may we all be heard
words are bells
let them ring!


Thom World Poet Austin, Texas, USA
Global Radical networker and activist for promoting the live Creative Arts,
at every possible opportunity, especially in his home-city, Austin, Texas, USA


Saturday, September 4, 2010

death is for the living

ceremony/ritual/ending/beginning
Those gone have only us to remember them
They become someone else(something else-
pictures,memories,reminiscences-we carry them
twice-once as we knew them(alive
second as they are now(ours.Yes,we own them
as a photograph owns an image
as an icon own a god.As an altar owns a ritual
As a bank owns gold-fleetingly.Momentary these wings
as we will be forgotten(we forget this!-and build
above the graves of past-another Troy!September 11!
Mock Stonehenges,Pyramids in Las Vegas,
monuments to memories we own because we possess
Release them,and like birds they will fly
Let go of those in process.We do not own them
They are on a solitary path /whether towards Light(or away
By turning our head towards contemplation
we may lease mysteries for moments
meditate upon transcience,freeze frame experience
replay significance,come to temporary conclusions
Which are different for each of us-same for all-
life is a gift we share with those coming in and going
A railway platform where we await revelation
(sometimes late in coming).It may take whole lives
to recognize why.Meanwhile tides flow at moon rates
we calibrate clocks.Forget pulse.As temporary.
Here is where you came in-you,living,remembering
those who have passed and are passing-and those just coming in
Just like the tides.Remember?

AUTHENTIC COUNTERFEIT!

Pink girl with a blond guitar
crowd of digital friends with cameras
SNAP! CLICK! FACEBOOK! MYSPACE!
Secrets open only to the young and blond
Closed to those old men who understand only loss/rejection
who sing a solo off key note-authentic! (counterfeit)

EVOLUTION
Demosthenes as Cicero as Lincoln as Hitler as Churchill
as Kennedy as MLK as Malcolm X as Blair as Obama as Beck as Palin

"THESE BOOTS ARE MADE........."
Naughty Monkeys.Via Spiga.Michael Antonio.Nine West.
Cynthia Vincent.Chinese Laundry.See be Chloe.Joe's Jeans
Very Volatile.Dolce Vita.Rachel Zoe.Jessica Simpson.

it is not death (more incapacities
our little deaths define us(defy us!-
age,and loss,decay,Alzheimers
gaps between intention and act
absorbing on some level yet incapable of response
all this blaring trumpet media-moments lost
trained to eat fast and forget.another little death
when names and dates and people's faces merge
like films at a Film Festival-or all night movie channels
borders between what we see /imagine fall
(we are not quite sure if we are fully here at all)
inside,every prisoner becomes a wall
to get out may be a key.the lock is inside
turn the other (laterally)-just to see
if attitude changes anything-or if we are dying by degrees
this being our third.

Friday, September 3, 2010

BOOK OF LOVERS

Each day you distill the milk of human kindness
pour it on the white page via black ink
print whole chapters of the passing parade
develop images of those you see
Adventures aplenty!You sail in to each day
with sail tilted to catch the wind
Stories catch you like rainwater barrels
drink them in!They compass guide you
beyond the walls of solitary confinements-
Sing!with the splash of companionship
that whets your appetites for more!
You have always been open to new life!
Songs ,poems,love,adventures-all fill your nights
with stimulation worthy of your Muse
Now is always new for you
that is why this chapter includes you
among your book of lovers-that is where you start
and often where we all end up
in a cliff hanger,perched on a sharp moment
never knowing what will happen next...
TO BE CONTINUED

it is said you like to listen

so we read to you as you are dreaming
fish.boat.river.walk.tree.line.sun.bird.your eyes close
inside you are seeing all these dreams.you choose to internalize
We are on the outside of your cinema while you screen
scenes from your life in which we are bit players
It is said that what we love we make
You made so many happier that they take time
to give it back to you.This your truth-
even now,as you prepare to leave
your angels by your bedside feed your dreams
They seed rhythm ,love and trust into those parts
we cannot see.We hear what you hear-
we do not know what show is being screened
on the inner world of your dreams.We
watch you close and closer now-as you leave
we see parts of our wings fly with you
These dreams are true.What you hear and see within you
Outside,there may be Dairy Queens and chocolate icecream
Inside is always a golden green -glowing with that light
that only you can see.It is said you smile as we read this
To you,we are outside.With you,a shared dream
It is said that they who listen make new worlds
You are busy building bridges between
in golds and bright angelic winged greens
FOR DR MARVIN KIMBROUGH

like striped bass erupting from Lake Travis

like carp flapping in a drought dry waterhole
like 33 Chilean miners land locked linked
like oil in the gulf never found
like 3D Titanic forgetfulness
(it was the iceberg that won-remember?
Yet icebergs are splitting off from floes everywhere
meltdown and nowhere to go
like wars of withdrawal and regression
like forgetfulness and repetition
like linus and unix and open source coding
like co-ops and co-operation
like space travel close to earth
like re-enactments and reincarnation
like English Channeling
will there be oxygen enough for overpopulations?
or too many cars to create an oil crisis?
industries evolve like coal to wind
or die like steam and trains
when we speak,have we enough oxygen to debate?
or is this seasonal(papering over the deficits in reasoning
so we can list endangered species as well as becoming one
and like frog in heated water in a frying pan
lose consciousness as we are losing oxygen

ONE OF MY LIVES(is a movie unreeling spool by spool)

Squares are @fault Straight lines are guilty
The provisional Republic resigns tomorrow

SELECTED SILENCES-
the one before this(hesitant
One after(ambivalent
one between us(authoritative
one under us(they who went before
One that is not yet one(nascent,birthing
This one we share(end)

WITHDRAWAL is only time
over distance

DEATH resists definition.Differs for everyone
Unique .Anonymous.Even headlines rust

ARRIVING! Fresh flower bouquets /banquets between us
DEPARTING..forthcoming edited silences

BECAUSE my father drank oceans
I eat continents.

ELEMENTARY
How the eloquence of dirt
cedes to mining companies
How rocks resist politics
yet fall for avalanches
How water is apolitical
yet farmers war for more
How skies are neutral
as air forces dogfight
How a tree is a vote
for your self

SLIP THIS THIN WHITE GOWN OVER YOU
(of course we will tie up the stringed back)
Cold?You will feel everything! Now lay back upon this bed
Surrender all your powers to the staff.Trust us!(say the already dead...

NARCISSUS SEES end of my world(not THE
Every time i forget(more than me

SHADOWS BEFORE/they fall/downstairs/weigh no more
If Light and Sound are silent..how locate?

I RENTED THIS ISLAND(moment)(Sanctuary-
for no land bridge connects me to your past
I ask for futures.

SO MANY CARS(all second hand)
One day a first

PARKING METER.
It was not MY hotel
It was(for a night!).She was not MINE
She was-for a night.

THERE WAS SOMEONE IN HER PAST
His light let her dark
Now every second hand illumination
is only comparison companion

HABIT SAVES ME
In this Circus-9 Indian elephants
Women would ride behind their ears
(like riding waves of mermaids)
Men would lead with sticks to prod
(Elephants remember every one)

EACH NIGHT,A PILGRIMAGE(open mikes)
where strangers affectionate share circular songs
between the rectangles and oblongs

AS WE AGE,we age together.No clock can last as long as pulse
Hearts batteries flatten till we are/One fine line.One line.Fine.One.

PAULA ABDUL SCHOOL OF DIPLOMACY

wherein we cease targeted assassinations,seek peace in Palestine
negotiate with Iran and North Korea,withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan
and focus upon healing our broken social infrastructures and torn cities
Deal with the frequent hurricanes,potholed roads ,
inadequate health services,poor education
rather than militarily invading anyone we designate"terrorist"
Yet when aid workers are slaughtered and civilians bombed
Somalia devolves into criminal clans,and pirates invade our ships
perhaps a different model is required.Results are everything-
China trades with terror regimes and claims Tibet
We trade with her despite Tiennamen Square
When innocent Bahai are imprisoned in Iran
we have neither bargaining power nor military strength
Little Libya laughs at us after Lockerbie
and Big China will not cease her sweatshops nor slave labor
What are we to do in a dissenting world?
Exporting democracy has resulted in boondoggle cowboy contractors
violating even elementary rules of engagement
Our goodwill has been spent on weapons.
Our armies are tired and conflicted.Our streets homeless ,dispirited,unemployed.
Rome had an Empire,too.It fell.Bread and circuses .Colosseums.
Perhaps we need an entertainment PAY PER VIEW model of diplomacy
wherein and whereby we sell cable rights to Town hall debates
upon the most effective models for Democracy 101 in 2010

BE AWARE OF ...!

Saudi Arabian authorities will not allow public poetry gatherings
It is censored before seen in public media
Palestinian poets have been assassinated by MOSSAD
and history is littered with the corpses of truth tellers
singers like Victor Jara in Chile
whose hands that played guitar were cut off by the junta
Poetry in North Korea and Cuba is a risky pleasure
Jails in Cuba still full of those who speak truth to power
Dictatorships hate competition
and poetry demands attention from body,heart,soul and mind
Ho Chi Minh was a fine poet
but would not tolerate poet dissidents
Same with Mao-good poet -but ruthless
President Carter remains a mediocre poet-
his best poetry still HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
and those Romantics who bled for love
will not survive these dictatorial days we find
where prosaic hate replaces poetic petition
and gentleness is eaten by the dogs of war
Poets of Iraq! Poets of Afghanistan!Poets of Iran!
History calls your voices to rise from civilian corpses
to sing of freedom in a time of occupation
When will we listen?The blood of poets means less
than the poem songs they are carrying...across borders.

What do we do with these things?

COLLECTIBLES(or-what remains?
Each of us accrue in our brief lifetime-
collecting comics,stamps,books,records,
experiences,stories,love and life!
Almost all must be left behind
Someone else distributes largesse via wills
Disperses goodwill to friends and relatives
Disposes of detritus ,dispenses with our Empires
We are but ash and bone-photographs( without footprints)
Always some thing remains-a garden,library
some hand made creation held by others
because meaning is a communicable ease
and we are all inter-related.In graves-pottery ,food,spears
On walls,stories of imagined afterlives.
Dig deep and you will find what survives
does not carry immortality-only the story
projecting myth as fact so posthumous others might continue
We have done this since before recorded time
We will done this until all of us are gone
Even now,movies(which cannot be screened post-Armageddon
reflect upon life post-Armageddon(BOOK OF ELI,ARMAGEDDON,2012)
Strange to know that all our current techno -genius
cannot be transmitted to those electricity less
Our life as short as battery life
Our books unwritten final chapters

if these are the last

may they be gentle.Each moment stolen
has a bread fresh baked freshness/sweet
the song that soothes the child/lullabye farewells
as we boat river float away.To leave is always/ever
Hard to stay/farewells and departures/wave fond goodbye
Stacks of photographs to be returned before your eyes close
This belongs to you,too!It was found at the scene of your departure
when you left behind you parts of us(attached like strings to kites
Higher you may be-we are grounded creatures/envy flight and freedom
and the friendship time has with eternities.Above you now(and within
you sing internally-release the hands that hold you close
let go into an unknown sea,and launch the ship of your soul
into these calm deep tears.Smiles ,too,as we remember you
when you were wild and free among us.We are what we remember mostly
it is what you shared with us-wit,wisdom,joy,happiness
Please take them with our love in return
Your life=our lesson to learn.
FOR DR MARVIN KIMBROUGH

unexpectedly-reprieve!

her surprise at being alive
stumbled across a GREAT MYSTERY
filled in the clay jar/put the genie back in the bottle
refreshed her computer
and pretended this never happened

farmer i know(old,drought heart
dried up waterhole,contemplates
clarity or clouds?

junk bird grackles
junk trees =arizona ash/crepe myrtle
junk mail spam
and tomorrow's trash empties again

your wife died
so you left her voice
that welcomes others
to remember her.(two

points of pilgrimage=work,
pain,ritual,death,rebirth,waking up
to endless recycling

companion animals pose no threat
to we who are one

the smell of bakeries
sells houses like lemons

used to sit in the waters
on a beach made for one-
solitary non-confinement

elders lived in caves
until we internalized them

Anonymous ,in the Cafe
cup of silence in his eyes
watches Windows(signs of life

word falls like arrow short of target
yet you know and understand
you read body language
Translate me.

Myth meets ignorance @GOOGLE
"Haven't we met before?Wikipedia?"

Coal has gone(apart from Fourth World
Forests,too.Now we make wood stories
to burn emptiness

Defer death.Time payments.Delay spiritual bankruptcy
until the Sheriff places a lien on your lying.

Aloneness slices us apart(earphones,ipod,PC,laptop
This today's text .Instant mess/aging

came in half way through.Missed birth/re-
now have to figure what the storyline means

elders,ending.we,witnessing
strive for separation/emulation.

it is the nature of..
learning this (lifetimes)
even Nature changes..

music used to soothe(now sedates
familiar as programing/easy non-listening

comparisons essential-shopping (for experiences
we compare stained souls and laundered funds

husbands bend /buckle./ weights
they slim stick figure age
as stacks of firewood upon their grave.

long living women reminesce
about counted ringed husbands

the faces they slap on(archaeology
reveal more via layers

gods have different stories.
we should know
we wrote them!
FOR THE GREAT FIRES OF JACK GILBERT

the good news

as days go(they glow faster
every moment a diamond(reflections
epiphanies compound interest
awakening domestically
to the feral fact of animal origins
Claws,and hooves,nail and bite
snap tight caged dreams each night
unfolding origami insights
threading beads for blankets
wampum matters less than fishing
for the slow thoughts that hide in deep waters
Others remind you of you-
how beyond each new worlds await discovery
Blank eyes and maps held in our hands
stitched together by family and friends
and you do not need to count
the moments between now and zen
It is enough to live within/without the need to need
Anything is better than Nothing
Nothing has no hold upon you
Everything Beams !(in its own Light
totally interdependent upon you..
AND THE WAY YOU CHOOSE TO SEE IS...