Extinction

Heart and Soul Nebula – photo by NASA

 

avalanching ethers

burst among solar flares

explosive with locust bytes

swarming in broadband storms

chomping through dark matter orbits

dimming the starlight

with sensory overload

to then disappear

massive cloud after cloud

into gestating bellies of

Cancer and Capricorn

reborn and transmogrified

carapaced cloven-clawed

mandibled sea-goats

voracious for unwrinkled brains

with pubescent attraction

to distraction of inane textese

reductive emoticonned moments

flashing frivolous acronyms

from voice-command gadgets

and chatspeaking thumbs

unable to utter

or finger-swipe

anything cosmic

to rescue the intellect

from cultural dross piled like grave-dirt

interring a species

that might have discovered

the soul of the universe

 

 

From my book City of Pawns

Fifteen Minutes

“It’s Nice  That….6” by Gabriella Boyd

 

by sly trick or device

given quirks of

pop culture

you acquired some fame

fifteen minutes

to bask in the

half-hearted interest

of narrow minds

shallow souls

bored just as easily

as they’re amused

social media

leaves your

indelible scrapbook

to later look back

and ask of the past

what the hell

were you thinking

 

 

From my book Ephemera

Instinct

“The Id” by Zsuzsanna Ardo

 

lash of lightning
tree split to its roots
critters quiver
fear strikes
in the heart of
the dinosaur brain
nothing rational
lives in such deep
primal creases
reflexive behavior
swift action reaction
necessity making it
hostile to thought

here’s where man
and beast share in
a feral neurology
some men disposed
to enjoy it too much
psyche fractured
allured by sheer
weightlessness free
from the burden of
even mere modestly
complex ideas
metaphysical concepts
as foreign as cinders
that blighten the eye

right or wrong
existential
concretely
self-evident
such are the views of
the men who from
time immemorial
shame our humanity

 

 

From my book Ephemera

Extinction

The Heart and Soul Nebulae – photo by NASA

avalanching ethers

burst among solar flares

explosive with locust bytes

swarming in broadband storms

chomping through dark matter orbits

dimming the starlight

with sensory overload

to then disappear

massive cloud after cloud

into gestating bellies of

Cancer and Capricorn

reborn and transmogrified

carapaced cloven-clawed

mandibled sea-goats

voracious for unwrinkled brains

with pubescent attraction

to distraction of inane textese

reductive emoticonned moments

flashing frivolous acronyms

from voice-command gadgets

and chatspeaking thumbs

unable to utter

or finger-swipe

anything cosmic

to rescue the intellect

from cultural dross piled like grave-dirt

interring a species

that might have discovered

the soul of the universe

Bully

“Vengeance” by Shaun Clayton

 

sharpen your ignorance

I’m coming for you

lay your mind to the

whetting wheel

turned on your cogs

of closeted cowardice

hear me and fear me

I’m coming for you

clubs of conscience

fill both of my hands

so you’ll need more

than slander blades

metaled with malice

to ward off my justice

I’m coming for you

so you’d best get to

honing a deadlier edge

to your own self-defense

but be quick with your work

for I’ve quit

the world’s apathy

time’s past for action

I’m coming for you

and I won’t let you live

with your cruel streak intact

I bring violence

intending to

murder the bully

who skulks in your skin

give him up

cut him loose

or I’ll take you both down

I’m coming for you

and I won’t be denied

retribution

for all of those victims

your blithe torture damaged

the same souls

your indecent heart

doesn’t even remember

I’m coming for you

with the promise

you’ll never

forget them again

 

 

(originally posted October 2013)

Entity

 

“Essence” by Pat Stacy

 

good men and bad

one common identity

borne by red blood

yet distinctions

will set them apart

by their choices

deliberate calculus

testing the values

at various points

of continuum one

dead-straight spectrum

the only true path

between simplified

black and white answers

the colors of ethos

indifferently selfless

or selfish of light

the electromagnetic

affinities drawn

into tribes of belief

who attract or repel

individual egos the

human holistic experience

bound by biology

finding its freemost

expression in personal

mindful morality

each man an actor

an entity

owning his judgment

Uptown

“Uptown”
Painting by Tommy Buell McDonell
From fineartamerica.com

the motionless swagger of limestone façades
fringed epaulet shoulders guard citadel luxury
intimate supper clubs cater to gilded sensibilities
here where the splendid grandiloquent dwell
high above asphalt moats in their capital keeps
working levers of commerce and rum aristocracy

why is success a disparaged degenerate quality
when admission is discriminately priced by due
measures of merit and providence winning is not
some mean character flaw wealth and power have
neutral morality motives and methods however are
certainly worthy of judgment in all parts of town

Human Catalog

“Humanity”
Painting by Arbana Hajredinaj
From freewebs.com

deeds written
across sheaves
of intentions
acts sacred
and profane
record history
made by the
free will of men
both the bold
and the meek
the indifferent
the passionate

we become
what we care
to imagine
each one of us
abled for good
and for evil the
best and the
worst and the
middling create
all the pride
and the shame
of our passage
with privilege
through time
through a life
marked by pluses
and minuses

ledger strokes
tallying values
determining heft
of what impacts
we make on
behavioral
memory what
might we teach
wrong or right
dark or bright
by example of
vices and virtues
how well if at all
will we illustrate
villains or valiants
or straddlers who
nonetheless function
benignly between

if we live without
luck but with
purpose and plan
our experiences
less by accident
more by design
then we stand
to contribute
to demonstrate
worst and best
panoply practices
grist for the mill
food to fatten the
calf who in turn
will then nourish
posterity growing
its ethical acumen

personal character
draws on the
legacies passed
from the old
to the young
generational
character forms
by consensus
of choices for
how to evolve
as a sentient
species a race
facing frankly
internalized
conflict the
intellect often
at odds with
the heart how
humanity
will in the final
analysis finish
its self-written
story on earth

The Crowd is Untruth

Soren Kierkegaard
Image from achipictor.com

(Regarding Søren Kierkegaard)

anger panic and fear
speed from
stranger to stranger
like flames match-lit
race along fuses
of volatile neurons
to leap across gaps of
magnesium mindlessness
horrid with consequence
masses corrupted in
white hot sparked unison
here is impenitent man
irresponsibly fractioned
burned whole
soul reduced and adapted
to feral behaviors
black acts
of a wild
human herd

Nature or Nurture

DNA Helix
Illustration from pennlive.com

The well behaved child
Is a parent’s fond dream
But the ones who run wild
Incite tempers to steam

The argument goes
Is it nature or nurture?
Confounding psych pros
And the bioresearcher

I’m merely a layman
Who makes humble claim
If the kid is a daemon
The parents share blame

But the question is still
Not answered for sure
Genes don’t shape free will
When they give geniture

No matter what tramples
Through genomes recessed
Inspiring examples
Serve character best