Poetry archive 1

[Elven Doritos]

Empty city
full of black holes
half-dreamt
on a sewer grate;

slap my knee
and shout
hey i'm home

[Elven Doritos]

Act two, scene 3.
Wherein the childlike BARD erroneously bids for the affections of MS. DUCHAMP, springing forth from behind her brassy throne.

Every word we swim across
between the pages of the past
where memory is melting
and the pills of promise
smother me

Every pen we consecrate
with masses in our history
who told us not to dream or dare
but hold the standard of the cross

Every diamond sprinkled on the meadow of your open mind
while sleeping on the carpet of the warm and acrid murk of night

Every choking thought through which
you swing your shield of minerals
to strike at dogma misaligned
coursing through the Rubicon

Every storm of aphid-nightmare
swarming in miasmic form
strangling sense and decency
blown apart by our glory

Every paper limerick that is parted in its centerfold
reminding me to write a letter meant for only you. . .

[Elven Doritos]

Dear Ms. A.C. DuChamp,

I heard the news of my demise
that windows made of empty glass
swirled in dreamy orange strands
and trapped themselves along your eye
where banquets crawled into the lid
and commandeered my waking form

I tasted all the frozen treats you left and waved in front of me
I hope you do not mind but I am free;

The principles upon which love is built are not mercurial
I learned this from a woman who had built a palace made of gold

A King could live within your heart
if only you would summon him
if only I could give to you
the wisdom-eyes of gods of old

Snaking through the dungeon torment
of the smoke they stacked so high
while filling my misfortune to the brim and drink to fame and lore

Grinning in your demon way to tell me that you knew me best
you cannot know the hell through which the days have lingered faithfully...

Willingly yours,
Abraxas

[Elven Doritos]

Manumit

The winds have been unkind to me
piercing through my body
I am their puppet, shaking so
and drinking as they fill my cup
with wine that sparkles white

Eroding all sensation as I dangle hopeless in the breeze
you came across my limpid thoughts
I was but pure vernacular
and you, the tongue of olden gods...

(Isn't it sad, the way they run?
Quietly drunk in the afternoon
There they lay, their books unblemished
Where shall they wake?)

You cut my strings and freed me from
oppression of my former self
marionettes applaud that I,
the puppet, now am real at last

But freedom comes with its own cost
and little did I understand
that freed of all my shells
I would need but you

Lyrics swirl and slither and I know that I am still unfit
but I love you and I don't know
what to do about it

[Elven Doritos]

Chapter 2
The Quiet Evils

There comes a time in each man's life
   there comes a man in each time's life
      there comes a life in each man's time

when at last he must acknowledge that the Quiet Evils plague his soul:

   1. That when he sits alone he dreams of what he might do because of you
   2. That when he sits alone he ponders what he'd do with you in Athens
   3. That when he sits alone he questions who could break your heart
   4. That when he sits alone he knows he wants you in his life

He keeps them to himself   
he holds the hand of destiny
   he brokers with the Deity
but purring to his restlessness,
he fathoms that uncertainty
   will plague him until death

      which is, of course
      the quietest evil

[Elven Doritos]

Hell (n.) - the indistinguishable monotony of a world without your guidance, without the presence of the Divine, without the flashing smile or the riddled evenings of endless joy

I leap for joy
brandishing temerity
streaming in the shrinking sky
and wishing
   wishing
wishing
   you could join me

I want to share a
   million
      bursting
         novas
            just
               with
                  you

But this is a process that requires due diligence
resounding from foundations and not relying
just on lust

This is a broken beacon from which I hope to ambulate
hanging all my hopes and dreaming what we'd be like in those days. . .

[Elven Doritos]

Imagine it!
   A vastness! Two universes colliding!
   Countless galaxies, innumerable, untamable!

We are these endless cosmos!

Imagine us!
   As days begin to dwindle and the sunset slides across the plain
   the two of us reclining against the ancient throne of peace!

The dawn is chirping yet!

Imagine then!
   A cane of marble rapping there along the snowy city street
   two monoliths, defiant, standing there against the great white sky

The snow, a sacred ritual!

[Elven Doritos]

I want to share with you what I know.

I know the smell of a fading love, the curling danger of a lost affection, the desolation that threatens to claw itself from your heart

I know that tyrants like Robespierre do not deserve your devotion

I know the spirit cannot suffer the endless dictums of a fool

I know that as you sway against the broken pieces of expectation, you find yourself in need of bold composure

I know why you push away

I know that I still wish that I was there

I know that you know

And I know it may not be enough

I want to share with you what I hope.

I hope a carnation springs from my palm so that I may pluck it and give it to you freely, that you may see that you are not alone and that hope shall blossom and wilt only as you command it

I hope that you can find your solace and completion

I hope that the stranger who comes with gifts of song and film whose hat is dipped whose tie is torn whose coat is hanging on the chair. . .

   . . .I hope that he is always welcome.

[Elven Doritos]

One last confession before we begin in earnest:
I can be a rotten scoundrel.


there are many admonitions provided to those who abuse the benedictions mantras refrains most holy such as

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

or

Áve María, grátia pléna, Dóminus técum. Benedícta tu in muliéribus, et benedíctus frúctus véntris túi, Iésus. Sáncta María, Máter Déi, óra pro nóbis peccatóribus, nunc et in hóra mórtis nóstrae. Ámen.


Sometimes, though, a goddess must become flesh
   an idea must take form
an intangible must be made whole and transient
and for that I know the weakness of the flesh
   and cracks of foundations
   and stains on altars
   are forgivable;

I wish to embrace both you
   and the idea of you

[Elven Doritos]

These visions curl against the smoke, clinging like a noose:

There came a time when Death rode in
upon his hoary steed

We struck our hands against the steel
begging to be freed

The casket swung, the gates, they crashed
As heaven's seven swords a-slashed

The dead and rotted realm of men
burned and burned and burned

The tourniquet against my flesh
turned and turned and turned

The ghastly mountains flickered white
Beheaded like a fallen knight

These visions burn against my throat,
Cut me,
Cut me loose!

[Elven Doritos]

Spindling two half-broken
cardigans along the paved
walkways slouching on the
Rubicon: you were humming
hallelujahs

[Elven Doritos]

hope marches in my ear drum
and so I do not
despair

[Elven Doritos]

Washed my soul within the river
Touched my tongue to nectar, honey
Found myself and walked on by

Tomorrow is the next horizon.

[Elven Doritos]

Crystal amethyst, anarchist
Anti-christ, the picture's nice
Sip skate salivate, hungry? maybe have a plate
trance or dance-halls leaning into Hansel
Gretel looking thin like she doesn't eat
A sunk-looking drunk with apostle's feet

[Elven Doritos]

rolling images red and vital thump across my scalp and
then the harbinger comes swinging in to claim the tongue
and axle of the wagon as a sacrament when oxen stand all
about and I with dull-eyed buggery am trapped tripped
made opaque and left without my hornet's nest or my
shell

roiling tongues and smoking livers with their adolescence
still intact the trapeze of mortal quandary bouncing
unimportant to my scrutiny:
must it be so?

saunter and sunder your mind from all surrender, release
your chakra cosmic energy inner self soul eternal being
become a flash of light into the universe and swim
with me