The Black Beast
He is her bete noire,
Anathema, despised thing
The black beast lurking in dreams
Except the vivid dreams actual
Waking moments she suffers
Scarred, bruised and swollen
Accustomed to pain
Each new bash a battle wound
A badge of twisted honor
An expectation
Heroin fix for a junkie
Addicted to a sad fate
Her will, a broken
Glass, transparent fragments
Shattered on the kitchen tile
Personal chattel
His tangible property
He pushes her north and south
Her child’s compass
Distorted by skewed lessons
Beliefs garnered from a poisoned
Garden. Flawed germs,
Awful seeds bear awful fruit
Ontogeny limits life
Unanswered prayers
She obtains solace elsewhere.
Kindness, sympathy, true love
Reside over the hill
Minutes away, another world
Words spoken in foreign tongues
She cannot escape
Tied to the land, paralyzed
From the head down, a cripple
Resigned to her fate
She can only dream silent dreams
In the safe light of moonbeams.
Kbris 2006
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Monday, January 30, 2006
Tinsel Town
Tinsel Town
Wet street on the strip, there’s beer in the eye
Fuzzy neon carnival. Celestial sphere in the eye
Street walkers get lucky in this magical Mecca
Where the johns, like honeybees, appear in the eye
Through a prism of casino lumina, I see faces
contorting, like clown masks with fear in the eye
A faux fiddler bows in the palace garden
A fire song to Caesar, dying, spear in the eye
Impotent old men, limp as a rabbit’s ear
Hunker at a hold’em with blear in the eye
Sleazy Tony the Ants, Mafioso misfits
Carry crumbs to the anthill, racketeer in the eye
With meditative squirminess, repining
Restlessness, my love, dear to the eye
The glitz and glitter of tinsel town
A bad scream, sticky, adheres to the eye
Like peanuts to monkeys you feed coins, Ah!
Fuzzy neon carnival. Celestial sphere in the eye!
Wet street on the strip, there’s beer in the eye
Fuzzy neon carnival. Celestial sphere in the eye
Street walkers get lucky in this magical Mecca
Where the johns, like honeybees, appear in the eye
Through a prism of casino lumina, I see faces
contorting, like clown masks with fear in the eye
A faux fiddler bows in the palace garden
A fire song to Caesar, dying, spear in the eye
Impotent old men, limp as a rabbit’s ear
Hunker at a hold’em with blear in the eye
Sleazy Tony the Ants, Mafioso misfits
Carry crumbs to the anthill, racketeer in the eye
With meditative squirminess, repining
Restlessness, my love, dear to the eye
The glitz and glitter of tinsel town
A bad scream, sticky, adheres to the eye
Like peanuts to monkeys you feed coins, Ah!
Fuzzy neon carnival. Celestial sphere in the eye!
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Indelible Ink
Indelible Ink
Morning, on the arroyo, lips shrink from thirst
Here in the serene desert. I think of thirst
Every warrior stands ready at this arid outpost
Where Humvees, like humped camels, wink at thirst
Through the spectrum of a mosque’s window, I hear
Chants repeating, like sea waves on the brink of thirst
I rely on the dream, nightly your smile appears,
Invariable, steady, like the sun, a link to my thirst
The wilderness burns, we sweat until glassy, heated up
By waves of tank shells that stink of thirst
Through bloody fingers, I pen words of love
Dying red droplets, indelible ink for your thirst
KBris 2006
Morning, on the arroyo, lips shrink from thirst
Here in the serene desert. I think of thirst
Every warrior stands ready at this arid outpost
Where Humvees, like humped camels, wink at thirst
Through the spectrum of a mosque’s window, I hear
Chants repeating, like sea waves on the brink of thirst
I rely on the dream, nightly your smile appears,
Invariable, steady, like the sun, a link to my thirst
The wilderness burns, we sweat until glassy, heated up
By waves of tank shells that stink of thirst
Through bloody fingers, I pen words of love
Dying red droplets, indelible ink for your thirst
KBris 2006
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Talking To The Girl (A ghazal)
Talking To The Girl
Why are you angry? Whose flesh will feel the hard bite?
Who else will feel the sharp teeth of your wrath’s bite?
Painful-love’s maiden voyage through turbulent water
Seaweed, rough waves, even a deceitful shark’s bite
I plead for shelter, safe, protected from this torrent
You’ve invited friends, sympathetic girlfriends for a bite?
As your father, I tell you suffering takes place, no matter what
Whether eating, riding a pony, walking-you’ll feel its bite
Sweet Aphrodite, lovely child, your tears are merely raindrops
Adonis’ arrow pierced your heart, wherein entered envy’s bite
You, under the twelfth sign of the zodiac, headstrong Pisces
After fishing for the day, you still don’t feel a bite?
Life is like the surf-so give yourself away to the sea
I, Keith, your father say stop the tearful sound bite!
Friday, January 20, 2006
Foundations
Language enables time-binding, allowing humans to build on the knowledge accumulated by prior generations …Korzybski
Bound in time they build
Foundations of deep wisdom
Upon dead father’s bones
Sift through the ashes
Of grandfather’s sapience
Pieces of information
Flotsam and jetsam
Driftwood, old shipwreck remnants
Surface, birth a new language
Bound in time they stretch
The limits of man’s knowledge
Far beyond the breaking point
Sons and daughters
Computer memory boards
Hold prior generations
In mind’s hardrives
exponentially surmise
Unimaginable vistas
It’s not asteroids
But gamma ray bursts, super-
Novas, black holes discovered
The outer limits
Of galaxies, where life starts
Away from the center of things
Where the pits yield ore
Treasured nuggets of
King Solomon’s wisdom
A species evolves
Descendant miners unearth
Civilization’s jewels
KBris 2006
Bound in time they build
Foundations of deep wisdom
Upon dead father’s bones
Sift through the ashes
Of grandfather’s sapience
Pieces of information
Flotsam and jetsam
Driftwood, old shipwreck remnants
Surface, birth a new language
Bound in time they stretch
The limits of man’s knowledge
Far beyond the breaking point
Sons and daughters
Computer memory boards
Hold prior generations
In mind’s hardrives
exponentially surmise
Unimaginable vistas
It’s not asteroids
But gamma ray bursts, super-
Novas, black holes discovered
The outer limits
Of galaxies, where life starts
Away from the center of things
Where the pits yield ore
Treasured nuggets of
King Solomon’s wisdom
A species evolves
Descendant miners unearth
Civilization’s jewels
KBris 2006
The Map is Not The Territory
The map is Not the Territory
The map is not the territory
But a referent to the place referred,
My words are what go on “in here”
Not “out there”.
I’m unable to fathom “all”
I see the world as “I'” am, not as “it” is;
behind my” eyes” the “I” that
Does the seeing;
You are not my suffering
My thoughts the suffering,
Your words, your actions but
Referents that I buy into,
My language imperfect
What goes on distorted and
Misrepresented
We create our own hell
Kbris 2006
The map is not the territory
But a referent to the place referred,
My words are what go on “in here”
Not “out there”.
I’m unable to fathom “all”
I see the world as “I'” am, not as “it” is;
behind my” eyes” the “I” that
Does the seeing;
You are not my suffering
My thoughts the suffering,
Your words, your actions but
Referents that I buy into,
My language imperfect
What goes on distorted and
Misrepresented
We create our own hell
Kbris 2006
Dreams
Heading towards town
The kitchen cupboards are bare
The hungry bear growls loudly
Its plate is empty
After a long winter’s sleep
Dreaming of blackberries!
The kitchen cupboards are bare
The hungry bear growls loudly
Its plate is empty
After a long winter’s sleep
Dreaming of blackberries!
Thursday, January 19, 2006
The Mission
The Mission
Deadly booby traps
Green poisonous iguanas
Flicking shrewd deadly tongues
Inhale the night air
Hunting to kill the hunger
Improvised explosive bombs
The tank soldier
Inspects with a vulture's eye
Dead dogs, nitrated Hell-hounds
Compressed with old nails
Strewn along the bloody highway
A wily warrior smells death
Yesterday's memory
A blood-stained Mr. Potato Head
An Armless fallen comrade
In the crimson light
Of a vivid rising sun
Today's mission, to survive
The hypotenuse
Of the Sunni triangle
A carnivorous wolf trail
Devours devotion
To Islamic holy truths
A drastic caricature
America reels
An opiated nightmare
God on the lips, blood on the
Hands, on life-support
Symptoms of withdrawal
Shivering, shaking, queasy
An insurgency
A mosaic of misfits
Glued together by an -ism
Hangs on terror's wall
Casts a dark shadow worldwide
Blankets the birds of freedom
Dictators come and go
Tides that follow the moon's smile
Leave behind foul sediment
Lifeless carcasses
Every new wave a surprise
Every new tyrant the same
With fresh minds to devour
But I am preaching
Pedantic, analytical
My heart, a tear-stained sponge
Soaks up today's mail
American Heroes Memorial
Three thousand and counting, gone.
KBris 2006
Deadly booby traps
Green poisonous iguanas
Flicking shrewd deadly tongues
Inhale the night air
Hunting to kill the hunger
Improvised explosive bombs
The tank soldier
Inspects with a vulture's eye
Dead dogs, nitrated Hell-hounds
Compressed with old nails
Strewn along the bloody highway
A wily warrior smells death
Yesterday's memory
A blood-stained Mr. Potato Head
An Armless fallen comrade
In the crimson light
Of a vivid rising sun
Today's mission, to survive
The hypotenuse
Of the Sunni triangle
A carnivorous wolf trail
Devours devotion
To Islamic holy truths
A drastic caricature
America reels
An opiated nightmare
God on the lips, blood on the
Hands, on life-support
Symptoms of withdrawal
Shivering, shaking, queasy
An insurgency
A mosaic of misfits
Glued together by an -ism
Hangs on terror's wall
Casts a dark shadow worldwide
Blankets the birds of freedom
Dictators come and go
Tides that follow the moon's smile
Leave behind foul sediment
Lifeless carcasses
Every new wave a surprise
Every new tyrant the same
With fresh minds to devour
But I am preaching
Pedantic, analytical
My heart, a tear-stained sponge
Soaks up today's mail
American Heroes Memorial
Three thousand and counting, gone.
KBris 2006
Friday, January 13, 2006
Epistle to Old Friends
Epistle to Old Friends
My Dearest old friends
This letter explains the whys
Of my late decision
Trust me, I am sad
To validate the bad news
Aged, I had to leave
With my senses still intact
Invaded by a Dodo bird
My mind and heart fled
To escape her confinement
From my recent cell
I pen poignant, painful words
A vow of strictest silence
Imposed by the Cross
My penance as a sinner
In Merlot vineyards
Tender young grapevines pruned
By my calloused hands flourish
Yield succulent fruit
Work cleanses my darkest sins
Now celibate, hot winds
Of passion ignore my life
Their fickleness justified
My body temple cool
The mind free to meditate
Over the horizon
Light filters through a soft glass,
A luminous clear window
A backward vision
Clarifies my path today
From the river’s edge
I smell putrid carcasses
Salmon fertilize water
Beginning, ending
A cycle of renewal
The cloistered tower
Juts upward from verdant hills
Shields from cawing crows
The isolated prayers
Silent, mystical phrases
A prickly hair shirt
Adorns my wrinkled scruples
A clue of my fallen path
The shouldered burden
A Side-road to salvation
Catholic my guilt
Father’s sins re-visited
With every novel sunrise
Subsides with the moon
Illuminates sleepless sleep
My children scattered
Lost to commerce and warfare
I but a singular step
In a line of descent
Write this final epistle
I seek to understand
A voice echoes in my ear
Like a ship’s bell in the fog
Eerie and haunting
It whispers my father’s nane
KBris 2006
My Dearest old friends
This letter explains the whys
Of my late decision
Trust me, I am sad
To validate the bad news
Aged, I had to leave
With my senses still intact
Invaded by a Dodo bird
My mind and heart fled
To escape her confinement
From my recent cell
I pen poignant, painful words
A vow of strictest silence
Imposed by the Cross
My penance as a sinner
In Merlot vineyards
Tender young grapevines pruned
By my calloused hands flourish
Yield succulent fruit
Work cleanses my darkest sins
Now celibate, hot winds
Of passion ignore my life
Their fickleness justified
My body temple cool
The mind free to meditate
Over the horizon
Light filters through a soft glass,
A luminous clear window
A backward vision
Clarifies my path today
From the river’s edge
I smell putrid carcasses
Salmon fertilize water
Beginning, ending
A cycle of renewal
The cloistered tower
Juts upward from verdant hills
Shields from cawing crows
The isolated prayers
Silent, mystical phrases
A prickly hair shirt
Adorns my wrinkled scruples
A clue of my fallen path
The shouldered burden
A Side-road to salvation
Catholic my guilt
Father’s sins re-visited
With every novel sunrise
Subsides with the moon
Illuminates sleepless sleep
My children scattered
Lost to commerce and warfare
I but a singular step
In a line of descent
Write this final epistle
I seek to understand
A voice echoes in my ear
Like a ship’s bell in the fog
Eerie and haunting
It whispers my father’s nane
KBris 2006
Thursday, January 12, 2006
One a Day
Small gems, one-a-day vitamins
Our thirty day poems
Gestate as preemies
Incubated from the soul
They require a gentle read
Kbris 2006
Our thirty day poems
Gestate as preemies
Incubated from the soul
They require a gentle read
Kbris 2006
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Monday, January 09, 2006
Alone
Alone
Because there was a leaf
The wind has blown even here
On this dusty plain
If we truly need to be
What will stop us from being?
Because of red salmon roe
The fish have come once again
To this calm river
If we truly love our love
Why don’t we swim upstream?
Because of blond pillow hair
Your soft body lingers here
On my feather bed
If you truly needed me
Why did you leave me alone?
Kbris 2006
Because there was a leaf
The wind has blown even here
On this dusty plain
If we truly need to be
What will stop us from being?
Because of red salmon roe
The fish have come once again
To this calm river
If we truly love our love
Why don’t we swim upstream?
Because of blond pillow hair
Your soft body lingers here
On my feather bed
If you truly needed me
Why did you leave me alone?
Kbris 2006
Saturday, January 07, 2006
The Chinook
The Chinook
Those who do not have
the snow- eating wind
cannot well comprehend
the relief from winter's
icy clutches as the earth
throws off its winding
sheet of snow while we
venture forth to inhale
the balmy spring-like air
as animated nature
rejoices.
KBris 2006
Those who do not have
the snow- eating wind
cannot well comprehend
the relief from winter's
icy clutches as the earth
throws off its winding
sheet of snow while we
venture forth to inhale
the balmy spring-like air
as animated nature
rejoices.
KBris 2006
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Resolution
Resolution
Shedding old skin, I begin my life again
False starts yesterday’s news, I resolve at once
To amend my days, transform my evil ways
The old turned new
I’ll re-style my hair, a fine suit I’ll wear
Nasty habits I’ll avoid like poison
Fast food, greasy fries, loose women, big cigars-
Endangered species
My sinful style, will not beguile, my mouth shut-
No obscenities athwart these pursed lips
The beloved booze of Bacchus I’ll refuse
Immortality!
Perverted truth, prevarications be gone!
Wicked, woeful ways, repent without delay
Neither depravity nor carnality delight,
A purified soul
Temptations gone, I’ll now move on, an asp
Adorned in a shiny new skin, to commence
Adventures anew, sunning on a new rock
Metamorphosis!
Kbris 2006
Shedding old skin, I begin my life again
False starts yesterday’s news, I resolve at once
To amend my days, transform my evil ways
The old turned new
I’ll re-style my hair, a fine suit I’ll wear
Nasty habits I’ll avoid like poison
Fast food, greasy fries, loose women, big cigars-
Endangered species
My sinful style, will not beguile, my mouth shut-
No obscenities athwart these pursed lips
The beloved booze of Bacchus I’ll refuse
Immortality!
Perverted truth, prevarications be gone!
Wicked, woeful ways, repent without delay
Neither depravity nor carnality delight,
A purified soul
Temptations gone, I’ll now move on, an asp
Adorned in a shiny new skin, to commence
Adventures anew, sunning on a new rock
Metamorphosis!
Kbris 2006
Monday, January 02, 2006
The Plume
The Plume
Citing body parts to describe your being
misses essence, denigrates beauty within.
A one-syllable cunt or whore effaces
the heart's fragile wall
Vulnerable, you reduce to rubble and
mask the reality of hidden holiness
unrecognized resplendence, un-lit passages
unseen by the blind
A frightened peacock struts its colorful plume
regally deflects danger, keeps enemies at bay
creates an aura of invincibility
Queen of her realm
lewd words create the selfsame plume in you
wards off attacks, assaults on fragile feelings
conditioned by eons of outrages
heinous, inhumane
Your mask, like the burka of an Arabian girl
cannot cover eyes, the truth of your portrait
daddy's girl, always fishing, always hurting
alone and afraid
KBris 2006
Citing body parts to describe your being
misses essence, denigrates beauty within.
A one-syllable cunt or whore effaces
the heart's fragile wall
Vulnerable, you reduce to rubble and
mask the reality of hidden holiness
unrecognized resplendence, un-lit passages
unseen by the blind
A frightened peacock struts its colorful plume
regally deflects danger, keeps enemies at bay
creates an aura of invincibility
Queen of her realm
lewd words create the selfsame plume in you
wards off attacks, assaults on fragile feelings
conditioned by eons of outrages
heinous, inhumane
Your mask, like the burka of an Arabian girl
cannot cover eyes, the truth of your portrait
daddy's girl, always fishing, always hurting
alone and afraid
KBris 2006
Sunday, January 01, 2006
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