A Prayer for Patience
Copyright 1992, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom.
Let us tie together our canoes
Against the cascades we know must come
Let us mingle our dreams in a leather cup
And guard our tepee from doubt
May our patience preserve our peace
Though the cauldron rumbles outside
Let us remove ourselves from ruthless lies
And pause should a stumble occur
Let us remember these blessings that flower
Despite dizzy color and alarm
Let our small harms enrich this great love
That it may grow beyond the poisons of man
Let us tie together our canoes
Against the cascades we know must come
Let us mingle our dreams in a leather cup
And guard our tepee from doubt
Birth
Copyright 1992, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom
Speak in broken syllables,
Feel the desert breath -
These are secrets vast. . . .
Deep.
Over the immutable precipice you creep,
Plunging free
Into a damp and cool cavern where all
Ghostly chants still slide, exploring
Fingers move along glittering, massive
Stalactites.
Voiceless gecko, clammy skin,
Blind and translucent
Clutch at wet mineral hardness. . . .
You hear the water drip from
Immeasurable distance -
Sixteen faint kisses
Sucking disks.
Spectral analysis breaks full down
At the borders of the
Middle Ground. . . .
You awaken.
Feel the currents of breeze race
Across exposed skin.
Enter again the turning waters of
Primeval dawn.
The clarification of cognition
Curves in toward
Resting equilibrium.
===========================================================
To drink the cold fire,
One dances dim in twilight.
Standing still at breakneck speed
Within a crisply
Silent night.
Blaze
Copyright 1992, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom.
People ask me: "Where you spent these last couple years, boy?
Are you some philosopher in the wilderness looking for a Fountain of Joy?
Or just another juvenile delinquent who can't recover after losing his favorite toy?"
Well I can't believe all the accusations they rain down over my casket
Your life of illusion is dead and your politics is crumpled up in my waste basket
Well people give me the once-over, they turn a cold shoulder, then they hurry away
They want my opinions on situations too bland for anything friendly to say
History passes the bottleneck like a train wreck, headlines rapidly fade from red to gray
Well I can't believe all the salty tears dripping on your shiny Sunday shoes
Violence sweeps through your neighborhoods and politics withers on your evening news
All the plug-in men off molding a new mandate, something they can categorize as common ground
But it's common ground I walk upon and I don't want any of them around
While all the paranoid crazies report on each other then slip into oblivion without a sound
Well I can't believe all the waste as they plunge into space and vanish without leaving a trace
The kaleidoscope is turning and politics is burning you alive inside your narrow appointed place
So who convinced you that you'll pass as a modern man if you put on a modern disguise?
When I can smell the fires of evolution still smoldering in every stranger's eyes
It's shockingly simple to stuff noise in your ears and wade in the tidal wave of lies
Well I can't believe they go on trimming the sails on a ship that passed under the wave
The communal dream's come undone at the seams and politics rots in a shallow grave
You want me to invest in a brand new escape plan, the same deal that you made
You lived a decade like a sultan, now your wax castle is molten and sinking in the Everglades
But sure as every succulent fruit is plucked and dies every bill that's owed will be paid
Well I can't believe that you gouged out your own eyes and auctioned off your soul
Now your bodies are stacked like kindling wood and the head of politics is going to roll
You know what you're thinking when you're sleeping cos your body's jerking and no one's working to take the fear away
But then you wake up and you shake off your doubts like drops of annoying sentimentality
You bend your back to the attack on your inferiors and lounge in your spirituality
Well I can't believe the manipulation that's accepted without question or guilt
Status is calculated as a body count and politics is measured by volume of blood spilled
Everyone's for sale and everyone is sued in the home of brave litigation
The strongest triumphs until he encounters a more desperate champion of intimidation
Then he's swallowed by his own greeds and his deepest needs prove mere vain infatuation
Well I can't believe all the gossip that's pounding in the air today
The true believers are going haywire and politics shows no sign of quietly going away
People ask me: "Where you spent these last couple years, man?
Is it some kind of difficult message or something a simpleton can understand"
Meanwhile the sky falls around them and their kingdoms sink back under the sand
Well I can't believe all the idiocy shaking off your tongues and bulging in your brains
The material world's crucified your senses and politics has poisoned your veins
If I Were a Rose
Copyright 1992, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom.
If I were a rose
I'd give my love to you
If I were a heart
I'd give my blood to you
But I am a man
I'll give you my dreams
If I were a lion
I'd give my power to you
If I were a storm
I'd give my shower to you
But I am a man
I'll give you my dreams
If I were a king
I'd give my lands to you
If I were a surgeon
I'd give my hands to you
But I am a man
I'll give you my dreams
If I were your star
I'd shine for you on high
If I were your diamond
My light would never die
But I am a man
I'll give you my dreams
Oh! Spanish Morocco
Copyright 1993, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom.
Coffered ceilings & minarets,
Ancient human bodies laid out distorted, stretched,
Mosaic tiled floors & mahogany parquets:
A petrifying fire charges in my veins tonight.
Choking passion fills my golden cup.
A platinum satellite dish shines above cerulean ice,
Oh, in this luxuriant life,
In this high tower of velvet and gold brocade,
Unblinking eye steadily watching the Supreme.
So who are these humorless corpses
Cast so wise out of time?
Who are these wretched Romans?
Who's poured this blood wine?
Who calls thus to the living,
A warning word to the wise?
Wipe those digital images
Right out of your mortal eyes.
While you're mainlining databases
Mainlining databases
While you're mainlining databases far away, does
Skin crisp black in desire's tragedy? Do
Distant twisted bodies twitch in mortal agony?
When you've saturated your receptors
'Til you've forgotten your own name,
When the coal-winged angels burst into flame,
You may yet feel the blood pulse in the
Palms of her smooth and stony hands.
And there is something inexplicable loose
In this wide world tonight,
Flashing lights & searing street heat.
And there is something alien moving
Free in this wide world tonight.
It threatens to detonate a race bomb.
Under boiling oil-on-water skies
I watched your slow spiral into disgrace,
Powerless to save you. Now
We both embrace your nightmares.
1/2
Copyright 1992, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom
1/2 Lord Vader, 1/2 Godzilla
1/2 patriotic barbarian, 1/2 guerrilla
Down super freeways & untrodden paths
Dramatic breakthrus occur by 1/2s
1/2 jewel their arms, 1/2 tattoo their legs
1/2 say caviar, 1/2 say fish eggs
I'm 1/2 a fool but I'm 1/2 a saint
1/2's got principles but the other 1/2 ain't
1/2 is hell & 1/2 is heaven
You invest 14, you recoup 7
If you feel 1/2 dead you're 1/2 alive
& my next point is just .5
1/2 gray elephant, 1/2 long-eared mule
1/2 blue-collar genius, 1/2 millionaire fool
1/2 practice piano & 1/2 forbidden crafts
Dramatic breakthrus occur by 1/2s
Saints & Fools
Copyright 1992, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom.
The exiled king stood at the window
In a castle on a ship
Pondering the fall he'd suffered
As ill-equipped as Icarus
The foolish days of wine and music
So frivolous with intrigues and songs
Prisoners agonizing in cold irons
The clatter of tongs and squeak of rats
The charlatan in his draining cap
Drawing stones from dunderheads
The tempted saint in the sensual circus
Teasing silk threads from rough wool rags
Now the laws are more confining
Now the skies are buckled down
But tiny flaws rip up the fabric
Once solid ground needs redefining
The saints and fools have left the malls
Our accustomed paths are a freeway of dreams
There's no telling where it's going
Or who will sift the scenes of madness
But the exiled king has left his window
He's a crafty truce to negotiate
None will notice the dragon descending
Medieval minds appreciate desperate times
Slip Away
Copyright 1992, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom.
Slip away
Slip away
I don't want to slip away
Roll away
Roll away
I don't want to
Roll away from you
Fall away
One more day
I don't want to fall away
Skid away
We should take the time to get away
I don't want to
Skid away from you
Fade away
There must be another way
I don't want to fade away
Drift away
We must never drift away
I don't want to
Slip away from you
The Carnival Garden
Copyright 1993, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom.
You can hear the foreigners' nervous laughter
Just outside the tent.
Come out to that fleshy carnival garden -
Teeth. Beer. Bones. Skin.
And sweet, salty meat.
White cobbles resembling skull caps,
Maps like nerves serve to guide us to the
Ice-glazed palace, through crushed lifetimes
Marking reason's fault lines & time's dank tides:
Decaying blood that foams up.
Loosen your tie and try to relax.
I've seen this show before.
It's a good one.
The Gengis Kahn People
Copyright 1993, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom.
The royal signet ring
Rolled from the broken finger of the
Porcelain king
Bounced down the stairs in
Rising arcs and plunged
Into a foamy sea
You say: "I'm just working off my karma"
You've dharma to burn
The witch of the sands
Elevated his bones in her hands
The Gengis Kahn People
Are just the same as you and me
Caught in the onslaught of history
Hey, articulate this, bud
The Immortal
Copyright 1992, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom.
Once there was an old man dressed in tattered denim, balanced on a three-legged stool, telling stories from his life.
Once there was a photo album stuffed with crumpled black and whites, serrated edges and yellow dust of glue: all the comforts and tragedies of family journeys.
Once there was a brand new house with clean white tile and shiny faucets, slowly eroded in the weather of love into an historical monument to itself.
Once there was a mighty mountain with roots as deep as time. Half exalted and half forlorn, in its senescence its youth reborn.
Once there was an old man telling stories from his life. Looking through his skin I saw the explosion of a billion tinted stars.
The Question of Ghosts
Copyright 1992, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom.
I'd like to believe in ghosts
Shades of those who've been
A friend of mine who's reputable
Says she sees them now and then
I'd like to give up politics
It's all cannibalism justified
Either there's real mystery out there
Or I'm just easily mystified
I'd like to ride a fancy funeral barge
I'd go drifting with the muddy Nile
& emerge upon strange seas of time
I suspect that I would have to smile
I'd meet my favorite heroes of old
Who resisted compliance at each & every turn
We'd build us a fire on a mountain top
& watch these misconceived agendas burn
At night our dear friend John
Would have a thing or two to say
& Jim & Janis & Jimi
Would liven up the day
I'd like to build a polymer crystal castle
To shield you from the storm
But miscalculation and fickle violence
Represent the human norm
I'd like to believe in ghosts
Shades of those who've been
A friend of mine who's reputable
Says she sees them now and then
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