1.
just because
some old men
have always
loved palavering
inventing ridiculous
vocabularies
(way before Aristotle
long past Hegel)
we labor under millennia
of misunderstood metaphor
our reptilian
motor-brains
dictating
our relationship
with time
& each other
2.
in whale-fin
& bat-wing
hide bones for
five fingers
at some point
inconceivably
distant in the past
our shared ancestors
parted, some pressed
to return to the sea
some managing
to take to the air
& ours, remaining
in the dirt
to crawl like
bugs on a ball
curious: those minds
not confined to
forward & back
left & right
3.
just because
love feels
like a journey
doesn't mean
there's a destination
you never arrive
& if you want to avoid
unnecessary departures
remember
your partner's
personhood
that s/he
carries the same cross
(the human condition)
so follow somebody's
golden rule
4.
in the garden
columbine
rise from the soil
like little fists
ready to open
from whose palms
flowers will emerge
spurred stigmata
hiding nectar
deep enough
to draw the long-tongued
hummingbirds
almost as if
they were
designed
to do so
5.
like Kant
that old coot
(imagining metaphors
for space & time
had some reality
& could prove
the existence of god)
folks think because
the universe
follows rules
(laws that dictate
how matter behaves)
somebody
must've written them
6.
a lover's hands:
almost miraculous
dexterity, beyond
utility of tools
unbridled tenderness
open palms & fingertips
cupping ribcage
like a long-sought Grail
7.
it's not tough
to imagine
that matter
simply is
& always
has been
(forever entangled
with emptiness)
or that love carries
evolutionary advantages
it's just hard
to accept
8.
once whale-song
circled the globe
(their lyrics now
unbearably lonely)
& the language
of elephants, subsonic
carries for miles
their calls & responses
only our language
written as it is
travels through time
misconceptions
& imaginings
carved in stone
around our necks
dragging us down
9.
any idea regarding
ultimate reality
following from some
story or metaphor
(no matter how much
beauty or utility):
ipso facto
a non sequitor
10.
time to rise
from our knees
(bent too long
to the past)
& walk forward
to our future
hand in remarkable
human hand