brokenverse

grief

2010-07-08T21:00:00.001-07:00

it breaks me
in a thousand ways
pieces
of grief
pouring
on the plain
of days--

motionless
swollen
choking
and lame

unmastered

2009-12-09T22:27:00.000-08:00

i fear
i've reached
the limit
of my powers
seed to root
leaf to flower
He spread
rumor
of
roses
in my garden
bower
but
i could not dig
that
Texas Radio
and spent
hours in sand
for mad slow
language
backblown
on the beat
and
unmastered
on the Watchtower

perimeter

2009-12-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

somewhere in the gaps
between neuron fire
myelin sheathed
dragon's ire
whispers
music

the
perimeter's
lyre

2009-09-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

i was in pleasanton
california
and I was asleep late
i'd been working
fifty hours a week
riding the tale end
of the dot com craze
and my arms
were killing me
twitching and burning
in a nervous rage
and I was half asleep
in a rented house
in suburban nowhere
and as I awoke
I knew something
wasn't right
the tv was on
but it was too quiet
and I could hear
my sister crying
downstairs
and somber tones
on the television
air
and my heart
started beating
as I sleepwalked
down those stairs

and what to say
really
it's beyond compare
like the rarified
hurtling through
the sky
i sat on the couch with
my sister
and we didn't really speak
we just stared

automatons
what to do
what to care
we went to work
a sense of normalcy
over despair
but I didn't stay long
I just wanted to check in
I walked past a closed office
with glass windows
and Press was weeping
he was in his 60's
jowlish and large
and his hand
covered his face
he sat beside Giri
a young man in glasses
they had worked there
the year before
they had friends
i never knew

i left and went back
to the house I lived in
but it wasn't home
and I realized I wanted
to go home
and it wasn't here
in a silicon wasteland
sheltered and drear
i went to the back yard
and I started to cry
I think I cried
for about a year
and I wept for the terror
desperation and fear
that wasn't even mine
but I had to bear witness
it was only fair

petals - 4/6/2008

2008-04-06T17:03:00.000-07:00

oh paint me
in flowers
and place me
in a field
mesmerized
by the sun,
poignancy,
and petals

joy and light - 6/28/2007

2007-06-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

joy and light
and effervescent
being
i want to be
the babbling brook
the rambunctious stream
dust motes
in an afternoon
sunbeam
swirling bright
coalescent
dreams

the long dark house - 2/5/2007

2007-02-05T19:28:00.000-08:00

i'm troubled mostly
by what's unseen
the mechanization
of sound
animal screams
by the thought
of dark
and humid scenes
nightmares of
production
and the elimination
of dreams
through
cold metal lattice seams
in the long dark house
of captured souls
and decimated
devastated beings

i was wrong - 1/16/2007

2007-01-16T21:26:00.000-08:00

once upon a time
once upon a place
i saw signs in
the stars
and written
on her face
and I thought
i knew everything
everything
would be alright
between smiles
and star's light
i knew
with the
certainty
of sunrise
i knew
in my bones
we were
reincarnations
of two lost
stones
and our time
had finally come
to sanctify
the progression
of souls
to flesh
revivified
but i was
wrong

The Hanged Man - 1/9/2007

2007-01-09T21:11:00.000-08:00

when you
leave me
by silver
shores
in darkness
glimmering
leave me
sunken
in the sand
on water's
edge
shimmering
let lilies
cover what
were my eyes
and place
flowers
on my face
perfume
for a hung man
left to drown
in endless
aquarian embrace

ghouls - 11/21/2006

2006-11-21T23:25:00.000-08:00

i whispered
the words
of dead men
and fools
and you
knew it not
thinking them
articles
of invention
a misconception
of guile
and a memory
of ghouls

migratory - 11/15/2006

2006-11-15T22:22:00.000-08:00

a long
flight down
from the crown
of the north
in between
the night
and the sky
singing
songs
of clouds
and joy
while
following
a pillar
of fire
invisible
to human
eyes

little things - 11/14/2006

2006-11-14T21:08:00.000-08:00

Listen

she walked on
sand with me
our feet naked
open on
black
against night
we walked
between the sea
and moonlight
and spoke
only of
little things
we talked
of kelp, sandcastles,
anemone, dreams

apparitions - 11/8/2006

2006-11-08T21:40:00.000-08:00

the words
themselves
have less meaning
than the vision
of indigo starlight
apparitions
making love
under the arms
of an oak tree
on a humid
june midnight
to the sound
of cricket
moans

a room without a view - 11/7/2006

2006-11-07T23:47:00.000-08:00

Listen

they took off
my skin
and cut out
my eyes
they cut off
my head
arms
my thighs
parts is parts
its quite
a surprise
when it happens
to you
and you find
yourself hanging
on hooks
in a room
without a view

birds - 11/6/2006

2006-11-06T19:56:00.000-08:00

birds
surround me
a riot of sound
and songs
whirling around
like a swirl
of leaves
rising
skyward
into the realm
of dawn
where everything
is light
and nothing
is wrong

waterholes - 11/5/2006

2006-11-05T23:03:00.000-08:00

Listen

memory is
the elephant
who forgets
you year
by year
and leaves
you lost
in the waterholes
of your mind
eating lotus
flowers
and dates
and wrestling
with time

Valeria - 11/4/2006

2006-11-04T18:13:00.000-08:00

i shook
to the beat
of drums
in the dark
and rhythms
in my head
while
others were
singing
around the
pyre
and someone
was dancing
with the fire
and
everyone
was
screaming
for the dead

moonflower - 11/3/2006

2006-11-03T18:49:00.000-08:00

Listen

dark
side
of the moon
a flower
bloom
hidden
from earthly
eyes
its petals
a
delight
for the
galactic
night
and all
the stars
in all
the skies

banshee - 11/2/2006

2006-11-02T18:26:00.000-08:00

i had
lost sight of
her
all pale skin
and eyes
full of
everything
all at once
desperately
elusive
i could
still smell
her
in the thick
air
in the thick
night
my ears
ringing
with memories
of voice
my feet
bleeding
unimaginable
silhouettes
onto grass
as i ran

Devil in a tree - original

2006-11-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

twilight
and there's
a devil
in the tree
am I looking
at him
or is he
looking at me

(I forgot I wrote this actually, then it rewrote itself as the one below, but this came first

devil in a tree - 11/1/2006

2006-11-01T21:38:00.000-08:00

Listen

there's a devil
in the tree
all ancient eyes
and teeth
and it's been in there
since the beginning
it watches
and it waits
and it plots
your despair
and your pain
all that is wrong
in your world
is wrong
because of that devil
in that tree
sometimes I shiver
because it's looking
at you
and sometimes
I shiver
for me

she laughed - 10/29/2006

2006-10-29T21:29:00.000-08:00

i felt exposed
when she looked
at me
as if she
knew of
my desperations
my little
lacerations
of feeling
but then she
laughed
and it wasn't
important
anymore
it wasn't
important
ever again

windowpanes - 10/25/2006

2006-10-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

is there really
that much difference
between you and me
or are we
the same?
i think we're
both just
rays of light
shining
through dirty
windowpanes.

if ever - 10/24/2006

2006-10-24T21:31:00.000-07:00

Listen

if ever
we meet
will I tell you
a lie
and sweep you
off your feet
with such
sweet nothings
as will barely
touch your ear
and brush
your lips
will I tell you
what you need
to hear
and what if
it's not enough?

secrets - 10/11/2006

2006-10-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

Oh Lord
I have
been so alone
in this wilderness
that even
the crows know
my names
and the rivers
my secrets
of spirit

in between - 10/6/2006

2006-10-06T23:01:00.000-07:00

in between
broken
moments
of this life
i pause
and bow my
head
for the suffering
and beauty
in this world
so bitter
so sweet

what you think - 9/23/2006

2006-09-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

i'm not quite what
you think
i never was
i didn't
know how
to break it
so there
it's said
does this mean
everything is going
to change?

queen - 9/23/2006

2006-09-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

oh paint me
in purple
and put me
upon a dais
i will be your
queen
for today
mundaneness
in
abeyance

petroglyph - 9/21/2006

2006-09-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

oh paint me
in petroglyph
red ochre
in a cave
let darkness
hold my secret
in shining
sunless ways

hopscotch - 9/17/2006

2006-09-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

a wish
upon wish mountain
and I was floating
through the trees,
swinging
on an old coarse rope,
swinging through the leaves,
touched by saline fog
from an errant ocean's breeze,
on the mountain
thought was lost
like the sun
behind the sea

and I let go.

on a distant
archipelago
a little girl
tossed a rock,
considered a hop,
considered her home,
and all
the chalky lines
burned through it
couldn't blur
the numbers
on the ground,
the rules were
written in stone
precise and profound,
here she always knew
what to expect,
she pursed her lips
gathered her strength

and lept.

tesserae - 9/13/2006

2006-09-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

if you break me
break me well
let nothing
of me remain
but a thousand
stained stones
stocked
for future
tesserae

may i be
remade in mosaic
on a temple
by the sea
contemplating horizon
and foam infinity
sundrenched ocean madness
and stark serenity

when you look
upon my wall
will something of
me remain
will pearls remark
what were my eyes
staring into
long lost skies
touched by tears
of salt and sand
and pain

amber - 9/9/2006

2006-09-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

oh paint me thick in amber
and put me in the ground
let me be treasured
in ten thousand years
by whomever I am found

perfect possibility - 7/22/2006

2006-07-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

Listen

there's always
a perfect possibility
if you believe

if you fix your mind
on the probability
and seize

be mindful
and you'll manifest
your need

be heartful
of all that
you conceive

so many possibilities
are perfect
you see
you have only
to choose one
and breathe

a communion of eyes - 7/10/2006

2006-07-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

Listen

a certain curve
subtle bend
sinuous and clean
arms
as the sun rising
elliptical
over me
abdomens
exchange
the universe
we breathe
our breaths
intertwined
divinity

shantih

shantih

shantih

surpasses we

there is only
a communion
of eyes
informed
infinity

independence day - 7/4/2006

2006-07-04T10:38:00.000-07:00

Listen

independence day
and I all
I can remember
are the lies
I remember driving down
the interstate five
on a surprisingly serene
spring morning
listening to the national
public radio
broadcasting live
but broadcasting still
i could hear
the call to prayer
distant and shrill
and the correspondent's
voice
like stone
like a knife
on a bone
and we were waiting

I was driving along
and their night
was so long
waiting for the boot
on the door
for the hammer
on the gong
waiting
until the sky fell
in shock and awe
and suddenly my tears
fell
as I drove through
the dawn
and the broadcast
was silent
all I could hear
were the bombs
falling on baghdad
and ululating
song

slight electrocutions - 7/2/2006

2006-07-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

Listen

no expectations
only
small anticipations
slight thrillings
through
my veins
wonderings
at the sound
of a voice
at vibrations
musical
refrain

something simple
in that smile
telegraphed
by the mile
transmitted
through electrons
and ether
and rain

connections
interjections
and all the
meanwhiles
are
only slight
electrocutions
anticipating
vibration
and flame

perihelion - 6/10/2006

2006-06-10T21:24:00.000-07:00

Listen

so many stars
in her constellation
caught in certain
gravities-

in situations.

orbits
of little
infatuations
and
desperations.

amid the little
i know you
and you know me.

a possible
collision
of eternity,

a night's dream
of
perihelion.

My life as a Giant Robot Part 2 - 2/3/2006

2006-02-03T21:07:00.000-08:00

they choked out
my fires
and removed my
compressions
for my faulty faculty
and my digression
my failures
to observe
lessons

i no longer think
i can be rewired
refired
relieved of my
transgressions
i was assailed
and i faltered
and they removed
my inventions

an instruction
for resorting
to all my old
intention
they put me out
to pasture
to contemplate
ruin
and rumination

threes - 1/27/2006

2006-01-27T22:05:00.000-08:00

Listen

i'm just a dream
on a leaf
a
sigh
on the breeze
i'm the willow
in the wind
and
the stars
in the seas
a breath
on your lips
and
a smile
by threes

Peace - 3/15/1992 *

2006-01-21T22:05:00.000-08:00

I saw beneath the full moon, in the quiet of the night,
I saw and watched the flowers bloom, basking in the light.

I heard the gentle sighing, as soft petals all sprang free,
I heard a swift brook laughing, in a joyful harmony.
I felt the soft wind's caress, aroma ocean on the breeze,
I felt a light mist coalesce, a gray carpet for the trees.
I tasted of the wild scent, the humus and the pine,
I tasted what sweet nature lent, the breath of life sublime.

I sat beneath the full moon, when the fiery sun did rise,
I sat and watched the colors loom, and then I closed my eyes.

* this is juvenilia.

oh combustion - 1/13/2006

2006-01-13T22:31:00.000-08:00

i wanted to say something
but I'm so tired
i feel like they took out
all my wires
and left me with
vacuum tubes
obsolete hydraulics
are the only way
i can move
now
pressures
fueled on charcoal fire
burning me out
from the inside
i've seen my
ash falling by
the way
and all the world's
a passersby
and all my insides
are on display
strewn against the sky
pollution of my
mortality

oh combustion
is a furious thing
that i'm too tired
to deny

compromised - 1/9/2006

2006-01-09T22:38:00.000-08:00

Listen

reticent
she wouldn't say
a word
so I talked and talked
trying to be heard
seeking validation
in conversation
such small
interaction
to remind me
we're alive
but she balked
and narrowed her eyes
as I talked and talked
and begin to
realize
she was lost
I was lost
and we
were both
compromised

go vegan or I'll die - 1/7/2006

2006-01-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

go vegan
or I'll die
and forth from
my body
will come sprouts
and tubers
with wirecutters
and spectacles
they'll spread
furiously -

sproutuberian flu
cutting chains
cutting lies
the tubers
have my eyes
and the sprouts
are my tentacles
of retribution
the vegan solution
to your hypocritical
thighs.

heave - 1/6/2006

2006-01-06T18:22:00.000-08:00

i rage
i write
i throw
my might
against
the sky
and heave

sometimes
I can't breathe
and the strain
makes me white
and clear
like a stony night
and rationalized fear
for robin-redbreast
in her rage
whose skies
are made
of wire and pain

sound - 1/5/2006

2006-01-05T22:10:00.000-08:00

i feel broke
but not broke-down
like a spring
getting unwound
like crushed snowflakes

disease covered
puget sound
i frown
but I'm not bent
not spent
i've still got one eye
the one on the left
and I've still got time
to wait on the sound.

slow - 1/3/2006

2006-01-03T20:12:00.000-08:00

Listen

slow

like a old train
or bad cocaine

an old donkey
in the mud
and rain
its like
dental work

a perforated ceiling
sometimes i don't
have feelings

or its the novocaine
sometimes I think
that we have more
than one brain

i, you, me
we count that at three
depending

i think we've seen
the world ending

i told the donkey
its a shame

it's not ok to eat fish

2005-09-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

if wishes were fishes,
i'd be the stream -
wishes within me,
shimmering

After - 4/1993

2005-06-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

Obsidian plain
dull glints and cracks
the blow stuttered
after the broken verse
into some painful soundlessness
the passion spent
only the scalding ash
bears remembrance

The Papers of the Dead - 4/24/1993

2005-06-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

The broken verse
lives here, in these papers
yellow, rough
winds send them hurtling,
dragging traces in ash
over the magma of the plain
scattered, curled
lisping in the blow
shrieking as they touch
and dying as they wait.

A leaf on the stream - 6/3/2005

2005-06-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

I'm just a leaf
on the stream
of consciousness
and being
and
I'm flowing along
the waking dream
I'm dancing to
the currents unseen

O harmony
is a blissful thing
O harmony
my life is a stream

and the water
is clean
and deep
as could be
and I'm drifting
along
to the soundless sea
and I'm singing a song
of boundless glee
and the mermaids
are singing

are they singing for me?

The Dog Men Laugh - 10/6/1998

2005-06-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

The Dog Men laugh
while the Mean Women wail
as they espied the serpent
that eats its own tail--

"What a travail!
To thus be infinite--"

While the Dog Men
(rabid)
clamor, howl, and spit.

Dust and White - 6/13/1993

2005-05-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

shattered lights on blue-black
white speckled shot on night
patterns tripping-- the vast
cavern of stellar hues

gradations of the depths
distant flickers of sight
twinkle twink creation
breathe in the eternal

broken fires washed to white
piercing dark to demarc
all that you do or seem
is only a midnight's dream

All the corners are round - 2/20/1997

2005-05-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

All the corners are round
the unseen surround
of an incandescent bulb

Sky an off-light phosphor
grey hills tired
and ground

In an empty place
stone ghosts
witness
an emptier sky
and the shadows
of the pine

Cuchulain - 2/23/1993

2005-05-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

The poet within rages
with iron claws
in steelish light
bellows a verse
sounds his might
with red roaring open maw
cries the words onto the page
that here I write
(the poet's curse)

Release - 2/8/1993

2005-05-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

Sweat drops slowly
from the massive form
a vein in the temple
twitches, twitches
eyes glazed, pupils all--
the coarse rigidity
of muscles in spasm
exacerbated into definition
granite shoulders spread
in supplication
pulses of breath
decline

tremors and currents
wrack the body
shivers of flesh

the templar vein convulses
rips and showers blood
all vessels explode
feral lips retract and mouth
bone grinds, fragments--
skin sloughs off
as muscles tear and writhe free
tendon pops and snaps
collapse into slivers of flesh
and Atlas falls, silent.

The Last Poet - 3/20/1992

2005-05-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

Shoulders hunched and hair gone gray,
the last poet sat fidgeting, ending the day.
The hidden lines to the finishing verse,
hands gnarled, mouth forming a curse.

The last of them all, the poet only remained,
looking for the key, the last word unnamed.
Realization then, that the cosmos had stopped,
the age was past, the transitory orbit rocked.

The deaf poet's burden, to finish mankind,
the stanza waiting, the cloudy eyes gone blind.
This is the last poet, given to the divine,
searching for the perfect end, to life, to time.

Epitaph - 3/17/1993

2005-05-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

Isabella Pollock

1917-1986

Beautiful Dreamer

A simple proclamation

cut in square brass

amidst the dark earth

and the wet verdancy

does more to transcend

than all marbled words

and this humble epitaph

of life and of the living

melts sorrow with the dew

which runs on the flower

and the beauty

Why I Sleep Late - 2/20/1994

2005-05-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

I woke up one morning
to find my legs were broke
and I couldn't get out of my bed.

I woke up one morning
to find my mind was broke
and I couldn't get out of my head.

I woke up one morning
that I never awoke
and I realized that I was dead

The Imp - 5/6/1992

2005-05-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

Enwombed in the dark warmth,
of the Great Egg,
a white spark was seen,
to circle a shadow planet.

The frenetic movements of the spark,
bespoke a great agitation,
as it traversed the earth,
touching down at times.

For a moment,
each landing point grew light,
until the spark left,
and the dark overwhelmed,
again.

Hope - 4/24/92

2005-05-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

In an endless, formless, black void
full of null light
the nihilistic mind
quavers in despair.

Great starbursts
of colored energy
appear
fade
and blossom.

In between--
the dark
eats.

Soundless
eternal
spaceless

and monstrous.

The state of conciousness
the mind of apathy
the turbulent existentialism of the unborn child.

The battle plain where the forebrain fights the hindbrain.

Ragnarock, the gods have fled. The soul is a lie.

But--
random spates of sound wrack the ear.
The cries of the newborn, hoarse yells of pain.
Longing for the mother.

Utter denial.

Pause.

Supernova.

Being--
life. The colors riot
and merge
and grow.

Ascension of thought.

Hope is born.

And the winds of Nirvana blow the tattered cloak of night, to another fool.

extremis - 4/2/2005

2005-04-02T22:59:00.000-08:00

in extremisi digressi wander I slideasideand slitheri'm smoothno one noticesmy shifty grooveoverwhelmed bydeclensioni've never soughtascensionor ascribed idolatryits a faulty monopoly of mindthat twistsme into knotsI can't unbind.

brokenverse

2005-04-02T22:51:00.000-08:00

in the beginning was the word
in the end the silence
its the in-between
that's interesting.

Speak Friend and Enter

2005-04-02T22:50:00.000-08:00

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