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

…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!...

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!...

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!...

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...

“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...

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!...

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...

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!!...

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...

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!!...

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...

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...

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!...

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...

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!!...

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!!!...

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...

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?"...

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!...

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!"