Any tally
would seem
too small
to sum
the rich life
of Richard Pahl
a wordy epitaph
would scarce suffice
to praise his quiet will
to live it twice
friend mentor
farmer and father
husbandry was his
sheparded wealth
he went whole hog
and built a house
of love and logs
a cabin instilled
with his essence
of unbidden kindness
brewed joy and sugared time
our memories enshrine
his renaissance spirit
with smoke and wine
and an enjoyment of Jamesons
second to none
and so to him
a prince of men
we raise
a glass to drink
saying
with a sober wink
both alas and amen
good rest to you
merry gentleman
i want to be
that rising roil
riled foaming
mouthing
chaotic white noise unregulated
roisterous released
unwavering ascent peaked toward
repeated dissolution
I want to roll in the curl
of the wave counterpane
tasting the brine
of recent exertions
ceaselessly restless
unsettled roamantic
a peripatetic sea
planet trapped
in a soiled bed
perforce moon moved
breakers ripplets and combers
curling non-finite undulations
salaaming salined
moiled adorations
to the shore
whose tidings and timings
wait upon
no man
The thunderheads
trajectile energy forking
to ground
arcing unrestrained
electric unrelenting
dynamic night dynamite
dynamo blue halo
explosive strobing
cloud foddered
aerial atmospheric artillery
Brain hibernation banished
by the beaming sun
doldrums undone
by longer days
insights razored by the rays
mind fog melts
from snow to dew
ideas awake and renew
The ventriloquist twists
the words I hear
the magician’s tricks say
I saw her
the marionneteer strings
me along and the threnody
put me out on a limb
while the musician sings
the melody of
the puppet of love
From that opera pulpit
the high priest in vestments
preaches giving eternal testament
dams my soul to contentment
but no matter who pushes or shoves
my head’s in the oven of
the puppet of love
In my quondam toothless youth
before the quandaried bites of habits
I drank the kool-aid
and called it truth
and fell down the holes of rabbits
whose tales were dangerous and vituperous
filled with bogey thems
that threaten us
but now behind my hedge of teeth
I frown at righteous smiles that
lie beneath
the fear and reviling on another’s face
for it is a race we are running and
not winning
and it must finish by beginning
to lace on the shoe
of the others moccasin
and foot the bill of dotaged hatred
before another generation gums
the old saws anew
a thousand years ago
As today
The turmoiled world
filled with baseless intrigue
And implausible plots
Was Believed eagerly
by hoi polloi idiots
The empire toppled
From within
Rife with moral bankruptcy
And petty sin
Baffled as to why
They lost their lot
Along with their reason
Preferring senseless treason
To seasoned truth
personal gain
Subjecting all to a
World of suffering
Loss and pain
Umasked they ranted
Pitting petty freedoms
Against greater good
A plague on their houses
Ensued blamed of course
On the Juden
Willingly possessed by
the demon demagogue
Demi-god
The seasonal emergency
tender deeply rooted
shooting shaking off
dehybernating
determined pullating
warming to germination
reciting the primary
ripening spell
indelible recurrent
in full flower
profligate
withering the brumal
sumptuary laws
bedewed with mist
and demur morning light
the pricked bud blooms
into the blossom picked
The moon shines
The sand to snow
And intones dunes
Of shone shadows
To drift shoreward
Silvering toward
The watered phosphor
fire water
opaline moonshine
inebriating shimmerirridescing
pellucid peripheral
semifluous liquidating
superficial lava
the harvest moon at three quarters
and I newly seventy
both a little past prime
yet her rising rosy passion
still mets mine
a summer well wisher welcomer
languishing in the last long
verde velvet aired days
the black furred nights
and the long perspective
of slow evenings
slathered in butterlight
when equal and eager
wanton we’s eyes
flirt and pant
passions spate
senses potent spent
in real time
A consensual commingling
coalescing the mutual plasma
Of caressed familiar senses
Into the ultimate consequent
Simultaneous seminal
spasmodic crescendo
condensing the
Momentary Removal
of individual divisions
Into a singularity of passion
senescence
a pine dawn
sea brine sunset
granite summit unscented
mushroom moss and. musk
cloudburst coming
night damp
frosted snow
pheromed rote of
synapse non-sense
candied vaulted away
safely deposited
in the memorybank
aromatic
olfactory
satisfactory
now the fragrances
all make sense
a complimentary nosegay
of summer scents
the magic carpet ascends
upwelled on a woven melange
early burgeoned scents
Loaded and aerialized aromatics
cloying to excite romantic acrobatics
in the featherbrained, harebrained
and hive minded that swarm
in newly warmed air and earth
hypnotized to stigmatize,
pollinate, devirginate and
fertilized by the fervored
astigmatic multifaceted vision
of the single minded
give bloom to blossom
chaliced in
the waterlilies cup
the ruby damselfly
astride the jeweled drop
does not break
the surface tension
a phalanx of water striders
scattering before
the bow wave
dimple dare
flying colors
airborne blossoms
Ariel iridescent acrobats
breeze ballerinas
fluttering water color
silent wind chimes
winging painted
Searching for change
With beached pennies
As thoughtless recompense
Poor pickings wavering
between tidal
plebeian commonsense
And belligerent defense
With warring marring
Ebbing Intelligence
Ceasing shelling
The air is blue
And so is the sky
Something catching
Slips in your eye
A plaguing question
To do or die
The dreaded reply
answered everywhere
As Everyone’s heard
And Spread the word
Join the herd
Amidst the mounds
Between
the mists of now
and the Morning of time
The preternatural sounds
Of anklet bells of copper reflected in skin
And bracelet shells
Dancing feet slapping
beating to knapping’s
hard clap refrain
Flinty points
Big medicine regalia of
Hand and eye
Several souled
Invisible and fluid
As Underwater panthers
Only these elevated
Funerary Monuments
remaining ways
To realms of the dead
Ogee gorget
In cowards skins
The sham shaman
bellows buffaloed
belligerent
the sharks flimflam
shaming truth
putting us all
on the ironic horns
of his delusional dilemma
a life of luck
destiny deluxe
when all the dots
pieces and puzzled
shards uncross
align by design
and love is in the cards
adding unbidden rewards
unassumed acclaim
demure hidden
the die as
yet uncast
the mettle still unset
self assured conferring
and confident of
inner treasure
the stars
all fallen
unseen unfollowed
in skies of
lack light black
by no foresight guided
no one way back
the squid ink voids
any fluid thinking
we all blink
at the abyss
or are we
winking
down the slope to silence we slip
thoughts twixt mind and lip
muddled and mixed
lost in crossed translation
revelations unintended
leaving true intentions unmended
misconstrued and wounded
eroding hard won trust and favor
for uneasy truce's
empty banality
of forced niceties
when to mend what is needed
is to hear and be heeded
If we are not mindful, the mundane can be mendacious. Investing daily routines with rituality can compromise preternaturality. While personal hygiene, organization and good habits are commendable, they can quickly assume and usurp an individuals delicate sense of wonder. Regimes of behavior can substitute for "stimming," to numb the overwhelming assault of outside influences. Unlike creative passions , immersion in superficial stimuli submerges engagement with reality under a wave of suppressing distractions that seem soothing, but evoke no Pneuma. Empty divertissement detracts from the seeing of our self-darshan. Opportunities for wonder are ephemeral and fugacious. Quickly lost and unrecognizable if we are not poised for a peek through the doors of perception.Replacing the innate fear of self discovery with the same intuitive curiosity about our personal abilities, encourages confidence and engagement with both our genetic and numinous quiddities. In turn, it engenders wonder at all human and Gaian iterations.