Gonzo

Give me the born again Christian
who cusses Christ! and God Damn!
Give me the Shia of Islam
who oft quotes Jesus and Rumi.
Give me the one who succumbed
in the time of trial and torture.
Give me the Buddhist who likes English breakfast and
admits that Hindus are right.
These are the ones who
smile with a child
and laugh at the
end of the world.
They seek the glory
in each fading moment and
never give up on the truth.
And they are beyond you my friend,
don't give a shit what you think.
There is no map to where they've arrived,
there is no time when they leave.
It is always a fool who counsels a king
and always a friend who betrays.
And beyond that exists a place of pure joy,
and that is the joke, don't you see.
It is a joke played on me by me
which requires a unique brand of humour.
And it's all quite amusing, you'll see,
it's become quite amusing to me.

Man of Clay

I don't think I can do my life anymore.
Filament cracks are forming all over my skin
which is becoming dry to the touch, flaking away,
the man of clay is almost no more.

I ask you, what is the core of this being?
Is it just air that will no longer care about you or me or him?
Or is it bright light, a being of white, a god so secretly veiled,
Like the one so sorely impaled a long time ago?

Stay in touch, I'll let you know.

Boy Mind Dream

From here to infinity
the small boy exclaims
mimicking his western star.
Rayman was caught
chasing a hen.
Emergency project this village,
reinforcing good mannered accord.
Forget it was never actual.
It was a slowly turned axel
in the invincible jeep of his mind.
Caravans are dreams
in deerlick thoughts.
Believe you me I know.

North Korea

North Korea

North Korea is a grievance
like the one I had against you.
A sliver sunk deep in the soft flesh
producing poison that may need a lance.
Mine I freed by soothing it out,
reminding myself of happier days,
believing that we could both change
while things were not so desperate.

I Am Yours

I am yours Kelly Myers
with your heroin heart that exploded.
I am yours Sammy Gomes
with your LSD mind split like a wedge.
I am yours Tony Vogels
with the frontal lobe hemorrhage.
I am especially yours Brock Real,
because I could have saved you
from the crack in your soul.
But I belong to you Mark Zietzma
because you rose from the dead,
like me you rose from the dead.

Fish Heads

Was it Napoleon who mixed
his urgent dilemmas,
who drew his designs
on the series of shores
inhabited infrequently with
the blooms of nations
that sprouted and flowered
and died.

Was he any different
than the fish headed men
who breathe through gills
and glaze their eyes
because they left the water
and now thrive
in their unnatural environs.

For Netta

Oh my life, how I love you,

Unmanageable, relentlessly questing.

No frame could contain the

ambition of daring God himself

to fashion you into his image.

Jesus Christ man, you should

have known it would mean

the end of all you ever thought

or believed, that you would find

yourself, on some eternal shore,

bewildered of all, but Him.