WORD SYMPHONIES

by

Klaus J. Gerken

(2006 - )



SYMPHONY I

by

Klaus J Gerken

2006

I

You start with 1 note:

b flat major

caught in the middle
of an argument
between two cats

in the halls of parliament

and pianoforte displaces
seven drums and the master violinist
throws confusion to the wind
and becomes Beethoven
wild hair
broken ears
and what silence
wrought such noise

Mozart was a dilettante
compared to this
horse of a monster

laughter fills the ailes
priests bow down to elohim
and displace her form

so b said to mozart chickenshit
when m denuded his talent
and spat on B's desire
"you are like a nerve to me
raping harvest moons."

M went on to greater things
200 hundred years later
won an oscar
and made pretty noise
B created a great complexity
maybe jazz
and something M wd never have
understood
and who can argue where that went?

Sometime we don't know
knowing we don't know
sometimes the hammer needs a wall
sometimes we need to suffer
and always the law is a petty argument
to creativity

I have nothing left
but words and 
              understanding
they have nothing left
but pretty lawns and their
neighbour's attitude
their children are their harbour
their wives a true receptacle
(do they ever understand each other?)
they compromise
and the blas‚ live in peace...

There's a moment where the
shattered shatter
and refuse to take this anymore
the world is not a piano 
the world is what you do with it
but the concrete matters to the LAAAAAAAW
the individual conforms
and that is RAW...
they don't like that
(give three cellos and a crash--
the Beatles even had a cord for that)

Help or maybe just a Hard Day's Night
Will we ever get it right?
The frozen surface of a bowl
of water will not satisfy a thirsty cat
And we kill each other in cruel places
Compassion bleeds another curse
And who are we to just assume
Assuming is for those who blow 
the promise to the need of something else

The Fly The Planet The Last Rites
dormant on my shelf refuse to void the brilliance
whatever form they take
or fake
assuming has to be the great escape
take responsibility for nothing
save face
don't stick your head too far
above the crowd
toe the line
get it right
ask no questions
just accept

Dawn and microscopic particles
explode
into a new dimension
how cruel we humans are
tearing things apart

Hollow article
Miss you
Down beat
Crazy desperate
instability blues
no one knows we don't exist
love me baby
hold me baby
do me this and
do me that
and what is ultimately left
alzheimer's
and a faded photograph
somewhere trodden on the street
off in a garbage heap
and the never remembered you
the never remembered them
only history remembers history
and individuals succumb
like dying sperm
into a broken womb
dark ages
expanding sun
no present to communicate
through past events
...darkly

cheques
i write cheques
because they don't want me to
i have a rotary phone
because they don't want me to
i pay no attention to the status quo
i pay attention to myself
i like marinated herring
i like smoked eel
(i mistyped "sliked ell"
which i find more fitting)
i listen to the stones
slow blues confront me
i watch whale music
the day the earth stood still
i drink red bourgogne
gogne
pronounce that
this is a symphony for 'ell's sake
sak‚ won't do
get a burning vine
christ in an autumn fog
smoke of sacrifice
burnt offering
twin towers
to another god
held captive
by human thought

the gods are dead don't you know
the present gods are politicians
and terrorists
ludwig on napoleon
eroika
fields of gentle breezes
golden flowers
covering 
rotting corpses
and no one sees the earth
in all its splendour
small blue orb 
dribble by religion
into a hoop
score one for the stupid
score one for the powerful
score one for the mindless
score one for you and me
dismembered
of rationality and hope
trick or treat on halloween
why wear masks
when you have a message
legitimate?
why wear masks at all?

II

So Ludwig had a thing
about his sister-in-lay (law)

sick twisted as he was
he still had curly hair
...on his head
frozen ear
and ivory fingers
defiant to the end
Ludwig was the peeping tom
to our hearts
minds
digging in our souls
a thousand shovels in each brain
digging digging digging
what we may not know
and he ain't police
desperate semi-human gadgets
twisted tuned manipulated
to whatever rules the sanction validates
they hate you one day
love you the next
when the "law" changes
they don't think
i don't like people who don't think
you can't talk to them
they don't talk to you
they have a mission
to destroy

I am just a human being
bread upon this planet
sinking dust
trying to make certainty of what is not
i am star
i am star
i am a broken member from afar
a string does not connect
we break
we break
"just like a little girl"
in the comfort of humanity
strutting like a giant ant
across the raw domain of insecurity
Hold on Hold on Hold on
the wire is a slingshot
and the forest rides upon the moss
of live grenades
London harbours rape my mind
and 9/11 never happened
in another time
line
we are here because we have to be
there is no solution otherwise
hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah
death destructon and more pain
revel in salvation
the lord is just the lord is just
the lord is just when rich nations seem
to need HIM most

SHE is never there to argue and combat
SHE is MARY MAGDALEN SARAH EVE and whomever else
she washes feet 
she spits out children
she OBEYS her HUSBAND
she is silent
she is PURE
she is everything
for GOD's sake she's a WHORE
She's a woman
She's a slave
Make no mistake
she's always been a slave
a slave with power over men
never realized
WOMEN RULE THE WOLRD
THROUGH SEX
and the shelter they provide
their offspring
Men just form 'pretend' societies
socialize in wolf garb
and howl at the moon
Women keep the world alive
Women keep the world alive
Women keep the world ALIVE
Monks like me just write it down
to let the cat out of the bag
and the cat's out of the bag
the cat's out of the bag
the cats out chasing mice
the cat's out chasing mice
we say very nice
nice nice
nice
woman in a vice
lots of men advise
what will happen when
men cannot pretend
women in the end
women in the end
spare the rod for men

III

What is God's purpose?
Dante made a mess
Popes are rarely blessed
Does one ever live
next to holiness?

IV

since 1-1 cannot = 0
and since zero can't exist
so
Where did we begin
how did we begin
since everything we do
is in the past
what is the present
is there a present
this is the enigma
nothing out of nothing
is still nothing
but out of nothing
something came
whether next to us
or some divine being
it makes no sense
we exist
we are here
yet we cannot be
here or anywhere else

but we exist
plain and simple
we
   exist

the universe exists
the beyond the universe exists
the beyond that exists
and so forth so forth so forth

what is forever?
what is never?
what is what can never be
but is?

"I think, therefore I am"

Maybe that's all there is 

Maybe thought is light

Maybe thought is nothing

I'm just human...I sure don't know...
and if God, or Buddha, or Allah, or whatever
ants call their gods...and if that God knows
I bow to him or her or them
because I don't think they would know either

Maybe a quark does
Maybe a quark just exists and doesn't care
how or when or why

dark

dark matter
things that can't be seen
but a butterfly sees things differently
and we are just amazed at the beauty 
of its wings

Why must we be gods
and never the
beauty or the truth

why must we be false aromas
because we smell no flowers
why must we be darkness
because we hate the light
why must we be anything
but ourselves naked
the way we are...

hope is not a radiance
hope is simple forwardness

two cellos
darkness death and love
unison then counter measure
slow like indecision
but decision nonetheless
hope beyond a loss
loss beyond a hope
where do we begin
end
where do we belong
what are we
are we that other planet we search for
probably
we are not ourselves
we are someone else
something else
we may never even be
in a stolen moment 
of eternity

woodwinds
nature
hope
future
future
mess

conglomerate or
personal
public
private
communicable
contained
the human virus spreads its curse
across a mouldy planet
heathened by a trembling sun
today we might exist
tomorrow never knows

666

(c) 2006 Klaus J. Gerken
Published by Ygdrasil Press