Astral Weeks

Click on the orange link below to read a review of The Astral: A Novel by Kate Christensen.

http://josephsreviews.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/astral-weeks/

Tales of Longing and Yearning

Click on the orange link below to read a review of Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It: Stories by Maile Meloy.

http://josephsreviews.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/having-it-all/

Battery charging

Battery charging
by Joseph

I wish my life could be
recharged like a battery
Because every now and then
I get so run down
I want to attend the
New Life Church...

Give me a second chance,
a third chance, a fourth
Don't let me fade away
like a battery that's old
and grey and corroded...

Let me charge a spark,
Let me power something up,
Let me make something
happen,
Let me be good to go...

And start up again.

Photo: flickr (makelessnoise)

Grief

Grief
By Joseph

Grief...
I don't understand...

I don't understand
How we can love
someone
How we can know
someone
And then they
can suddenly be
gone...

Is it a cosmic joke
Is it a lesson to be
learned...
Is it meant to humble
us, to hurt us
To make us feel
like fools?

But then we remember...
Who they were
What they taught us
What they said...

How they loved us
How they needed us
How they live inside
us...

How they are as
real as anything
that has ever been...

How they were as
much as we will
ever be...

We live, incomplete,
but yet fuller
because of them.


Photo: flickr (Andrea in grief, NCBrian)

W. H. Auden

W. H. Auden
by Joseph

W.H. Auden said that poetry makes nothing happen,
But what did he know?

He was a poet in the midst of creation
A will 'o the wisp
A cat on the fence
A dog lying in the manger

Thoughts build cities, ideas build civilizations
Art builds castles in which dreams reside

The poet captures the light of life
And holds it for a minute
Just in time to capture it
Before letting go...

Not Guilty of the Crime...

Not guilty of the crime...
by Joseph

Thirty-six years ago I was charged with a crime
Convicted without a trial, my name bloodied and bowed
I met my accuser who served as judge and jury
She sentenced me for life with no credit for the time...

I had thought she was a friend or I had supposed
A bad assumption in terms of what trespassed
To this day my guilt is assumed, though
I was released to live on my own recognizance...

By what right do you tell someone they are wrong -
When they have been as close to you as the day is long?

By what right do you judge, unless money is power
Which may be true but does not excuse
Abusing those with less status - but perhaps more heart -
Than you.

Photo: flickr (peterastn)

Note: This is not about a sexual assault or other major crime, but about something that happened long ago between two college classmates. One accused the other of stealing a vinyl record album!

Merry Go Round

Merry Go Round
by Jenny Dalton

How did you pull the wool over their eyes?
It's some trick you pulled, but I am unfooled
Then the sheriff called
and the bible thumped
It's some badge you wear
like you're exalted

It's alright now 'cause I am all that he became
Standing down, staring at infinity
Ride and ride, we'll ride those horses round and round
Dodge and burn
on the merry go round

Underneath your skin, a dark hazard waits
Is this bridge on fire? Were you too late?
This history repeats itself
It's some horse you mount
like you're wiser

Photo: flickr (richiesoft)

From Whom It Comes...

From Whom It Comes
by Ken Volonte

One good thing about staying up all night,
Was feeling the sun on my face through the window,
There at my desk where I wrote in the dark.

No all nighters for me,
Cramming down Faulkner or Murleau-ponti;
Kept awake with esketrall,
Given by my cousin willingly.
I tried it once or twice enough to know,
That if I didn't know it then,
I wouldn't learn it till I didn't have to.

But writing a poem with the sun in my face,
I felt that I could trust myself,
To trust the world and risk it all.
I felt like I could do anything,
And so I did.

Photo: flickr

Next: Separation from the herd and Joni Mitchell's Blue.

Munchy the cat

Munchy the cat
by Joseph

Munchy the cat leads
the good life
retired, on furlough
every day...

He owns the yard,
he owns the house,
He owns the beds
Everything goes his way...

Once he was a young
rebel
A fighter, the toughest
cat pound for pound
Battling all the time
And winning almost
every round...

Now these days he
relives in his head
the days when he was
hearty and hale
Living off the interest
on his priceless tales...

He's now the cat
emeritus
Ready to publish his
memories
When he finds a
ghostwriter
Who speaks Felinese.


Photo: Joseph (Munchy's Archives)

Family

Family
by Joseph

They were the first ones
Who knew you, who loved
you
Who misunderstood you,
Who caused you pain

They wanted something
of you that you could
never be
To be what they wanted
Would mean you would
Never be free

It no longer matters
Who was wrong, who
was right
They will hold their
ground
As you hold yours
Such a silly fight

But when the bird
leaves the nest
She never returns home
She builds a new life

A bright family she
will create
A sparkling set of dreams
For once free, she never
looks back
Which is why - oh, so
clearly -
She was given wings!


Photo: flickr (SuziJane)

This Poem

This Poem
by Joseph

This poem is about
your life, not mine,
or hers or his...

In which you
discover what you
need to do
which is not about
me or him or her...

It goes back to you,
returns to you
Because life is about risk
Without risk, you're already...

dead

Find out what you want,
Find what you need,
Start living now, today,
Make this poem a success.


Photo of Jenny Dalton: flickr (Clark Patrick), used with the permission of Jenny Dalton.

Going Home (birds)

Going Home (birds)
by Joseph

We're headed home
following the leader of the flock
The air is cool, offering resistance
providing lift
Then the squall suddenly hits
Crisis, heat, rain
We drop before recovering,
Experience fear, vulnerability
and despair
Then the storm is gone
We're free, we're strong
We fly as free as the
wind
I break away
This is my own flight

I'm going home
The wind envies me
I'm headed home
The leader follows me


Photo: flickr (ayes)

I'm getting to understand

I'm getting to understand
by Joseph

I'm getting to understand
Why people die
Because the bones hurt
the back hurts
The cat is in pain
And there's no longer
anyone you wish to meet

They say hope springs
eternal
But what's the point
when you're no longer
young

The past is done
The future can't be
seen
Time moves without mercy
Tomorrow looms mean

Photo: flickr (slack12)

My mother's chance

My mother's chance
by Joseph

My mother was always waiting
for her chance to take
the stage
But she played the role
of an understudy
in her life...

Back-up to her husband
her child, her career
Always in the background
her time was never
right...

Until she died and all eyes
were upon her
The speakers, the music,
the family...

It was a glorious production
All flowers to the leading
lady
Never to re-appear.

Ghosts - a song by Mark Geary

When I laid in the sand I thought about you
When you laid in the sand you said you saw
I don't know how much time we're given
Am I fighting for your fight to fail?

And then just after you left the dream was broken
Just your shape in the sand
No words were needed
I don't know how much time we're given
Fighting for your fight to fail

When you're driving your boats
And you're waiving me in
Run around with your ghosts
Who're perpetually grinning
No, god only knows if you're calling me
home

And I played in a band
And I thought about you
You said you'd lend me a hand
When you felt you could
I don't know how much time we're given
Fighting fire right to fill?

You're just a nail on a cross
With a call coming in now
Dividing your highs and lows
But you won't let me in
You know god only knows if you're calling me home
When you're driving your boats
And you're waving me in
Run around with your ghosts
Who're perpetually sinning
God only knows if you're calling me home

Photo: flickr (Scott M Duncan)

Note: The song Ghosts by Mark Geary is included on the Hear Music CD, This is Us. See our earlier review of This... at:

http://troybear.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-time-starbucks-brews-it-up-right.html

It goes on

It goes on
by Joseph

No one ever knows
Why they do things
Or what makes sense
And what does not...

But when you grow -
So sadly - you grow up
You need to make your
Own decisions...

You swore you wouldn't be
So judgmental, so tough
So bound into the past
But you hear it in your voice...

Let the next generation
Have their own style, their own fun
Let them mock you,
Let them leave you behind...

Life moves on
I can accept that...
I can move aside
I can bless the young...

They will become what I
Once was, then
They will learn to accept
Their very own voice
They will learn to live their
Very own lives...

They will love their
Lives and accept their limitations
They will love life and not be jealous of
The future they cannot control...

They will no longer
Talk of lessons learned
They will no longer
Spurn the next generation...

They will accept that
Life is a blessing, life is tough,
Life is brutal,
Life is all there is...

It goes on.

Nights bring me hindsight...

Nights Bring Me Hindsight
by John R.

Nights bring me hindsight,
Days bring me doing,
Tomorrows bring me wishes,
Yesterdays bring me wisdom,
The moon vanity,
The sky longing,
The sun fear,
And the earth?
It waits for me.
But the rhythm of this day,
Surges gently forward for the most part,
Built on bedrock of sober experience...
Today, I'm not finished!
Wait, earth!

Photo: flickr (will raleigh)

a flight too far...

A Flight Too Far
by Joseph

I departed from Sacramento Intergalactic Spaceport
But my flight was delayed and diverted...
It landed in Morro Bay and it was 1956
My father picked me up in his beige Buick Special

I thought you were gone, I said
No, he replied, we're never away
we're always waiting, just waiting...

Waiting for you to arrive, waiting to escort you
Into the great beyond; making sure you arrive at
The right gate


Photo: flickr (vgm8383)

Twitter: Doing 140 just right (a poem by The Web Laureate)

Unfrequently heard type,
Complexitudes the gripe,
Streaming in the pipe,
At twittering so snipe,
With words kept contrite,
Still 140 just right,
Structured more tight,
Usefulness more or slight?

Notes: The cute cat pictured above is Chihiro Chan who has his own Twitter account at http://twitter.com/chihirochan. And don't forget to visit us at http://twitter.com/troybear07! Munchy says "Yeowk!" to Chihiro Chan.

Photo: flickr (fofurasfelines)

At North Farm (a poem by John Ashbery)...

Somewhere someone is traveling furiously toward you,
At incredible speed, traveling day and night,
Through blizzards and desert heat, across torrents, through
narrow passes.
But will he know where to find you,
Recognize you when he sees you,
Give you the thing he has for you?