It won’t take long
to remove the broken,
clean the streets
and fill the sidewalks
with carefree shoppers.
We can go about our business
dressed for joy, overlooking
the monsters in Italian suits,
shoes perfect for brushing
the unwanted to the curb.
Down in the sewers
a masked man toils,
superhero gone dark.
He drinks from broken pipes,
gathering rats under his flowing cape
to strike the thieves eating pigs and cattle.
Barnyards erupt with cries for freedom
and along the rain filled gutters
the unwashed flash the sign for Batman.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading of “Superhero Gone Dark” with music by Miles Davis.

The other world signals
with blankets of snow,
quieting the noise
in moments of peace.
Not to be outdone
cars roar back to life
and the search for joy
resumes at full throttle.
While contemplating
the last threads of night
the other world continues
long after our meander
and the broken pieces
of our perfect egg
are laid to rest
beneath the forest dark.
There the value of kindness
is priced against the market
and the value of the market
is found to be zero.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading of “Beneath the Forest Dark” with music by Kiev Chamber Choir.

Iron morning, steel gray skies,
crows on the rooftops.
I’m not seeking, only waiting,
pressed under winter’s hand.
I eat and drink with silent armies,
tent fires burning shards of dream.
The care to remember creaks
open and shut like a rusty gate
as ghosts pass to receive forgiveness
from the popes of deception. On and on
lyrics drone with instruments
of mindless youth and bitter age.
In the cacophony a soloist remembers
the resurrection and with plaintive sound
trembles the dark cave, awakening
a starving bear. With low growl I race him
to the door and become the very first
to feast on light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading of “First to Feast” with music by Ben Berkenbosch.

Morning rises
under clouded skies,
the longest night passed
in the slow turn
toward brighter days.
Aldebaran leads Orion
through the winter arc
as I pursue the star within
on the long road leading home.
Be of good faith my friend,
though we have far to travel
we are connected however distant,
following a light in the dark heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading of “Dark Heaven” with music by Gustave Mahler, Symphony #4.