Inching Toward The Abyss by Klaus J. Gerken 2012 Poems written 13 September 2012 Severed Where is the razor blade On a priceless morning When I need some blood? 12:34AM * Yoric God sends the fools To test the wise. Only no one knows How to distinguish Between them. Know thyself. 12:47AM * Toward Inching toward the abyss I look back and see nothing. 12:55AM * Future Alas poor Yoric Dream on. 12:59AM * Finale Walking ever walking down an endless road. 1:06AM * Continuity With the harvest done, I get ready for the spring. The work never ends, Even in the winter. 1:09AM * Firefly Even a small light Illuminates. 1:12AM * Poet Singular. 1:18AM * Love Merging into one Apart. 1:30AM * Speak! If you say nothing Expect nothing. Even a small victory Is important. 1:32AM * Future The past gave me a foundation: The rest is mine to build. 1:40AM * Me I am one of many: I am many in one. 1:41AM * Give and take If you only look to others for sustenance, Others cannot look for sustenance in you. 1:47AM * Reality If you admire yourself in the mirror, Notice that the image is reversed! 2:13AM * Fools Wisdom does not restrict itself to the wise. 2:37AM * Additional Poems Memories What you hold dear Doesn't always survive. 127am 27 Sep 2012 KJG * Epitaph Those who have no children die alone. 137am 27 Sep 2012 * Time Machine If I had one I would go into the perpendicular. KJG 154am 27 Sep 2012 * Reality Between the smell of your underwear and the fallacy of your intellect there is only the hope of absolution where the illusion of reality takes you a smear on the slab of hope gathered in eternity of what we comprehend Nothing 202am 27 Sep 2012 * Stench Admit it The smell of reality stinks! KJG 27 Sep 2012 352AM * Sanitized Was your hands so your body will never get used to the germs it has to fight to somehow keep you alive. 356AM27 Sep 2012 * Poem The perfect poem is out there somewhere when finally found it will go unnoticed. KJG 1025pm 27 Sep 2012 * What it takes You have many grand schemes, The Emperor said to Mozart, But you do not persuade: Persuade. KJG 1035pm 27 Sep 2012 * TV and War It's so sanitary, isn't it? No stench of death. Unless we can smell it, It's just more entertainment. KJG 6:31 PM 29 September 2012 (After watching the news). * The leaves are falling Autumn rejoices in the Blanket on the ground! * You do what you can I once picked up an injured sparrow sparrow in the middle of a busy intersection stopping traffic to the honking of horns and angry shouts from divers fuck off I said When I picked him up and cupped him gently in my hands I could feel him shaking to the beating tremors in his heart I took the sparrow across the street to a bench next to a flower pot and put him on the cool earth in a shady spot where he stayed quietly for many minutes and then slowly stirred shook himself chirped and flew away into the summer city sky free again KJG 1242am 2 October 2012 * Me Every time I see a dead squirrel on the street or a pigeon run over by a car I say a little Buddhist prayer just in case... KJG 1249am 2 October 2012 * Election Strategy Dangle a carrot they will always bite and pay for the carrot after you've been elected with their money. KJG 312am 5 October 2012 * Truth Lies. KJG 317am 5 Oct 2012 * English falsified Haiku The autumn slowly Settles, and the winter waits, A stalwart keel. KJG 324am 5 oct 2012 * Haiku The dawn is breaking: I'm still awake. Too much wine In my empty cup! KJG 328am 5 October 2012 * Word Sonnet The dawn is breaking: I'm still awake. Too much wine In my empty cup! KJG 328am 5 October 2012 * Autumn (not so serious) Haiku Autumn mist regales; Falling leaves give pleasure too: Squish, squish under foot. KJG 401am 5 octorber 2012 * Illuminato Yes, I see! KJG 403am 5 Oct 2012 * Poet I used to write long epic poems Now I write long epic poems Condensed into a few words. Age and learning Conquer everything! KJG 408am 5 Oct 2012 * Recovery "I hope to hop and skip some day, Like other children do, but for now I have to stay and sit all day, Until my legs arrive anew... You see a drunken driver struck Me down and didn't think to stop; I hope he get's the help he needs - I hear he needs a lot. And when I get my legs put on And learn to walk again, I think I'll go and help his kids... I hear they're mighty low." KJG 1258am 6 Oct 2012 * Sober attitude: Shoot to kill! Shoot to kill! Don't ever question Shoot to kill! Stoned attitude: Hey dude, Is it time to wake up already? KJG 2am 6 Oct 2012 * Discovery Search for the purest diamond in the dirt Never be afraid of the dirt. KJG 6 Oct 2012 * Vinegar As the rain washes tears away, the encrusted salt left behind reminds us of the disdain Nature has for man's disrespect for his own kind. One does not hunger for salt unless one is thirsty: Perhaps Vinegar will do. KJG 240am 6 Oct 2012 * HOW? How to live? How to be simple and literal? I was always searching for that word, spoken only once, but must confess, to having never found it, yet I should have searched for simple words... Even unconsecrated wine cannot be mixed with something better. -- Vladimir Holan (Translated by Klaus J. Gerken) * ON THE ADVANCE Nothing frees the poet, - no, not even death. There's always some extension to his soul - his being that's not locked away - that's touched by all his other lives; none of which are perfect as if they were in paradise - in truth, they are still in hell... -- Vladimir Holan (Translated by Klaus J. Gerken 1976/6 Oct 2012) * THE PINE How beautiful the old pine is, which you visited again today on the hill of your childhood memories; beneath it's murmur you reflect on the dead, and wonder if you might be next. Beneath its murmur, it's as if you have finished your last book and in silence must begin to weep a silent tear...so that these words of yours can grow... And about your life? You sacrificed the familiar for the unfamiliar... And fate? Well, only once it laughed with you, and that was when your back was turned... -- Vladimir Holan (Translated by Klaus J. Gerken 1976/6 October 2012) * Resolution I would hope that when everyone dies in the final holocaust our bodies will decay into compost to nurture the earth. KJG 427am 6 Oct 2012 * Validity The validity of this table is that it holds my glass of wine without destroying the illusion. KJG 709 pm 12 Oct 2012 * Civil The barbarians are at the gates; shall we sacrifice another slave to appease the gods? KJG 21 Oct 2012 * Autumn It is raining coloured leaves: The leaving has enveloped us. KJG 21 October 2012 627am * Grounding The question isn't what is life; the question is, what is consciousness! KJG 632am 21 Oct 2012 * SANDY To TS Eliot April is not the cruelest month; October is. KJG 31 Oct 2012 * Leaders Ah the leaders they have lost their vision They order everything killed that does not threaten They celebrate chessboard victories No mud or blood upon their spotless uniforms They are jealous of the common soldier They shout, "I will never send them into harm's way" Then they drink another toast to the freedom We have lost -- they have lost their vision They no longer consult common reason They bask in the glory of whatever pleases them They sign papers without ever understanding They harken only to their future endeavours They lie and cheat and have no scuples They protect the "common" individual after all. KJG (last 3 lines 1 Nov 2012) * hierarchy oh little fruit fly on my monitor how easily my thumb could crush you but I am not god and you are not my enemy! KJG 6:46pm 1 Nov 2012 * Published by Ygdrasil Press Copyrigth (c) 2012 by Klaus J. Gerken