World Through Raw Eyes (Part 1)

I.

….Though some still doubt

The place exists, where

The sky is red, and the ground

Blue with sapphire and other

Cheap rock. It is where

Men fly across the clouds

Stopping only for beer

and sleep and women, and

The women stop only for

The rare time when the

World shifts, and colors change.

The world, the absurd place, and

(this happens) (that happens)

I die, and to wake up under

The ash tree, with a hurting back,

And a vision of endless rain.

This place, forbidden from sound.

The music stops, the mountains

Fall silent (shhhhhh) And the

ocean rising, THE GREAT

FLOOD, dried plains, crunching

of leaves under small delicate feet.

Life is this, the flow, the stream

Of place to place, time to

Time again. “Let him eat, let

Him worship, and most of all,

Let him die.” Swoops down from

Clouds descending, and picks up

The estranged souls from decay,

To….no smiles, no angels, no

graceful palaces. The pain, and

it’s starting to snow. Look up!

Views of my father, walking

From horizon to the rising sun,

Without effort, without strain,

Walking on the fertile air,

The crispness and the thick

Aroma of (what is it?) a

Familiar smell of childhood,

— a song that goes — but

The pages go by quickly,

Breezing past with wind,

“Carry me!!” taking the old

keepsakes, slow erosion,

Carving the valleys. Now

Fill the hole, stuff the hollow

Earth, build a shining house

Atop the hill, raze this place

And then take off. The men

Who carry guns and swords,

(shaking from fear, homesick)

Wearing tough faces and

Helmets, shields against reality, the

Final blow, when mother whispers

“Now, now, child” stroking a

Gentle hand across soaking cloth in:

-A fireplace where folks gather.

-Under the trapdoor, against cobwebs.

-Within the thick green, wet forest.

Inhabit the land, claim its richness,

Transform its poverty, throw up

The hands, “RELEASE,” shrieks,

Falling to origin, humble atoms.

Mind crumbling, deteriorating,

And — but one last hurrah! —

Staggered breath, shivering,

Coldness under blazing rays

Of moonlight, starlight, beauty

and its irony. [laughs] Oh weak

Heart and weak soul, how

Should the book close?

What final words should say?

But in this teeming land, there is

No end, only beginnings.

Yes, no end, only beginnings,

“Where is this place?”

Right here, I am breathing

It in, lifting my body here,

Strange world, beautiful
World, and fires all over,

Scorched buildings. So real,

So bizarre, can’t objectify,

But real nonetheless….

II.

The old bitter man who puts

Too much salt in his food

Said to his dead wife: “I

shall come soon. I feel

Not so well.” The tingling

Sensation of the scythe —

Swollen lips and shriveled

Legs. deficit omne quod

nasciture. Can I reach it, can

I touch it? And the vegetarian

lion, with its dull teeth and

Lonely whimper, cannot

But fear the howling of

Furry rabbits with filed

Claws. (the embers have

died down) Huddle closer,

My dear children! There is

Chanting in the distance,

Muttering sounds of —

Writing for the birds and

The wilted flowers, lyrical

Songs about love and heartbreak.

[Insert Intermezzo] Then

Change of scene to schoolhouse.

Young and laughing kids,

“Tag you’re it!” and the solemn

Teachers with no apple (sweet

Fruit of knowledge) and

The yardstick and chalk,

Yelling incantations of “Sit

Down….be quiet….pay atten-

tion” Crude drawings of

Stick men and round girls

And polygonal trees on cardboard,

Hard colors, strung up on

Wire, like hooded men dangling

From rope, twitching feet.

Steady hands make the best

Tools, picking up the smoldering

pieces, assembling together

To form curves and function.

Calculative, f(x)= *******, some

Unknown graph and its meaning.

It’s a line stretching from negative

Infinity to infinity, occupying forever

But nowhere. My segment goes

Towards that way --------> to

The next world, to the land where

The priest says is filled with ____

And _____ and more _____.

Expansive, filled with claustrophobia,

Divergent from the straight one.

Born to die; live to see the crumbling

Of love and good, and the reign

Of evil and cruelty. The kingdom of

God is within you. Heaven on earth,

Hell on earth, and me and I, the

Angel and the demon, “Tread on!”

Let the magic dissipate, and watch

The glow of the skyline fade,

Fading, dimming, washed out.