1997 Brooken Beauty Marching onward

1997 Brooken Beauty  Marching onward

headed for the Bridge

He felt insane telling them, 

what he said was “he needed a drink--”

walking the boulevard, Layfayette-- Walt

touched by the great man, a beggar sought--

The rabbit hole in green hills, windy woods

of a home, a beginning for a journey

stepping around trash, 

discards-- a coffee cup rolling— driven

stepping aside to let the cars pass

The Bridge ahead, I drove myself too far

beyond a rationale of behavior, a mess

too much money thrown to no avail,

Is insanity breeding the edge, 

not what is claimed

except, this pain, writing on

stumbling from the curb 

speeds a depth

that propels a memory forward to a desire

of that whole, 

grasped and a future

One, One!

in thought

and ideal- what a God was, 

a universal--

release from this pain, or rehearsed guilt

habit of mind, collapsing

into SOLIPSISTIC action, 

out of gear, 

out of control 

lack of self control

my beloved freedom, of IDEAL!

someone else’s ballon from b-day party

careening through the streets 

in greasy coat 

Yes, I’ve been here before, 

scary thoughts, not able to retreat, 

restore the order

sit in the sun, the earth revolving, hoping to jump 

on once again, 

• 
  

armed with poetry 

the fragments

I feel I can leave, 

I have enough of myself, 

gathered to me

of Heroic epic character, the blue man

planting sunflowers, Johnny Appleseed

limping, limping

wounded, keeping on

bolstering dream

Florida god, swimming the emerald sea, 

the oats blowing gold

Louisiana adventure, 

Texas familiarity and Blue Bonnet

on through,

Indian’s design and there the

Nevada distance 

the grand emptying of thought, 

California then, Eden, 

this earth, 

I saw the butterflies all 

revolved in painted order

and--- 

still to pack the boxes

the books again--off to the store to sell 

something still to propel a dream

Oh, I cried in sadness

of failure of-- 

I can’t say it-- maybe I’m just

wrong, got it all backwards?

This love of lagoon space

and The Sea 

presenting circles, 

surrounding  black 

paint swoosh, 

recognizing, bird height --

flutter, and swoop

evening light, scattering 

of yellow and blue

stripe, 

the leaves

all through the seasons

West Across America

• 
  

the variety of

the weather’s thought--

Pulling in after dark, to Florida palms

the headlights searching, falling asleep to

crickets and frogs, raccoons in shadows 

eyes lit, wandering through

full moon in pines, balm and humidity, tossed 

into deepest night

the next morning, I’m reorganizing the car, 

the mind, 

getting out the paints 

catching a glimpse,

I hear a cheep-cheep, like in Long Island 

and with my binoculars go-- 

It is! Yes, an Osprey on a dead branch tearing 

a fish between its claws, a silhouette, the emerald water

above another reeling, cheep-

cheep, cheep

in green gray haze of parting morning clouds

the humid breeze billowing

red bird-- rudy, rudy

• 
  

the Louisiana road, crossing bayou

I wanted to make another painting 

but the fog and pouring rain were very Louisiana,

as I drove through the narrow corridors of southern pine

and mangrove swamp,

into the gulf’s low mixing clouds 

and finally out into

the clear Texas space 

clouds clearing to reveal 

wild flower lined roads, bluebells and birds, birds

Austin birds and hills

scissor--tailed flycatcher and paintbrush flowers

and speeding, into the Sun

the west, zipping along, had to stop and paint 

such a scene-- mesa like western hill 

spotted sky and lupine in wind

A hurried painting, but I was here! 

A bucket of flowers up on the dash 

I am absorbed into all this

So dazzled, I’m--

• 
  

hours and hours

and miles across Texas

the rusting windmill 

the sun behind in the west

black and bluish--

I remember, that sound

the cry of the peacocks

the dance in the sunset

of bird silhouette, breaking shapes--

I’ve been looking out for the comet,

something I’ve never seen 

and There!

• 
  

I crawl into the back 

of the wagon, swathed in down, 

I pull up the designs of

my protecting Indian blanket, 

Pulling over my head, moving slightly 

in the chill, to glimpse 

the comet , 

still out there--

its tail shortening 

in perspective, 

by it’s turn to deeper space

a happening, 

which turns the story

looking for those moments, strung along

Life on the Road, this anxiety within me or

out there, why can I find no 

connection, the mirror and lamp

the end of sacred space

sold as commercial, the blocks of 

more, more

• 
  

Road Song, 

this is the splendor of beauty

I wish to die into, 

to be part of 

my thoughts melt, 

the paradise of moments cherished 

here, quiet long, slow 

here, sun spilling out 

here, the cold evaporating

as the orb mounts the sky, 

I’m on my way

coffee in hand, steam fogging windshield,

in the cold wind 

blowing past the needle point 

of light growing

up in elevation to pines, 

stopping to relieve myself 

behind some juniper 

the wild wind blowing--- peeing 

on my self with glee

• 
  

lost in distances

wheeling

in the still blue-- white feathered sky

land changing to rocky desert

acacia flare, yellow

adjusted to green-gray sage

spring green verdure

a place of my own out here

to have these paintings 

my life surrounding me

poems

and the space turned 

inside out

a hall of mirrors reflecting 

endlessly

the soul meeting the 

blank sky

Chinese mountains 

water falls over rocks 

and flowers 

another’s imagination 

projecting 

through the days and spaces 

of figures doing 

Shiva dance, doing that,

the rhythm, the unknown 

painter in Punjab hills 

painting my soul, eternally 

repeating arms 

the days bring the world into being, 

and gone, day and night

the comet speeding through, 

• 
  

This was the first Southern Trip I would repeat may times in going to New Mexico each spring.

There is a certain coherence for once but still punctuated with despair in the out of synch feeling with the culture one encountered which had become the Western Road of gas stations and hotels, convenience stores.