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Excavation (Olympic Sized Pool)

Digging up the lawn of my childhood

As I supervise the myriad workers from the side, under the tree, and watch the mayhem ensue

Watchful concerned eyes from every courtyard window

Naively building a pool outside for everyone to see

But don’t you see the temple inside

Why are you destroying the grass, the 3 foot deep rusted orange plastic turf, when there’s this beautiful large Olympic size swimming pool inside the cavernous wood lined shed

Because it’s time to bring it all to light

How could I come here

How dare I excavate the surface

Don’t I need board approval

Did I fail to ask

On that lawn

Fireflies

Sprinklers

Thin cotton sheets on hot summer days

Shade of the tree

First bike rides

The extent of the entire world - at one time

Why didn’t I put this pool in the back

I may have gotten away with it

Maybe no one would have noticed

It’s too late now

The lawn has been terrorized

The soft shoots cannot be put back

Its destruction making way for a new temple

One less containing

One more open, transparent and cleansing

There is no turning back

Really  

Only a cowardly retreat into the scorched earth

Or to build a new temple of transcendence - of cleansing water  

What will they do when they discover the pool

Will they seek to immediately fill it back

Will they seek to destroy its magnificent wide crystal blue expanse

Perhaps with thousands of cubic yards of concrete and rebar, topped with synthetic turf

Will they seek to permanently contain the roots

To eject me from my home

What battles will I have to rage

What wars will I have to win

With myself to stay rooted

To keep the pool open

To keep the door open

To not suffocate

©2017 lightning sparrow productions

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man of the house

I was told to hold the house together To be the man, so to speak But eight months was I only Perhaps another week

How frightened was I always Of the man I was to become to be Unfair it seems to be the seam That makes the unit free

The time was magic no doubt I feel it in my bones But deep inside, inside of me My heart was never throned

No matter what a friend might say She loved me through and through But harsh remarks and cold black hearts Were accepted in the stew

So brave I went to explore new lands But fearful of myself So back I came to seek some truth A continental shelf

So same it seemed yet all did change Landscapes green, houses so stout No burning bus shelters at the curb Or traffic on your route

And in each lies a waking dream The same always throughout Lost moments of past life times Of ways one can get out

©2013 lightning sparrow productions

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Hi I really like your poetry. I have some of my own if you'd like to see and read.

Thanks... Always

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we stay away

Left with but a trace Were you there in the first place No ill fitting suits Awards or boots To sort through How do I find you In the dirt where you lie Someplace far up high

Hard to take the first step A boy cried and wept Man suffered just the same Scared to lose a game Buried deep in side Ghosts which fuel our pride

We piece together a story Without words or times of glory In eyes I saw blue rivers great grandfathers did build A slice of history on banks of dreams kept me still Veins deep rooted in this land Far away the seed broke from the plant

A package in the mail did come Apology and gifts for some Move for him so brave Cowardly attempt to save Wounds ignored throb and bleed Remind of deep seeded need The glove ill fit my swollen hand Sacrificed to a friend, a silent stand

What memories I have From pictures of the day Not sure what’s real If mine or those they say The times we had were short Few and far between I went to see but eyes were scared and the mother mean

Upon arrival your brother saw your face Gentle fool good hearted lost in space Supposed to stay the night Ran away at first fright How different am I than you A man never escapes the truth

Two decades came and went In the end on his final bed A woman tended to his needs A boy not his but too does bleed And I stayed away Like him just the same

©2013 lightning sparrow productions

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Words

I work with words Words work with me Together we can find something in between Words come and go Words to and fro Confuse and baffle Clarify the matter In one sense and another Binding naked under cover Speak to free one does smother Interpret meaning of each other Doubt one knows what was said Words important yet some to dread

©2013 lightning sparrow productions

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What good is sleeping if when it comes to waking you are never there?

Daily Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson (via tylerknott)

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I'm ok with where I'm at

I’m ok with where I’m at It’s trouble that is that Before it was clearly people Who understood my steeple But the closest to my breast Questions why I like the rest And it’s clear we see the view Split between the two Where I give pardon to the masses Others/she might call them asses But empathy is my game Cause fuck up is my name Each day I could do better So I know I need the sweater Of an all knowing friend Who allows me to ascend Despite how far I’ve fallen They need not make me swollen In fact just the opposite is true Appreciate those who need you Cause one day just the same Your friend on a higher plane Will lift you to your knees To see above the trees Cause we all suffer from what’s inside Sometimes more or less in time And perhaps even throughout ages Not limited to this life of confined cages So be ok with me Cause I’m ok inside And I’ll be ok with you No matter how long the ride

©2013 lightning sparrow productions

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Russian Soldier

Russian soldiers march together. Russian soldiers eat together. Russian soldiers laugh together. Russian soldiers die together.

A ghost walks among us with sounds of ancient psalms and thoughts of Talmudic scholars running through his veins.

The dialectic cannot be unlearned The lessons genetically bound. Minds advance one step ahead -always ahead. A rhetoric lost in time and unleashed with fury from the living dead as he devours everything in his path.

©2013 lightning sparrow productions

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Coffee Shops

Coffee shops evoke Familiar Smells Memories Warmth Excitement Peace Companionship Solitude

Wherever you are in the world We share coffee We share familiar smells We share memories We share warmth We share excitement peace companionship and solitude.

©2013 lightning sparrow productions

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My Heart is Like a Cherry Blossom

My heart is like a cherry blossom

Ephemeral ��� leaving no permanent trace

From Fukushima to Sakura Park pedals scatter in the wind

Fall to the ground and decay or are swept away

Though unseen my heart like the blossoms

Bloom so big and so bright

So beautifully refracting light

So bound are we to what we do not see

  And like the beating of the clock

Predictable and true

The heart strings resonate as the buds peak through

The pedals in the wind like trumpets blown

Drawing nearer and farther until the sound is gone

So bound are we to what we do not hear

  And like blood pulsing through the veins

So essential to life yet barely felt day and night

The blossoms fall sofly on my cheeck

Returning to gather oxygen

To dissappear so tactifully

So bound are we to what we do not feel

©2013 lightning sparrow productions

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Untitled (so far)

They took up so much space It was so hard to imagine life without them They were so much bigger than existence They transcended But here we are They are gone The gravity, glue, threads, sinews All seems looser The space they left behind is quickly filled by emerging energies Perhaps it was time I still hear their voices I smell his forhead I cringe when the phone rings thinking it may be them and I have to explain myself again The deep regret when I realize it will never be them again I still think they have not left I won’t admit it I don’t acknowledge the loss It is unclear they are actually gone and I don’t foreclose this possibility by mourning their absence They were the center of the universe Like wizards dispensing potions and pulling all the strings The spells worked Now and then they backfired The determination The importance of family The disregard of petty disagreements and the entrenchment of principled stances The belief they could change the world and actually succeeding at it The belief they could change your mind because they succeeded at changing the world and the resentment resulting from the presumption that they could The undying devotion and support no matter how royally you fucked up The net is gone But it’s no longer needed We all adapt We all make do It lasted just long enough We are left with each other Wondering can we do this Is anything left The house was a homage to her after she left and a shrine in which he lived We borrowed him for a little while from her He could not take it anymore The loneliness of being old and alone None of us could fill the gap None of us could breathe for him So he took his last breath on his terms There is never enough time for one last meal Perhaps the plate needed to be wiped clean so that we can proceed with the next course I hope it lives up to their legacy, it has too

©2013 lightning sparrow productions

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on my knees my friend

No birthday cakes this year

Just smiles mixed with tears

Did not know I was so alone until I realized I was blessed

In this country I find myself then I lose the moment next

I’m trying to keep tight of these reigns

Moving forward so fast can’t feel the pain

Laying down in the back seat so I can survey the land

I take some wrong turns but stay course with the plan

As long as we know where to go we can correct it by the end

Cause no matter what I'll find you again my friend

I’ve been told if you sit still you will see the entire world  

And when you roam it aint no difference from staying put at home

And I found out in the middle is exactly where I want to be

On the bottom you’re invisible and on top it’s a turbulent sea

And I am searching for that middle ground

And I am thinking that I might be found

And then I peel back another layer

And I find that I’m still on this damn conveyer

And I know now that we struggle hard

And I hope I can make it through this part

With a little bit of gracefulness

But I often stumble when I miss

And I am praying for peaceful end

And I pray for you and me my friend

Cause here is where I want to be

Right now sharing this moment free

When I rise to catch the moment there

I feel the raising of my hair

And I try to find joy in every song

But I feel sadness to know I'm going on

And I need to contemplate what this is all about

But if I stay still I just might fall out

And I am trying to stand tall

But I can’t get off my knees at all

No I can’t get off my knees at all

But I will be there to pick you up my friend

Cause I know it gets rough when we’re spent

What we need now is to pretend

That we know what happens in the end

©2013 lightning sparrow productions

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You are a part of me [I'm gonna miss you when I am gone]

He called me time and time just to see if I was there

I looked into his eyes that cold familiar stare

Beneath the soldiers mask his true intent was clear

To follow in the footsteps of generals far and near

Rebuild his ravaged nation in the shadow of their ghosts

Mattered not that spirit was broken so long as he could provide the most

So driven in purpose and pure of heart

We were all blessed in the end and cursed from the start

He told me he is gonna miss me when he is gone

But I will be left alone to fight this war with no father and no gun

So much a part of him on the other side he will want

So much a part of me no idea where I will start

Yet too I will come to join in our despair

For here on earth we make the most unlikely pair.

Will I leave a part of him in my daughters son...

Or will his father stand strong so we can just have fun...

©2013 lightning sparrow productions

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charred doors lead to empty corridors

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Everything had changed for me, and words that I had never understood before suddenly began to make sense. This came as a revelation, and when I finally had time to absorb it, I wondered how I had managed to live so long without learning this simple thing.

Auster, Paul. The New York Trilogy (p. 274).

[lightningsparrowproductions-blog]

Sky

Everyday the sky is the same

Everyday it changes

Right before my eyes I say

How much it rearranges

Looking up I see

Stripes bars dots ribbons and spaces

Circles diamonds squares

I think I even see some faces

Trees home church brick wall

Frame each of my exchanges

Shades of blues greens purples too

Colors innumerable as the ages

©2013 lightning sparrow productions