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STEP RIGHT UP
They were lemmings aligning,ever impatient, always seeking.For some, it would be rejuvenation,for others rebirth, a recapture of youth.He was no mage, not Merlin, butthey gathered around his tablea lazy susan of desires, pleas, entreaties.All he could offer was snake oil, but theygladly took it as hope, an abiding faithin a cure for their existential condition.They…
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UNBOXED
They thought they had himboxed in, contained, constrained,but he would not be truncated, cast aside.He would make a quiet escape, proceedcarefully so they would not realize,until it was too late, that he was freeof their control, their rejection, their spite.They wanted him in their psychic morgue,one more corpse sacrificed on their altarof conformity, but none…
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ODE TO THE GODS
You, who have walked herethrough the ages,who have watcheda million suns swallowedby untiring waves,what is it you expect?There is nothing here for youthe spirits of the old oneshave long since fledour sharpened blades,retreated with the starsinto the hillsthat rise from forest.The animals will cometo you no morefor we have served them upas a sacrifice to…
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SABBATH
She could not understand whyanyone, really, would willinglygive up their Saturday morningto sit inside and recite prayershalf in a language that neitherthey nor most of the congregationspoke, and when I said some knewthe translations by heart, she added“then why not recite those.”She had a point, I knew, but wouldI easily concede, as if thatwould make…
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SEASIDE
The ocean wind sweeps through the citya sudden rain washes sidewalk, shop, and street,carries both dreams and sins back to the sea. For the young child time slides by easily,life a campaign that allows no retreat.The ocean wind sweeps through the city, rattles church windows, so that all can seethe priest stripped of dogma. Christ…
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FOR SPACIOUS SKIES
It is a clear sign of my agethat I recall the hours we spentlearning about America, whatit stood for, how it was welcomingto immigrants from everywhere,why America was the greatestcountry in the world, and weincredibly naively ate it up.Vietnam brought us a large doseof the ugly reality of the modern age.Half a century on that…
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PLAYIN’ WHAT’S NOT THERE
Some say Miles said it’s the space between the notes –that’s where the music is.We heard him, we smiled,we anticipated the nextnote and the next.Outside my windowa blue jayrecites his morning prayer,the child’s laughbreaks the frozen skyand shivers the maple.Then all is silence –even the windholds its breathnot in anticipationbut to create the voidthat nature…
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EVER FAITHFUL
We are, after all, merely humanso we are fraught with questionsand lacking answers, willingto take things on faith on occasion. Take God, for example, althoughsome say He is uniquely exemplary,we want to know if God is a he,a she, or to cover all our bases, a they. And when we ask for a sign weoften…
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SONG OF THE UNIVERSE
It was a certain rhythm that he lovedhe felt it in total silence, it fadedin the presence of sound, a doumbekof the soul he would describe it. He remembered how it was beforetheir one God rendered him and his kindmere mythological creatures fit onlyfor poetry and dusty library shelves. He would have his revenge some…
