AT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY...

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...

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?

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

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!?...

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

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

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...

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!!...

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!!...

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...

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...

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!!...

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...

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...

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...

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!!!