Time flows like monstrous tendrils
Clutching at him
He fights them off
They don’t stop
Clutching, grabbing, seeking…
His arms wave incessantly
Even when

He lies down
closes his eyes
But I know
They never stop seeing
His spittle marries the cold concrete cell floor
Human comfort an alien thought
He is somewhere else
Always

Some ignore him
Most laugh
I can’t
Colors roll off him
Mourner’s Black
Blood Red
And blues
Blues from a sky I have never seen
Greens from fields only Gods can trek

They come for him
Take him wherever they take madmen
Plugged into a machine somewhere
Talking to aliens
Selling stock futures

The cell settles into drab gray
And dreary sameness
fuck stories and jail terms
But
No madman…

European Kings trying to make a comeback
Tout inbred genes and palace intrigues
Every Thursday night right after “The World ain’t got no talent”

Cancer genes rise and float on amorphous clouds
Laughing and giggling
Consulting with the oracle of the damned
before descending on Joe the mailman
Two weeks away from retirement.

Me?
I’m just Rollin & Tumblin
Rollin & tumblin
Wonderin
If the Gods have Gods

Dreamers vomit up yesterdays
Prepackaged
In standard belief patterns
Strands of innocence
Find no purchase
evaporates
Lonely motes
Dusting Gaia’s weary bones

Me?
I’m just Rollin & Tumblin
Rollin & Tumblin
Wonderin
If the Gods believe in their Gods

Fire red blood
paint a landscape
Only I can see
Softened by the gentle blue of stillborn babies
Mouths frozen in perpetual why

Brides dressed in white
With pungent piss stains
Running down sequined trains
Promise immaculate conception
to well oiled machines

Me?
I’m just Rollin & Tumblin
Rollin & Tumblin
Wonderin
If Gods can be atheist
or are they just
Rollin & Tumblin
Rollin & Tumblin

I arrive at the appointed place
I stroll amid the rubble
Amid the bodies of suicides and doomed love
It is the place dreams go to die

He flickers into existence
A tall creature
All in black
Raven hair pasted against ghostly white skin
Eyes of fire with teeth that would rend the world.

His hated
Offends me
Always surprises me
It washes over me like waves of crawling maggots
I stagger

He would have me sink to the earth
And offer my throat in submission

There is an ember that always burns in me
Faint, yet insistent
It demands me to KNOW the truth of it
Despite evidence to the contrary
It screams that there is an essential
Dignity to us all.

I will not put words to it
Cheapen it with approximation
Some things are beyond even the poet, the writer, the musician, the painter

Perhaps it’s the smile of a child dying of cancer
Telling his Mother not to cry
That God will take care of him.

The single parent
Sacrificing their life for their child’s

The total stranger running into a building
To save the life of a complete stranger

The warrior using his body to shield
The man beside him
Dying in the process.

It is seldom seen
But when it reveals itself
It blazes like newly birthed Suns
Piercing the dark night of hatred, revenge, greed, self love, advantage.
But it’s there.
I know it

But I had little time for nobility
We circle each other
Two aged adversaries
Long locked in battle
intimately familiar
With the clash of sword

He cocked his head
Waiting for the ritual to begin anew
I smiled and oblige

“Let’s dance mother fucker”

Dance melancholy minuets

Accrued dust scatters

Faceless violins sigh

Mourners do not bother to take up the chant

Smoothing wrinkled skirts and checking fingernail length

Bored and distracted with parched eyes incapable of tears

Sounds wither and die

Vibrations stilled and uncaring

Settle in for the long sleep

Wind becomes breeze and breeze…

Lies motionless upon the mound

It’s cold’s time

Calming the whine of meaning and loss

Thoughts crumble and descend upon the sleeping earth

Lying beside portent shards of strange magik

It all goes away

Whirling down sweet silence

Leave me alone

Don’t wake me…

When my dreams were real

Green screens of manipulated magic

Oh, the worlds I conceived

And the friends I made…



Mostly gone now

The colors are no more

Black and white

Filled with sharp edges

And harsh creatures

I will not name



I still till that soil

Though rock strewed

Compacted with cloying clumps of clay

And the Sun don’t shine there much



But I still work the plow

And plant the seeds

I can have a shade garden

And the plants still talk to me

Though no longer with wonder and a child’s eyes



Stories of rebellion

And survival

And…



Fighting Dragons has become a full time job

So many Dragons to slay…



The world plucks out our eyes

And replaces them

With the latest Logitech Web Cam

Complete with upgradeable Microsoft  phototechnics

Ya  gotta upgrade

Just wouldn’t be right otherwise



There is still magic

Though muted

And harder to wield



There must always be magic

Like a dead fish.

Gazing at deep magic

Inside….Out.

Pillars of lust

Smothered

Wrapped in cellophane.

Locked to immoral paths.

Visions in black and white

Against prescribed standards of efficiency.



I peered out of my window

That TV screen whose channel never changes.

And I SEE!

Androids filled with pretended purpose.

Running to and fro toward mock destiny.

I see them harnessed like cattle and led to troughs of offal where they feed.

Smiles fill there vapid faces.



For this was Life!

I see them walk pass fake trees and counterfeit sunlight.

Night nothing more than an unplugged lamp.

They flash their vampire smiles

Teeth gnashing

Hunger’s need temporarily lending false passion to nothingness.

They see me and wave, “join us, and become one of us!”



I am the Last man alive.

I will never let them stick that straw of death into my head

And suck out my passion, love and being.

I will never leave this place

I shall be content to gaze out my window

That TV screen whose channel I can never change.



Tears fill eyes

Pity fills my souls

I am the last soul alive

And I shall never leave my place.

For I will never become one of them.

Across the summer sky

The world

Wobbled on its axis

Paused

Held its breath



The trees trembled

Samson knelt before me

And prepared to die

“Scarred Man” he began

His lips quivering

“They came in the night”

“The Chorus and I drew sword”

“”She bade us hold”

“And left with them”

His hands twisted in rage and shame

Yes

He would die for her



I let him live

My breaths came in ragged gasps

Her voice

Suddenly

Came to me

As it had for three years now

And my eyes squeezed

In vain

To stem the tears

That washed my scarred face



She was alive!

I moved to my horse

Samson and other members of the Chorus

Eyes gleamed

And followed

Their blood lust

Palpable

I winced



Men who

Once coaxed

Beauty

And Life

From Dirt

Would become

What I have always been

The enemy had much

To answer for.



“Samson”

“Double the guard”

“And prepare to move”

It was as if I struck him

“But…”

I never gave orders twice



My horse wheeled

As I methodically approached the castle

My body was strewed with arrows

I couldn’t die

Until she told me

I could

The berserker was upon me

My sword screamed

And Sang

In the key of rage.

My blade glowed incandescent

Its white fire

Unquenchable

Blood hissed and splattered

My hated essence blazed



Who would dare touch her?

Those who stood before me

Died

The rest fled



Three witch word singers

Hurled arcane verse

At me

Just before there heads

Came to rest on the floor



I stormed the room that I knew held her

Five men died

Quickly

There

She was

The Last Poet and a Word Mage

Were engaged

In eldritch incantations

Her hands were bound

Impeding her

From verse flow



He was not

Nor could he ever

Be

A match for her

I almost laughed.

But decided to kill him

Instead



The Word Mage eye’s widened

Hurled

Death verse at me

His words crumbled and howled

In useless fury

“I am already dead fool”

I flung the Word Mage out the window

And watched

As his body tumbled

Cursing

That I could not hurt him

More.



I gathered her in my arms

“You know

You really have to stop doing that”

She curled up in my arms

And the world was

Once again

Tolerable

Hope

Was

Alive



A bird sang

It had a curious look on its face

When it died

“No problem dude, it just Bidness”

I had become a weapon

For her

She gathered the wounded and urged them forward.

I stared at my hands

Knowing they would never be clean again

“Scarred man, we must move!”

“And the wounded who can’t be moved?”

“There is no time for tears!”

Her eyes flashed crimson

I heard thunder and the gongs of war.

“You have gathered too many who will feed and protect them?”

“You will”

She danced away

I gathered the mortally wounded child in my arms

As his Mother shouted barbs of hate

To that sadistic God

Who pretended he loved

Us

I sang a an old lullaby just before

I snapped his neck

His Mother wailed

And was dragged away

I killed the remaining mortally wounded

We were hunted

The Wolfs were the first wave

There will be others

More horrible creatures.

She was right

She was always right

No time for tears.

I left the killing field and entered

The forest

She was efficient

She already set up camp

“Scarred Man, we need food”

I wanted to scream and say

“No More!”

“I suppose you will have me stop the Sun in its tracks and part the waters next?”

“No… food is all that is required at this moment”

I could not deny her

She knew

We were intricately linked

She was Hope

I was Death

I counted the mouths

And went to hunt

She was paradox

She saved life

And

Took the Death of others

To her

In her

Her strength

Humbled me

“We must save who we can”

“But, too many will die”

“Before this is over.

The Death dreams occurred

Every night now

I wondered what form it would take

When it came for me.

I brought down an eight point Stag

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