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My Poetry and Commentary on Life

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the work matters

by

Arcana, creativity, dream, identity formation, life, poetry, tarot, ways of knowing, work

thirty-five years

after he died

before me drowning

in phlegmatic cancers

dad rose from dreams

then and now I heard

his responsible voice

you go to the work

I work then I work

within my way

what I lay down

arises from me

the past answers

the present questions

the future unfolding

(from a work in progress: “Arcana,” Kingwands, January 5, 2014)

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(archeology of meaning)

by

borders, fragments, interpretation, language, meaning, metaphor, poetry, storytelling, Uncategorized, ways of knowing

Shattered pots

Clay-footed

shards

a potter’s mark?

fragments hint

toward structure

partially

not there

(from: “primogenitive folly,” August 2001-April 2003)

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defined success

by

Arcana, doubt, irony, life, poetry, tarot

I’m myopic most days

but know how to behave

I am here now

within my skins

friend

father

lover

my limits bother me most

my experience

my knowledge

my morals

my boundary’s my vision

I’m discomfited

by my comforts

uncomfortable in

the things I see

It would be

so simple

to take off my glasses

and breathe

to relax into

what I’ve

become

(from a work in progress: “Arcana,” IXPentacles, January 4, 2014)

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(truth and lies, warp and weft)

by

community, fragments, interpretation, obsessions, poetry, social construction

truth is a complicated lie

in which we are all complicit

with more or less awareness

of the fabric we all weave

you decide the coarseness

of the cloth, the patterned

tightness of the web

you drape about the objects of the world

beneath the warp i repeat my sad words

like charms over bones

another ritual recitation

of the way i want my world to be

(from: Primogenitive Folly, August 2001-April 2003)

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a quick bit of advice

by

acceptance, Arcana, doubt, hope, life, oblivious, poetry, tarot

look up–

as if family

friends and

love were

not enough–

you have poetry

whispering songs

to you

as well–

listen–

to the wind

and dance–

you self

involved

pathetic

git

(from a work in progress, “Arcana,” IVCups, January 3, 2014)

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wisdom arrives habitually late

by

Arcana, fate, life, middle-age, poetry, process, tarot

the horse plods along before the plow

the work of the field is monotonous and slow

the cycles play out in patterns across the sky

stubbornly I persist within my angers

within dissatisfactions growing like kudzu

through my daily thoughts and dreams

I look at the rich earth in my hands

there is no need for extraneous effort

I can dance to the rhythms of the stars

(from a work in progress, “Arcana,” knightpentacles, January 3, 2014)

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Flame into Heaven

by

i ching, poetry

January 3, 1995

Movement becomes inevitable.

A ship slips across water

yielding the way. Flowers

bloom in the sun each

morning and afternoon:

laughter, love, and friends.

(from “My Book of Changes, 1994-1995)

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A Good Worker

by

Arcana, dissatisfaction, fate, life, poetry, tarot

after being smacked with a club again

my skull cracked and bleeding it seems

I would not worry so much as I still do

I will do what I need to do because I do

not so much from pride ‘though that’s there

but knowing I have and will do so again

happiness is an illusion not merely illusive

but irrelevant as the task before me waiting

again to be taken up by these broken hands

(from a work in progress: “Arcana,” IXWands, January 2, 2014)

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Everything is Beautiful

by

Arcana, doubt, erato, hope, irony, poetry, sonnets, tarot

“Every angel is terrifying.

And so I hold myself back and swallow the call-note of my dark sobbing.”

–Rainer Maria Rilke

What angel hides

within my words

I am afraid

I will succeed

that what I want

will come to me

happiness’

fragility

frightens me so

I can’t hold on

I cannot trust

my own desires

to keep me safe

from my success

(from a work in progress, “Arcana” AcePentacles, January 1, 2014)

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a new world

by

Arcana, life, liminal, love, poetry, tarot

he confesses to her of love

destruction ripples behind

a destination somewhere else

ahead the water’s quite calm

but here still turbulent and deep

his hand on the tiller leads them away

where are we going with all this

she asks almost noticing the change

where we want to go he hesitates

hoping she heard what he said

*

our oceans fold oceans of tears

waves crush the past into sand

all travelers step to a shore

but not always hand in hand

(from a work in progress: “Arcana,” VISwords, January 1, 2014)

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the world we came from

by

Arcana, life, love, meaning, process, tarot, traces, ways of knowing

everything and everyone in the village sparkled

along the edges of the lush green carpet grass

we danced and played often in the summer rain

we’d rush madly to dad’s shop to carve boats

then trailing them behind us on bits of string

we’d splash down the sidewalks with glee

we all knew each other and everyone cared

the neighbors laughed and talked over beers

the waiting terrors prowled abstractly far away

(from a work in progress, “Arcana,” VICups, December 31, 2013)

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a quick success, then home

by

Arcana, fate, poetry, storytelling

on the hill in the distance home waits

but for now I work within a wood

where most of my problems are my own

and these too will vanish soon like frost

melting from the bare braches about me

#

the sun climbs higher into a clearer sky

the once warming of work now sweats

so I break for water not quite noticing

the quick cry and flutter of nearby birds

singing their sharp pips after seed

#

if I pause to watch each glisten of light

I will not compete the task set before me

and discover what every dead man knows

the world will wobble on from winter

until spring with or without me along

(from a work in progress: “Arcana,” VIIIWands, December 30,2013)

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détente

by

Arcana, desire, dream, erato, life, mythic, poetry, tarot, traces

beneath the waxing moon the sea spreads

sleepily before him as her hair in dreams

washes across his bed sheets in waves

for now what one wishes the other blindly

complies toward their mutual satisfaction

for what one needs the other completes

yet the seductive calm belies troubles

on the edges of the half-sunken rocks

for the sirens sing only for themselves

(from a work in progress, “Arcana,” IISwords, December 30, 2013)

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three graces

by

desire, erato, love, mythic, poetics, poetry, tarot

stepping on toes

and singing of love

I mumble and stumble

through my songs

me to you to her

feet slide behind feet

hands caress hands

our moves circle

we raise our cups

and long to kiss

we sing our songs

and dance within the other

(from a work in progress: “Arcana,” IIIcups, December 30, 2013)

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intoxicant

by

Arcana, erato, love, poetry, relationships, tarot

for years now

unknown

I believe

to you

I have drunk

from your passions

and laughter

moment by moment

insatiable

(from a work in progress: “Arcana,” cupspage, December 29, 2013)

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