New Year's Eve 2007-2008

Good night’s sleep ready for tonight’s party….last taste of absinthe for me and Pascal only…
next year could be a bad one…sneaking feeling in the pit of the stomach, but even in a moment
there is time…concrescence creeping up…you don’t have to be quick to live here, but it’s over…
whole planet evolving in cyberspace like gigantic heave-ho of ballast on a ship in perfect storm…
the good die young like rats leaving a sinking maze…see you in the next dimension coffee house…
if it took seven billion years for me to be sitting here writing this, just think of all the fun we can
have…if I didn’t kiss you in this life I’ll catch you in space…a wink and a nod from the Boss
in my dream when I saw everything was in order for What’s Next…air from my porch clear...
I see deep into miles in front of me…

Mexico a good country to party in….nobody has much of a future so forced to live in the present
so Big Party Life garnished with the usual tragedies and no surprises except the odd Virgin of
Guadelupe…they’ll believe in anything, but not very much…praise the Lord and pass the tequila…
I saw a Mexican in the market carrying a small cactus in a little pot … a souvenir…which
I thought a little redundant…like the Mexicans with pet dogs on leashes surrounded by
swarms of stray animals…makes sense when one considers they see some of themselves as
“fine” people…the rest aren’t worth much notice…

Now that the sizing of false shaman prophet is washed out of my “new shirt” Mexican
Existence, I see and feel the dirt more, the grit of it all,…which adds a real flavor…a slight
discomfort better than feeling I’ve arrived at golden Disney Eden…it pinches me awake…
each day now is the best in my life…each day is the only day I ever had….like Groundhog
Day…but good.

A Thought

Evolution happens not just within species groups, but, as well, to entities over the succession
of lifetimes. Since mind is not created or destroyed, intelligence is not lost. However,
this evolution can have a negative or positive aspect since volition can have either or both
attributes. Once the path to Buddha’s enlightenment has been attained, evolution inexorably
takes the direction towards undifferentiated cosmic awareness…the nature of space itself.

Xmas Eve Tepoztlan 2007

Market crowded with sellers…
cresh material: mosses, figurines, candles,
pottery….old hippie gringo baker passing
out goodie baskets….the usual suspects
sitting in the coffee houses, hoping for
no surprises. Street swarming
in last minute getting readiness….
ancient and modern co-existing
but not blended…..shamans, scammers
swamis, beggars, tepoztecos, touristas,
the lost and the found….lots of flowers.

Church bells ringing, bombs in the sky,
people at night carry candles and sing
reenacting Joseph looking for an inn.
Every group carries their own baby Jesus.

Sitting on my porch…newly tiled and
painted bright green with a red ceiling….
a flock of white birds passes….if there are
miracles, this must be one of them…
not a surprise per se…more like finding
there is a last doughnut in the box.

Coming of Age in Tepoztlan

This is what we were
Waiting for:

Fifteen year old girl
Dressed in white…
Entourage of fifteen year
Old boys in black suits and ties,
Like child Sinatras,
Dance with her slowly
In performance.

She goes upstairs.
Her family comes down
Before her.
She follows down, through
An arch of white balloons
Carrying a doll; a baby cry
Over the p.a. system.
Someone takes the doll away.
She is crowned.

The crowd of people watching
Has been silent
All evening.

Coming Home to a Gone World

It’s been like this each time
I lost the world…friends when I was
Twelve…friends when I was 23 all
Gone in the erosion of time…the
Mandelbrot is set for things to arise
And abate.

A narrowed umbilicus of proximity
causes the connection of life to diminish…
one gathered the illusion together
in the mirror of familiarity
till it seemed real.

The bones of the old life
Still have fresh raw flesh on them…
Manna for a tenuous, ravenous, traveler.

It’s gone, the real, solid, unforgiving world....
Our barbarian fathers’ struggle to create civilization…
The whole world knows what’s going on now.

The only certain thing is that change is faster.
Six months away feels like two years.

A revolver, a knife, a bottle of beer,
A newspaper, some smoke, a
Derringer in the boot, opium and
in the back pocket, a shot of tequila,
a ham sandwich, an Elvis record on
the juke box…and ice cream,
lace doilies, boxes of candy filled with mystery,
an Old Victorian mansion heavy with ghosts
of an old man’s dreams….but real nice
with a view of the ocean… of the town below
the mountain…restaurant sheltered from the sun
on a lake shore…
a glass of Negra Modelo….yes….
something that looks like something
to live for.

Appreciation

So was Trungpa, so was Basho, so was Edgar Allen Poe…
Appollinaire, Beaudilare, Antonine Arteaud,
Rambeau, Quasimodo, Jiminez and Sakaki…
They were all a bit wacky.
Even Bukowski got his share of quim, ugly bastard,
But he could write like an Angel in Hell.
I’ve touched a few…not wanting fame, that last
Flash of love and burn in a pile of orgiastic appreciation.
The only ones that will kiss me
Will have to be Saints.
I’ll be in the wings.

Terminal 2 Mexico City Airport

New, vacuous, clean,
computer measuring device
on the liquor bottles.
8 hour wait in this new dead zone.
Urban desert waiting for humans
to fill it. That's the way it was
at the begining of the 21st century.

Back in the gone world...
a train like that needs more track,
because nothing can stop it.

What will the earth look like
in a thousand years?
Will it be a history lesson
for the rest of the universe?

I don't even know how I got
this credit card...I use it to forget
why I have it.

That's what makes the world
go in circles...
screwing it's way around the sun.

When the house is on fire
you don't yell "Chocolate!"

Back to the States

Back to the States,
center of the world end game.

What part of a thousand prophesies
don´t you understand?

A woman in the street
wearing a baby on her chest.

A dog eating trash from a drain.

The most beautiful woman in Tepoztlan
smoking a cigarette.

It takes more words
to say things in Spanish.
It takes longer
for everything in Spanish.
Sometimes things don´t
happen at all.

I smoke a cigarette and drink
a cervesa, waiting for
my appointment with what´s next.

The most beautiful girl in Tepoztlan
smiles at the bored Akido instructor
from Switzerland.

I wonder if the plane
will go down this time?

Would you believe me then?