not a time for answers

we trek through
the bewilderness
with wonder
and horror
this is not a time for answers
and sometimes the old must bury the young

we walk the halls
and the valley of the shadow
in lands of no maps
or signposts
this is not a time for certainty
and sometimes the old must bury the young

by the river
we walked in a circle
and heard the sounds
of why
and we don’t know
but this is not a time for answers
and sometimes the old must bury the young

on days like this

it hangs in the air,
doesn’t it?
it drifts idly by
and we can see through it
but we can’t see around it

it connects us,
doesn’t it?
it brings us together
even as we are not together,
each privately picking
and tasting
these grapes of sorrow

each clutching at
this grief,
blindsided again –
did we think we would be
better prepared?

ends and beginnings
fold into each other
even on days like this
even on days like this
even on days like this

 

 

Manifestations

how is it missing when it is the same
except for a handful of moments?

when everything has changed at the precise point
that nothing really changed but for
a clarity and a sense of destiny

at the point of equipoise
the nudge upends the world
from convex to concave
from negative to positive
from monochrome to
living colour

so exactly how does that
manifest as missing?
because nothing is missing

the great compression

we are not expanding
we are compressing

we are immersed
in our compression
in lives shrinkwrapped
and airless

so much data
pretending to be knowledge
so many angles flattened
so many voices shouting
so many things we need to buy
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we know more
and comprehend less
twisted and turned
by beeps and buzzes
notifications of
nothingness happening
just over the partition

we’re told more
and retain less
distracted by
what’s newer
flashier
what’s the new
necessity

lord save us from
our culture of convenience
that stands between us and life

certain considerations

there are certain considerations
that ought to be kept in mind
and some that ought not
enter the mind at all

once kept in the mind,
one just doesn’t know:
a thingk may nurture, or
a thingk may curse, or
a thingk may run amok
falling down stairs
and pulling over shelves
and throwing crockery

and every once in a while a thingk kept in mind
will be a soothing thingk, a quieting thingk,
a nourishing thingk

we consider the considerations
that we keep in mind
because we know we don’t know
how they will behave
when these thingks
are kept in mind

Songs about the past and songs about the future

fra
gmen
ts
ac
ross
the
old
fas
hion
ed
mi
les

night
s
are
day
s
and
so
on

dis
joint
ed
exh
chang
es

fou
nd
poe
ms
gath
ere
d
in
the
ir
qu
iet
cor
ner

(the
y
h
ave
their
ow
n
br
oo
m
)

ar
e
y
ou
the
re
?

warming to the heart

an urge
to speak
for words
to be heard

for face
to face face
unhindered

for sharing
of dreams
and worlds

a miss is as good as a mile
it’s said
distance is wait
but need not be weight

lightness has an advantage
because after all
light is easier to carry
and faster than sound