TheThird Mind

Goofy, Mickey, Donald and Pluto…

Arby’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Big Mac…

Colgate, Trident, Wriggly’s Spearmint Gum…

…pin cushioned and tar babied

with brands burned in. 

I can’t help 

remembering a jingle

salivating at the tinkle

of a mind that is not my own.

The New Puritans

Legislating morality…

standard of behavior…

burning reputations at the stake

of political correctness…

arbiters of propriety…

as straightjacketed as any fanatic,

shiny coats of money dazzle

adoring hordes of imbeciles.

"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of..."

The first two are OK.…

they debated the last one for a long time.

Pursuit of happiness?

How’s about an impossible task?

“Life, Liberty, and a good used car.”

“Life liberty and the pursuit of my neighbor’s wife.”

“Life, liberty, and a monopoly of oil.”

They needed three things,

(you always need three examples),

…and the best they could come up with

was a pie in the sky.

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of liberation 

from suffering” might have been what a

Buddhist would have written.

The promise doesn’t match reality.

When you get on the wrong bus,

every stop is the wrong stop.

Slapstick

“Oh! Pardon me!" 

always happens as we navigate

the currents of human play…”It

all happened so fast!” accidental

touch of a nipple blossoms into

year long affair…ask the man

who had one…myself? can’t 

walk on eggshells…bull in an

egg shell shop shell shock all

shook up with good reason…

might as well feel real at least

once.

Listening To Jazz

No water in the house…this happens

in Medellin from time to time while they

“clean out the aqueducts” or something…

doesn’t matter….got plenty of space,

cigarettes and orange juice, cool air,

gentle rain, swoosh of traffic, curtain

wafting, a little blow, a little Mo, kitten

sliding on the marble floor, gentle who

cares, what me worry until the next ax fall.

Always wanted to see the isle of Capri,

especially right now the experience would

fit in to the music, pastel cabanas over

looking sailing ships in the bay…

umbrella drinks and bikinis, sunglasses 

and gleaming smiles, ask the man who 

has one…rain has stopped, water’s back, 

go outside on patio, cement mixer in the 

distance, civilization back to normal.

“No one said the end would be pretty.”

I remember the old man in the hotel room

in Portland. He was just there, as if that

was where he was just waiting for the end.

I remember him because I don’t know why 

I’m still alive. I feel at any moment I could

be taken out like Lorca, shot, and thrown

into a ditch…that at any moment I’ll realize

any thought I had about my life was a lie,

an illusion, a shaggy dog story just coming

to its unsatisfactory conclusion. I never 

thought of myself as a coward until now.

Good Intentions

Good intentions

unintended consequences

of mice and men

chaos may seem quite orderly

a perfect picture 

what can go wrong

but

you have to take a chance

even if you fail, otherwise,

there’s no possibility to succeed.

Intuition, though uncertain, 

senses the truth from afar.

and has no guarantee……

sometimes “you just, numbly,

don’t get there,”

Living The Hippie Dream

For now, here in Medellin, atop the world

in penthouse room good medicine tools

to interface the world out of the spotlight

America upheaval whatever word you want

to use so yes another paradise with unsure

expiration date but at least unlike Adam and

Eve I know I’m in one. Burning Man mind 

maybe.

Try Again

Swoosh of triassic traffic below like a river

puffy clouds and blue patches in the sky

a brand new bag of chaotic fantasies

no plodding through life without change

available to everybody

“imagine a swarm of ants on a log

rushing down a flowing stream to a

waterfall”

“imagine all the people

living life in peace”

Too late….it’s over.

Black Snake

black snake rising

generic evil

garden variety

behind the fence

over by the wagon

under the shingles 

gotta go gotta go 

let the whole world know

one thing and another

details bring me down

computer out the window

My baby left me, 

but I could never tell

if she was ever even there. 

goin’ down goin’ down

let the whole world know.

Medellin 14

The newness hasn’t changed much,

or else, the Alzheimers is kicking in.

If people, in general, seem happy and

friendly, how can that not be, muchly,

because of the environment?

Street sense is situational awareness.

If no obstacles arise, uptightness must

be from previous conditioning.

Why fear a group of young Bucks outside

the barber shop? Even the scraggly man

with the loud voice is smiling.

As of yet, here, death has not undone

so many.

Get Busy

Time’s-a-wasting

get on the bus

asses and elbows

”If you think samsara will resolve itself,

on it’s own, you must know it is notorious 

for being endless.” (Gampopa)

that nagging question

in the back of all minds

“What’s it all mean, Mr. Natural?”

Futility of creating a solid world

a world you can trust to remain the same

a life neatly packaged

birth to death security….

and then?

The question is the answer,

and it needs to be asked.

“my brains work too well to believe”

“my brains work too well to believe” (D.D.)

and my soul is too clever to be deceived

my heart has it’s own unbounded space

and my sphincter isn’t the only thing

I have that knows when to let go

Medellin 13

Another bowl of brown bat in the kitchen 

saved and put outside new Fauvesque

painting of flowers and people as of yet 

unhung meditation at the dining room table

heroes of revolution as of yet unsung

unhinged nicely slightly to the left hand path

the life you ordered has arrived.

Nevermind

Cut the veil of Narco chic with the black ashe

diamond empty blade…

forget your troubles, c’mon get happy

walk on the sunny side of the street

happy days are here again

this could be the start of something big

it all comes out in the wash…

…there’s truth in cliche.

“Why worry, butterfly?

We all go this way.”

Get over yourself

get on with your life

pick yourself up 

pull up your socks

time’s-a-wasting;

it was just one of those things.

It’s all over now,

and now is all over it.

Medellin 12

Perfect moment…

not secure there’s still an edge

crisp clear like melted diamond

flowing vista of storm coming in

over the mountains high rises

my balcony with traffic sounds

like cascading water tapestry

sitting on top of the world

senses at attention 

nowhere to go.

Medellin 11.0

What have I accomplished here so far?

Watched all of Breaking Bad and Game 

of Thrones…that’s about it waiting in 

nacho macho narco cheese palace 

for the world to catch on…

…like an eagle looking down

at it’s valley…

…the to and fro people going places,

in their minds too scheming Xanadu…

Medellin will do for me for now

maybe some of them will see me.

Tar Baby

Struggling to get out of our lives digs us

in deep like quicksand…

sure, we want things to be better.

Make ends meet…meet and greet…

pull up your socks and stay on your feet…

a future in our company, but you have

to pay your dues…

a made man understands

waiting in the wings for a cue…

a professor studies hoping to get a clue…

breaking bad had enough throw it all away…

drowning in endless detail…

stuck in a rut

forgetting what life was for.

(Objects in the mirror are closer 

than they appear…)

Medellin 10.0

What am I doing here ongoing koan…

devices to connect with what out 

there…connected in touch nobody 

on the other end of the line…nobody 

on the street just a dream walking 

dead men walking here awake at 

least more  than pressure  cooking 

USA oh dear all the lonely people

in little boxes on the hillside with 

their infinity pools not sensing 

they’re  already up to their necks in 

infinity didn’t read the warning label 

on reality: “may be  hazardous to 

your health” but let’s not talk about 

that now…

…jump start the rest of this why

bother all you hear is a whimper

undercurrent “WHY?” why not no

foundation all the way down the line

you think there is a logic to this yes

orderly chaos organic so no telling

the twists of branches of a tree what

will happen after you get the degree

shipped to Tierra Del Fuego to study

the muscles of a worm…

…vanity futility and a good ten cent 

cigar 

Medellin 9.1

Medellin....my no exit strategy...Poblato, 
neighborhood of a hundred bars where 
the action is, same as any city...a bar
with a pool full of plastic balls young
women jump in… why am I here...I don't
need to "see the sights"...seen one, 

seen them all...same old same old...if I 
was even fifty I  would still be drinking
with the mass of humanity that fills

these garish establishments...gotta let 
off steam somehow... (why the steam
in the first place)...merry-go-round 

merry-go-round... 
"Enjoy your temporary pleasure."  

Medellin 8.1

Early morning trolling for cigarettes tiendas

not open but copped a pack at a juice stand

busy at the bus station an old woman looks

me in the eye and I her as I pass “just looking”

how much judgement in an old mind either

burnout looking with empty eyes or leaden 

impenetrable got it all figured out not fresh

as a daisy Zen master sipping tea waiting for

the blade of a Samurai but then most didn’t

get the memo about life.

Across The Universe

"Nothing's going to change my world."

Nothing is going to change your world;

eminating from and going back into it,

coming out of a black hole once again

to coach little league,

evolving again over billions of years

to become the CEO of a failed corporation.

It takes a Big Bang to wake us up.

"How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?"

...futility, and yet, there is love, beauty,

and mind that never ends.

Medellin 7.1

I know my neighborhood for a couple of blocks

the tienda and BBQ joint down the street,

hippie coffee house/hostel in the other direction,

barber shop, a couple of markets, I can live here...

(still seems a miracle I'm anywhere at all)....

...not everyone says "Buenas dias!" the way they

did in Tepoztlan...city's too big...but still, here,

one sees people walking, holding hands...

...the penthouse I live in we call: "Narco cheese"

...it was built when Escobar was in power, has

two wall safes, chrome accents falling off the walls,

a staircase reminiscent of a Spanish gallion, was

one of the tallest buildings of the time...

....the mark I make here will be faint compared to

Escobar, which is more of a magnificent scar.