February 2015 Notebook

by

Klaus J. Gerken

*

Blessed Be The All Knowing God

Let's see, if the
fruit of the
forbidden tree
contained 
all the knowledge
god didn't want
Adam to
know about
it wasn't
very much 
was it?

God kicked
'em out of Eden 
and they had
to till the land
fend for themselves
and childbirth
became labour

The God who knew
everything
certainly didn't
put much knowledge
in that tree
other than
temptation.

kjg 2 Feb 2015

*

Life is a dull amazement.

kjg 627am 3 feb 2015

*

deed

i am not of this world
i am not of this time
the failure of learning
derails the sublime

they want it to be easy
without a single thought
don't question who offers
as long as it's called god

so take up armaments and punish
whoever disagrees
death's a simple ending
no proof rewards the deed

kjg 1126pm 5 feb 2014

*

knot

it was early in the morning
about the break of day
i didn't get a warning
and the waiter was away

i had to serve your beauty
no roses but the thorns
if love had such commitment
no one would be born

i heaved a sigh and relinquished
to what servitude there was
the freedom of my failure
to the undone gordian knot

kjg 1226am 6 feb 2015

*

To paraphrase Pavlov: "A dog will always give up freedom to survive."

kjg 125am 6 feb 2015

*

Beyond

As the starlings swarm
in a concise murmuration
humanity swarms
upon the face of Gaia
ever changing
twisting
into what collects
its entity
into a clear concise
consciousness
over time and
evolution
ultimately morphing
into something
far beyond its own
comprehension

kjg 138pm 6 feb 2016

*

coastal fog
listen
to the ocean

kjg 1248pm 6 feb 2016


*

Pupil asked master: What is truth?
Master answered: Spending your life trying to prove what can't be proven.

kjg 142pm 6 feb 2015

*

It's all wrong. 
All of it. 
It shouldn't be
But is.
It's all wrong.

kjg 221pm 6 feb 2015

*

tap-dancing on linoleum

there's a tap tap here
and tap tap there
cat's in the cradle
it's gimme a dare
a lost algorithm
found in a box
damn the solution its
unorthodox

so tiptoe here
and tiptoe there
rattle me innards
in a plastic chair
offshore collusion
sharks are all wet
sometimes salt water
is all you can get

the moon is explodin'
the highway's a wreck
gravel is gritty
it's all just "scheissdreck"
it's empty on Bank Street
pedestrians fall
like waves of poor beggars
into a pigsty

there's a tap tap here
and a tap tap there
no one will notice
what you chose not to wear
it's a bold celebration
in the light of the moon
if you leave before midnight
you won't be back soon

so tiptoe here
and tiptoe there
the world is a furnace
it cannot defer
so smile in the dancing
twirl like star
it's not what you crave
but how you make par

the moon is explodin'
the highway's a wreck
gravel is gritty
it's all just "scheissdreck"
it's empty on Bank Street
pedestrians fall
like waves of poor beggars
into a pigsty.

kjg 1135pm 8 feb 2015


*

lies

funny
how
the
years
roll
by

and 
you've
never
even 
known
the 
lie

you
have
been
subjected
to

kjg 2am 8 feb 2015

*


what i do

i don't
write no
poems no more
i got no
syntax
and i got no
grammar
they took my
education from me
at college
tried hard to
get it back but
ain't no use
all them fancy
words disappeared
one night
and i was left with
nothing but the
elaborated 
openness of sky
and mud of earth
and strawmen
walking around
like zombies
in a ts eliot
poem falling
over each other
because 
religion
is the truth
and nothing
can be done
about it but
to kill
so i don't
write no
poems no more
i scribble
observations
no one wants to
think about

kjg 1150am 10 feb 2015


*

rain song without a coda

i was thinking of you honey
it was really kind of funny
the rain streamed down unconscious
where the lightning bolt relaunches
a semi-midnight classic
movie of our lives

it was not to be unflavoured
by a comic book or saviour
i took shelter in a doorway
when a prostitute came my way
and reminded me that plastic
wasn't worth a sigh

it was three hours after midnight
and something wasn't "alright"
i was wet and all too hungry
i was thinking of the highway
in a car a bit too spastic
for a ride

the trip we took together
in subliminal clear weather
the sun was like a shadow
burned us to the marrow
it was then you make me ask it
was it all a lie

on a bridge that lead to nowhere
i was more than just a carebear
the mourning doves were cooing
the church bells our undoing
so the lights went out quite drastic
where we stumbled in the night

i said no and walked on farther
where the early light might gather
i was hoping for solutions
but i gathered no conclusions
B movies never mask it
they always make you cry

i was thinking of you honey
it was really kind of funny
the rain streamed down unconscious
where the lightning bolt relaunches
a semi-midnight classic
movie of our lives

kjg 315pm 10 feb 2015

*

skeptical sonnet

i read that there are giant saucers
on the far side of the moon ready to
reveal themselves as belonging to the
aliens who built the great pyramid --
notice they never built the smaller 
ones -- and now at a critical junction
(what year in history hasn't been) 
in our history will swoop down, take over
and bring us all the peace we can't
handle. how's that for believing in
ourselves? seems quite correct to me.
we who abrogate responsibility
for everything. the saviour cometh in a
flying saucer: hi, here i am! golly gee!

kjg 333pm 10 feb 2015

*

portrait

she smiles like a watercress sandwich
she's handy with a ten pound magnet
she know when to throw a dragnet
in the blinding neon light

she's an artist and a poet
she's the only one who knows it
shows it in the mosh pit
where the shadows aren't too bright

she eats whatever's given
says "hand to mouth's a livin"
collects a purple ribbon
for the ones she leaves behind

i saw her last in summer
when the weather felt like thunder
i hear she went to tulsa
where she heals the not so blind

kjg 349pm 10 feb 2015

*

fame

the countdown starts the day you're born
don't worry about a thing just blow your horn
and if they put you in an arena go for red
then they'll celebrate you till you're dead.

kjg 950pm 10 feb 2014

*


after midnight
the moon and pleiades gone
i lie alone and count
the minutes passing by

-- sappho

kjg 718pm 11 feb 2015

*


moon and pleiades set
midnight and i lie alone
wasting precious time

-- sappho

kjg 747pm 11 feb 2015

*

moon and pleiades set
midnight and i lie alone
watching time sail by

-- sappho

kjg 755pm 11 feb 2015

*


The living see you rising, morning star,
Before the sunlight's fled;
Now, when the light has gone, Hesperus you are,
Resplendent to the dead!

-- Plato

kjg 915pm 11 feb 2015

*

living star rising
hesperous among the dead
ying and yang collide

kjg 939pm 11 feb 2015

*

sacrifice

the cat's in the bushes
the dog's in a howl
the fox glides through the shadows
all on a prowl

it's safe to say nothing
escapes a routine
in the drama that follows
no one is mean

the quest for survival
is a deep rooted fear
that humans exploited
through a terrible tear

no creature will slaughter
for a truth they believe
like man is a given
from godly reprieve

cain killed his brother
god wanted blood
humans have always
stuck to that path

kjg 934pm 13 feb 2015

*

wisdom is when
you realize
there is no
wisdom

kjg 937pm 13 feb 2015

*

Stupid people always wan't to tear down what smart people have built, 
and when they manage to do so, 
they wonder what went wrong 
and ask smart people to help them 
clean up the mess.

kjg 14 feb 2015

*

Give stupid people guns and they'll use them for stupid purposes;
Give smart people guns and they'll turn into zombies.

kjg 343pm 14 feb 2015

*

nice talkin'

i don't have much to say.
(pause)
well, anyway,
i don't have much to say.
nice talkin'...

kjg 545pm 14 feb 2015


*

Mulberry street

we met on mulberry street
mulberry street isn't it neat
we had some ice cream to eat
on mulberry street wasn't it sweet
on mulberry street

there was a dark little bar
where we would meet
on mulberry street
on mulberry street
the chianti was fine
we had a good time
on mulberry street
on mulberry street

i wonder today
what you would say
if we met again
on mulberry street
on mulberry street
on mulberry street

kjg 221am 16 feb 2015

*

Can I be odd?
I don't want to be a fraud
And appear normal!

kjg 1039pm 17 feb 2015

*

I'm a nice guy.
I try.
Sigh!

kjg 1105pm 17 feb 2015

*

Metaphysics

Can I be odd?
I don't want to be a fraud
And appear normal!

Normal's a word
That can be absurd
Dressed up too formal!

I shudder to hear
With a tinny tin ear
That we might be subnormal!

But what can I say
I'd give it away
If I believed us to be paranormal!

kjg 1121pm 17 feb 2015

*

opposition

shadows are funny i guess
when it's sunny they bless
the reflection solid inflection
where opposites meet
and a gathering greets
opposition
i won't call it war
it's too mutual to spar
on an intellectual level
so to hell with the devil
and a clear resurrection
the shadow will greet
whenever they meet
the sun with clear sanction

kjg 1217pm 18 feb 2015

*

sleep song

1 2 3 4
i..got..to..sleep
i gotta sleep
i...got..to..sleep
i gotta sleep

it was earling in the morning
i was drinking something warming
when a drone flew through my window
said "hallo" i said "how are you"
had a pleasant conversation
mumbled something 'bout the nation
but the nation wasn't listing
to the people at the station
oh it's been a wild contusion
don't take away your mansion
life's a terrible abstraction
so says anyone in traction

1 2 3 4
i..got..to..sleep
i gotta sleep
i...got..to..sleep
i gotta sleep 

when eve gave ad the apple
she said just eat don't sample
god's hiding in the bushes
like moses in he rushes
wearing purple sashes
running like molasses
smooth until the tresses
turn into god's ashes
the fever is upon us
turns us into dumb ass-
es don't forget your glasses
got to please the masses

1 2 3 4
i..go..to..sleep
i gotta sleep
just gotta sleep
just gotta sleep

there's a rumble in the boardroom
no one pays a heed to broadloom
when the sky fall with tumble
wall street is a jungle
no one spits a thunder
the media's a blunder
reality's committment
video encryptment
what's false is so accepted
no one is suspected
of sweet manipulation
par for correlation

1 2 3 4
i..go..to..sleep
i gotta sleep
just gotta sleep
just gotta sleep

kjg 1255am 21 feb 2015

*

easy rider

been there
done that
on a journey
to
nowhere
boring shit

kjg 130am 21 feb 2015

*

choice

as god is my witness
i swear by command
i haven't done nothing
that you'd understand
don't be surprised
there's a negative there
the truth does not favour
a positive flair

without a commitment
you flounder like cork
on a lake without purpose
like an empty new york
you ain't gonna notice
you ain't gonna care
the journey is shallow
and the point empty air

now i haven't wrote nothing
that you want to read
i ain't won no prizes
and i ain't gonna plead
forever myself
not a difficult choice
i won't be contained
and i'll keep my own voice

kjg 407pm 23 feb 2015

*

listen

i ain't no academic
i don't understand them words
if you cannot understand me
i'm sorry if it hurts

kjg 414pm 23 feb 2015

*

my latin teacher used to say
scribere instituerim
but what's a purpose anyway
without con-stanter ad laudem

kjg 426pm 23 feb 2015

*

Pupil: After your death, O Master, we will preserve your body.
Master: In that case, will you preserve your ignorance also?

kjg 431pm 23 feb 2015

*

a new day dawning
i can't stop yawning
back to bed
the day looks desperate
and dead

kjg 641am 24 feb 2015

*

Academy awards:
Infomercial for the stars.

kjg 1102am 24 feb 2015

*

Ego is easily insulted where reason welcomes a challenge.

kjg 121pm 24 feb 2015

*

When we no longer cherish the past we have no future.

kjg 110pm 2 feb 2015

*

What ISIS really wants is for the west to allow the Arab countries to unite and create a pan-Arab army, which will in effect create another superpower. Then ISIS no longer needs to exists because they can infiltrate from the inside. And the west is falling for it.

kjg 3pm 27 feb 2015

*

stuck inside this construct
with the winter blues again...

kjg 335pm 27 feb 2015

*

Is there realy such a thing as love, or do we pick partners from an available gene pool in our vacinity? We obviously cannot meet everyone on the planet?

kjg 452pm 27 feb 2015

*

war

what's on your mind
something left behind
a lost data stream
from a twisted dream
it's always there
from a ground-swell where
all matter merged
and you just upsurged
life in the spring
with a phoenix wing
it rises hard
like an oven tart
but flavourful
when the string is pulled
only don't come here
if you want a dare
there's little room
where they dance too soon
it's a poison asp
when they eat repast
before the fast
like a beggar's lost
out on the street
we'll never meet
did the war repeat
another cruel defeat
let's understand
when we're holding hands
dying's much better
than living in a band

kjg 1125pm 27 feb 2015

*

PTL

when the devil's got me
i'll shout hallelujah
there's no place in heaven
for the ones who don't wanna fool yah

kjg 241pm 28 feb 2015

*

i hope
someone
remembers me
when i'm gone
because
i sure won't

kjg 255pm 28 feb 2015

*

*

All poems copyright (c) 2015 Klaus J. Gerken
Published by Ygdrasil Press