owe it all to you.

Yesterday, all I could smell was your BO.
Today tho, I'm much better 
and I owe it all to you.











Baptism

What a Holy Word!

Water 
has long been associated with
Spiritual Matters,
especially Redemption.

Water 
is also closely connected with food - 
its source, its preparation, its cleanup. 
Long before water was connected to personal hygiene,
it was connected to food.
As for as being a major force for change- 
like in The Flood -
immersion can be a rather wonderful event,
when it happens to someone else.

Baptism can be shocking at first,
but in most cases, 
(especially babies - who don't have much of a Will to shock anyway), 
getting baptized resembles 
a little vacation,
if you don't mind getting a little wet.














butterfly

It floats up,
It floats down.
I watch.

It catches currents 
that other creatures can't even see.
I watch.

Breezes are brutal
to butterflies,
I watch.










circling birds

The shadows cast 
by those circling birds,
run 
up and down, over and under, 
piles of sand,
in never-ending shadowy displays, 
of appearing and disappearing, 
like ghosts.

The black sounds they make
screech 
like cracks ripped in the sky.













Giving Thanks

Thank You 
for sunny days,
Thank You 
for rustling leaves,
Thank You 
for blowing winds,
Thank You 
for gently falling snow,
Thank You
for rainy days,

Thank You 
for dust whipping 'round corners,
Thank You 
for bugs lurking in shadows,
Thank You 
for howling winds,
Thank You 
for torrential rains,
Thank You 
for high humidity.

Thank You
for accidents,
Thank You
for broken bodies,
Thank You
for death,
Thank You
for the many, many, many
kinds of loss.

Thank You
for good intentions,
Thank You
for this poem,
Thank You
for vacations,
Thank You
for that good cup of coffee,
Thank You
for this peace & quiet.

THANK YOU.
THANK YOU.
THANK YOU.








Aright Already!

There's a chorus of
"WE DON'T GET IT!"
"WE DON'T GET IT!"

What is the "IT"
that they don't get?

Here "IT" is!!!
(There it went! :)

In that statement -
("WE DON'T GET IT!"),
there's a note of defiance.
As if "Understanding" 
is somehow OWED.

It ain't.

There's something else happenin'
in there- "WE" 
is an assumed community
of  UNknowing folk,  
all of whom bathe 
at the same fountain-of-truth 
(the one with the cascading molecules :), 
while looking for IT, 
outside of
themselves, 
(of course).

In there, in that assumed community,
they spend their time comparing how it FEELS 
to not get wet.
















               No Shit

There are many 
and various ways
in which we 
can observe the beauty 
that's all around us.

That's easy.

Finding the beauty however, 
now THAT'S 
a pig,
a horse,
a somethin'...,
of a different color.















God is IN the Details

Where else!?
I mean He's everywhere, isn't He?

Well - "Yes" - you say, haltingly, but look down at the ground, 
almost sheepishly.

God has manners and people who know Him really well,
have them too.
Polite conversation NEVER, EVER
causes ANY discomfiture.











 


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                                      Each piece of art is inspired by the incredible normalcy that runs rampant thru my life.



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