"If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away. "

Henry David Thoreau

The writing experience...

I was just sitting down thinking how my poetry and writing have developed in particular. I started off wishing to write of grand things that dealt with the timeline of our human existence. I still wish to, which embodies a more classical sensibility. I began to realize however that I wanted to say things that were more immediate to what I was thinking. This required me often just stating what it is I was going through. Perhaps I have lost something in my execution but believe I have gained more with my honesty. I am discovering 'voice' and a more personal view of my feelings and expression thus fostering a greater sense of freedom and individuality. It is more exiting to write from that place of truth. It does risk being more indulgent but I feel it is important to remain true to one's experiences. I have gone from being very cultural and political to wishing to paint the landscape of my emotions, moving farther into the human condition. I prefer at this moment to write love poems of which there is a long history by great writers - I am in love. It is a bit old fashioned but I am a hopeless romantic. All art is about communication and the more honest one is touches that truth in others. That is what I believe art is supposed to be about. Peace and love to you on this journey to truth...

When its over...

For K.
It's time to move on
let go
keep makin'
the same ole mistakes
jus' when I thought
I was over you
you come to me
in memories
It could have never been
you and I
I know that now
jus' tryin'
to make some
sense of it all
you and I
could never have been
I think I understand
that now
Where does love go
when its over?

Last night in a dream...

for K.
I saw you
last night in a dream
you looked beautiful
we met
eye to eye
reconciled
I've not written
nor spoken to you
in over eight years
so abrupt
our parting
unexpected
I loved you as before
fixed like the image
I saw of you
This with the passing
of time
and I still dreaming
of you...

Success and more rest!...

I am glad to report that my operation went well and am now in recovery. I needed time for rest and am forced to lay still for a moment - I miss working! I don't know how long it will be but I hope to start up again soon. It is light work for me as I am instructed to do no lifting for the next month and a half which is what the vast majority of my work requires so I plan to switch to canvas completely away from sawing and sanding wood for my paintings. I get a chance to be normal for a change like other artists. At times I wish I was a more conventional person and did things like other people. No such luck but I think I'm pretty nice anyway. See you on the dock..love and peace...

If you were here...

for you
You come to me
in the silent hours
of the night
voice sounding
like a crystal bell
moving through the air
reaching me
as if you were here
within the softness of a lyric
and the kissing of lips
I behold the dark
with the calm eye
of my love
heart beating
as drops of rain
endlessly
wishing you were here...

Naked part one...

The streets are naked
I am with them
exposed
Whose fix Ginsberg?
emotions roaring
with blowin' horns
Urban twilight
twinkling bright
in neon lights
red, blue and green
I want to get high
go higher
in the stereophonic sounds
of the city...

With these words...

This is real, really real
what I honestly feel
Isn't that what poetry
is supposed to be about?
I say i love you
I can't get any realer
than that
That's all I been trying to say
with these words
so many of them
I keep turning over
my heart
my head
sayin' just that
I love you
that's all I
want to say ....

Rest!...ART and LOVE fORever...

Well, it is the eve before my operation and I have spent my last day out on the wharf for at least a couple of weeks...I really am looking forward to doing absolutely nothing for a while...I suspect I shall be very bored after two days of rest and recuperation. I enjoy being very physical and creative even though I am quite tired at the moment. I have looked through my poetry since sobriety and really I have written allot although I don't know how good they are. I have had some published during this time however. I need to be a poet again in my visuals , that is the creative impasse I am going through and one that I believe requires rest. May peace be with you and love...I have no internet at home so I shall not be as active as i have been on this blog but suspect I shall continue to be inspired at home in bed...there is always the old fashioned pen and paper which I will take advantage of...the writing continues and so shall art! ART and LOVE FOREVER!

Slick and sassy...

for miLeS
Slick and sassy
slow movin'
corner blues
blowin' down
the town
Miles
takin' us far
farther
past time
into sweet
music reverie...

Is love enough?

Can I not gain
your heart?
Is it too late?
I think now
honesty
is never good enough
nor sincerity
I speak with words
that touch emotion
They are direct
Is love enough?
I feel not...now
I offer my soul
it is everything I have
I will continue to hope
and pray on miracles...

Perfect day...

for you
Could there be
such a perfect day
as today?
Rejoice full day
so long as light
shines on you
it brings joy
This beautiful day
full of you
visions invading me
with your
infectious smile
glimpsing
only a second
a moment
lasting a day....

Africa raining down...

Africa raining down
calling
on sleepy nights
wrapping
at a window
Farka and Cooder
playin' in the cool draft
of guitar riffs
four walls cover
the naked room...

Everlasting moment...

My love has grown
enriched by the passing
of time
You are hope
turning with the wheel
in this everlasting moment...

Originally written in the summer of 2010
Meant to...
I heard it in the sound
in the harbor breeze
running fast over waves
from churning seas
that I was meant
to love... no less
than all
I heard it in a voice
I saw it in a smile
with gentle feet that walked
and when they stopped awhile
that I was meant
to love...absolutely
a glass heart
shattering
with gusts of wind
and love
overflowing
into a cup to sip from
drinking not much
but a drop
holding everything...


All Paths...
you are the path
to which
all paths have led
leading to the center
and the heart
of the Sun...


Only You...
I cannot love
but whom I love
whom my heart
says I must
I cannot lie
in that truth
and only lay
within that truth..

DOUBT...

I lose faith
when that happens
I get angry
with myself and others
world crumbling
around me...
so
I hold onto believing
dreaming unrealistically
into a pool
of possibilities
swimming in the humility
of not knowing...

ever enough...
I love you
breast and soul
could that ever be enough
to touch your heart?
I don't have much
but if I were
promised a kingdom
of riches
it would mean nothing
without you in it
and God would have
no meaning
if it were in heaven
I love you
would that ever be enough
to touch your soul?
we live in a land
full of bigotry
fearing ourselves
everyday I am afraid
that those I love
will walk away
some will
I took the chance
of loving me
that will have to do
I guess I don't give
a damn
I love you
will that ever be enough?
a chance with me
is only love...

Sonnet #18

William Shakespeare - Sonnet #18

English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English Language.

Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.