stipend

Stipend
1-9-11


I forsake the means of the mercenary
Of grasping to monetary gain
But I will still work for it in this
And claim that it's not in vain
Where Mallory rhymes with salary
In my own blonde ambition
And motivation to try
She gives me permission to do this
Because it is me
And such is justified
In opportunity
Where the artist has another sexual identity
Making not base my opinion
Of his music that says a lot
Like the poetry of many I consult
Who are passed on
Like the interval between dusk and dawn
That is beautiful
Calming all my vain fears
Based on lies we learn to grasp the truth
Yet no longer cling to it....
















Cats Protect The Corn
1-9-11


Making peace with the Hills, the Smiths
And Foxes
They are as rivals
To serve as games to play
To get sharper and stronger
In this search for Being
A thing that is infinite
In a universe I touch with my love
I grow like corn in the fields of my hungry mind
Sending out the cats to catch the rodents
That only seem to nibble
Upon all of our increase
As yet erected are scarecrows
That fail to drive away the ravenous fowls
That take all that they can reach
And in never being a farmer
For myself I cannot judge nor preach
So I just say the things that I know....










For Aiden
1-9-11


I had a colleague rival
That said one day I'd invent
And practice a religion of my own
Wherein love will serve as my survival
And I would know
That I's never again
Need to do it alone
His name was K.A.
He served me as would an idol
Or perhaps a fair maiden
He took off my shoes
And threw them across the lawn
While if we were to contend
I would have been gone
I needed humility in such times
When I hated them
Due to my envy and jaundice
In wanting to belong
And today I tell this story
To serve as one of my first illustrations
To explain just who I am
And who I am yet to be....












Day's First Menial Morsel
1-9-11


As the sun goes down
Spirits of the confederacy
Lead me to the eastern border
Of such a city called York
Where a vagabond partakes in raw fishes
And prefers to use instead a fork
And then chooses to simply dip it is soy
With his fingers in a place quite blessed
Where intention of compassion yet lingers
So I pop in my mouth a handful of snow caps
To regard my childhood
And how I would write my raps
And distribute them indiscriminately
Before I had the knowledge
Of what they could do
And as the sun goes down
I light more incense
Yet to call a brother
To share a parable...












Smelling My Fingers
1-9-11


Yet to be an observer
Of sordid and sensational subjects
Because in deed they are a vast part
Of a deep sea of what is Me
When I count one, two and three
Now that I have set myself free
Smelling my fingers
In my sexual chocolate delight
To know I won't catch cold from myself tonight
Letting it take its course
As I mount a valiant racing horse
A steed that knows where he is going
A means of transportation
In a spiritual sense
Of Being and knowing...










Tidbit
1-9-11


And yeah, Gall Borden
Made his condensed milk
In eighteen fifty-three
As I inquire
What in the heavens
Does this have to do with me
Passing away in seventy-four
Nearly a century before I came to be
All of such events are set in place in God's plan
So that our world today can be exactly what it is
As I haphazardly toss in coffee cans into my waste basket
And an offering to She that makes it all possible
For me to carry out these works
And to touch many
That need a little bit of something....










To Climb Higher
1-9-11


In the hadal depths of mine seas
Are stirred like an instant tea mix in hot water
It does not mean that I'm in trouble
While I might drown
If I attempt this meditation
Submerged in my Lavender bubble bath
In the hadal depths of a love that is still alive
Six thousand meters beneath a sea I never set sail upon
While drinking the pasteurized milk
Of ecstatic excavations
Yet to be undertaken
In my letting go
Of all of such desire
In the hadal depths
Of a disposition
Needed to climb higher....

pullman

The Pullman
10-24-09


The structure of the Pullman
Is small, long and narrow
In architectural design
As so out of envy
Many carpenters whom compete will malign
The poison of ale is the remedy
Upon an unbalanced scale
God will prevail
But wine will fail
Time to light the incense
Better with age and richer when stale
I say I'm a true believer
But is this just talk
I am expected to do yet more
To back up my walk....








The Egg That Could have been A Pullet
10-24-09


We fry upon our gas stove
An egg that could have been a pullet
As so the mess I make
Will serve as a bullet
I was inebriated when I wrote this rhyme
As God will have His purpose
And use for every such petty crime
I stand in the shadows of love
Yeah, a word that has been abused
I look to the beyond and above
Scales fall from my forehead
When I pray while confused
If this means anything to you
Take heed and may it be so....




















Heliotrope
10-24-09


If we want to plant a heliotrope or a turnsole
We must needs take up a shovel and dig a hole
Gardening is rewarding
And worthy of a man's laurels
As over what manner of fertilizer
We use there will be misgivings and quarrels
I'm a Jesus freak
I cannot hide the word in my heart
As long as I'm alive
I will always seek
As the thought of stagnation tears me apart
I must proceed
As I cannot give in so easily...










While Yet White Not
10-24-09


Wine stain on a page
Forms the shape of a clam
I must persevere only because I am
I am what I Am
Yet I'm nothing more
As never in this lifetime
Will I be white or pure
My sins are as scarlet
God makes them as white as snow
As I still resort to the harlot
Praying ahead of time
So I'll be ready to go
It's helmet against helmet
Yet my favorite team
Still I do not know
I have not preference
I practice not favoritism
Nor partiality
When it's all good....








Of 712 B.C.
10-24-09


Reading a passage written
In the year of seven hundred twelve B.C.
As it is said that faith works
In the things you don't see
Here are ladies down and out
Whom are content with being whores
Yet is this the same as saying
Thou fool
In our spiritual battles and wars
I'm all set yet only for the time at hand
We cannot analyze everything
For we won't always understand...










Freely
10-24-09


Freely I have received
So freely I must give
We need hold fast the love in our hearts
So that we might live
I stroke my elder cat's fur
And she bites my hand
I don't want to go to sleep
Nor miss a thing
So I wipe away from eyes all sand
In is good when you are certain
Of how rent in the midst is torn the curtain
I have much to say in being a Jesus freak
As the things that I've been taught
I hope to of such speak
Freely I have received
So freely I must give....

shape shifter

Shape Shifter
1-27-08


And there is a lesson
We are yet to be taught
Not to gather in our vineyard
Every fallen grape
For God gave us provision
In battles we fought
As all trouble and toil we tolerate
Gets us into shape
As shape shifters
Learn the ways
Of many shapes and forms
And the student of the law
No longer conforms
For the law is for the teaching
After our faith is attained
As wells of wonder
Are infinite sources of vitality
When we are far spent and drained
And I possess a song
That in words articulate
Cannot be written
And I long for the days
When once again I will be smitten...










The Tasteful Distasteful
1-27-08


And in the expression of literature and art
A writer needs to express the ugly
Just as well as beauty
And the grotesque needs not stand apart
For in disgust and dishonor
There are many tales to tell
For in the field of the aesthetic
We must include as well
The road less travelled
For even in that which is less favored
There are mysteries to be unraveled
So I pick up a book about the French revolution
And join in on the debate of intelligent design versus evolution
And it is good when it matters
Just as it is good to get mad
As I get my taste of mortifying delicacies and platters
As we can find much good
In what seems to us
Bad....























Going Romantic And Byronic
1-27-08


And I am yet to set sail
Upon stormy seas
Of the romantic and the Byronic
As I will explore the realms
As well of the cynical, satirical and ironic
For it is said not just one power will rule the show
And in that which many will call a heresy
There is much to learn and know
For we have not the means to protect our children
From what they call corrupt
For all walls are going to crumble
And volcanoes will erupt
So we seek for solid ground
So we won't fall into the fire
As we taste melodic and discordant sound
As we find we can learn
Even from the thief and the liar...


















He Won't Quit
1-27-08


And when a poet in a contest wins first place
Yes, he'll rest not on laurels
Nor in his legacy fulfilled
For all are given spiritual gifts by God's grace
And now that I'm out of class
I love and admire teachers
So I may obtain growth
And become learned and skilled
And all I won in those days
Was a five dollar check
From a poem about a boy of poor health
That got into a bicycle wreck
And when I was in school
I didn't care too much for learning
As I knew nothing of zeal
Of shadows nor of discerning
Yet when I met Jesus
I found compassion
And now that I know the Spirit
I seek not fame, fortune or fashion....










More Hope For Thirty-five
1-27-08


And the people were advised
To not have their cattle
Gender with a diverse kind
Yet in the compassion of Christ
Connections are condoned
When your cup of coffee is conducive
To a creative mind
And in alliteration
My intentions are not to boast
For I know blessing in anticipation
For my birthday vacation to the coast
As I am yet to see my spiritual Rome and Greece
As I will prosper in my prosperity and peace
And I am yet to feel my romantic Spain and France
As in time I sharpen my sword
While my inheritance
I'll enhance....










Praise God, I Was An Outcast
1-27-08


And because I hated school
I suppose education would be my fate
For when I was in class
All I knew was oppression
Exile and hate
And I didn't fit in anywhere
No, not even with the chess club
And seven times I would shampoo my hair
Hoping to make my face look good
Daydreaming in the bathtub
And God knows I was lousy at sports
And I never made it with the ladies
Trying to act cool in multicolored shorts
That were in fashion in the mid eighties
But all of such misfortunes
No longer seem to matter
Until I return to my dream landscape
Where seeds of love and peace I scatter....

50%

Fifty Percent
1-27-12


Half of God's people are not prepared
Yet by his mercy our lives are but spared
And those without oil were not ready to receive it
When those with their oil
Could not get them to believe it
In a new kind of listening experiment
Setting into motion
That which has been at rest
For a year or more
To reactivate the love
In the words to the song
Where eventually
All will be made right
Which is wrong....


















Spring Like Winter Day
1-27-12


A relationship with Jesus
Cannot be borrowed nor lended
As we rise in the morning
With minds and hearts mended
Living to see another day of blessings
In which we abound to discover
That ones dignity once again is found
On a January day that feels like March
Back from a meal with Mother
Where I get my dose of sugar and starch
Noticing the changes of the chords
In the melody I'd always sing along to
So I might stir this gift
To put love into action...










Contortionists
1-27-12


Contortionists perform
In a circuis of souls that are saved
Where conditions are no longer inimical
Nor will we be enslaved
And I want to make it real again
And to gain back the love I knew
Of the days when I could believe
In the miracle of loving you
O, I want it all back in my hands
And to claim again what was lost
In treasures of abundant lands
As contortionists display their abilities and attributes
Delving deep like trees and their roots...

















At Dusk I Pray
1-27-12


Retaining personal sociopolitical factors
Put to work by cranes
And agricultural tractors
As kids play at the evening
Of this darkest day
And I wonder in matters of time
O, where have I gone
When dead so appear the trees
And withered grass on the lawn
And I hanker for the rebirth of things that I see
And all I desire is to reattain the life of love
In the real me
For this I pray
Over my coffee and tea...


















Not In Vain
1-28-12


I have a life to live today
Either in hubris or humility
Where I capture the meaning
Either of significance or futility
Not in vain
On a day of no rain
Where such intricate melodies
Are presented in ways simple and plain
I have a life to live
On this mild sunshiny winter's day
Of which is sweet to behold
Through eyes rested and restored....








Day To Day Challenge
1-28-12


In my day to day challenge
I press on in my healing
Of dreams that extend
Into the hope of a new dawn
Yet to behold the light rise in the east
Working up an appetite
So that I might attend my marriage feast
And in my day to day challenge
I am yet to reconcile
The things that appear to be out of place....










The Need, Today
1-28-12


I saw and filled the need
To turn off the television
And to get on with the facing of the music
To mollify inner contention and division
Where I have all the day to do the nothing
That indeed is something to me
In battle with my resistance
Yet at peace in the somewhere
That permeates my nowhere
As such is as the nourishment
To start out another day
With new lofty hopes
Of the light of day....

gestures

Gestures
11-28-09


May us learn of the gestures
Of Greece and Rome
May us have dignity
In our new car
Of our polished chrome
May us learn of the history
Of France and Spain
May us see our pleasure
In our affliction and our pain
I'm needing some assistance
To set up my tree
And I must have completion
In order to be free
May us learn of the ways
Of Corinth and Madrid
May us learn yet much
In what we already did...






























Genet
11-28-09


We can make a comparison
Between Shakespeare and Jean Genet
As if one artist ceases
We need not call it a power play
May us make a distinction between jazz and blues
May us consider what goes on and call it news
May us make a compromise
Between spirituality and art
May us consider our freewill
That blows the whole place apart
As production will pick up in its pace
And more so it made by God's grace.....










In The Eye Of The Hurricane
11-28-09


We consider the viverid
To think of the civet
The genet and the mongoose
As we consider the wicked king of Herod
To look upon the thread that is cut loose
As all music has its calm and its storm
As we study these patterns
In the confines of a collage dorm
We consider the viverid of the mongoose, the civet
And the genet
And all we know to say of such
Is that we can still make it work....
















Two Hundred Dollar Investment
11-28-09


My tree is almost set up
I see this as the latest miracle
The project is almost complete
I count this as lyrical
Two hundred dollar investment
I see it as worthy of praise
As in this I am taught of faith
To get me through the rest of my days
The tree is almost set up
Filled again is my cup
As I absorb the multicolored lights
When in Christmas
I have my share of smells and sights
The tree is almost complete....










Arbuthnot
11-28-09


We consider the history of John Barleycorn
And John Bull
As we thing of all that differs
Yet we find it cool
And we consult the chief character
In Arbuthnot's allegory
As we take but one verse
To come up with an entire story
And I look for the Lord
To light up
The upper layer of lights
As I have faith in the Lord
To illuminate these upcoming nights
I consider the history of John Barleycorn
As in our side so is pierced our thorn...










Snivel
11-28-09


And so we will snivel
And run at the nose
As we are glad to be pricked
By the thorn of the rose
We set a date on Friday night
But we stay awake until the morning light
We agree to keep it up till the light of day
And in this repetition we find a new way
As so we snivel as we pretend to cry
As so we weep until it is time to die
And so we snivel....

bootes

Bootes
1-24-12


In the sky tonight
So is painted a picture of the Herdsman
To yet behold with open eyes
Receptive to the truth
That still teaches all students
Of that which is sweet to the mind
Cleaving to the rugged rocks
Of a slope high and steep
Going back to work in lucid dreams
Of an uninterrupted sleep
With the vision to yet in God succeed
And trust that he will meet this need....


















Information Age
1-24-12


This is the generation for those whom seek
So I wish them well
With confidence to come back next week
Yet to humble this heart of mine
And assume a countenance mild and meek
Fitted with the jewels upon a neckless of jade
Going to places where love and peace will be made
And today I am what I am by God's grace and mercy
In a generation of great learning
Where much is revealed
When you incline an ear...










Straight From The Heart
1-31-12


Straight from the core
Of a heart contrite
I desire to reconcile
And make things right
Such are good intentions
Yet such needs to be put into action
As I request my portion of wisdom
In today's every interaction
And I live to see another day
Of spring like weather
At the tail end of the first month
Of the year of the dragon
Where I manage to remain faithful
In staying on my wagon...












Pitstop
1-31-12


I was instructed to write this poem
And get my pitstop
To review the daily news
For I have nothing yet much to lose
And everything to gain
In wanting to live my life through the struggle
As computers get their sleep
When mouse potatoes leave home for therapy
Of all good and evil
And black and white
No pun intended
As the voice within said
That I am strong
As I do research on the philosopher named Long
Where right will be made in time
All that is wrong...




















My Desire For Life
2-25-12


I want to do something different for a change
As I step out to catch the wind in my sails
To observe an untimely fallen leaf
Offbeat in its way
With no need to think of it
As an omen of death
I want to live my life a whole lot more
For what it is
As I dream again tonight
Of obtaining my favorite foods
I want the ability to do just this
And I want it now


















Classes At Home
5-17-12


Starting out in my review
Of the address of Moses
In the book of Deuteronomy
Determined today to have my portion
Of psychology with astronomy
Where there is plenty of work to be done
To set free the hands of those passing through
On the perimeter of the premises
Where grass is cut and weeds are pulled
As I sit at my table
Where coffee is sweetened and cooled
Where I will begin again
In this newfound integrity
Of balance and poise...










Another Game Day
5-17-12


Taking presumptuously to the hills
With coffee on an empty stomach again
Passing the day with sporting events
Where I take up my pipe and my pen
Conducting recording sessions in my hallway
Where it all went down three weeks ago
Providing the remembrance of an event
That increases my thankfulness in all things
Going willingly into the wilderness
To find the power that comes by fasting and prayer
In the muse of the realm wherein I dwell in this abode....

embark

Embark
8-1-13


Embarking upon the melancholy
To be an essential ingredient
Of the mind in times of release
Portrayed in music and literature
So that one might let it all out and silently shout
To write a rhyme of what it's all about
To nurture all of such unbelief and doubt
Embarking upon another tome
Of my variance of evolving styles
That constantly are under the change
Of my capricious chosen compassion
That keeps me intact...




















Innocuous
8-1-13


Innocuous smiles are emulated
By these pretenses
Of the happiness we hope to try to visualize
In times of dreariness
Yet we find that the melancholy
Has its place in our hearts
When Jesus even he was a man of sorrows
Where innocuous smiles
Serve as the illusion
For our choice of today's well being
Difficult to be put here in words
Seeing that such is formless
As something to be savored
Without due analysis
This is my latest thought
Of what can be in another day of deep thought
As the medicine ordered
By this great physician
Here, now and today....








Indention
8-1-13


Of my paragraphs indenting
Of beliefs digressing and dissenting
I find my way in praying for neighbors to find theirs
Coming up on my three years of sobriety
So far, O so successful
Expecting not a medal
In that I do it for just what it is
Seemingly hard to be put into words
Seeing such as the formless
Into the unmanifested
Of what we cannot grasp
With fleshly senses
Of paragraphs indenting
And beliefs digressing
And dissenting....










Boneset
8-5-13


Of fastidious feral feline friends
I confront my shadow once again
To confront my dead ends juxtaposed
In that such appear as parallels
In new ways to go west
Of my boneset roots that reach deep
Putting such words to their test
By my threescore and seventeen
With no need to know what this can mean
Of fastidious feral feline friends
Of which I set free
To see if they will come back to me...






















Quest
8-5-13


Quotidian quests
Are as bullet proof vests
Where the poet doth pass these tests
In cyclical obstacles that yet refine
Almost being three years
Without my glass of sweet wine
Where my only quota
Is my quotidian questions
To quibble and juggle my avacadoes
To devour just the way that they come
To have myself another prolific day
Of such a pen no longer idle
In such diligence
Of quotidian quests...










Tonic
8-5-13


Of my gentian tonic
I am an addict and a chronic
When it comes to the excess
Where I would rather simply confess
Than to repent
Seeing it time again to pay the rent
Going tomorrow to where I am sent
Going west again where much money is spent
Of my gentian clusters of such grace
I get much more than what I deserve
In the first place...