AND EVERYTHING

Tags

death, poem, Poet, poetry, Reader, woman, writing

AND EVERYTHING

I loved your poem
that one
on the death
of poetry

could vividly picture
the scene where
they lower
the coffin

(quietly praying
nothing, no one,
somehow
getting buried alive

whilst the politicians,
having no such concerns,
orate trivially, mumble
magnificently,
not really trying to
outdo Shakespeare’s
Anthony (would
butcher Marlon
in any
attempted
out-Brando)

and most relevantly
because they could
not imagine
anything in
reality less
worthy of their cause

but keeping the mask tight
since, all things considered,
still
good the
media exposure
and so
so grateful to be here

flexing
their humanity

widening their
world, their
network

and everything
and
everything

WORM

Tags

death, Life, Metaphor, Metaphysical, metapoetic, Nonlinear, philosophical, poem, poetry, postmodern

WORM

sorry, this is
a dream sequence

you follow the lines but
we are solidly nonlinear

wriggle in and
between but

watch out for the furniture
you would not want to
fall or trip over, bump into
wound or unsettle yourself

become a tiny worm burrowing into
the wood of a cupboard

forgetting your current life, past lives
what you were
before we
took you along with us
grabbed you
for the ride

omitting to mention
things might never be the same

SALVE

Tags

afterlife, books, death, Humanity, philosophical, poem, poetry, religion, spiritual, Upanishads, Water

SALVE

salve aqua
you are the original solvent

it was raining that day when
I figured death
might not have dominion

down in the crypt-like stacks
of the University library
rain pouring down
(a natural watershed here
on the backslope of this mountain)

easy to forget
the trials and tribulations
of climbing even so far
(later to
lose myself in the clouds
of crazy
doctoral thesis)

but here we are
deep into the Upanishads,
ancient Hindu scriptures

where they talk
journey of the soul

across space and
time

(didn’t fully
understand it

too young
this
mind)

LET’S SEE

Tags

death, poem, poetry

LET’S SEE

got too old
for beauty

no one wants
to go that extreme

only thing is to watch the stars
put in the veld alone

twinkling
fading

perhaps
the dawn is here

perhaps
it’s death:

let’s see!

SO MUCH

Tags

death, fake, Narrative, poem, poem poetry political moral, poetry, postmodern, satire, Story, Thanatos

SO MUCH

and the popcorn
flavour of the month
is
salted
nihilism

so strong the
death drive right now

so much to break
(faux art and
sculpture
to
create)

so much to
dull and dumb down
desiccate

and yes, eventually,
so much to kill

AND YET

Tags

death, Humanity, meaning, philosophical, poem, poetry, time, Universe

AND YET

it’s a sleep
I won’t wake up from

and yet I do
I always do

since the beginning
of the Universe
since
before

the beginning
(time and
consciousness
so
connected
so at odds)

I have never
overslept

never known anything other
than the absurdity of now

the chances of
which

so absolutely ridiculous

billions to
one against

I think I’ll just sleep on it;
waking up is death

VERDUN (THOUGHT OF GREEN)

Tags

death, Humanity, poem, poem poetry political moral, poetry, Verdun, War, WW1

VERDUN (THOUGHT OF GREEN)

you took some of your
childhood with you
into no man’s land

remembered running home from school
funny the absence of artillery fire
Father Mother not at the gate
traversing a machine gun

the green
the green

you must have felt the grass
between your fingers
stalked with
sniper eyes
for tiny insects that you captured

lectured on the ways of Man
and then released

Oh that more were
there to listen in that sudden jungle
had heard your cautionary tale

a place where
trenches disappear, lines disappear,

the very concept
of war

disappears

suddenly something
not unexpected yet
the shock of
shocks

and there you are
here we are

still clinging to
old memory
the thought
of green

LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS

Tags

2001, A Space Odyssey, Consciousness, cosmic, death, future, Moon, Nietzsche, poem, poetry, Space

LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS

If was in the future
far into the future

I was giving a lecture
on The Moon

talking of the great symbols
of our collective cosmic consciousness

whilst you sat there
steeped in thoughts of death,
thinking of an ancient film

set on this very Moon
where Nietzschean superman
taps into alien presence, alien energies
is lifted out of sad species nihilism

but I
never having seen this film
kept spouting away

something
about the low gravity of this place

time here, I suppose,
moving slightly faster

ideas bouncing around
like nobody’s business

and our blue-brown
on its last legs sickly planet
at least with an
atmosphere however toxic
that might be

how long for that to remain
at the heart of these symbols, be
the fount of all our meanings

this barren, naked Moon
chaste female goddess
queen of
all unconscious mystery

enough
of a home for me.

WHAT THE SERPENT TOLD ME

Tags

death, Life, poem, poetry, serpent, Snake

WHAT THE SERPENT
TOLD ME

in the beginning
there was anger

fire and
water

a million
kinds of venom

every colour and
colour combination

out of the
premise of death

first slithered
life

DANIEL

Tags

Aging, brother, death, poem, poetry

DANIEL

as fate would have it
I am always
a few steps ahead of you
(nine to be exact)

in the vanguard, negotiating
the nature of
this shriveling distance

odds on, I am first
to dip more than my toes into
that
place of darkness

yes dive deep
when it comes
to total
immersion

as luck would have it,
you so much better
at depths and diving than I