The Noise Stopped
The noise stopped.
The sky was still.
One lone soldier
marched over the hill.
He shuffled his feet,
he had a blank look.
I saw him pass
and then there were more.
All dressed in grey
and covered with dirt,
kicking up dust
as each one passed.
The battle was over!
The march of the dead.
Antiquity or novelty,
which do you like best?
Do you look to see what rises
or follow what has set
Imagine
this stick is a horse!
Imagine
this poem is a stick!
VISION POEMS
(What is a Vision Poem – see below*)
I built a birdhouse then
he built one for me.
you live
somewhere else
don’t you?
Gum for mortar!
the songbird
stopped singing
turned his head to the Sun
setting…
“You can’t just run wild!”
said I to my listening toys.
3 Blues
for your portrait!
I lived in Scotland
until a sudden
noise shattered
my daydream!
The Church of Spring Blossoms
The “Magic mountain”
children’s version!
My Zen calendar
burnt up!
What day is that?
look in …
any direction!
.
*What is a VISION POEM?
WARNING: This is not ‘Poetry 101’. This is advanced. Vision Poetry does not rhyme (most of the time), and it’s not what you are used to. If for any reason, after reading two or three of these short poems, you don’t ‘GET IT’; please, fold up the zine page , replace it on the stack where you found it, and slowly back away from your computer.
Now that we’ve gotten rid of the neophytes, let’s continue. Vision poems are part koan, part hallucination, part vision, slightly enlightening, and peppered with occasional eureka moments. They are word pictures, dreams, fantasies, jokes, lightning strikes, and kafkaesque situations. Read them with a sense of adventure. Then see if the startling images – somewhat like what a painter might see in his mind before beginning his new work – suggests anything deeper or more profound. Enjoy and let me hear what you think.
