Society is a crutch

Unveiling

In the golden gleam of fire a dream occurred in me;

my greatest desire in a vision of my future.

Your delicate face was there in the grey gathering mist;

Our two children were dressed in different traditions.

Sakura fell from heaven as angels kissed our faces.

Love was our only weapon,

The darkness was defenseless.

The clouds of my elation grew in the rushing wind

while the Sun filled the sky with wondrous light.

Split between primal knowledge and ascension

in the midst of spectral tunnels I wore a laurel crown,

peering through half-haloed rainbows bending like happy frowns.

God’s blood smeared my cheeks with love

and I bathed in that Salvation.

My pitiful tears turned to crystals as they fell,

each one shattering with the sound of laughter.

My voice rose around me;

“Dear God, you found me!”

And there was silence in heaven

Just before our eternal One said… 

Ashita to ashita no tame no tanka (tanka for tomorrow, and tomorrow)

A fog-covered pond

Blinking for just a moment

Blessed swan alighted

Subtle motions of heaven

The slow rising sun breaks through

watashino jinsei ni ko wo egaku

shoshite watashi wa kumo kara kiita “Oute!” toiu koe wo

ima wa watashi no bandesu…

I drew a circle around my life

from the cloud I heard a voice say “Check!”

now it’s my turn

A Summer Storm

I said, “Young man this is your mountain top.”
Weather rough, it stills and stops the heart.
To breathe and face our new fears, “let’s climb.”
One foot up and then the next; the climb starts,
goal in mind, eyes set on the peak above,

I know you’re young and not my son to guide
But up we climb against the tide of time

The threat of a thunderous sky surrounds,
the branches break with similar cracks.
A foot above, a foot toward the daylight.
Away you went into the thickest brush
I thought you might in need of help return
(As I slipped over wet stones, struggling with
the heavy weight imposed upon my back:
some books, some clothes, to make the road longer)
but you flew ahead without faltering.

We approached the crest several times
As each new height revealed another new height
Across white stone, through a golden valley,
we climbed again; and atop the last peak
a house, a camp, a lonely stick, alone.
Into the ground buried in rock, it stood.
A monument to some forgotten myths,
as if, the world was better left behind

We looked back over the valley seeing home,
and then descended down a new road.

*This was an assignment for my poetry class. I had to do a Blank Verse Monologue so I wrote this for my nephew Erik Michel Jaimes about a hike we did during a freak thunderstorm this Summer in Big Bear.

The Impenetrable Light (A Holy Dove) 

Released from your freedom you enter me

Corporeal prison, life of the spirit

See the madness of love in the shallows

Frenzied fish gasping for breath and for bread

To become a part of what their Master says

The madness of love still in the shallows

Protect the decay, it breaks and it fades.

Corruption is always nearest the heart

The beauty of God so deep in the shallows

The Sky Reflected Summer (unfinished)

1

If I had the strength to prove my love is true

To protect you from the one who shares his greedy value

The one who said “Baby, my love is you.”

He will go and come back like echoes across the valley

never staying,

to put out his hand,

to reach for the stars in heaven above him

(Like a lost man who writes his thoughts on a porch)

The one who ran away and loved you more.

Can you tell me who loved you more?

2

I know betrayal.

It comes like a steady stream from my hands

My fingers are rivers of hatred pouring over your back

Caressing your laugh with a smile, my own awkward denial.

Am I the foolish step on a wise man’s ladder

Braced against the wall of your fortress?

Stepping on me now but your name is invisible

Without this pressure

I wouldn’t know you’re here at all

Today I had to write a sonnet for class…

To pluck the vine and smash the sweet produce,

The warmth of the sun shines upon my habit.

Like a madman, I sip the nectar reduced.

Defrocked nature, heaven’s honey, I grab it,

Smash it, blend it, until no dregs remain.

Discarded skins under the press of my sole.

The sweet residual pulp of my veins

Soaking the spaces of memory holes.

Shiraz, Chianti, valleys of Merlot,

All bred to beat my chest against the wind.

To cry “My moon, tonight you wear your halo!”

Her face shines down says “O boy, have you sinned?”

Laughing in fear but not grasping for breath

Grapes from the vine, wine in my glass resoundeth.

Untitled.

You withered the fruitless tree

“Discordia!” The vinedresser sings

An untimely harvest, sweet patience my plea

-

My soil-bed unkempt, You can see

Roots buried deep in loose soil I cling

You the withered the fruitless tree

-

With death in this moment from sin I am free

Yet this drying, pulling, uprooting does sting

An untimely harvest, sweet patience my plea

-

Command me now and I’ll fall to my knee

Chrysanthemums, poetic lexicon, what can I bring?

You withered the fruitless tree

-

I hear there is still a crown by the lee

Worn by a lamb, shepherd, servant and King

An untimely harvest, sweet patience my plea

-

Shadows lengthen, diffused light covers me

Respirations deepen in this my awakening

You withered the fruitless tree

An untimely harvest, sweet patience my plea

The common progression

A sea of gyration

Hands outstretched

Heart outstretched

The world is expanding

With love and understanding

Hands moving; vibrant

Alive, swaying violent

Knees bowed down to worship

Lifting the veil like a loose slip

Kneeling, praying, surrender

Arms aloft in spiritual splendor

Sweet ecstatic loss of self-distinction

One in the crowd, on the brink of extinction

He moves to bow his head to the floor

Like a reverential prayer to the east

But, the Lord understands social demands

In his heart he has become the least

Recoiling there, still close to the floor

And somehow, just a little, further from the Lord.

I don’t believe in love but I believe in the end of my days

I have seen the leaves fall turned to brown from green

Suture me to the fallen stars of heaven, sleep

I will dream of your beauty

And all will be sweet in this dream of a maiden from the east

Prayers

East

The death of the martyr, stigmata.

A whisper, a phrase. Ja mata.

The whites of the eyes. Heaven aims, ready.

Fire from the sky upward gaze steady

Nuclear futures burn brighter, shiro

The children left their silhouette, kuro

Cradle

Like diamonds in darkness; blood in my car

Cultural empire Allah Akbar

The lives of the saints, disaster and grace

Anxious eyes condemn behind a veiled face

Your treasure, values, resource, we mine

Shokran

Your treasure, values, resource, is mine

Shokran, jazeelan

West

Oh God what is freedom?

         Dear God what is death?

Grace, power, sin

         Absorbed in a breath.

Atmosphere, progress, social architects

Science and blind-faith the leap made perfect

We send out our money. We send out war.

We send out our loveless. We hope for more.

Amen.

Shelter

Ignoring the; “Obviously, I can’t think.”

She says, “you should try and remember me.”

But I am a liar and you are my grace

With one steady hand she caresses my face

Feeling her fingertips over my stubble

I haven’t shaved since 5a.m.

Living in my car again

Looking like a discouraged friend

Yet the light in my eyes radiates and shines

A lantern under a basket

A lamp in the closet

The fuel light on my dashboard

Gracias mi santa Patrina

Necesito la sabiduría

No gasolina

04SEP2011 19:30

Clear-cut memories of yesterday

All the laughter and my regrets

Coupled together like newlyweds

We are intimate, elaborate, and deliberate

Diction and poise dancing on the parapet

Love is the strong wind pushing me over

Fear like a tether pulling me in

As I dance around and around and spin

Coiling, coiling, around and around I spin

Binding and unbound I dance and I live

On the parapet built by my regrets

Dawn in a burning meadow

This is how I see Jesus

A burgeoning light ascending and descending upon my head

As I dance and I spin without discretion

Engraved Upon Gold In A Silver Envelope

I’m going to fight

Semblance forget

Rejection accept

Tomorrow Repent!

Oh, tomorrow repent from these failures

Today Regret but tomorrow repent

This life half spent

Unless my crystal lens is deception

Again, this fortune telling moment

Cries out to me

Repent, dead works

false prophets, repent

All I desire is mockery and death

Repent to live

This day is, today, it is mine

And tomorrow I’ll repent

Oh, tomorrow repent

Give me broken dreams

This comfort I send

Broken messages

Hidden waters uncleansed

Today I am ripped

Asunder unstitched

Only if I were fixed

Then tomorrow I’d end

And today I’ll Repent

But, first let me pretend

The foolish child I am

Is my manhood’s best friend

Tomorrow repent

Tomorrow I’ll send

This message to my God

Engraved upon gold

In a silver envelope