tatooed man3

the tattooed man
reclines on his pillow
in the temple of wisdom and grace
he fills his cup with the sap of the willow
while filling the temple with space
he sees all the foibles
the tricks and the traumas
of living fully the race
he lives for the moment
his ends and beginnings
are all in just one holy place
his insides are outside
his outsides are in
he walks on celestial clouds
he waits for not one thing
not all things or others
he stands in his permanant crowd

as he travels
his knowledge is mine
don't you know
from this edge of his time to the lasting
the forever of still the always of all
full to the brim and yet fasting
the tattod man is a shaman you see
he's the end of the always beginning
the priest of the ancients
the final recall
the captian of losing and winning
deep dark in my middle
his light always shines
a welcome tacked onto his door
a place i can go
to where all i can know
is written from cieling to floor
the tattooed man lives here and there
inside and out side the temple
he knows all the answers
he asks all the questions
those that are joyus and tremble

the tatooed man has traveled you see
from the seat of the world to the top
he has sailed all the seas
rode all the storms
and there's no indication he'll stop

the tatooed man is forever it seems
without him all life would dissolve
he runs here and there
he stays where he is
with more than determined resolve

when i am asleep when i am awake
the tatooed man makes notations
from outside and in
on not just his skin
he keeps record of daily creations

in dreams he comes in seeming he goes
he gives what i make in my living
he doesn't care if i'm here or i'm there
or weather i'm taking or giving

the tattoed man is the world that i make
as i live through my waking and dreaming
he is what i make as i give and i take
weather making or faking or scheming

he is what i am from my head to my soul
from my birth to the next big beginning
in the decades i have it is love that i dole
that makes him so shine with his gleaming

i am what i am an old sailor said
those are words that require
some cleaning
for the tattoed man is more than a friend
he's the master of my souls hard dreaming

it's a poem my friend and i want it to end
and i'm having a time getting there
let it be said that i just went to bed
and the tattooed man doesn't care

amen

this very day

it might say
it all
that
weary pooped
just dang tired
sells
its
history
into my veins

ahh that bed looks sooo good

it is a very night
an awake night
a very night
a solitary
familiar

joy
in the underneath
below above
on all sides
verily all
air sun
moon earth
water fire
planets stars
celestial visions
long prayer
meditation
lived life
joy

luz
in the
long day
night
good day night
this very night
holy night
wholley

( light is scattered on the cieling; from there
all around me, warm sheltering
enlightening)

a realization
after
the
fact

this

tired i am
solidly
like a great and good
idea

sleep is a few steps from here
as i know
remember
the very day
the very very day
this day

now
i shall rest

it is so

christmas 2005

most of life
i
singular
i

red on the head
carrot top
brown eyes
freckles


my brothers all
towhead
blue eyed

priest in the hallway
mother gone to heaven
smell of lunch and chalk

wailing

echoing
echoing
echoing
down the corridors
of my
memory soul

father gone

walking away from
his resting place
brothers ahead
me behind

leaving home
lost
finding friends
losing love
discovering
poverty

singing
in my solitude
motorcycle freedom
weeping in the wind

and
in that wind
i flew
finding my heros
my saviors
my enemies
within

always within


left
leaving
always leaving

alone

seasons
children
joy
solitary fatherhood

years passed
searching
gnashing

a constant question
haunting me

why
then why
then why

late nights
early mornings
high and wandering
childhood god
abandoning
my notions
of
freedom

lifes
long dark road
sprinkled with the
light of children
walking running sprinting
gasping
drowning
falling

suddenly
light
miracle of love
flashing

after
three score years
you
look in
seeing
me

to my surprise

into
this tattered soul
this confusion
this
lone graduate of isolation

light

yes
i have had
some success

much wandering
from
arms to fragrant arms
from
sadness to hiding
holding tight
to
baccus

clinging

a barnacle
on the hull
of my
abandoned junk
filled with the prizes
of applaud
of ego

you have lifted me

you are the end and the beginning
of my no longer
lost
life

it is christmas

we are
scraping our barrel

waiting for the

nourishment of rain

the joy of work

and

i know
deeply

that life is all
ours now

we are on a new journey
we are
we
until
the final
luxury of breath

on this christmas day
you are my greatest gift
you are
my greatest love
you are my friend
companion
my truth

i love you

i thank
all gods
for your
soul
your
heart
your brilliant mind
your loyalty
your being

you
the great question

the great answer

you

my alpha
my omega

you

my
messenger
holding all endings
all beginnings

i am finished
i am just beginning

christmas

birth

new hope

joy

love

you:

my holyday

Christmas Haiku

coats scarves to the chin

smiling frosty sighs in time

childlike smile within

eyes turn to heaven

magic elf in red does fly

bringing gifts of soul

solemn prayers of peace

holding our holy moment

burst around the world

living once again

the memory of past time

soaring open skies

breathless sparkling

holy thought continuing

moonlit shining star

blessed birthing light

burning brightly shining soul

savior in us born

haiku

there are memories
like candles in a window
you are one of these

those that are with me
stand like light above my storm
peace held in your eyes

i am on my path
life continues with it's dream
paths converge then go

windows of the eyes
see what has been always known
this simpatico

5/7/5

five bucks and change

i have five bucks and change
waiting for a change
leting the walls crumble
till at last
the
way clears

the vision that i need is
blurred by stifling worry
concern

falling away

level headed mirth
smiling
knows deeply that
it is all
not really there

change heads
i say

change minds
perception
walk the walk
stop this hide
and
go seek
mission

you are strong
you are
respected

so things are not great

are you starving
homeless
cold
ill
no

come home
lose the news for a week or two
feel your strengths
love your woman

you go boy
now or never
your time
may be up before
you know it

that thief
time
is nipping at your heels
lay him low
get up
off your ass
and
just do it

played out

nothing left in the bank till
the next time
nothing i can pull on
squeeking by
like a child in a hiding closet
i cower
wondering if
and if
and if

sitting on my
star
gazing into the dark
things falling apart
health
money
jobs
all

still
my vision
holds
my dream is intact
let it be
let my dream manifest

fear
like the dark cold
grips me
the angels are
standing on street
corners
smoking and drinking
they wander the pathways
of my soul
like so many insects
i am too old for this
i am too old
i lay my burdon on the court of
destiny
i plead my
case
my dream is there
it is waiting birth
give me the tools
so that i might build
my dream
into laughter
love
security
o
let it shine
i am only a man
who has a dream
i am only that
i am only that
i am only that

my temple

my temple is vast and small
it takes up all my room
my temple has
vast doors
ornate
ancient
wooden

carved
with
my history

my temple opens into

desert mountian

glass
domed
small inside

holding the universe

into the firmament
it opens
vast
and
mysterious

inside
my temple
are two
trancendant pillows
on one
sits a
transparent
tattooed
man

my history
covers his body
letters
sentences
photos
movies
memories imaginings
dreams longings
travel in blue along the highways
of his entirety
inside and out

he knows me
he is me
exposed
naked
vulnerable

my temple is bright
the temperature
easy

the tatooed man
sits walks
stands
turns
his voice
the air
his knowledge
my own
he is
fearsom
gentle
soft
warlike
attentive

my temple echos
his imprisonment

he cries out
to be
in
the open
in the
ease of light
the velvet calm
of night

only
i
have the key

to free
my sage
is
to free myself

when
the
temple crumbles
freedom comes
to
the temple
the tatooed man
and
to
me

sun dust

the tattooed man
spreads sundust
over the path i tread
he's marked with his life long earnings
of love of life and dread
he wanders over my span of life
lighting a maze of ways
from buddah to all the christ the lords
in who's mangers he did lay
the tattooed man has history
in colors on his skin
you can read up on his mystery
from his toe tops to his chin
he knows my thoughts ahead of time
he traces my deepest fears
he walks my path with angels
throughout my numbered years
the tatooed man has wings
like tarahumara
on his feet
he laughs the while i struggle
toward the illusions that i meet
he picks me up as i fall away
he weeps when i am down
he feeds my soul
he pays the tolls
as life makes it's constant rounds
the tattoed man he lights the way
brandishing a blinding sword
he lives with me deep in my soul
his magic holds no bounds

the tatooed man he is my sage
my high priest and my savior
i look to him for guidence now
i ask him this one favor:
let me pay the price i must
to finish what i've started
let the house of dreams be built
in mexico and kentucky
let money come so that the
pressures gone
and the poor can feel more lucky
let there be some savings please
a cushion we can lie on
so that all is well
when you ring that bell
and i have some land to die on

back

the dreams i have of late are old
of struggle in the mystic lost and found
wandring in the place of stories told
confused by what I see by what i'm bound

tired i am of images of loss
bored to death of things that bring me worry
up to here with negative porr talk
sick of feeling that i must be sorry

the time of future days is growing older
the time for final action in my lap
all that i am doing make me bolder
moving far away from me the sap

i think my heart is moving toward kentucky
where all that i am feeling's very lucky

off again

to seek my fortune
to tilt my soul
toward my
ends
to work at love
to bend my heart
into lifes
joy
to walk my path
to send my light
into bliss
and peace

i follow again
the bright ribbon
of
my dream


i journey away
a small destination
to return
to love

i go i go
not far
yet

this
crossing
goes on
opaque
unsure
vital

this adventure
this
ever changing
kaliadascope
this
precious
wonder
holds my dream

a vision
devoutly held
i wander
this passage
in awe
holding every moment
as it flees

i know
i will never really
pass away
i shall pass
this way
again

winter bird

winter bird flies
lands on seed
of
beebalm and flox
feeds on leftover
summer abundance

prayer flags
sag
wet freeze
life sleeps
under snow
under tundra
earth
tilted winter
takes hold
grey skies threaten
snow
dogs hide deep
hay bound
kitten snuggles
fire cracks
pops
warm glow
the winter night begins

goodnight

good night
tonight good night
the time has come
to fold the old mind
up
to blanket
the
horse
g'night
time to drop 'm
twice
take leave
ease up
chill
bag it
fall
face full
into
pillows and bliss
and
blessing the moment
made it again
to my wonderful
easy
lap of my luxury
bed
lights out
kiss
goodnight
snuggle
for a while
turn over
settle
butts touching
easing off
O
let today
fly
into fantacy
as
sleep
slides
in
as good night
surrounds
my dreams
of we
and
rounded sleep
slowly
closes
the
door

goodnight

good night
tonight good night
the time has come
to fold the old mind
up
to blanket
the
horse
g'night
time to drop 'm
twice
take leave
ease up
chill
bag it
fall
face full
ito
pillows and bliss
and
blessing the moment
made it again
to my wonderful
easy
lap of my luxury
bed
lights out
kiss
goodnight
snuggle
for a while
turn over
settle
butts touching
easing off

let today
fly
into fantacy
as
sleep
slides
in

the cold

this is the day my cold goes away i think
i've had it in me for a couple of weeks
keeping my mind on the very edge the brink
making my rest a fit of caughing clinks

the wearyness of this viral invasion
the constant struggle just to get around
the temper short on almost all occasions
has kept my feet compleatly off the ground

the mirror shows me looking so much older
the ticking clock reminds me constantly
i have but a little time to shoulder
my enormous responsibility

it's all a part of living life i know
an ever shifting blowing steady snow