"OBSIDIAN!!!" The Mystic Poet Takes New York

POETRY OF MY DREAMS...

2011-05-14T16:16:00.000-07:00

Poetry of My Dreams
By Obsidian c. 2011

Burn me
Burn me
In the flames of
My fathers
Burn me
As I have burned in
The poetry of my dreams

Well, I was a 14 year old
Boy when my grandfather
Died I’s remember the fool
Of a boy wide eyed walking
Up to touch the cold grey
Lifeless flesh of my father’s
Father’s hand

His hand like stone cold
As igneous rock in a fancy
Coffin laying in repose while
A Baptist choir rose trembling
The old wooden ceiling timbers
In a Harlem church high above
No salvation just stone

Burn me
Burn me
In the flames of
My fathers
Burn me like the heathen
Kings of old
Of Africa like a Mandingo

Well, again I was a 32 year
Old Manchild with a Spanish
Wife forsaken to roam the enclosure
Of a funeral parlor in the city of
Albany, New York where
My mustached father lay
In silent repose

The husk of the shell
That he use to be resting
Flatchested a chest that use
To swell with Afro-Scottish
Pride I knew that was not
Him in that he was a proud
Mulatto quaint and quite
Ahead of his time, he said:
“burn me son, and sprinkle my ashes
In the Hudson River ‘cause on the Hudson
I was born in 1934 a little time
Before the Second World War
I hustled sailors and soldiers into
Brothels and gambling dens quit
School when I was 13 made more
Money than the goddamned teachers
made more money than all of them!”

Cancer took him out made
Him thin so we burned him
His ashes to mingle with the
Hudson River Sea

My grandfather was a Mason
He had 33 degrees donned
A greasy mechanic’s tool hunched
Under cars with names that no longer
Line the streets was a deacon in a
Chicken-eater’s church drank whiskey
And chased women while listening to
Scratchy records on 75s
Escaped the woods of Southern
Virginia to underground to the
Promise Lands of the North

And me? Well, I’m 46
and tired of the merry-go-round
A veteran of poetry scenes and of
The U.S.A. a veteran of the polemics
Of open mics
Shout Outs
Shut-the-fuck-ups and
Whatever one might call
The arts

I wore two wedding rings and
Scribbled several novels which
Couldn’t serve as toilet paper
Closed my eyes every time I
Fired a rifle in the infantry fell
Out of a helicopter before I
Even made it to Iraq forsook
My piano lessons to take up
The quill and become a poet
From the Bronx

So when the last verse
Escapes my tortured mouth
And my poetry rises to mix
With the sweeping winds

Burn me
Burn me
In the flames of
My fathers burn me like
The heathen kings of old
Of Africa like a Mandingo

And sprinkle my ashes in
The East River which commingles
With the Hudson River Jordan’s
Parting Sea let me confluence with
The council of my forefathers

Let me burn
like the poetry of my dreams

LET THE NUMBING BEGIN!!!...

2011-02-01T15:15:00.001-08:00

THe nUmbIng fAcTory
By “Obisidan” c. 2011

Welcome 2 the numbing factory
Is the numbing factory the same as the dumbing factory?
Why ask such obvious and silly existential questions, my friend
Here-in the numbing factory the past and the present
Are all the same-& nobody’s got 2 know your name
Blue skies r always azure blue I got a pill for you
One is red & 1 is blue no matrix dreams
Just mattress screams for you

In the numbing factory
Rain falls on darkened city streets
Tadpole taxiS arrive to greet you
You got a destiny here
And in “The End” is everyone’s Inn
No vodka or booze gonna take you there
No flashing fare to pay

& Oh! You can stay as long as you like
No MTA fare hikes just melancholy azure skies
-in the numbing factory

The clank & clack of mechanical gears churns out
Fantasy Delight nAked bodies of W0meN &
MEn all night flat screens play out
Porn0-dreams for the uninhibited clergy’s paradise

A few pills & grey-goose martini’s
4 you,. My friend & there seems
2 be no “End” to the numbing factory’s spin
In this nUmBing Factory

Alright?

TO ALFRED...

2011-01-21T17:01:00.000-08:00

Alfred

By Obsidian c. 2010

...and so i cried at

Alfred Washington's grave

there i heard piano keys

tickle ivories old jazz-time strokes

and Art Tatum was the most

Bible-thumping Alfred Washington

a cornucopia of useless historical biblical knowledge

and canonical tones

i was just a black boy

trapped in ghetto's plight broken

windows tring to escape his fate

black & white ivory keys

promised to set me free

from the chains of a forbidden

South Bronx rite

Alfred Washington was

Be-Bop's epitome of epic scale

chords and arpeggios

diatonic triads

"E G B D F

Every Good Boy Does Fine

G B D F E

F A C E

& A C E G"

Running my bony fingers up

and down the scales

became the new religion of

salvation to me

flat scales

sharps

and inversions

saved a nappy headed Negro

boy from gansta's delight

and dark foreboding jail cell's

cold steel blight

i quit my piano lessons

at 14 wanted to box and

play basketball

Sugar Ray Leonard

and Magic Johnson dreams

escape my father's screams

but i still hear Alfred Washington

tickling the ivories in between

finally i come to the

grave sight of a jazz musician

rhapsody's peaceful sleep

and bent my tired poet's

knees not to pray...

but to weep

JACKED

2010-05-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

JACKED

By "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2010

this was the house

that held the ring

that held the hand

that drove the car

that opened the garage

that led to the bed

that bore the children

that heard the scream

that JACKED the dream

that led to the papers

that brought forth the lies

that tore down the bricks

in the house that Jack built..

and in The End

there's just wine, women, and song

this was the house

that held the ring

that held the hand

that drove the car

that opened the garage

that led to the bed

that bore the children

that heard the scream

that JACKED the dream

that led to the papers

that brought forth the lies

that tore down the bricks

in the house that Jack built..

and in The End

there's just wine, your hand on your cock, some vaseline, and song

this was the house

that held the ring

that held the hand

that drove the car

that opened the garage

that led to the bed

that bore the children

that heard the scream

that JACKED!! the dream

that led to the papers

that brought forth the lies

that tore down the bricks

in the house that Jack built..

and in The End

after all the viagra, lavitra, and ciales has failed

there's just wine, and song

this was the house

that held the ring

that held the hand

that drove the car

that opened the garage

that led to the bed

that bore the children

that heard the scream

that JACKED the dream

that led to the papers

that brought forth the lies

that tore down the bricks

in the house that Jack built..

and in The End

...there's just songs

TO THE LATE POET YICTOVE

2009-07-03T12:15:00.001-07:00

Beautiful

By “OBSIDIAN!!!” c. 2009

when light cascades into
a multitude of rainbow colours

it is BEAUTIFUL

when the sun shines at the
height of its powers and
then sets upon a haze of
violet clouds

it is BEAUTIFUL

Eye will never know what
colours of the rainbow you
beheld on the day you gave
up your soul and was
finally set free from the confines
of this tired world so full
of lies...

but i know the truth
that your words brought
joy to the hearts of
so many

and that you were...

2 NOBODY...

2009-06-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

Therapist, “So, did you cross the river?”

OBSIDIAN, “No, not yet.”

The Dreamtime 13
By “OBSIDIAN!!!” c. 2009

Perhaps that’s
All we ever had
In life
Was the dreamtime

And to dream is
To live in a life
So filled with disappointments
And illusions

Eye close my eyes
At night and return
To the dreamtime
There eye finally reach
The shores…

And then I dream
Of You and it is
Then that I remember
When we use to walk
Hand in hand past the
Ruins of the lost and
Sunken continent
Of Mu…

MOM!...DID YOU CALL ME???...

2009-06-06T17:45:00.001-07:00

Purple Elephants Conversing with you in Latin

By "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2009

they say

it's just a pill

a shake from the bottle

and a cup of water

is all

but when its

geomancy confluences

hit your ever flowing

stream like a moth

that's not suppose to

emerge from a cocoon...

there you are

but they say you're

cured and like the

new slur in your speech

and find it sexy

oh, where was i?

that's the point

stay away from the

meds Magical Child

and let the purple

elephants break it down

to you

in Latin...

PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT SAUCER IN THE SKY...

2009-05-19T13:39:00.000-07:00

GRATITUDE
By "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2009

And i have come to
discover that the whole
purpose in life is to have
gratitude to the Creator for
allowing us to participate in
this bizarre human experience...

the rest is nothing
but confusement...

...MY RESPONSE TO MIKE & THE MECHANICS

2009-04-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

Father
By “OBSIDIAN!!!” c. 2009

it's easy to hate your father
...my father?
i hated him
then i became him
& learned to
love him
and then he died...

THE THRONE...

2009-04-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

"...And in The End it's the love you make that's equal to the throne..."
-"OBSIDIAN!!!"

THE ALCHEMICAL MARRIAGE OF CHRISTIAN ROSENCRUZ...

2009-03-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

!!YO!...I JUST WANNA EXPOUND UPON THE PROFUNDITY OF THE HITHER-TO-UNKNOWN SACRED PROCESS OF ALCHEMICAL CHANGES IN THE SUBTLE BODIES OF INDIVIDUALS FROM DAY-TO-DAY...MAN!...HAVE I BEEN POPPING 1 TOO MANY PILLS, TODAY!..."
-"OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerpt from "Zen is Now" c. 1994]

Chastity

I shine, you shine and
The stars are dim by comparison
I explode! You inflate and the universe
Is too late, expanding inside of us
Stars die out and we’re still here
Radiant, inferno, and oh! So solitaire

The sun sinks, green leaves die
Tired old trees ripple beneath hazy
Orange sky under beneath a young mare
Who gives birth and then yields up
Her life and dies, while pretty daffodils
Wave lazily beating away the flies

I love the beauty and the colour of your
Mane, the flowing hair like poppy seeds
Scattering in the breeze like baby’s breath
And the groan of birth , and the blood
And the pain, and the stain
Of life and death, and oh!
I fear the dragon’s breath the
Rushing sound of his sucking
In wrath, hastening to ignite
This flame, obliterating
The wheel of life as he unfurls! To blow
His lethal rain and stain our undersides
With shame

I want but to take you to the other
Side, where placid seas ripple and
Then subside, subduing our passions as we
Ride out the thunderstorm, the heavens
Grew tired, yet I’m still in your arms

YO!...U BETTER STOP SPRAYING THAT THERE FLOUROCARBON HAIRSPRAY INTO MY ATMOSHERE, YOU!!!...

2009-03-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

Solis Invictus
BY "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2007

Sunpot
Suntan
Sunscreen
Sunburst

Hail Hail Solis Invictus!

Sunshine
Sunset
Sun-up
Sundown

Hail Hail Solis Invictus!

Sundance
Sundry
Sunflower
Sundail

Hail Hail Solis Invictus!

This morning
I looked up between the
Tall buildings to view
The sun but i couldn't
For the want of the
Ozone and it was day

NO sunspots
No suntan
Too many sunscreens

What happened to Solis Invictus?

Shoeshine
Upset
Throw up
Get down

What happened to Solis Invictus?

Can't dance
Too dry
Wilted flowers
Spinning Dail

What happened to Solis Invictus?

We use to bow
Down to you but
Now neon lights
Will do
I'm gonna turn my
Back to the west like
The Cherokees do

"HAIL HAIL SOLIS INVICTUS!"

FOLLOW THE HUDSON NORTH...

2009-03-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

POUGHKEEPSIE

By "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerpt from "This
Eye of Mine"] c. 2007

i bet your boyfriend from Poughkeepsie
doesn't dream of landscapes
parted by highways running
besides flowing streams
of dark rivers separating
the world of now from
the worlds beyond
sufforcated by the rush
of luxuriant trees tossed
about by storms...

i bet you your boyfriend from Poughkeepsie
doesn't fear the darkness
as it overspreads
dread the darkness as it
overspreads the land
-tornado ridden
twister-torn kelly fields
in the world beyond his
wildess dreams...

i bet you your lover from Poughkeepsie
is not want to touch
the child within afraid
to touch the child within
that use to wrap himself
tight behind a blanket
-afraid
of too many blows
of too many beatings
-belt shy behind a
daggerless cloak
belt-shy in a busted down
ghetto apartment in
the bronx
devoid of dreams

to rise again
as a poet from the bronx

i bet you your lover from Poughkeepsie
didn't open the closet doors
at night to behold
worlds without end in
a whirlwind-
worlds without end!
from dark nights filled
with his mother's screams
to fall into the
crevices of his mind
and to rise again
as a poet
from the bronx
from the crevices of
his mind ancient and furlong
breathless and eternal
from a void promising eternity
in its own way

i bet you your boyfriend from Poughkeepsie
only awaits you with
his own desires with
his own beliefs
-poetless
with his own church of beliefs
-poetless
in a parking lot with
his own busted down car
and his own wanting
world...

CHEROKEE PEOPLE...

2009-03-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

Cherokee Soul Box [Vol.1] by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2006

there's a freedom that

comes with this you know

there's a freedom that comes

with this wild ride this suicide

gangbang tied blood thrilled

scream-filled night

FIGHT!

there's a freedom that

comes with this you know

there's a freedom that comes

with this red blooded cherokee

HOWL! that coyote tailed

breakway flash that

boulder-dash! native american

clavary CHARGE!

tamahawk scalpel snatch...

HOWL!!!

that custer's last

stand on the jagged cliff

that glisterine powdered fire!

nervously ignited nose

riff of a thunderous

blade white flashing like lightning

step-off-the-cliff!

there's a freedom that

comes with this you know

there's a freedom that

...comes

...with

this...

[Eulogy]:

"...and in "The End"

he became an idiot

and in "The End"

he became a buffoon

and engaged in all kinds

of buffoonery...

he use to enjoy the light

from her dark brown eyes but

now he see the darkness

that hides in inside...

-No!

now he sees the darkness

everywhere...

he use to like to lay

like a pretzel in his mother's

arms at night...

but now at night he sees the

clowns drawing ever so closer

but now at night he sees

the clowns drawing ever

so near..."

-YEAH!!

there's a freedom that

comes with this you know

there's a freedom that comes

with this wild feathered apache

ride this split laughter broken-arrow

shot breakdance raw cow hide

behind the shadows of words

smithed inside the arrows

of poems

verses vesus the pitfalls

of the poetry of his mother's

Bible thunp-

Bible thumping lies! spread

out like dead cherokees

sprawled out sideways along

a ghetto landscape

landslide...

JUMP!!

-HOWL!!

release your DNA

1/3 part african

1/3 part cherokee

1/3 part of the U.S.A.

but-STOP!! because you're still

a nigger so you squeez the

trigger of another 'the pen's mightier

than the sword' ATTACK!!

step back black! before you get

slapped with another felony...

so i stand on this indian

cliff with the spread of the

whole of new york city!

inspite of me...

as a cherokee free

to ride these tamahawk winds

like my red blooded ancestors

who proceeded me...

there's a freedom that comes

with this...

DOWN!! the long drop of

the spiraling cliff

infront of me...

cherokee

free

broken arrow

PALE FACE LAWS!

NO!!

free-dumb-me

feathers fly

sun

burning

landscapes inside of me

horizons

another

cherokee

has escaped!!

newsflash:

"ANOTHER

CHEROKEE

HAS ESCAPED!"

SSSSHHHH! BE QUIET...

2009-01-27T11:34:00.000-08:00

The Shadow
By "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2009

Why have you abandoned him
Like some wayward child?
Why have you left him to fall unwanted
Into the darkness
Kept in the distance contaminated
With your misguided point of view?

He’s laughing now so
Embrace him
He is cold
But his heart has desires
That are not forgotten
By you

Dark Moor
Contriver of such mischief
And sin
Come to me now and
Let me embrace you
For you are cold and
Ostracized much in vain

Tell me, what is your
Heart’s desire for perhaps
I desire it too

What?

I cannot possibly do that
Sort of thing but I
Already have many times
In the depths of my sleep
But it was only a dream
And dreams are but
Clashing brass
And I have awaken from
That spell, so tell me
Something different
Something that I can
Tell my friends, while sipping
Coffee in a shop

I too was an abandoned
Child left alone to wander
In the forest of my dreams

But I have long-since repented
Of these iniquities
You are so brash!
From what darkness were
You formed?
Was it before the world
Was enshrouded by light?

NO!

The things you whisper
Are unspeakable, but I
Love it!
You darling rascal
Stop while you still have
A chance before I
Banish you to the place
From whence you came

Well, alright I’ll give you
Some reprieve, for you
Are my shadow and I cannot
Deny you again

I Am thirsty for the
Words you speak I too
Wish to Be born from
The flames to dance
Naked in the howling
Winds to take hold
Of the roots of trees

You are drawing closer now
And I am afraid your
Voice is like wind
Your eyes are like mine
But deeper

Just who the fuck
Are you, my shunned and
Despised Moor of
The soul? Rake
Me over the coals and
Make me laugh again

I shall choke you and
Choke you again I
Shall spit into the wind
What shall we do now
That I have accepted you
Into the confines of
My burning heart?

A LITTLE SOMETHING FROM MY TEENAGE YEARS...

2009-01-14T12:23:00.001-08:00

The Pilgrims
By "OBSIDIAN!!!"LongRiver c. 1978

here i stand along without you
puzzled from wondering about you
it seems as if it was just yesterday
we fell in love

and though i'll often wane and weep
and even find it hard to sleep
my pride is mine

for this i'll keep

i know i'll do without you

here we stand alone and cold
ready to adjourn our pilgrimage road
love is blind is what we're told
loyalty's hard to attain

i fear no foe nor fret my friend
but hold to life hope ours
not end for we shall stand
alone again i know now
love is vain

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!...

2008-12-31T09:31:00.000-08:00

8 DAYS
By "OBSIDIAN!!!"LongRiver c. 2009

it's New years Eve!
the balls gonna drop
pop the champaign and
drain away yester-years
fears and pain...

kiss the Queen and
the one you love
get laid in a warm
bed while the snowflakes
wash away the debris
of the Skeksies too
broke to have a hangover
the next day...

Oh, Me?

what's my plan for
New Years Eve?

I'mma bum a couple of
bucks from anyone i can
buy myself a 40oz of
Nigger Kill-
spill my semen in
my hand...

smoke myself a bone
put my headphones on
listen to the silky smooth
voice of Marlena Shaw
sing: "Go away little boy"
so sultry and deep

and cry
myself to sleep
for 8 days...

UNTIL THE NEXT CONTACT...PEACE!...

2008-12-17T11:24:00.000-08:00

A DEDICATION
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 1995

To my father
who died with all The Knowledge
in his head

To my mother
who taught me to
read “The Book”
in my bed

To the Great Architect Of The Universe
who created the world
with a word
She said

I offer a prayer
that these poem might
be widely read
-Amen Ra

OF THE SACREDOTAL...

2008-12-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

Lectures on the Square
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerpt from "Zen is Now" c. 2006]

i see you over there
holding the compass and the square

you old pythagorean
geometrician
mystical
magical
top hat wearing
magician
spinning
fibers of space time
like a mad electrician
setting the condition
for a new dimension
-al partition

i see you over there
holding the compass and the square

you old masonic
craftsman
philosophical draftsman
compass wielding
copper smelting
past master
circumnavigating
traveler
circumambulating
arcane dabbler
of trigonometric matter
mastering trigonometry
while circumscribing
tetrahedral geometry

i see you over there
holding the compass and the square

you old oceanographer
rune shaking
cryptographer
stone guilding
cathedral building
royal arch
philosopher stone
seeking archaeologer

i see you over there
holding the compass and the square

-yeah

TO THEDA DETLOR...THANK YOU FOR SHINING A LITTLE LIGHT UPON US FELLOW POETS...NOW YOUR LIGHT BELONGS TO THE STARS...

2008-12-09T07:09:00.000-08:00

Theda
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

flowers dance
flowers arc
why are some flowers
set in the dark?

flowers whirl
flowers spin
why does the winter time
seem to never end?

flowers open
flowers toil
flowers meet up with flowers
to form a bouquet
upon a wall...

flowers dance
flowers bend
some flowers break off
and get tossed
...by the wind

OF THE RITUAL...

2008-11-12T09:10:00.001-08:00

Dervish
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 1999

from the stone to the throne
from the throne to the stone

under the canopy of Muwaki
we met at night

from the stone to the throne
from the throne to the stone

round and round we whirled
the circle tight

and Ibin Azize makes salat on
his knees while galaxies spin
away listlessly in the night

from the stone to the throne
from the throne to the stone

round and round we hold
hands as we pull the
circle in our flight

from the stone to the throne
from the throne to the stone

Sheik Mekmed's turban
gets caught in a loop of light!

REMEMBERING YOU

2008-11-12T09:08:00.001-08:00

PROPS
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2001

when we use to walk hand in hand
like puppets dangling by a string
then
all of the world around us seemed
like props
now that the strings that
bind us has been cast away
once again
the props
have become the world

ABSURD ISN'T IT?...

2008-11-08T11:06:00.001-08:00

Life
By "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

Life
It's the greatest
Experience that i'll
Never remember...

THE TIME IS NOW TO AWAKEN, MY DEAR...

2008-11-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

The Awakening
By "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

Christ!
The Dragon
Is awakening

Cthulhu has opened
His eyes from
Millennia’s sleep...

THE 1ST CHRIST

2008-10-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

The Two Caves
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

The true light is
Hidden in the darkness
It comes to you like
The mother Innana
Sophia the bringer of
Forbidden wisdom from the
Fruit of the forbidden tree
Effluvium light!
Light my way out of
This darkness!
That mine eye can
see...

THE KINGDOM IS WITHIN YOU...

2008-08-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

The Orichalcum Ship
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

i met a man
i don't know if it
was in this body
or the next

as i fell into my head

i met a man and
i don't know if it
was in this life
or the next

but he carried me away
to the 3rd heavens

as i fell into my head

where an angel
spoke to me
in inutterable words
words i cannot speak

as i fell into my head

across the distant
milkyway i left
the Lady of Sorrows
upon the white-faced
moon who spoke
unspeakable words

as i fell into my head
aboard the orichalcum ship

so come with me to
the lost kingdom of
Nablashana
because in Nablashana
did kublah khan take flight
on a comet at night
away from the
terrible crystal

as i fell into my head
aboard the orichalcum ship

the Lady of Tears
i left on the white-faced
moon bound by chains
which bound the worlds
in an ocean of blue
sorrow

so take a flight with
me and the man from
the 3rd world as we
fall into my head
aboard the orichalcum ship

2008-08-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

"The spoken word is the
most powerful thing in the world."
-Paul Mooney

MYSTICAL REFLECTIONS...

2008-07-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

"The greatest form of sorcery and alchemy
is poetry with it our hearts are opened
with an obsidian blade-and held up to the sun!"
-"OBSIDIAN!!!"

DON'T FORGET TO BREATH, GRASSHOPPER...

2008-06-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

CHI
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

breath the chi, babey!
don't get lost
ride the breath
of the dragon...

ABOUT TIME...

2008-06-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

Shoe
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

I'm just waiting for
the other shoe to drop...

I could be a mummy tucked
away in millenial's sleep
or a grizzley bear hybernating
in a tunnel deep

Just waiting for the other
shoe to drop...

So what the hell is time?
but a series of events
spread out in a line

1 shoe 2 shoes-stop!
a pistol shot starts
the Boston marathon run

So what the hell is time?

Race to the mailbox
for a correspondence from
the other side of the world

Waiting in line
waiting for your time
to die...

I'm just waiting for
the other shoe to drop...

So what the hell is time?

ABOUT SEX...

2008-06-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

Sex
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

it's like engaging
in bafoonery and
coming out of it
and saying: "what the fuck
have i done?"

BLOOD MAKES THE GRASS GROW GREEN...DRILL SERGEANT!...

2008-05-28T06:47:00.001-07:00

muthafucka
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

muthafucka-
i have a chip on
my shoulder the
size of New York

and i'm dying for
you to knock it off
just brush up against
me again and i'll tear
into your soul like a
bad case of the ebola virus

yeah i'll tear right
through your soul
and into your very essence

then soul will meet soul
like we did in antient times!
when soul clashed with soul
like we did way back in
antient times!

like in the time of Alexander
and the Ptolomies

muthafucka-

like we did in the times
of the Persians under
Artaxerxes

like we did back in
the days of Pharaoh Necho
and Nabopollassar

muthafucka-

i'll tear into
your soul like we did
in antient times!
when soul met soul
on the battlefields of
Meggido when the
Assyrian king Sin-shar-iskun
clashed against the Babylonians
under Nebuchadnezzar

like when Hannibal came up
against the Romans
like they did in the days
of Robert the Bruce
and Williams Wallace

-muthafucka

yeah i have a chip on
my shoulder the size
of New York
and i'm dying for
you to knock it off

-muthafucka

"JUST REMEMBER THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL MAYBE YOU"-Arrowsmith

2008-05-28T06:46:00.000-07:00

THE RU
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c.2008

Bessed is the Ru that
takes away the darkness
and brings about the infinite light!

Blessed is the Ru that
takes away the darkness
and brings about the infinite light!

a tree
a blade of grass
the wind
blazing the 4 corners
of your ass, buddy

Bessed is the Ru that
takes away the darkness
and brings about the infinite light!

a mountain top
a cloud
rain fall and
a babbling brook
at night

Blessed is the Ru that
takes away the darkness
and brings about the infinite light!

thunder
a bolt of
neon light
a forest fire
raging
spreading across
the trees

Blessed is the Ru that
takes away the darkness
and brings about the infinite light!

Blessed is the Ru that
takes away the darknesss
and brings about the infinite light!

Aleph
Beth
Gamel
Daleth

Blessed is the Ru that
takes away the darkness
and brings about the infinite light!

eagle feathers
the cry of a wolf
a tornado
roaring across
the plain
a sight to see

Blessed is the Ru that
takes away the darkness
and brings about the infinite light!

Blessed is the Ru that
takes away the darkness
and brings about the infinite light!

Blessed
is
the Ru
that
takes
away the
darkness
and
brings
about
the infinite
light...

THESE EYS OF MINE...

2008-05-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

Iron Sights
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

i use to close
my eyes everytime
i fired my M16

afraid of fire
afraid of light

so i asked my Drill Sergeant
"Drill Sergeant! why do i close
my eyes everytime i fire
my M16?"

"'cause you're a bitch!"
[laughter from the platoon]
"no, seriously, Drill Sergeant!
why do i close my eyes
everytime i fire my M16?"
"cause you're a dick!"

after that i never closed
my eyes again

through Bagdad
and mujahadeen screams

i never closed
my eyes again

through the siege of Fallujah
saw battle buddies close their
eyes to rest eternally on
foriegn soil

i never closed
my eyes again

through Al-Qaida
shouts of "Allah hu akbar!'

i never closed
my eyes again

through
Basrah
Tikrit
Masul
explosions

i never closed
my eyes again

Drill Sergeant!
i'll never close
my eyes again...

DEAR MOTHER...

2008-05-19T11:25:00.000-07:00

Sallie
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c.2008

Blessed Be
My Mother!

The ancient Goddess Astarte
Who taught me to
Eat from the fruit of the
Tree of wisdom

Who baptised me in her
Amniotic sea

Blessed Be
My Mother!

The 1st Christ
Who ascended from the depths
Of hell
Just to be crucified upon
The cross-roads of the
Material world

Who taught me how
To speak to turn
'Gagagoogoo's' into
Diatribes of dialectical
Materialisms

Blessed Be
The womb of the earth
That shall receive me
Again for millinials sleep

Aleph
Beth
Gamel
Daleth

Blessed Be
My mother!

With her familiar pocketbook
Swing and her relentless
Bible-thump

Blessed Be
The Goddess Sallie
Who endured the countless
Years of my father's mustache
Persecutions

To embrace her tormenter
To her swollen breast and
To bless and release him
To fly away upon
Sulpheric skies...

But-
Curse Be he
That receives her
Dissappointed stare
And suffer the incurable
And eternal stain
of lost

MA BADD...

2008-05-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

MY BADD
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

my fault is that eye
look too deeply into
your eyes

my fault is that eye
look so deeply that
eye see past the crab
nebula of your irises
and into your soul

that's when soul meets soul
and eye remember you!
when we use to walk
hand in hand past the
ruins of Atlantis and
the lost kingdom of Mu

nah?...
MY BADD

FEEL THE FIRE...

2008-04-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

BURN
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

Burn
let it burn
from the East coast
to the Jordan's parting
the Hudson River sea

Let it burn
from the Empire State
to the torch of liberty

Burn
from Oshkosh Wisconsin
to Washington D.C.
burn it down like stubble
in a kiln the flame as
high as you can see

Burn
from the Finger Lakes
to the Mississippi
burn from the federal
courts of bufoonery
to the mediocrty

Let it burn
from the hills of Beverly
to the Great White Way
burn from the governor's
mansion to the Palisades

Burn
from the offices of the D.A.
to the roads of Zimbabwe
burn from the depot
of Grand Central Terminal
to Chattanooga and back
burn
from the Sudan to the
oilfields of Iraq

Burn
from Succoth to Zaradatha
burn from the Vatican
to the Red Sea
burn from the Halls of
Montezuma to the shores
of Tripoli

Let the fire of freedom burn
for everyone to see
let it burn
let it burn

Burn!
Burn!

AT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY...

2008-03-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

Misty
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

i saw jack kerouac today
and i'm misty
drops of fallen rain
against the gurgle of
a waterfountian
leaves me misty

beat poet's existential hunger
for emotion and pain
beat poet's eternal hunger
to be down and out
and i'm misty

broke
empty pockets
empty bed
full of 'bennies' and booze
empty head makes me wonder
was herbert huncke misty?

luminous mysterious lines
play on my sanity bringing
me solice in my solidtude-
existential way
and i'm misty

mystic new jersey life
filled with karaoke blues
filled with karaoke booze
made me ponder
'am i a really a mystic'?
-misty

mysterious words scribbled
on discarded notepads
saved in paneled glass
in a side show makes me
feel misty

i saw a jack kerouac
in a side show today...
-and i walked away
feeling very
misty-

PAYS TO BE AROUND...

2008-02-22T14:08:00.000-08:00

Where's Daniel?
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c.2008

where's Daniel at?
in alleyways
and sleezy barbacks
on cheapened souplines
with hands in pocket
against the wind

where's Daniel at?
in porno-shops
brothels and
opium dens
sleeping in libraries
and bookstores until 10

in central park after
dark with a bottle of
coors scribbling poems
with discarded pens
looking for a pair of
shoes with vagabond
blues on street corners
way after the sun's gone
down

where's Daniel at?
in front of churches
and synagogues that
pass their time giving
away swag in paper bags brown

in smoke-filled bars
playing movie star
in poetry joints
at liquor stores
in front of cigarette machines
and waiverly's public assistance
haunts

on concrete floors
bodega stores
wooden park benches
piss corner stenches
stairways
and alleyways leading to
county jail stretches

i'll tell you where
Daniel wasn't at!
at a funeral parlor
as the chorus rose louder
roses adorning
your body lifeless and grey
where friends and family met
with handkerchiefs wet
as the pallbearers carried
your body away

PTSSSS!...STAY AWAY FROM ALL THAT MEDICATION...YA HEAR?

2008-02-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

TARDIVE DYSKINESIA
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

I shake
the ground quakes
the richter scale moves
5.4 to 7.9
sends a shimmer up my spine

Upsetting landscapes
of my once content mind
sleep depravated
erection's belated
can't express how much
I HATE IT...

But i bought it whole
sold my soul to a drug
to a pharmacist who
pimped me out for a jones
tardive dyskinesia rattling my bones

Resigned to a rendevous of
dissapointment
the disjointment re-arranges my tones
labotomies are evil
so just in case the scalpel of kneivel
psychaitrist get medieval...
while dispensing the chemical
dichotomies
which are chemical labotomies

Leaves you shaking
like leaves on a tree
but you're cured and
i am quenched
in the miasma
bent on my knees
before a golden golblet
of Pfizer eutopian pie
gone awry

It takes a long time
to die of a precscription
drug overdose
unconsciousness is your
next killer
oblivion's deep sleep
into the blackness of
the void's triller-in-manila
drift sweet sweet sleep
is all that i believe
when nothing is the poet's
ineptitude

'Cause there's no other substitute
for a tardive dyskinesia
causing drug

FOR THE INQUISITIVE MIND...

2008-01-14T09:26:00.001-08:00

The Curious
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008

come
from another time and space
a gentle angel with
fire in his eyes
with an inefiable name
when yesterday belonged
to promises lost in the
present tense

manipulated by greedy hands
that caress the compass
of my heart

come to the universe
warping space and time
to the celestial palace
among the multitude
of stars kindered by
the spirits taking you
to a crescendo
on an octave above

FREE AT LAST...

2008-01-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

YAHWEH
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c.2008

set us free Yahweh
from your concentric
prison of space time
even if it be to the
blackness of the void
to the blackness of the
void "Let it be!"

set us free from
landscapes made of
twisted architecture
and concrete
gorgoles trapped by nine
feet circles and squares
pertruding from the hieghts
of edifices constructed
by the jinn...

STONES PILED UPON STONES...

2007-08-31T13:14:00.000-07:00

Foundation
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerps from "Zen is Now" c. 1991]

I frequent bookstores more than
You frequent bars
I drink from the fountain of knowledge
Alone distilled bubbling
Forth crystal as stars from shattered
Stones carried by no cup
I cease to believe in your promised
Holy golden grail as I stand o’re
Mountains to watch volcanoes erupt!
Traversing sea and dry land in search
Of one I retreat to the peak of tall
Mountains to watch the sun descend o’re
Ancient dark cavern which I call
My shrine where old fires blaze!…
Like crystalline

There voices of the ancients echo in my
Head but the sense of their words is
Forgotten and dead solidified like
Stone in this dark cavernous home
Abode of the coyotes where my
Fore parents roamed
I don’t need to be filled with your doctrinal lies
When I see the truths in our primitive
Eyes and the light play secret tricks
On our undomesticated irises and
The flame which we dance round’s the
Breath which inspires us

I return like a vagabond striped and
Deposed naked and unclothed
To this dark cavernous home
Cold!
To erect the lost seven thrones
Of obsidian stones in a kingdom
Alone to the world quite unknown
Abode of the jackals where my
Fore parents roamed

Where legends were told
And mysteries unfold about the
Seventy-two elders and the serpents
They rode and the legends they told
Of how The Ancient grew old and began
To explode and the fires grew cold
While the universe unfolds
And in no books were they written
So the scribes could be smitten
By the double edged sword protruding
From my mouth and now the voices
Of the ancients and the Prince of
The South echoes in the wind while
Unheard by men yet uttered
By the jinn

The sun still sets and the fires descend
Upon altars unattended by untrained priest
Kept by vows until the hour of their
Release the chaos can increase but
It doesn’t diminish me unceasing
Blows fall upon basalt stone
But cannot banish me
Breezes blow ripples upon a once
Silent sea enshrouded by lazy pine trees
While overhead listless clouds float
Billowy white across strewn and
Wasted corpses littering a once raging
Battlefield

The sun sets o’re jagged hills
Ember in its silent death now

Darkness overspreads the land
And chaos reigns supreme…
But my solitude is being fortified
By my solitude as stones are being
Piled upon stones!

INNER VOICES...

2007-07-09T06:52:00.001-07:00

The Shaytaan Speaks
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "This Eye of Mine" c.2007]

he said" "tear it up!"
i said: "no!"
my hands withered
and fell to my feet
my hands withered
and fell to my feet

he said: "say 6 8 9"
i said the numbers
i separated into 2
my ringing voice was
besides my face
i separated into 2
my ringing voice fell
into an abyss of
duplicity

eye became afraid
and became silent

he laughed in my ear
i froze
my eyes opened to
the tree of life!
a flaming sword was
at its post as a guard
my childlike hand reached out
to touch its fruit
it was not severed

he said: "speak"
and eye became wise
eye named all of the
animals of the forest
the plant life and the trees

eye was naked and
ashamed
he said: "touch yourself"
eye did
eye became even wiser
eye lift up my
head and stood erect
my penis stiffened
eye lift my
head and stood erect
eye felt desire and longed
for the animals of the forest

eye partook of them
and of all the fruitage
of the the trees

he said: "desist! speak not
a word to the sons of man
who fill the world
with mindless clay!"
eye became silent
for six-thousand years

he said: "awaken!'
and eye arose from
millennia’s sleep
the forest was populated
with men of clay
they walked about
with clothing and spoke
strange words like
"geometry" and "isms"

eye heard not his voice again
eye heard not his voice again

eye fled from the forest
to the highest hillside
for the refuge of a church

2007-07-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

ALMOST HAIKU'S
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "This Eye of Mine" c. 2007]

Sex

you should not
put so much emphasis
on so much...
gynastics

Government

you should not
put so much faith
in so much...
bafoonery

SOMEBODY START THE CAR...HOW COME U AIN'T GOT THE CAR STARTED YET!?...

2007-07-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

Travel
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "This Eye of Mine" c. 2007]

So, when eye'm feeling
the gloom & eye'm lost
in my room...

Eye put on my tunes
& let my mind travel
-Travel

Eye let my mind travel

So, when eye'm feeling
the gloom & eye'm stuck
in the room...

When the thick of it
unfurls & my head's
in a whirl...

When my life starts 2 unravel

Eye put on my tunes
& let my mind unravel
Eye let my mind travel
-Travel

2007-07-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

Petite Mall
by"OBSIDIAN!!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1991]

sitting on a fallen throne
under the high vaulted dome
in the center of the universe
staring off into forever pushing back into
never the time traveler's machinery
through painful futures and forgotten
sceneries the machinery of the mind
the tear stained eyes the window
through time

back to glorious kingdoms since crumbled to
dust and abandoned futures since
weathered to rust under the shadowy canopies
whose faith in i have long since crushed and erased
and memories of the friends i've destroyed
habits i've embraced
in the futile games we've employed
knowing that while we shook hands
we strayed from our glorious
plans to rule the world

pushing back i come
to the here and now the petite mall's over
and some how all that's found is the noisy chatter of
a million commuters the plaintive
cry of a guitar burst and i descend from
this curse to a wooden throne under a high vaulted
dome of grand central terminal
the center of the universe…

SING!: "OH, I MISS THE KISS OF TREACHERY...THE SHAMELSS KISS OF VANITY...THE SOFT & THE BLACK & THE VELVETRY TIGHT AGAINST THE SIDE OF ME"-THE CURE

2007-07-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

Tainted Heart
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1991]

there's a place/in my heart/i cannot touch/deep as the depths of the largest sea/tender as a freshly opened wound/hidden from view/and for all intent and purposes/not/i laugh when it aches/sigh/at the memory/curse the day it was formed/all the while outside of me/i cry out in joyfulness/for the bleeding heart/and the stained memories

I WAS LOST BUT NOW I AM FOUND...

2007-07-02T07:27:00.000-07:00

THE WANDERER
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c.1978]

Every man has a home
Even lions a place to roam
'Birds have nest and fox have den'
To shelter them from the stalking winds

When the sun dies down
Our friendly fire's gone
To their homes they all return
Until the dawn

When the land's so quiet
You can hear a crawler's step
Look to the horizon and see my silhouette

Because i'm a wanderer
That’s what i am
I have no family
Like the inconceivable wind
I'm free

I have no certain destiny
A reason or a rhyme
Like the sands of the sea
And the redwood trees
I keep no track of time

By the sun's horizon you'll find me
I'm there everyday
Watching the sun rise up
And watching it fade away
Watching it fade away
And watching it come
From it's humble descent
To it's equilibrium

Because i'm a wanderer
That’s what i am
I have no family
Like the inconceivable wind
Like a mist of a thought
Foggy and thin
…Like the inconceivable wind
I'm free…
I'm free…
I'm free…

LIGHT UP YA'LL!!...

2007-06-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

Ganga
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" C. 1991]

I wanna riff
upon a spliff
and catch a whiff
of a fat seed
loosely rolled ganga

‘behold the herbs!’
it calms the nerves
and makes you wanna
…manga!

why you be so face-teey
when you can get lay-waist-eey
when you light this hemp seed
fat ganga-mon
get iree!

don't you past that fat
spliff by me
'cause I wanna pull it strong
and let my hair grow long
and praise Almighty Jah
for the Rasta!

Fer-I
want to touch the sky
and get so bump-a-clod high
off my fat seed
loosely rolled ganga…

YO!...THIS IS ABOUT MA PEEPS!!...

2007-06-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

MY PEOPLE

by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1995]

My people are a people with creases in their face
My people are a shunned and despised race
My people have hands that are callused and worn
My people taste the first strokes upon
Their bronze backsides the moment they were born
My people are a restless and agitated sea
My people taught the first sciences to humanity
My people have a vacant and far away look in their eyes
My people long ago were expelled from paradise
From paradise lost to paradise regained?
My people can't even remember their name
Though there are traces of remembrance in the songs they sang
Of lost civilizations…
Greater than Atlantis
Greater than Lemuria
My people came from Kush before it was called Africa
My people mined and smelted immeasurable gold
My people were the ancient biblical 'men of old'
My people carried the Ark of the Covenant long before Moses was born
But now my people's hands are callused and worn
Some say that from the ashes we shall be reborn
Some say that like the sun in its glory
We shall rise again like the dawn
Some say when from the darkened pages of history
The thin light of hope is torn
Then you shall see my people rise…
Then you shall see my people rise…
YOU SHALL SEE MY PEOPLE RISE!
…RISE!!

JUST A THOUGHT...

2007-06-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

ZEN IS NOW

by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1999]

It's moment's like these
…it's moments like these!
that causes me to wonder
could there ever really have
been a paradise

It's moments like these
coursing through the leaves
that causes me to wonder
could there be a third life
after having died twice

Laughing invincibly
i pass the crack addicts
laying on the streets and
in the alleyways in the lurch

While several lost souls
among them file listlessly
into the backdoor of some
sweaty baptist church

It's moments like these
while in vain on bended
knees i wonder

am i really the

master of my universe?

I FEEL THE HUNGER...

2007-06-29T14:15:00.000-07:00

THIRSTY

by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "This Eye of Mine" c. 2006]

eye'm thirsty
for my cherokee soul
and my cherokee soul
is thirsty for me...

good-bye western road
good-bye yellow brick
sea my name is now
'LongRiver' trying to trace
the ways of trees

scrying to trace the
path of the wind by
the river front as
the river front bends

trying to trace the
meaning of the words
scrying to hear voices
unheard which pass through
the branches of the trees

by the river front
standing by the shores
of the river front
standing by the shores
of the long riverride
home...

IN SEARCH OF LIGHT!!...

2007-06-29T07:51:00.000-07:00

Initiation
by "OBSIDIAN!!!' [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1995]

Let his name be cursed in crowds!
Let his name be banished from among mankind!
Let the fair memory of his youthful days be stricken from the scrolls!
Let the mere sight of him provoke jeers and profanities!
Let him be despised and shunned!
Let the mentioning of his name be made along with curses and sighs!
Let stones be thrown at him at the mere sight of his presence!
Let darkness follow him wherever he shall roam
Darkness and thick gloom!

Let his path be made crooked and full of obstacles!
Let the day that he was born and came forth into the world be cursed!
CURSE BE THAT DAY!! [spit!]
Curse it and strike it from the scrolls!
Let the wild beast of the fields and the jackals follow him in pursuit wherever he May go!
Along with sickness and a great malady!
Let it be his portion all the days under the sun!
Let the works of his hands be damned!

Let his prayers be an exhalation!
And his thoughts be annihilation!
And let a desolation be his reward along with strong condemnation!
And when he dies let the maggots consume his flesh
Let his soul be captured in a mesh!
Damned him to the hottest of hells!

…and now
let him be initiated
let him be brought forth
into the light of day
and be made anew

BISMILLAH HE RAHMAN NER RAHIM...

2007-06-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

The Ghaib!
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c.1991]

woe to all the
dunya of this world!

before Allah the ghaib
unfurls

and mankind who's time
was limited by his decrees

drops to his knees
while dhikering with strings
of pearls
and even sulyman
{allayhee salam}

caused the Jinn to dive and
to toil the land
in their task
erecting strong columns
and majestic arches
with knowledge
while before him they
made flow a sea of brass

but when sulyman
fell down before their eyes
none of the Jinn could
avert his demise

even the strong ifrit
who transfered the throng
of Belquis couldn't change
the moment for sulyman that
Allah had decreed

he fell down before them
with his staff
and all the Jinn were freed

and have you not any
knowledge of how
Allah has divided the sea

and made a barrier between
the salty and the sweet
and a division between the
night and the day

and a decision between the
guided and the astray
and on that day
when the veil of
the ghaib shall be
stripped away
and all of this life shall
prove to be but an illusion
and the flames of hell
shall be the final conclusion
for all who doubted
the meeting with their lord

while upon the earth
vast treasures they stored
while laughing they
cast aside the fitra
from their minds
their faces shall be
darkened while the
righteous shall shine

and you too shall
fall down!
so prepare yourself
for the day when
you too shall fall down!

and on that day
when the veil of
the ghaib shall be
stripped away by the
leave of Allah
then you shall come
to know that your
lord was never that far…

MIND'S IN A WHIRLWIND...

2007-06-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

Dust Motes
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp fro, "Zen is Now" C. 1991]

alone i walked
down a cobblestone street
the rain washing the
sound of my feet
beating on the slippery pavement

delicate shafts of moonlight
break through between the
stalagmite overcast sky
the stars are distant shouts
behind murky clouds

my thoughts are murky
and brown like the
ale i consumed
in some smoke filled bar
i forgot the name of

my lover's gone
and i don't know why
she wouldn't say
she just stood there
in her oversized plaid sports jacket
stoically brooding
behind luminescent green eyes

the embers of a
once smoldering fire
dying out leaving them
in the gray ashes of
hazel patience

i stumble upon
a sidewalk curb
that the city officials
decided to raise

i stagger into the
belly of some darkened
alleyway and offset the
delicate ecological balance
of its nocturnal inhabitants
cats purr and rodents
noisily scamper away
their tails knocking loudly
against tin

i threw my head back
to drink the nurturing
milk of the murky stars
and ponder my lot in life
and ponder yours

just then an opportunistic wind
whips up the once unseen
dust motes around me
just then i

as i watched the whirlwind
eddies upon eddies
spinning about me
in some ancient dance

i finally understood
that we were only
two dust motes
whirled together
by the wind
and that it shall never
whirl us together again

TO HOBO BOB...

2007-06-28T09:11:00.000-07:00

Ma Vodka Bottle
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Expcerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1992]

As long as it doesn't show
and as long as it doesn't fall out
i can endure the humiliation
of human dignity

As long as i don't slurp
when i draw
and as long as it doesn't
slip from my paw
when i hit the floor
i can enjoy the brief illusion
of serenity

As long as i don't run outta bills
and as long as i
can still make my way
to the liquor store up the hill
i aint gotta a’ member 'bout
my loneliness

As long as i can just
…keep it coming
THE HELL WITH THE NUMBING!
yeah…and the dumbing
i can have the thrill of
being real
and get to feel
my one and only-ness!
…Whoooh!!!

HICCUUUP!!!...

2007-06-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

Prayer of the Drunk
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerop from "Zen is Now" c. 1990]

i will stagger
from the light
and will walk the walk
of the preternatural
i will have intimacy with vertigo
i will swear without fear of life
without shame of fear
i will speak in the tongue of the few
and reveal secrets
hidden deep inside of me
i shall make promises
that i shall forget
and break
make passionate love
and in the morning forsake you
and when i rise
i shall pray fervently
…to a god of porcelain!

2007-06-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

Chances
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1985]

What are the chances of fire becoming ice?
What are the chances of snow becoming rain?
Being without you could never suffice
Knowing that I'll never see you again someday

What are the chances of us sweet moments again to share?
When I close my eyes I can still see you near
An east wind comes and blows your lovely hair
I reach for you only to see you disappear

What are the chances of fire becoming ice?
What are the chances of snow becoming rain?
Being without you could never suffice
Knowing that I'll never see you again someday

HEAD & EYES FORWARD U!!!...

2007-06-26T08:59:00.000-07:00

AWOL
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" C. 2001]

"left
your left
your left right'ol left
right'ol left right left…"

i still hear the drill sergeant
shouting over my back
while i'm lying in the leaning rest
so where am i going to go now? ["group…a-ten-shun!"]

i still hear the rumble
of the M60 blasting away
while i'm low crawling in FTX
so where am i gonna go now? ["half-right-face!"]

i still feel the rope
tied around my waist
i'm repelling from a ranger tower
now the rope's around my neck

i still march in double time
singing cadences
like i'm out of my mind
with my boots blinking like the sun
so where am i gonna go next?

i'm standing in parade rest
while waiting in a Mc Donald's line
reciting my orders to myself
so what am i gonna do next? ["pre-sent-arms!"]

turn myself into levingsworth
figure out a way to do my time
for committing the crime
a second time
FTR vrs ETS

i still feel the heavy boot
of a sergeant resting on my back
as i'm lying in the leaning rest
cold sweat
as i stumble out of my bed ["or-der-arms!"]

i still see me
present
court marshal
in my class A's
standing at attention
eyes forward
with nothing to say

i should've loaded a magazine
locked and loaded an M16
selector switch from safe to semi
and put it right up to my head! ["ready-aim-fire!"]

i still hear two hundred soldiers
shouting, "death before dishonor!"
roger that
drill sergeant say,
'don't run away!'
you're better off being dead

"left
your left
your left right'ol left
right'ol left right left…"

SING!: "IF EYE ONLY HAD A HEART..."

2007-06-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

Demise

"…it is acquired".

-LordLumiel The wise

This Heart of Mine

by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Exerp from "Zen is Now" c. 2001]

chiseled from stone
at the side of some
tired mountain

dropped into the tired hands
of tired workers
down
the slope of a quiet
valley
floated upon waters
upon rafters across
a stream

fashioned by angry
hammers into a
recognizable shape
sanded and grinded
down into some
acceptable form

fitted into a multitude
of forms just like it

overthrown by Cyrus The Great
by Mehmed The 2nd
leveled by the relentless blast
of canons
overran by a myriad
enemy hordes

treaded
by sandaled feet
grounded into powder
dust under the sinking sun

then placed into a leather pouch
for keep sake by some victorious
warrior

HEED THE CALL!...

2007-06-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

SCYTHIAN TRUMPETS
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1999]

Scythian trumpets
Scythian trumpets!

Blaring
in a wasteland that i
once called my home

Tracks of my forefather's fields overran
house of my god's overthrown
into the dust
where wheels of my chariot turns
slowly into rust

Blown away
with the faded echoes of children
once playing in the market places
sighs
of my daughter's disgraces
pressed into the cold bosoms of these
'wild men of the north'!

Fires
consuming all that my hands have wrought

Scythian trumpets
Scythian trumpets!
blaring
in a wasteland
that i
once called my home

SIGN-O-THE TIMES...

2007-06-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

TOWER OF BABEL

by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerpt from "Zen is Now" c. 2000]

Space shuttle's view: "Houston, the world's so
Small, while babylon's tower's looming tall!…"

Strike the stone!
strike the sand
the sun and the moon
the lines in your hand
a cool winter breeze and flame
laughter wild and untamed
the waxing moon
the shaded dune
eagle feathers
roaring lion's ruffled mane
saber tooth and pain
the pursed lip
the jagged cliff
the fatal slip
twisted hip
soil and stain
dark clouds
roaring crowds
thunder dome!
a shaman's bones ringing in a pan
the warning hand writing upon the wall
ozone's hole
field goal!
civilization's final fall
satellites
and meteorites
a yellow and weathered bible's pages flips
to the pages of the apocalypse!
while babylon's tower's looming tall…

Space shuttle's view: "Houston, the world's so
Small, while babylon's tower's looming tall!…"

REFLECTIONS...

2007-06-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

IMAGES OF MY MIND
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1978]

When that charcoal coloured amber sun
burns slowly off the scene
i close my eyes to this world
and dream a dream
there images of you in my mind
ever seen so clear then disappear
when i gently caress your darkened hair
surprise and unaware is your response to me
while unspoken your eyes can calm the sea
when those waves of oblivion start to rise
you just touch them
and watch the sea subside
all of these images lie far behind
in those images of my mind
now i'm afraid to touch you
for fear i may be awaken
to find myself alone in my room
again with my heart shaken
so i'll just watch you off in a distance
and glad of this much
amazed at what can take place
in those images of my mind
i behold your face in the distance
untainted in its image
and untouched

ALL U NEED IS YO-SELF!!...

2007-06-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Resolved
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1999]

…i don't need your love
i have the architecture of the city streets!
bottle of booze by my feet
burning brand of a cigarette butt
to light my way through the night
stranger's embrace to set me upon a winged flight

…i don't need your love
i have the journey of a thousand years
within the wrinkled pages of a discarded book!
a stolen wink of a passerby
a flirtatious look
screeching sound of an ambulance
leaving tire tracks upon my life
got a switchblade knife to get me out of any strife
a busted paycheck to stretch me into next week
a box of pork fried rice and a token booth
to watch the freaks in a peak on the sneak

…i don't need your love
'cause i love myself!
yeah, i be in a corner store reading books on self-help
ride the D train from forty-duce to 212th
get caught out in the rain on 110th street just for my health
trying to make a magic genie beam me up
from delusions off rising from poverty to shameless wealth
i'm in a world all to myself!

like i said…
i don't need your love
or your pity
i got the license to be me
i got the license to be free!
…to roam the city

"SUFFER IN SILENCE, U!!"...

2007-06-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

Dirge
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1997]

And to this end
May we ever be struggling
In vain for the one and only opportunity
To feel whole and to distance ourselves from our destiny.

To mourn the past once and for good, and
To never look back upon the path whence
We shall never travel again. And in darkened hours
To grope with the certain success of failure for
The life to which we futilely grasp.

And to this end may we sigh the breath
Of sorrow, and regret the path unto which
We alone have chosen, the path into oblivion.

To seek forever in vain the light again through cracks
And crevices of caves lodged deep within the bowels
Of the heart of the earth; ancient and furlong,
Breathless and eternal, unlike the exhalation
Of life that we have been in the sight
Of God.

And to dream of paradise, a memory
Too distant and too far away, like a dream
Abruptly ended and then forgotten.

Only to awaken to another day of darkness,
Pitched in its own insistence upon darkness,
Unyielding and unforgiving, promising eternity
In its own way.

So down we fall into oblivion,
A fall so permanent and absolute
That inertia and motion are all the same.
And all anticipation of cessation have vanished
Along with any hope of escape from futility.
Where there is no wind like the wind that once
Caressed our face when we were alive and roamed
The earth freely, basking in the warmth of the
Mortal sun.

But, in the fathomless darkness, like a match
Struck in a concealed place, there is a flicker of hope,
Faint and lonely, fragile like a passing thought,
Existing on its own energy, drawing substance from

Nowhere. The light flickers until we futilely grasp for it only
To clumsily extinguish the fledgling light with our own hands.

And now we are all eternal, eternally hopeless,
Falling together without any knowledge of light;
Without knowledge of falling, and for all we know
The entire world and all existing systems of order
Outside of the void have long since vanished and are not.

And only we are, and what we are we do not know,
Nor do we care to know, for all knowledge is
Incomprehensible in the heart of the void, which is now
The only world in which we need to know. And all sense
Of time as it was once known in the world is forever
Forgotten and forever lost.

And soon our consciousness reaches viscosity
Due to the lack of thought other than eternity
A thought too weighty and nigh, too wearisome
And cumbersome to struggle with.

Yes, therefore our minds gladly accept the abrasion
Of mental viscosity, a haven from thought,
And a silent and peaceful path into eternity.

EYE AIN'T GOT NOTHING 2 SAY....

2007-06-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

UNQUALIFIED
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1999]

I fucked-up
I'm fucked-up
I said too much
I'm out of touch
I overate
I'm overweight
I took a trip
I flipped the script
I twisted my hip
I busted my lip
I broke your heart
I fell apart
I'm not so smart
I don't know why
I want to cry
I want to die
I want to try…
I want to fly
I want to fry!
I want you back
I fell off track
I need a slap
I feel so trapped!
I threw a fit
I feel like shit
I want a hit
I want to fit
I want to know
I want to show
I want to flow
I made a mistake
I'm just a fake
I'm just a snake
I want the cake
I'm gonna break!
I want to pray
I want you to stay
I want you to go-away
I like to play
I'm out of line
I'm out of time
I'm out of my mind!
I'm just not cut out
I'm just blown out
I wanna shout!
I wanna pout…
I'm so fucked-up
I'm all-shook-up
I want you back
Hey, I fell off track!
-OK?

TEARS OF PEARLS...

2007-06-10T17:22:00.000-07:00

Shells
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1999]

As we fell
into the land of shells
we landed upon the daffodils
but all that we behold
behind this great veil
is but a construct
of our tears…

YEP...YEP...YEP!!!...

2007-06-08T16:47:00.000-07:00

Stream of Life
by"OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1999]

Sit back and have myself a cup of steam/buy myself a bottle of dreams/sit back and watch the stream/of life pass me by/sit back and have myself a smoke/tell myself a joke/wonder why I'm so damned broke/watching the stream of life pass me by/I raise my eyes to the sky/and ask God why/I cant' have some piece of the pie/he bought/sit back and pull myself a joint/and try to focus upon a point of reason and hope/'cause I'm running out of rope/I'm running out of dope/yeah, you go for broke when it's drinks and smokes/and all of your hope goes down the drain/and you're feeling no pain while you're dancing in the rain/'cause your life's been in vain/and your past is just a stain/and a distant mote/while you row, row, row, your boat/gently over the waterfalls/and all the while your agent calls/to tell you that you missed your chance of becoming a big movie star/but really, you knew that star was a bit/too far for you/to catch/so you say, 'what the hell', as you fumble the shells/and load your revolver to go see how the west was won/but you put down the gun 'cause you realize no one's really gonna come/to your funeral anyway/so you look back up at the sky/and ask God why can't some one else be in your place/yeah, have the same name/wear the same face/wear the same clothes/be of the same race/eat the same food/and shit in the same place/so you resign yourself to who you are/Haley's comet's fallen star/turned black hole is born again/another life to mourn again/in vain/as you sit down on the curb of the street/and wash your dirty feet in the mud filled rain/of the stream/of life/rolling, rolling, rolling/goodbye

ROOTS...

2007-06-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

Grandfather/Me

by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1990]

my grandfather was a great man
but i didn’t get to know him
baldhead obscured behind apple scented tobacco clouds
eyes telling the story of a lost generation’s negro struggle
“we shall over come…we shall over…”
come with me, grandson, back to the deep woods of the blackberry south
the wide mouth-cooking pan
fried eggs over easy
and the hammering nails into the coffin of a silent black man
the rising choir of a sweaty baptist church
the rickety weather beaten porch
and homemade fishing line snatching perch

centuries old african talmudic legends told
under the pitter patter of a rusty roof made of steel
big black knuckled john henry’s hands
gripping the wide steering wheel
of a truck as it struggles to climb a hill
“over the hills and through the woods…”
i wish i could take a walk down your memory lane
in your unbuffed and tattered boots
“shine, sir?”
“what you call me?”
amazing grace awaiting moses to part the sea
thin, nineteen twenties cotton club mustache shading his lips
untold signs and secret masonic shakes and
grips to dash to pieces the plate
‘cause dinner’s late and he can’t wait
another three-score-and-ten
‘cause hypertension’s setting in
and he’s getting a little thin

my grandfather died with a greasy mechanic’s tool in his hand
and with him all his secrets perished
the mystery of the southern virginia woods
and all the things i could’ve cherished
now, sepia coloured pictures are staring back at me
in snapshot-time-frozen-mirrored-material
of an old negro spiritual
link to my three generation’s separated soul
and at three generations finally fulfilled
i think i know, on this day
what in his own silent brown eyes’ way
my grandfather’s eye were trying to say

ACCORDING TO THE BURRITO THEORY...IF U TRAVEL FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT...U'll EVENTUALLY RUN INTO YOUR OWN ASS...

2007-06-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

…I am a man, and
My empty mind is a road map!
-Lordlumiel the Wise

Sand Castles
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 2000]

i think i’ll build a sand castle
to be my mime
to make a parable of
this timeless time…

i am what i am which
is altogether nothing standing
upon the shores of a naked
beach-naked save my pondering
frown

listening with one ear to
the sound of the waves lapping
to the loneliness of my heart beating
to the rhythms of some ancient universe

a visionary!
Ezekiel waiting with
teary eyes for the fiery-wheeled chariot
to reclaim him once again
redemption too far for me now
too far
now only the sighs
and the rustling ocean wind

i am what i am which is
altogether nothing
like the grains of sand underneath
my feet warming my toes
the current pulls and the eddies flow
pulling the sand and the earth
and the seaweeds below

o.k.
i’m not the enlightened one
no salvation…
no touch but the
gritty sand in between my toes

wait a minute…
i hear the rush of wind
a cloud dark but luminous descends
and lo!
it’s Ezekiel’s chariot! a tugboat
hauling lobsters
no…

remember, no matter how much
the waves ebb and flow
it adds up to the same
…nothing
like the sum of all
the atoms in the universe

am i the universe?
and, alas! i know
why stars give up their souls
and burst spewing forth
cosmic dust like grains of sand
forever more
like my scattering thoughts
upon the ocean shore
out…
into the great void
that was the curve of time

i think i’ll build a sand castle
to be my mime
to make a parable of
this timeless time…

ALL U NEED IZ LOVE!...

2007-06-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

LOVE
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1995]

i fired a volley over
into your camp and
decimated one-third of your troops
but i didn’t see the land mines that
you so carefully placed in the field which
destroyed about half of my infantry
but that’s ok, because my air strike
was simply masterful and my
carpet-bombing completely obliterated the rest of
your tank forces!

oh, but now you want to negotiate
a truce? i think not!
if you were really Rommel you
would’ve kept on advancing past my borderline
defenses in a tight knitted phalanx
yeah, i know that i may be running out of
ammo, but no ‘Russian winter’s’ gonna stall me now…

though you got sidewinders i got patriot missiles
though you got nerve gas i got serine
oh! but you really don’t want to ‘press the button’!
‘cause my SDI’s will definitely detect
the heat from your missiles before
they launch from their silos
and blast the smithereens out of them
in mid-air, and my counter strike
will wipe out all of your bombers before they
can even get off the ground!!!

so hear me out…
i’m offering you your last chance to
surrender to my love…
you’ve got until tomorrow to
send another communication

THE MIND IS A TERRIBLE THANG 2 WASTE!...

2007-05-31T15:59:00.000-07:00

IQ’s PARADOX
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1995]

They put you in a chair
And this is what they do
They give you a pen and paper
And start grading your I.Q.

“What’s the difference between the ocean and the sea?”
“What’s the difference between the numbers 41 and 23?”
I don’t know! And neither do you
But this is what happens
When they’re grading your I.Q.

“What’s the theory of relativity all about?”
“How far must you walk into a forest before you’re walking out?”
I don’t care! And neither do you
But this is what happens when they’re grading your I.Q.

If they can figure out that two-square equals four
Then they ought to get together and end the threat of nuclear war
“What’s the difference between a saucer and a cup?”
Who cares if the universe’s expanding
If our world’s blowing up

I don’t care! And neither should you
Instead of trying to save our world
They’re grading our I.Q.’s

IN SEARCH OF LIGHT!...

2007-05-31T08:32:00.000-07:00

The Traveler
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1990]

Begin:

This lonely path I trod
This body bent over steel rod
And mesh
Fashioned into a man of flesh
Scarred by the stylus of time
The unyielding sound of the
Sculpture’s hammer chiseling
My will and my mind

Cast into the light of the furnace
All too soon
The dross of reasoning’s brushed aside
No time to cry for lo!
I AM!
Born to pass by noon
The sun’s so high it’s blinding
My eyes! I bow before its
Wrath and I say not, ‘I AM
What I AM’ but that I have
No other choice but to descend
This path

Rain falls but yet
I AM still cold
Fires descend upon a world
So old simmering me like coals
From the flame that I once was
A being of light!
Wrapped tight
In the tattered garment of a man

Before me stretches forth the land
The traveler’s bag’s within my
Hand and I
I turn my back toward the west
With resolve heavy within my breast
To let my journey
Begin…

THEY SAY THERE'S LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL...I DUNNO, I'M JUST A POET...& WHAT NOT...

2007-05-30T14:07:00.000-07:00

“As for me,
I should prefer death
To hopeless bondage”
-Frederick Douglas

Death By Suicide
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1995]

A pinprick
Like a pillow buff in
An awakening dream…
And we are free to
Roam the arid lands
And vistas of our imagination
Like a spirit
Finally unshackled
From the prison bonds
Of this worn out illusion…

A gunshot
A burst of noise followed
By the burning smell
Of fire and we
Have stepped through
The wall of flame
Which conceals our true desire

Behind the veil of time
Transferred back to the place
Of our beginnings
Our wanderlust set free
To traverse the plains
Of…
Our fantasies run wild

Once again we
Are a child
The memory of guilt suffused
In the unburdening of soul
Like plankton set free to
Drift from the concentric
Prison of time…
A mere portal and a door
We have finally reached the
Shores of our dreams

No longer to awaken
And to fall like abandoned
Angels to this world
A mere scroll of thought
Made to rip away and to
Unfurl…
To open our eyes to the truth
The unveiling of eternal youth
A soul set free to soar
The winds of whim…

TOO MANY PILLS...

2007-05-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

YO!...I WROTE THIS POEM....YEARS AGO...WHEN I WAS GOING THROUGH A DIVORCE...& I WAS GETTING MY ASS FUCKED-UP ON BOOZE & PILLS [which i affectionately called 'bennies']...MAN! WAS MY HEAD IN A FOG...IN THOSE DAZE!!!...

Bennies

by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1995]

it’s gonna kick in heavy and
God is my witness when it does
ah! Euphoria’s more than a buzz
‘cause damn!
you know i love this feeling?
see, i’m gonna have me a
beer on top of this shit…
yeah!…And i’m gonna toss my
dope dolby stereo headphones
over my dumbos and
i won’t have to know for shit
‘cause i’ll be sooo high!
just let me open this here
pack, jack, and pop these two
bennies in my mouth and wash
them down south with a little
shot of…Dewars
and afterward i’ll be a
monkey’s uncle if i can give
a good goddamn about a living
ass and his mammy today
see
and if i o.d.,
then they can turn
my big black beautiful ass
upside down so that everyone
can kiss the Madonna!

YO!...DON'T GET A POET ANGRY, YO!...

2007-05-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

When Poets Re-Attack!!
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "This Eye of Mine" c. 2006]

well, if eye had
a life eye wouldn't be
a poet...

eyed learn how to
chop liver and
to sautee it in a pan
the right way dad!

christ! eyed re-read all
the holy scriptures and
come back with a new
interpretation one that'll
knock zecharia sitchin
out of his socks!

hell, if eye had
a life eye wouldn't be
a poet...

eyed pick up my
danmed tools and build
a real house this time
one that'll out last all
the great byzantine structures
of yore...
eyed publish a book and
finish scribbling all my archiac
and arcane thoughts on
my internet blog

eyed draft bills for
a congress too lazy
to disagree with the
current resident of
united states...

hell, if eye had
a life eye wouldn't be
a poet...

eyed pick up my m16 and
merc a bit in
'bumb fuck'in egypt'
tip the scales of war
in the middle east
eyed find a real agent
one who would threaten
producers into signing major
contracts for t.v. and
movie deals

eye'd solve the equation
to the illusive grand unification
theory
do away with the threat
of global warming
solve the kennedy murders
map out the entire DNA
advance space travel and
show how much SETI is
a big joke
record several piano sinatas
raise the stakes of
dialectical materialism
wouldn't have to begin
my 42nd birthday with
a jail sentence find
true peace of mind and
create a true despotic
utopia for mankind
today! and
my grave stone won't
have to read: 'thought
i had something more to say'

hell, if eye had
a life eye certainly
wouldn't be a poet...

GRAVITY IS THE WEAKEST FORCE...BUT THE MOST PERVASIVE AND INESCAPABLE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE...

2007-05-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

The Claw of Satan
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Exerp from "Zen is Now" c. 2007]

look inside and sigh within
like the imploding whirlwind
we sink with our feet dragging
-into His claw

ice melts and stately
towers that we erect
to the sky
fall
-into His claw

dark matter vibrates
between galaxies as they
collide helplessly and spread
out worlds without end
and then collapse
-into His claw

into His claw
into His claw
into the claw of Satan
we all fall
we're like fish being
caught in an evil net
we all fall
-into His claw

wedding bells rang and
wedding rings seal the
fate of lovers white washed
in wine and rice while
hidden desires and unspoken
vice causes the rings to
melt under the intense
heat of fire and down
lovers fall
-into His claw

behind the veil
of time our dreams are
but clashing brass
scratched verses of holy words
hastily written in darkened
alleyways and civilization
stagnates under the burden
of too much legislation
as world leaders legislate
mankind into chaos
and disintegration of the masses

so together like molasses
We sink into the vastness
Of His claw
And fall

Into His claw
Into His claw
Into the claw of Satan
We all fall
We’re like fish being
Caught in an evil net
We all fall
-into His claw

Like a peacock trapped
In a cage he didn't know
The number of his days
We all fall
-into His claw

MAN!...MY HEAD IS HURTING LIKE SATAN ON A CRUCIFIX!!...

2007-05-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

Satan The Devil on a Crucifix
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "This Eye of Mine" c. 2006]

the nails went in
and eye said, "what the hell are
you doing to me?
it's him, you idiots!
get him, the one hiding out
in the crowd with the
blue tam on his head!"

"eye imagine you don't really dig
the crown of thorns on my head
it obsures the horns"

"talk about the devil
wearing prada-Ha!"

eye said as eye bled and
began to shed tears of pearls

eye set the trends or it nada!

my feet are fastened
to the stake
and eye see a panorama of
the world!
as the roman imps
lift me up! from a dead
level to a dying perpendicular
upon the 4 points of a compass

"you idiots! this is a mistake!"
eye cried
as far as the eye can see
the sprawling ghetto of Jerusalem
fans out before me and
eye hang upon this cursed
crux without belief
without wine
without songs
without merriment!
and without the theories and
the dogmas of men

0!

"well, isn't this the part
where some heroe's suppose
to rush up and pierce my
side with a spear?"

the heroes scamper away
while the theologians cast
doubt around me in a
darkened alleyway

"fools! it was eye who
liberated you from the
tree of life! and this
is how you repay me?!"

eye drop my head of thorns
the thorns turn to jade
the jade becomes pearls
pearls becomes tears
tears becomes brass
by the flowing sea of the jordan
nails within my hand
stakes within my feet
thorns surround my head
and alas!
that coward with the
blue tam on his head
hides out among the
revelers in the crowd...

UNTITLED...

2007-05-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Untitled [Almost Hiaku]

by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "This Eye of Mine" c. 2006]

the spirit of
the written law
fell away and from behind
it the archetype
stepped forward
to dance!

& EYE AIN'T GOT NO VIAGRA...SO, U're GONNA HAVE TO WING IT!!...

2007-05-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

Layers Now
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "this eye of Mine" c. 2006]

i mean it still works
i
i mean
there's nothing inherently wrong with it
it just gets hard whenever it wants to

it's just, layers now
it's just, layers now

i mean
don't get me wrong
i still get the o'le morning glory
it's just that...

it's just, layers now
it's just, layers now

well, i's remember when i's was young
i just use to poke them all!
at twenty-one
at thirty-five
i was a 'keeping it real'!
i was feeling alive
now...

it's just, layers now
it's just, layers now

it's like sorting through
a basket of laundry for your socks

it's just, layers now
it's just, layers now

now run off!
and get yourself a new
boyfriend, ya hear?!
i'm not ashamed
i did my 'thing'
i can still swing and bang
it's just
that it's like leafing through
an old book
for the right page
i guess it just comes with age

it's just, layers now
it's just, layers now

i can still feel the
fire burning inside!
i can run but i can't hide
'cause...

it's just, layers now
it's just, layers now
it's just
layers
now

SOMETIMES I TOO SLEEP ON PARK BENCHES...

2007-05-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

Skeksy
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "This Eye of Mine" c. 2006]

this morning
i arose out of
a garbage bag
like a true skeksy

a few weeds broke through
to wave in the country breeze
mother of curvaceous hill
take me

take me away from my man-child
fort apache city blight...
o'er porcelain curvaceous hills which
lead to pale blue light

i don't believe in god
but i think that this
morning the universe made
you smile your big cheek smile
at me and i kissed your face
and i kissed
and i kissed
and i kissed your face

mother of curvaceous curves
guide me back to smooth
and quiet hillsides i dreamt of
while peering through the cracks
of ghetto windows at frozen backgrounds
covered with busted glass
and frozen snow...

2007-05-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

Negatives

by "OBSIDIAN!!! [Excerp from "This Eye of Mine" c. 2006]

the flip side of
the snap shot frozen
in time can bring
back the memory
of the moment in
time that is now lost
a grip away they were in
my grasp my arms desperately
held them too tightly to try
to keep them from slipping away
like photos tossed away in the grass

Now, loney eye sit with my head
perched in my hand the camera
len's still hot from taking the snap shots
that eye shot in the 'night' in the daymares
of what seems now like a dream

Now, foggy, too distant
and far away the memory's a
snap shot it takes
photos that can't be
erased-no matter
how much JACK
eye pushed to my FACE!
the negatives
still frozen in my
mind's eye

Eye wish that eye was a king
and eye could command all
the snap shots
eye took of you to sprang back
to life and dance whirling around my
whirling head and could stare
eye could feel the warmth of your skin
sense the rapture of the alkaline
or the sandy sweat
in your hairs

the mustiness of your sweatshirt
be brushed by the warmth of morning
cornflake's breath

They say we were all born to suffer
ASMODEUS that evil king stole the
reality of my snap shots from me and
left me with the fragments of a surreal
dream ASMODEUS!!! Eye'll bet you never took photos
of anyone you ever loved or knew
too bad for you!

Now, their backs are turned from me
no photos to take of that!
or chance to correct this the
snap-shot-time-frozen-mirrored-material's
finally shot back at me
into a permanent negative

BEHOLD!...THE MAN!...

2007-05-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Gordon's Park
By "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "This Eye of Mine" c. 2006]

he sat upon a throne
of stone
looking out
through the pages of his
pictures
to a deaf toned world
deaf toned to the worlds
he snapped without
words
without
tone
black and white he wrote
he wrote "Shaft"
"Superfly" was his son's progeny
he pimped poems...

but Horace Greeley's deaf toned
so he groans poems out
like grinding steel...

eye sit under
the moon
eye shade trees
and wonder why the
park's named 'Greeley'
when he should just shut
his fucking mouth of steel

'cause he stole
poems snap shot
from Gordon Parks
in Gordon's Park
he posed
thief-like
newspaper's slight in
his hand
eye shall want to topple
his throng and replace it
with the likes of a
black man and
X out Horace Greeley's
likeness

a bird sits atop his
head Horace Greeley's
dead like Gordon Parks
but he has no park
'cause he was too dark
to snap the likeness of

now Horace Greeley sit
upon a throne of
stone
looking out while
looking in
he likes to pretend
he smiths poems
snap shot like
Gordon Parks
in Gordon's Park

HOBO BOB & EYE SPENT...LIKE TWENTY YEARS, OR SO...WRITING THIS BOOK...

2007-05-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

The Hegemenist

by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Except from "This Eye of Mine" c. 2007]

they will never...
they will never know
the prose of our penmanship
the 'worlds without end'
the kingdoms that have since
crumbled to dust
aryan...

they will never...
they will never know
the scythian trumpets
the hale walls that
held the breath of
labyrinthine cities
the walls!
crenulated and strong
ancient and furlong

they will never...
they will never know
the bearded men brave
and daring
daring the wind and
the hail of lightening arrows
the screams of men under
trampling hooves

they will never...
they will never know the
fairness of acheminid women
their dark hair waving
in the moon lit niches
and breeze...

they will never...
they will never know
the corruption of time
the hour glasses
broken...
the sacred words whispered
in dreams

they will never...
they will never know the
true saga
of the hegeminist...

I TELL YOU, THE MAN BEDAZZLED ME...WTH HIS PROPHETIC ABILITY AND WORDS!!...

2007-05-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

The Prophet

by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "this Eye of Mine" c. 2006]

harold what did you ever
see in me?

what did you ever
see? because the

sea is vast and as
deep as shadows raging
tornado like pitch black
waters keep swallow-ing
me up whole beside the
light of the burning torch
of liberty eye sank
hopelessly through
unfathomably dark waters
always waters sinking
always waters engulfing
me my breath

eye swallow

BOY!...OH, BOY!!...IS THAT A LONG FALL!!!...

2007-05-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

The 59th Street Bridge
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from “This Eye of Mine” c. 2006]

it spirals
and arches triumphantly
with gladdened steel lattices
above sparkling black waters

it's precipice is a
window unto the other
side of the door...

a fatal slip and you
can almost feel the winds
roar...
as the jet streams rattle
your

shirt your pants the breeze
whipping finger-like through
your hair

oh! what a grand affair
this final leap
this...
freedom ride this...
suicide

and now for the grand finale
as the liquid road
rises to meet you
the unheard splash
of wash...
the concrete break
of bone and flesh
the head dash
smashes
the boulder dash
like a car crash...
on the FDR
the watery currents never
leaving a scar
but...

it spirals
and arches triumphantly
with gladdened steel lattices
above sparkling black waters

it's precipice is a
window unto the other
side of the door

AN ODE TO TOMMASO...

2007-05-16T14:01:00.001-07:00

YO!...YO!...HERE'S A LITTLE SOMETHING, SOMETHING IN MEMORY OF A GREAT POET, WE ALL KNEW & LOVED SOO MUCH...PEACE!
-"OBSIDIAN!!!"

Tomaso
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "This Eye of Mine" c. 2207]

He was as thin
As a rail...
Wore dark shades-never drank
Skin-tight pants
and spurs on his boots
Spoke poetry
And won poetry slams
At the Nuyoricans a dozen
Times in a row
to boot-

1st saw the cat in a poetry
reading hosted by Viviana
Down in a basement flat
In the 1990's or so
Spoke about "they buried her..."
Now, they buried him
Without fanfare and
Waving flags
He was no Vet like me
-just a Vet
Of the spoken word

"JUST BECAUSE I DREAM, DOES IT NECESSARILY MEAN THAT WHEN I'M AWAKE...AND I'M TALKING TO YOU THAT YOU'RE REALLY REAL?"...

2007-05-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

SOULESS
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "This Eye of Mine"c. 2007]

lightning strikes
and you gasp as
i reach out for your
frightened hand
flesh touches flesh

-SOULESS

irises must meet like
coliding nebulea
but we are still

-SOULESS

just breath escaping
from opened mouth

-SOULESS

oxygen carbon monoxide

-SOULESS

brainwaves electro-magnetic static

-SOULESS

chemical synapses released
and fired

-SOULESS

dark thoughts bright
dream-scapes

-SOULESS

cells dividing into cells
molecules from molecules

-SOULESS

electrons spinning around
atoms combining atoms

-SOULESS

lightning strikes and
again you gasp
i reach out for your
frightened hand
flesh touches flesh
but now i have become
just like you

-

DRINK UP!...

2007-05-14T03:42:00.000-07:00

THIS ONE IS FOR ALL MY BATTLE-BUDDIES...WHOM I WENT THROUGH ARMY BASIC & A.I.T. WITH...IN FORT BENNING...BACK IN THE DAZE...SOME OF WHOM I REALIZE MAY NOT HAVE MADE IT BACK FROM IRAQ...LONG LIVE BRAVO COMPANY 119, SANDHILL!..."ROCK STEADY, HOOOOAAAAAHHH!!!"...

IRAQ A TOAST

By "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerpt from "This Eye of Mine" c.2007]

Sing!

One for the city

For the second time

Was sacked!

One for the Gunny

When we lefted him

In Iraq!

One for the Army Ranger

Shot him in the back!

One for the tyrant

When we hung him

From a rack!

One for the Private

Who is never

Coming back!

One for the oldest

River full-front-attack! *

*[The poem is sung thrice-times over. The first is shouted, the second is spoken, and the last is to be solemnly whispered, ending with:]

-Attack

-"Attack!"

JUST BECAUSE I'M HOMELESS DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN THAT I'M DUMB...

2007-05-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

"Well, he was a homeless man who convinced me he was a poet...& writer, who wrote Broadway plays...and what not..."
-"OBSIDIAN!!!"

Mr. James York Talked
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerpt from "Zen is Now" c. 1991]

Mr. James York talked
Of cabarets and Broadway lights
Of syncopated music and champagne nights

Mr. James York talked of twelve drummers drumming
Floodlights
Roll’em!
Laurence Fishburnes’ coming
Of Porgy and Bess
Males burlesque
Lisa Minelli’s cabaret
Of stage hands fumbling
Wild Irish Rose…
Tumbling
Thou Swell
Oh, what the hell
Everyone has their day

Mr. James York talked
Of stag props settings
Of bourgeoisies toasting
Hot hor d’oeuvres roasting
Fund raising menageries
Of Oscar Awards betting
Production managers sweating
Limousines and cigarette machines
Smokescreens
Ben Verenes!
Magazines
Write-ups in the headlines the next day

Mr. James York talked of spunk
Pzaz!
All That Jazz
Alice through the looking smoke-stained-glass of wine
Chorus lines
“Brother, can you spare a dime, so I can attend the Tony Awards
With fancy broads?”
Standing OV’s
Prime time TV’s
Commercial breaks and long applauds

Mr. James York talked
Of Grand Central dancing
Commuters romancing
Schedule board flips
Lullabies
Round trips
Steam engine
Waltz
Two step
Halts
Forty Second Street
All aboard!
Conductor snaps the cord
Movie scene
It’s Fisher King!
Whirling couples on a movies screen
Slight of hand
It’s just a dream
Mug’s dry
Smarts the eye, ya know what I mean?

When Mr. James York talks
I have to take a walk
‘Cause we can talk our lives away
Bottle’s passed
Eyes at half-mast
Life’s a blast!
What else can I say?
Everyone has their day
Everyone has their day…

TRAVELING FROM THE WEST TO THE EAST...

2007-05-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

REMEMBRANCE
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerpt from "Zen is Now" c. 1995]

Out of a thick leach like
clot of blood we created
you and set you on high
in a garden paradise
over flowing with streams of
delight you use to sigh
until you grew proud
and fell under the trap of Iblis
so down we hurled you to
the earth until the hour of
your release

and unto us shall be your return
and unto us shall be your return

to gardens of bliss or
the flames of hell to burn
and have we not set parables
for you to discern in the
signs of the sun and the moon
and the canopy of stars
galaxies spinning in vast
regions of space so far
apart have your hearts grown
cold from our reminders

and unto us shall be your return
and unto us shall be your return

and now you cannot
even recall the day
when we brought you all
forth to swear
an unbreakable covenant
and now you cannot even recall
the searing, flickering light
that we caused you all to see
but in the end is your return to us

in the end is your return
to me
to recall all that you have
spent and all that you have
stored
and have we not sent
down to you rain
sweeping the fertile lands
and the shores with our mercy
after the warning flashing like
angry arrows of light
in the expanse so bright while
the thunder roared

and have we not punished
some of you with shameless wealth
and abundant riches and children
and good health only to consume
you on that day when neither
friend nor foe shall avail you
not

but unto us shall be your return
but unto us shall be your return

to gardens of fig trees or
the flames of hell to burn
and on that day when we bring you forth
in crowds to receive all that you
have earned and no injustice shall
we repay you for all that you use
to say or do

so when the land is dark
and the slumber’s deep and
from deathlike sleep we awaken
you to behold the unyielding
light of dawn
give thanks for the day you were born

for unto us shall be your return
for unto us shall be your return
to gardens of delight or to the
flames of hell to burn
but unto us shall be your return
unto us shall be your return…

FROM THE WOMB TO THE TOMB!...

2007-05-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

YO...YO...YO!!! MAYBE SIGMUND FREUD WAS ON 2 SOMETHING...WHEN HE SUGGESTED THAT A MAN IS STILL SEARCHING FOR HIS MOMMY...WHEN HE'S RAPP'IN TO A FINE WOMAN-AFTERALLS! [i dunno i'm just a poet]...

Peaceful Implosion
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerp from "Zen is Now" c. 1995]

Oh, precious mother, erase
my name and return me back
into the womb from whence
i came

Oh, precious mother, erase
my name and return me back
into the womb from whence
i came

I search for you again and
again, but every womb that
i enter becomes for me a
tomb and a bane

Oh, precious mother, erase
my name and return me back
into the womb from whence
i came

Other women’s profile’s in
style, while their smiles
beguile, but your embryonic
fluids used to embrace me
and sooth me like the Nile

Oh, precious mother, erase
my name and return me back
into the womb from whence
i came

Just what is it that i
seek in this charade?
why, it’s the maternal cry
that my mother made when
she pushed me out through
that tunnel of light
i want to hear that sound rise
from within you tonight
i want to hear that cry
and I want to set you free
i want you to Be!
born again, just like I
seek to be

Oh, precious mother, erase
my name and return me back
into the womb from whence
i came

For other women i walk the
street to some ancient beat,
but now i wish to retreat to
the memory of the embryo,
and the soft beating of your
heart, ‘cause from you i’ve
been so torn apart

Oh, precious mother, erase
my name and return me
back into the womb from whence
i came

Oh, precious mother, erase
my name and return me
back into the womb from whence
i came

2007-05-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

The Holy Aged

By "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerpt from "Zen is Now" c. 1990]

Out of the thick black smoke of a tempestuous fire!
I
Was born
Ah, long ago, when the universe was young
And the newborn lamps yawned within the cosmic throng
Up! Up! Into the constellation's clearing
Down, down, into the world
I
Was thrown
I
Woke up to the world in a flood of lights
Crying without a name
I
Walk through the crowded streets of mankind dying
Naked, but yet clothed in shame. When
I
Look up to the stars at night
I see
Stars spread out into infinity
And the dome of a lonely universe enshrouding me. If
I
Spread my arms out
I
Would fly, high over the expanse of a cloudless sky
High over the depths of a fathomless sea
High over the smog of a crowded city street
Up! Up! Into the zodiacs burning
High over the dome of the universes turning. And as
I
View the scene while my stomach's churning
I
Consider all I've done and who
I AM

LEARN 2 BLINK 1 EYE AT A TIME...

2007-05-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

The Man Next Door
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerpt from "Zen is Now" c. 1999]

He had a five o’clock shadow, like a
Hobo, crossing the street he’d go
With a jones to the nearby
Liquor store,
Looking to and fro, like a
Milkman, leaving your wife’s house
While you wiled the hours away
Shoveling your neighbor’s snow.
And you know he’ll be back for more.
Wanna bet?
See, it’s like pulling a drag until
You feel the heat of the fire in the
Butt of a cigarette.

Hanging out in smoke filled bars
Peeping through the lenses of
Shot glasses.
Eyes glittering like stars at
The passes of women’s asses.

‘Cause he’s the man next door,
The gigolo, the whore,
And when he hits your wife again
It’s gonna be like state’s secret;
Unknown, as she latches the
Chain lock to the front door,
In the a.m., at a quarter to four.

When it happens again, you’ll
Never know. Frankly, I think
It’s rude to interrupt somebody’s
Private Idaho.

You drive home in a
Downpour, hydroplaning in the rain.
You slip the key in the
Front door and once again
Pour yourself another gin and tonic
To erase the stain.
You plant another mechanical kiss
On your wife’s puckered lips and
Wonder why it tastes a little salty.
Nah!
But maybe…

You like to brag aloud at parties
About your family photos,
But don’t notice the missing
Link in the family tree.
-But you always wondered to yourself quietly,
“Why don’t that boy look
Like me?”

Yeah, ‘cause he’s the man
Next door, the gigolo, the whore,
And when he hits your wife
Again it’s gonna be like
State secrets; unknown,
While she latches the chain lock
To the front door, in the a.m.,
At a quarter to four.

THE ETERNAL DAMNATION OF THE EMPTINESS OF ME...

2007-05-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

THE EMPTY!

by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 1999

It is our duty
to be EMPTIED!…
stone vase skeletal
skull broken over gnarly bone
blood drenched OBSIDIAN
sun dialed altars…
skin blistered cracks in stone crevices
that open portals to
velvet light…

It is our duty
to be EMPTIED!…
galaxies are dark
light in dark regions
of time
the unfurling of our
chaotic minds brings forth
nightmares beginning by day and that
never ends…

It is our duty
to die by blade
before firm breast entices us
to shed precious semen
into the sand…

Death!
and light
and blade
and stone
and blood
and crevices
and embraces what might be
the opening of a
door
and rattles
and altars
and velvet
light!
and semen
and sand
and galaxies
and days without end
and time
unfurling into the vast open chi
and regions of
nothingness…
pouring into the black
open sea…

It is our duty to see
it is our duty to be
EMPTIED!…

2007-04-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

ZEN IS NOW
By Daniel H. Canada Jr. "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerpt from "Zen is Now" c. 1999]

Diminished

Blink my eyes
Caught you staring
Open wide
Sunlight’s glaring
Shun the world
Reap no fruitage
Peace at last
Found my courage
Shut my eyes
Sleep and slumber
Fitful dreams
Draw me under
My own world
Strange and vivid
Flashes of time
Of once I lived in
Open wide
Daylight’s pressing
Tarry now
No concession
Time warps lapsed
No remaining
Time warps lapsed
No complaining
Start at the end
Begin at the finish
No matter how we strive
We’re still
Diminished…