OPIUM DREAMS by Klaus J. Gerken 2005 Copyright (c) 2005 Klaus J. Gerken Published by Ygdrasil Press 2005 1st Printing I Master said: One grain of sand is worth a thousand words. Pupil asked: What if I step on it? Master frowned: How pitiful you are! 804pm 21 Apr 05 II I do not like you Martin I never did like you And if I ever liked someone It wasn't the likes of you. 823pm 21 Apr 05 III Pupil asked the Master: What is the meaning of life? Master stared at the pupil -- The quizzical silence said all. 304am 23 Apr 05 IV If you arrest me for what I see; You've just destroyed democracy. 7:45pm 23 Apr 05 V Mother's mad after new gray cat tried to feed her beneath the boards Vincent tried to chase her back to death (delay communion god decides our fate) must is sometimes subtle understanding's worse I give gray cat some food brownie eats it I gather other food gay cat accepts so much territory cats can't comprehend the world is so divided why do cats still fight? 8:23 23 Apr 05 VI chase a fly all day long where's the justice? VII you don't hate something unless you have an affinity for it. 3pm 24 Apr 05 VIII I wonder what God dreams about. 6:48pm 27 Apr 2005 IX in one room long vigil as one life closes in another room long vigil as birth reclaims life from death nothing dies 5:27 28 Apr 05 X everything is alive the universe is alive the galaxies are alive stars are alive planets are alive we are alive plants are alive rocks are alive wind is alive atoms are alive electrons are alive quarks are alive a black hole is alive into infinity where nothing exists except life and life alone without body without mind giving birth to everything we comprehend and more we cannot ever comprehend unless we die and are reborn from a decaying renewal rebirth? maybe maybe just each baby growing in a woman's womb gathering gathering gathering quarks electrons atoms forming thought and thought itself into a body channeling the universe into a single image we can never recognize if there is a god we are it's eyes and ears god learn from us god grown by us if god forgives our sins he only forgives us for using us but there is no god there is only us in a teaming universe of life alive recycling recycling forever like a great lotus blossom opening and closing in the cycles of uncountable cycles in the greatest mystery of all 5:44pm 28 Apr 05 XI Science creates a pervert The law creates a criminal Otherwise there's just a human being. 5:49 28 Apr05 XII There should only be five types of crime: Murder; Violence; Coercible; Home Invasion; Theft. Everything else is inconsequential. 5:51 28 Apr 05 XIII it's 3 am the bars have closed rowdy waiters on the street Carla's horny rob is gay both recruit their separate way the night is soft the stars glitter in bitter alley-ways... XIV a poem is a voice a voice is a magnet a magnet is an eye an eye is a universe I leave the rest to future poets... 5.55pm 2 May 2005 XV If I write an epigram It's not because you've eaten ham. 6pm 2 May 2994 XVI 3 hookers in a jar don't you know who they are a man's no man don't have a car munches on a big cigar breaks the rules and declares war on anyone who sees too far I guess I don't believe in stars Only gods make empty pars Racing in a faulty cart Playing every other's part Knowing where the juice flows in One more dance we'll never win I don't know how you'll repair Desperate hookers on the dare 803pm 2 May 05 XVII if there hadn't been politics there'd be no debate there'd be no killing for revenge and if there hadn't been religion there'd be no genocide ever 7:43pm 4 May 2005 XVIII if stupidity hadn't alerted me wisdom would be such a dumb disease 807pm 4 May 2005 IX the master cracked an egg done deal he said 813pm 4 May 2005 X no deal is worth the devil no devil is worth the deal 823pm XI there was a prince who wanted to marry five princesses one of the five did not which one and why was she the one he needed most? 7:20am 7 May 2005 XII never let a cat know the one meow that annoys the most that's the one the cat will cherish... 6.56pm 7 may 05 XIII once fooled twice cheated next time get your head examined... 6:50 7 May 05 XIV a cat alone in a room will not meow... 7:01pm 7 May 05 XV Master said to pupil: think. Pupil masturbated. Master spit in pupil's eye. Pupil was whatever "ated". 707pm 7 May 05 XVI I was the apple in her eye Until she bit me. 7.19pm 7 may 05 XVII Master hit pupil Pupil shrieked One law against the many. 7.25pm 7 May 05 XVIII there's life on mars in the form of dust- devils straining for the stars 8 May 2005 2.39pm XIX there was a time I thought I knew myself I never knew myself I never will life is very long climb up a crumbling hill and each step we take is one more mistake retrograde learning is all that we have to carry our hope religion might matter but death takes us all and religion is dope for the living who stumble and fall into the great hall of judgment and terror a "loving" god makes to shepherd you soul where freedom is nothing and "correction" is all it is hard to believe when the "word" just deceived and our judgment deemed hollow I'm sorry God I have a mind Follow me and maybe I'll follow you 7:22 8 may 05 XXI They fought for my freedom...but Would I have known the difference Had the other side won? 7:25pm 8 May 05 XXI They fought for my freedom...but Would I have known the difference Had the other side won? 7:25pm 8 May XXI What is poetry what is art what is entertainment the poet knows the artist knows the entertainer bows one respects the other and the public wallows in the quagmire of illusion... 741pm 8 may 05 XXII I followed you you followed me and sex was just the harmony (I'll cry if you say please..) 750pm 8 may 05 XXIII my cat's ok you're ok I'm ok life is short enough 758pm 8 may 05 XXIV one more drink and I will dream of holy challenges life cannot afford to comprehend one more beginning to the end 804pm 8 may 05 XXV freedom is what they tell you freedom is 218am 9 may 05 XXVI Pupil states: You must feel great about that - Especially with your photo on the cover! Master sighs: 30 years ago it would have gone to my head.... Now it's just another dead tree sitting on my shelf. 5:40pm 9 May 2005 XXVII why should we bother with anything when most people die before they learn to live? 646pm 19 May 05 XXVIII Ritual most live for that one person who tells them how to live and then they kill him. is cannibalism any different? 648pm 10 May 2005 XXIX don't ever tell me how to live I make my own decisions.. power takes control. 658pm 10 may 05 XXX pick a flower kill a god everything is sacred 702pm 10 may 05 XXXI I used to argue with religion now it's just another term 711pm 10 may 05 XXXII when I argue with my cat guess who wins? 712pm 10 may 05 XXXIII there wasn't a moment I wasn't sure I wasn't the pope signed: "rumpelstilskin" 744pm 11 may 05 XXXIV where the victim is guilty of telling the truth the victor is guilty of telling a lie 748pm 11 may 05 XXXV don't do to me what you done to others: where's the lie and the mistake? 750pm 11 may 05 XXXVI PM lackey PM lackey PM lackey PM lackey where's the justice in the system? 757pm 11 may 05 XXXVII here's the truth the government is rotten and we are Canadians (small c) gloating at TV knowing we don't see blind glasses after all gave Caligula his rule and when he died no one understood the fool... 809pm 11 may 05 XXXVIII Pope Benedict... The hand of God is derelict. 818pm 11 may 05 XXXIX cat scratches my eye don't blame cat blame my eye for being there 701pm 12 may 05 XL forgiveness is a purpose revenge is a lie 702pm 12 may 05 XLI the government lies to us and we say ok. we lie to the government and go to jail. has the wake-up call be a rusty nail? 709pm 12 may 05 XLII master said: so I'm simple, what's the problem? god said: let there be light - what's more simple than that? 712pm 12 may 05 XLIII if the earth is not alive I am not alive if I am not alive the earth is dead frozen promises make great lollipops 716pm 12 may 05 XLIV teens are having sex they always have so why are we concerned? 723pm 12 may 05 XLV every bylaw we have is concerned with money when will the law ever be concerned with the welfare of the community? 725pm 12 may 05 XLVI You trust me don't you? Do I have to say it? 733pm 12 may 05 XLVII poetry is a form of continuity not a form of literature 744pm 12 may 05 XLVIII I am not your paramour I am your disease 748pm 12 may 05 XLIX these poems are paintings you will never see unless you understand the consequence of your insecurity 753pm 12 may 05 LX if life has no purpose then government has the purpose live the lie 756pm 12 may 05 335pm 13 may 05 LXI do not strangle me with hope love is so much better... 340pm 13 may 05 LXII women rule men play games 2205am 14 may 05 LXIII the pupil bows to the master when have I arrived the master bows to the pupil when have I known you 811pm 17 may 2005 LXIV snob says great wine vintner says I know I pissed in the vat myself 815pm 17 may 05 LXV for BS one millionaire buys the leadership and banishes the elected leader the millionaire falters and sells his leadership to another millionaire democracy is dead and no one says a word but vote em in agin the rest are so much shit what is left to say? who is left to vote for? 18 may 05 1115pm LXVI I was once a master in chess now I couldn't win a game against a monkey age makes the perfect enemy. 23 May 05 LXVII guilty for the good...measure ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ after watching surviving Picasso I am convinced that women stay with artists not for genius but for money in poverty it's the same only then it's for survival love has nothing to do with it love's a flame that lights a good cigar good lungs keep the glow alive there's nothing we can do about it either we are arrogant or submissive there's a smile where broken hearts must pass and deliver me from evil deliver me from job a fallacy created me a right might make me wrong how's that for a movie where I don't belong? 24 may 2--5 2:58pm LXVIII Salvation ~~~~~~~~~ It was such a small amazement no one realized. 24 May 05 302pm LXIX portrait of an artist ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I paint small Picassos I write penny pounds if I weren't human god would take me down 315pm 24 may 05 L smile 357pm 24 may 05 LI I fucked you twice you left found love with another then came back said you were deceived fucking deceives no one I just told the truth love is indiscretion blindness is the fall 402pm 24 may 05 LII there are moments I surrender but I never do when the enemy is blinded I buy the latest ipod 407pm 24 may 05 LIII When there is nothing left to teach ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Master told the student, "Live". Student shot the master dead. 628pm 24 may 05 LIV The weak define the strong. The strong define decay. 12:57 25 May 2005 LV To the Others -- Smile ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When was the last time you were half as happy as me? 217pm 25 May 05 LVI They gave me an IQ of 186 They tried to take me from my parents We fled to Canada Where I tried to live it down Being chided for my scholastic "indifference" Odd man out I stayed reclusive Hiding painting, poetry, novels, plays... Whatever momentum there is I have opposed That is your psychiatry That is the evil you have wrought Categories degrade the human being There is no integrity where I become a number Psychiatry has destroyed me ...how many millions more? 2:30pm 25 May 2005 LVII bone eats dog cat delicious. 2:37pm 25 may 05 LVIII where evil thinks it rules good is always visual ant. 244pm 25 may 05 LVIX Master said: Sushi is raw fish on a slab of rice Maybe one day I will be a fish On your slab of rice Opening your mouth. 247pm 25 may 05 LX How much have I drunk tonight Li Po asked the moon Jump into my shadow And I will tell you said the moon. 259pm 25 may 05 LXI consider humanity it just exists. 728pm 25 may 05 LXII consider the planet earth consider the galaxy consider the Virgo cluster of a thousand galaxies consider the universe consider our conception of a deity consider our wars and conflicts consider our survival consider love consider hate consider our inconsequence 738pm 25 may 05 LXIII one more glass of wine one more cat's meow I will still be thine when you tell me how... 744pm 25 may 05 LXIV to RS there is a home in Pistoia Italy with my paintings on the wall it's a study and a shrine to a cyber-love more real than any mortal love could ever promise hope where distance is a shadow the sun appears more real and I have never faltered to turn the holy wheel one fine day of mercy the distance will dissolve and both of us will gather the promise we can love. 755pm 25 may 05 LXV Dave Alvin and the Guilty Men Blues can get no better than... 252pm 27 may 05 LXVI girls take notice ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ out of the corner of my eye I caught you walking west on Elgin street the hieroglyphs so much resembled you I knew you were the goddess nephthys sister goddess to all earthly dinosaurs the way you swayed your hips was monster the god of hippopotami would be pleased and the master of your bleeding was the minotaur ravaging the deep I felt you looking back at me as if I were diseased and the only arrow in your quiver left to you was low cut jeans and a tremendous tease. 301pm 27 may 05 LXVII everywhere else it wd be a coup here it's "friendly politics" the government is ousted by someone who buys the votes and then to keep the farce alive they sell the leadership to someone from the opposition giving her a prestigious cabinet post I guess it's not to dull the scandal to quell the sabre tooth it's a blatant axe-to-axe democracy in a country that held to the truth and now has nothing more to give except corruption indifference and mud. 318pm 27 may 05 LXVIII The Master says, Sob. The pupil laughs. The Master slaps the pupil once. The Master slaps the pupil twice. 331pm 27 may 05 LXIX Take your lessons as they come. Don't bother with the universe. 347pm 27 may 05 LXX When was the last time God spoke to you? When was the last time Your God spoke to you? When was the last time Any God spoke to you? When was the last time you spoke to yourself? 350pm 27 may 05 LXXI Poetry As much as I want to say I have mastered you I have yet to Master you at all Nothing masters you The clam is in the cradle And the lamb is on the rack And to the shadows we originate The mask is just as mask And there is nowhere we can hide it Our ignorance of course We falter at the moment We say the truth is sure The truth is never certain no poem is ideal if we can ask a question we may have pressed the seal But them I am no master I suffer for my loss And as Poetry revives me I bow to Homer's blindness And the voice conveyed Beowulf to generation after generation and the Monk who kept Martial alive even though he got it wrong it's ok sometime we feel the need to hate and from that hate burns truth Poetry is not a buffer it's not a sucker punch it is real right cross perfect shot count to ten and when they revive you if you haven't found religion you just may have found the truth... 27 may 05 LXXII Damn you Moshe Benarroch why introduce me to David Olney without warning me of the consequences I grew up with the songs of Bob Dylan I even wrote my own and maybe too often Leonard Cohen held my hand But this is human slaughter This has no repeal A bullet in my cranium For what I never could expect Everyone must listen To these desperate songs. 540pm 27 may 2005 LXXIII to RS You have always been my lover not in body but my heart it's strange how close we have become continents apart... may the universe connect some small part of our regret at not having breathed the same air and walked the same path Dante walked your streets And his Beatrice sewed her gowns In the street where you live now I will never visit there but always know our history collected moments no one can dissolve. LXXIV I will visit your dreams when you visit my reality. 630pm 27 may 05 LXXV Master said in passing Hi Pupil said in passing Hi Both would never meet again Neither knew the other or what the other was to each Both went home continued with their lives a thousand lives later they would understand 27 may 05 LXXVI The journey enlightens me. I am the most amazed of all. 28 may 05 LXXVII my cat looks at me like an owl looks at prey he just doesn't bit and owl wd devour me 30 may 05 LXXVIII the old testament is tribal whatever makes a tribe survive is in there the new testament is urban in a slave society we need a new religion democracy is dead 30 may 05 LXXIX One of the ones they let out of prison ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ she didn't want me I raped her anyway 30 may 05 LXXX on and on and on we go ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a wild rose and a tulip intermingled two great goddesses emerged one spied casualties the other believed neither knew disease neither knew our freedom neither knew their need both kept planting seeds 30 may 05 LXXXI to an enemy you were a formidable declension on my slow decay 30 may 05 LXXXII damn you present moment, yesterday was fine. 8pm 30 may 05 LXXXIII it's the kid in the back seat who has the adventure to the parents it's just a drive 719pm 31 may 05 LXXXIX Thunder Storm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ brimstone in the air hot smell and breathing distant thunder bellowing cracking like a whip blow on a donkey's back scaling Akrotiri's ledges to the crater's edge it is an ancient feeling fear - knowing something brazen rolls above us - over us knowing we still cower in awe in dank and dirty caves fearing gods we do not know when the crater blew an ancient world lay dead five hundred years the hyskos invaded Egypt the Phoenicians were gone and the Greek civilization flourished in the wake of death and chaos - the world would never be the same and now the rain pours down like hail upon a blazing desert raging alleys in the sands of time my cat hides ears back wide eyed in the closet while I open doors windows to let the wild fresh wind fumigate the place of heavy hot and musty molecules - there is reason to rejoice - the storm purges the earth of winter's stagnant traces and gives substance to new growth new harmony that summer will provide - the drum roll continues a fitting prelude in the spring. 420pm - 445pm 1 June 2005 LXXXX the storm is over the humidity clings to my skin like a sponge what type of sponge? I couldn't tell you just a wet heavy h2o laden sponge give me soap give me soap I need a bath! 518pm 1 June 2005 LXXXXI So love drives teenagers crazy a million dollar study shows poets could have told you for 10 thousand years didn't cost a cent but in our present society experts know it all bow to experts everyone dry mouth rules and no one is allowed the wine... 538pm 1 June 2005 LXXXXII I am just as stupid as the rest of you if anyone is smarter let me know 731pm 1 Jun 05 LXXXXIII catch phrases catch phrases let me catch phrases that don't offer very much... then I'll understand the cure where no one's ever gone before gentle moments pass H I guess will always last. 737pm 1 Jun 05 LXXXXIV Death Star ~~~~~~~~~~ I'm doing Greece tonight movrodaphne patras retsina malamatina makedonikos tsantall 03 watching coronation street and pretending not to notice tomorrow... one thousand six hundred light years away there is a star a binary system that will merge and take us with it when the title wave explodes cd be tomorrow cd be a million years from now sounds like religion stalking our belief 752pm 1 Jun 05 LXXXXV don't follow me tomorrow if you follow me today 758pm 1 Jun 05 LXXXXVI that backwater Alexandria where ancient civilization was lost not once but twice once by the Christians then the Arabs the one Alexander founded the one Durrell wrote about the one I never visited the one I dreamt about when youth held my command and couldn't see the future but through a foggy dream the rebuilt city on ancient monuments burnt library destroyed history lighthouse no longer there almost European visited in war ignored in peace yet a marvel in a dream 4 novels 4 streams and many more sexes than is possible Alexandra is and always will be more dreamt about than seen 819pm 1 Jun 05 LXXXXVII thunder gods design quiet human shrines 613pm 2 June 05 LXXXXVIII how hard is it to write a hundred poems she asked how hard is it to read them I answered 619pm 2 June 05 LXXXXVIIII (old style) our galaxy is devouring another it was a revelation we are predators in a predatory universe upon a predatory planet feasting on our own 625pm 2 Jun 05 C one hundred poems what can I say substance or a give-away... numbers mean nothing never do one good reader will always do one hundred poems take a walk there's more out there than this poet's thought. 633pm 2 Jun 05 Copyright (c) 2005 Klaus J. Gerken Published by Ygdrasil Press 2005