Dented Souls

Out of alignment, bent and maybe a bit off-center

Scratched, used and badly in need of being trued

Rolling like dinged hubcaps mounted crookedly upon wobbly wheels

Always pulling towards the side of the dusty roads they travel

Dented souls with heavy parts sliding around inside when you turn them over

Fractured souls poorly splinted up using broken dreams and lame excuses

Lacerated souls oozing a clear morality into the dirty gutters

Bruised and contused, swelling and stiffening up

Souls grown bent from facing an eternal wind of dogmatic religious propaganda

Layers of grease built up on their undersides from long years on the roads

Rusting, unused souls in our institutions and cemeteries

Souls slowly turning to stone at a rate we cannot sense

Abraded beyond their working tolerance, they squeak and complain

Sagging souls still carrying far too much commercial traffic

Used and recycled, gradually losing the elasticity of their spirituality

Souls with broken and missing parts that won’t boot up no more

Lost souls found at last, spinning slowly in quiet, forgotten eddies

Cut deeply into by sharp objects on their tender and sensitive surfaces

Corroding under decades of the musty-smelling sediments of tears

Splintered souls with sharp and nasty looking edges

Squeaking, un-lubricated social joints and broken shock absorbers

Failing cooling systems and batteries that cannot hold a charge

Souls eviscerated and left to dry oiut in a hot wind, under a merciless sun

Crooked going gnarled, forgetful heading towards dementia

Dropped and cracked souls, not thrown away but likewise, never fixed or used

Fuses blown and then simply removed and live wires twisted together

Dusty souls with grime embedded into cracked surface joints

Attacked by parasites and pestered by noisy, biting charlatans

Mass-produced to last ‘forever’ without any provision for maintenance or repair

Clogged, narrowed and constricted and without any warranty

Factory-sealed but broken open to expose the non-user serviceable parts within

Bloated souls decomposing at the high tide mark on cosmic desert islands

Vagabond Koans (2)

A Sierra Weekend

struck me as quite amazing

almost made me stop and think

took that moment between two breaths

to come back to good common sense

………

under strict orders they toiled thru the days

driven on by critical deadlines

lives anxious with meaning, lay awake at night

moving holes from one spot to another

………

lovely turnout with short trail to the overlook

stepping free of the vehicular cocoon

attaining the uplifting vista point without a real effort

satori moment digitally marked and the soft drink can

………

in battered cars they roam in old and dirty clothes

living off the fruitful grace of the land

shitting where they sleep and moving on again

ugly, old and noisy children, left out on their own

………

full of piss and vinegar they come

loudly announcing a strong and musky presence

breaking branches and dropping rocks

young men stride the forest like your average mall

………

stream that cut rock a million years

spoke to me for just one moment

telling me the entire story

and I could merely sigh in wonder

………

Far away even before they leave

Recreation quickly once more forgotten

Blur of packing and fast driving

On an almost Monday, once again

………

We moved between sunlight and shadow

the river changing sides

While another afternoon gave way

As that autumn passed on by

There’s No Hiding From Our Own Advances

You’ll have to breathe what’s in the air to live more than about ten short minutes

You can’t avoid the dirty things smeared about as you fall towards the ground

There’s no real ignoring the poverty enjoyed by most everybody here

You’ll always have to hear the un-muffled trucks pounding by in their clumsy and ignorant glee

The jets will still be floating so far and wide above you, all so safe and clean

You must drink the water sometime, from a source that you will just have to trust

Unbidden solicitations will assault you, from all directions, at every moment

The food that you must eat to sustain you may poison you all at once, or over time

There’s no hiding from their bulldozers, earthmovers or giant noisy dump trucks

You can’t avoid the angry crowds from the swarming plague of overpopulation

This next upcoming pandemic will be an important milestone in your short time

You’ll experience the warmest years in recorded history, for the rest of your life

There will be a chance to contemplate the vehicles standing idle for lack of fuel

You can watch videos of empty factories for which they once destroyed good farmland

You will observe with amazement how quickly the skein of civilization can unravel

There’s no avoiding the filthy mud and yet there’s no way to clean your shoes

We can all learn to go to sleep dirty once again and wake up scratching and hungry

There’s no hiding from the all-pervasive propaganda of the competing cults of personality

You must endure the pounding of giant helicopter blades, far too close for comfort

His self-appointed representatives on here earth will drive His Will deep into your brain

Happiness will come much easier and center upon food, clothing and shelter

There’s no hiding from the toxic fugitive dust in any of our so-called great cities

You will be martyred in a jihad you do not understand for a promised place in some fuzzy heaven

Once the conglomerates have used you up, you will never work again

Watch as everything but military spending is pared back to next to nothing

Observe with incredulity the vast array of perverse crimes that make up the news

Don’t try to avoid every pothole or you’ll never get to where you must be going

There’s no hiding all your symptoms from the many problems you did not create

I cannot reconstruct my tortured path

I cant even remember the holiday I anticipated so much just five years ago this week

I have forgotten most of their foolish causes but still vaguely recall my many rages

I barely recollect any those so very vital projects they had me work on way back then

But I do recall with fondness how often we laughed heartily as they squirmed

I don’t remember the many media events that I just could not miss

I know that I had been drinking but I don’t know what we did

I remember that we were there but not really where it was

I do not recall most of those people I see in all of your old pictures

But, my chosen memories grow ever stronger, the more that I use them

I would like to forget his blinding avarice and my unwitting cruelty

I cannot reconstruct my tortured path on this grotesquely twisted journey

It was not at all easy to notice when it started, since I turned this gray so very slowly

I do not remember where we were going but, yeah, I guess we did see that

We both just smile when they tell us that we have not changed at all

I’m not sure how we got there but I recall what we ate

You remember, it was raining, so we just sat there in the car

It takes several minutes to recite just those places where I lived

What was that expensive hobby that came and went so long ago

I have forgotten the gifts we gave each other throughout those hurried years

I don’t remember all those who kicked me down, heading for the top

His name was there just a moment ago, on the tip of my tongue

I have no idea of her name but recall the grace within her walk

Sometimes I awake not knowing if I only just arrived in this unfamiliar place

Though her memories fade, my grandmother often appears clearly in my dreams

I don’t remember the last thing she said that time just before I never saw her again

At least I have forgotten most of the shitheads who parroted stupid orders to us

I cannot understand why I routinely drank myself into an un-refreshing sleep

Yes, I remember the name of that place you’re talking about, but not a thing about it

I still remember the way you smelled in that dress you bought down in Mexico

Before a certain time I have no memories of any kind, good or bad

When I pass once more into the void there will be no more new memories made

And I still don’t know where the old ones will go when I no longer tend them

No Time To Lose Once Again

I got no time to lose, whoa up, in fact I’m already late once again

There’s always something else I’ve just got to hurry up to get over with

I’m trying to save a little more time without cutting any real corners

Once I get a bit ahead I’ll betcha we’ll escape from this hurried blur

I’ve got this pressure from their agenda bearing down upon me

I’m working hard to hold up my tiny edge of their blanket of corporate illusion

I’ve got no time to lose so I can only stay for just a minute

There was something else I needed to ask you about, but now I have to go

I’m planning on a short retreat to get in touch with my inner self

Gotta roll right now though, there’s so much left to do today

Woke up real early cause I worked way too late again last night

Gonna catch up on some sleep just as soon as this thing settles down

I’m running a little behind again so I’m just driving a little faster

I’ll grab something on the way and call you from the airport

I’ve got no time to lose since our asses are all hanging out

I’m not sure of what I’m  learning but I’ll sort that all out later

I was blinded by a glimpse of the sunrise as I pulled onto the freeway

Scheduled some time with my mom and only took a couple of calls

The kids don’t appreciate that there are other things that I’d like to be doing

They’ll thank me for it later when we can all get away together

It’s just that I’m behind the curve and I can feel the 8 ball coming

If I should even slow my pace a bit our competition would thunder right on by us

I got no time to lose even though there’s something painful in my shoe

Yes, don’t worry, I’m concealing your quick and dirty behind their just for now

I’m still trying to get up to speed with our current vision going forward

I’m all tied up this month but we should get together with the kids real soon

I’ve got your phone and email somewhere so I’ll ping you sometime

But I gotta get moving on even faster cause I got no time to lose once again