Poem - i think if i saw a real don quixote

i think if i saw a real don quixote
i'd cry and i would marvel at anyone
who would follow him

as it is i have a paper sculpture
of the man astride his steed
forcefully twisted and upright

vision has a certain glory
and naiveté considerable wisdom
excommunicated from this world


**

Poem - it is hard to remember anyways

if I feel wounded
i have everything
to do with feeling hurt

i arrived to the point
where the pain was beyond
anything you could say or do

with actions or words
you don't bother to remember
living in fragments

if you make a comment
and someone is happy or sad
well there you go that is life

possibly someone is angry
and they think ill of you
it is all just the same

you don't worry
it is hard to remember anyways

this sunk in
and i felt bad at being hurt
and i began to show you charity

by treating everyone
with respect with gentleness
and not asking so much from them

seeing what i can do
for them first and me second
then cruel thoughts have gone away

my suffering i laughed
it is hard to remember anyways


__



For R

Poem - between earth and the sky

if you are filled with thoughts
more thought will not still mentality

as if to douse or smother fire
one adds more kindling and logs

then cut to the root of the matter
whatever you occupy yourself with
dreaming like a sillyheart

it is all and fine but we are kinder
moons in the water or rainbows
between earth and the sky


*

to Dudjom Lingpa

Poem - they know my name

they know my name
i don't know theirs
people have been talking

i never know
what the gossip is about

my fly is undone
my clothes are the same
i write all the time




*

Poem - i don't know if we are we sinners or are just lost / but i know that the path goes on and i'll walk it

i'm searching for something outside of myself
that can only be found on the inside

i am searching for it because i don't trust in god
or whatever i am supposed to trust in

i look of what cannot be found due to faithlessness
in the unfolding process that denies no one

so in writing this i am getting over myself
hopefully helping you if you've been where i am

but if i get stuck and you know what i mean
reaching out to a friend or acquaintance certainly helps

i don't know if we are we sinners or are just lost
but i know that the path goes on and i'll walk it

i'll say in the end it does not matter what we thought
only what we did in devotion towards each other


*

Poem - i laugh at my own jokes

i laugh at my own jokes
i even laugh when i write these lines

i'm not lonely but i'm sitting alone
with a window on the right

i have bookcases and my favorite books
that i can see by the window and i laugh
when i read the books

i have a perfect view
the outside world and the inner one

i should remember to let people in
so we can laugh together



*

Quote: Lenny Bruce - The Role of a Comedian

"The role of a comedian is to make the audience laugh, at a minimum of once every fifteen seconds."

-- Lenny Bruce

Poem - I Know You Can Hear Me

-- to HFC

kitty i know you can hear me
even though you pretend i don't exist

as if you were in deep cosmic meditation
looking down at your curled paws
beyond all concern for food or petting
the clue that betrays your facade:

wherever i move in the room
your ears follow me
never stop tracking me

so i'll give you a can
of food and then a good scratch


---

10.13.14

Poem - in the end i see

in the end i see
we can either get religion
or become blasphemers

i hope that
as the path becomes narrower
the mind becomes broader

i have no idea
how i will feel when i am dying
but neither does a fly know

and a bug
has no worries for this
and lives a very good life as a bug


**

HB
10.10.14

Poem - looking at pictures / from 1999

looking at pictures
from 1999
we were younger then

at the time
it seemed brighter
the backgrounds look dark
like dipped in maple syrup

but this is my eyes
or the paper on the pictures
fossilizing


___

10.10.14

Poem - will sail on in my mind & be everywhere

me realizing i'll never be like others and
then i remember for some reason

my roommate bobby
was cool and he stole one
of my books and he listened to
'the velvet underground' all the time
with his good looking girlfriend anita

i can still see him and anita curled up
together on the couch drinking beer
reading these poems of r manley
in the first edition bobby asked
if he could peruse through

people come into my life
and then go and i see now that
when i thought someone was staying
they were already gone and when i knew
they were gone they were just showing up

so someday i might see bobby again with or
without the book i loaned him and i hope
i find out what happened to pretty anita
i do know that bobby will be cool
a bit sad now and heroic

and i'll never be cool like this
will sail on in my mind & be everywhere


***

Poem - Living out on Margarine Acres

i lived on a ranch in a rugged valley
i rented a room there

people died on the road all the time
and the owners

they kept loaded guns and shot
at any animal that didn't belong

it was a peaceful existence
they had a coffin pillow in the front room

i could walk for miles and miles
through hills and woods

there were skulls
of wild animals that died in the grass


**

Margarine Acres
"One of the Cheaper Spreads"
Bennett Valley, CA

Poem - and the seas still defy our imagination

on this day in history
columbus found an island in the bahamas

he was sure he had found
the far east he so sorely wished it

when he found cuba
he knew he was close to the island of japan

for the rest of his life
he was convinced he had found the indies

his only regret was
he hadn't enough lifetime to get to the capital

of china and the empire
stuffed with incalculable spices and gold

to be converted or overthrown
in the name of this crossed christian god

seas of time rolled
and the new world was cultivated

converted or overthrown
and the seas still defy our imagination


*

Poem - even smile / living on nothing

i remember you
and your pistol tatoos
in escondido

i hope you
aren't dead or
hurt or in jail

but you
never know

because escondido
was like last stop
before the desert

remarkable
creatures we are

how much
of a beating
we can take

remarkable
how one can
make it look
tolerable

even smile
living on nothing


*

10.07.14

Poem - boëthius was going / to reconcile / faith with reason

boëthius was going
to reconcile
faith and reason

conjungere rationem 
fidemque

they tightened
a rope around
his head

until his eyes
bulged out

and clubbed him
to death

but from 'the consolation
of philosophy'
we get the prayer

  let me accept the things
  i cannot change

  and the courage
  to change the things i can

  and the wisdom to know
  the difference

i can't tell
i know i never will

boëthius is
the moon half risen
i see tonight

wrapped in
sheet of fine linen

or paper that
dissolves in water






+


for Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius
 c. 480–524 or 525 AD

Poem - On Hearing of Snow in Chicago

i heard it snowed in chicago
just the other day

snow in october

here in southern california
just a spritz of rain would be welcome

i remember what it was like
when winter was coming to the midwest

one day you'd feel
a breath in the air of cold wind

the coldest wind you'll even meet

and you knew you'd feel
that frigid bright chill in february

but before then the leaves
would turn yellow and red

and you would be swimming in them

the falling leaves now are dusted in snow
glittering like confections at night

kids going to school in the morning

enjoy kicking through them
and the ice cracks like ladyfingers



---

HB
10.05.14

Poem - don't think about loss or gain

don't think about loss or gain
just do and avoid the trap of the old desires

if you are in action you've defied most expectations
even your own limited thinking


*

Quote: Charles Schulz - Winning vs. Losing

Charles Schulz said: "Most of us are much more acquainted with losing than we are with winning. Winning is great, but it isn't funny."



*