Winter by Klaus J. Gerken (2013) Winter I have seen the frosted window panes In the winter of a frosted rain; I have marveled where the marvel sheds It's marvel where the sky has bled; I have come an old and ragged man To the end where sirens drag a man: 'This not so you say, it cannot be But it is, my friend, for you and me! I have seen the years of garden roses, Bloom, wither, die and bloom again; So much of what has passed is roses, Roses that survived the frosted rain. And I have fallen by the wayside, Gathered dust and brushed the dust away again. 'Tis not so you say, it cannot be But it is, my friend, for you and me. Of all the Springs and Summer seasons A journey on explosive wings Gathers wind into our billowed sails And guides us forward in the mist of things; Have you seen yourself in the blacked-out mirror, Have you rubbed your eyes and stared in wonder? 'Tis not so you say, it cannot be But it is, my friend, for you and me! Now the Autumn wisely takes our senses - Lear is old and hiding, apprehensive; What has once been a polished shining crown Is now but a wind of dust in a wand'rer's gown. Looking back you hardly see the sun of youth In the candle diminished in your empty room. 'Tis not so you say, it cannot be But it is, my friend, for you and me! KJG 1:48 AM Tuesday 29 January 2013 * Song performed in a dream on stage with Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf at the Palladium. Carl Perkins sang the coda from the back ground in shadow fading in and out. Ron Wood, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf did the solo. Wish I could have taped it. It was glorious! Midnight Blues When the train stops at midnight, you got to get off When the train stops at midnight, you got to get off There won't be nobody waitin', but it's no time to scoff When you're walkin' down the street man and there ain't no one around When you're walkin' down the street man and there ain't no one around Think about your woman and the whiskey you have downed (Fade in) Well its one for the money two for the show time to get ready go cat go (Fade out) When the train howls at midnight and the road is long and hard When the train howls at midnight and the road is long and hard When you finally get to your back door do some thinking hard When you open up that back door the house is dark and mean When you open up that back door the house is dark and mean Your baby ain't at home man and your house ain't very clean Instrumental (Fade in) Well its one for the money two for the show time to get ready go cat go (Fade out) When the train stops at midnight, you got to get off When the train stops at midnight, you got to get off There won't be nobody waitin', but it's no time to scoff When you're walkin down the street man and there ain't no one around When you're walkin down the street man and there ain't no one around Think about your woman and the whiskey you have downed Written in a dream 11pm wrote down 1122 pm 29 Jan 2013 KJG 11pm 29 Jan 2013 * Pupil asks master: When? Master answers: Now! Then points to the door. Pupil asks: Why? Master growls: You have to ask? 30 Jan 2012 * My Love Is My love is like an angel with mended broken wings Follows me to midnight till the mourning dove sings I dance under Arctarius and follow every star I cannot give her credit though she followed me this far There's a trophy hanging somewhere that no one wants to have But she holds it her bosom and she'll take it to her grave There's an old familiar saying, "I commit to what life is" Sometime's loves a failure and sometimes it's a kiss So if you follow me to midnight, I'll follow you to dawn Both of us together won't raise a false alarm In the morning when we wake up, the mending will begin You will fly away like an angel into a new dawning. KJG 907pm 30 January 2013 * Master asks young pupil: Whatcha want? Pupil blurts out: Enlightenment! Master smiles: See my age? KJG 550am 31 Jan 2013 * follow one more time i can't decline what makes a purpose doesn't always make a rhyme lounging here on the stair swing babe swing it's the walk that is the thing there's a room and there's a lair it isn't always fair the beggar digs a trench and the old man cops a bench i'm all for tender moments or oracles and omens like shooting at the stars with shotguns in a bar don't worry there's a fraction of a pulverized reaction to noodles in hot soup when the winter comes recoup one more time i can't decline what makes a purpose doesn't always make a dime kjg 1239pm 31 jan 2013 * Return I bid you farewell, may you have a safe journey; The way is long, and the path is daunting. There are many unknowns, and I fear for your safety. If you stay I can offer you sanctuary. My garden has plenty and my house is warm; The soldiers will never raise an alarm. "I thank you my friend, but I must return home; My people require a head for their throne." KJG 144pm 31 Jan 2013 * Flash between the shadow and the sun where reality comes undone there's a momentary flash that blinds one like a match lit up in the dark recesses of mind where the ghostly images park and linger so unkind at first one sees nothing then slowly in the dark reality comes sharp and then like a lost dream the meaning slips away the mind is not revealing and everything is mud and then the match burns out. KJG 908am 2 Feb 2013 * hemlock i have no more passion all my passion has deserted me the broken vines and withering laurels attest to a terrible winter of malcontent the oracle is mute and the harbour is empty frozen with the ice of centuries i encourage no removal i enjoy the emptiness passion without feeling feeling without passion i seek a cave without an echo that leads into a darkness and forgets about the past there is no lighthouse where i am going there is no need for light at all what is given is not taken and what is taken is not given drunks and children know it they see who rapes the mind poets plow the field sometimes only dust but poets plow who will sow the seeds? kjg 1009 2 feb 2013 * Perception The blind man opened the door for me. I said, "It's dark in here." He answered, "I didn't notice." KJG 1134am 2 February 2013 * Listen Little voices speak to me distinctly little voices not grand orchestras that shout. kjg 910pm 2 feb 2013 * Damage In the quiet of the night When darkness gathers into heaps Of intrinsic damnation We hold on Tightly shaking To one terrible premise That we are alive. KJG 356AM 4 Feb 2013 * Vampire I cast no shadow, I am not alive; And the mirror only shows me what I cannot hide. KJG 1125PM 4 Feb 2013 * trouble there's trouble in the alley there's trouble in the land there's trouble in the valley there's trouble in the hand i don't make no commitment there's trouble without end there's trouble in the hallway there's trouble in the street there's trouble in a small way there's trouble in defeat i don't make no commitment there's trouble when we meet there's trouble in the orchard there's trouble in the store there's trouble where the guns are there's trouble and theres more i don't make no commitment there's trouble at the core there's trouble in peace time there's trouble in war there's trouble round the corner there's trouble in the law i don't make no commitment there's trouble in god's claw There's trouble on the oceans There's trouble on the shore there's trouble in your potions there's trouble when you want more i don't make no commitment there's trouble at the door there's trouble in the engine there's trounle in the mud there's trouble in a question there's trouble in the flood i don't make no commitment there's trouble in the blood there's trouble on the pavement there's trouble in the sky there's trouble in bereavement there's trouble in the lie i don't make no commitment there's trouble when we die kjg 1117pm 5 feb 2013 * Wrote this lyric coming back from the grocery store to keep from thinking about the -27C cold. A Drunkard's Morning The morning sun is breaking I'm aching and I'm shaking Got no booze to lift a finger Ain't got time to even linger The ground is frozen solid Got to go and get a sandwich Haven't eaten can't remember I've been hollow since September My feet are awfull swollen What's owed is always stolen I count my dimes and nickles Life's so bloody fickle Guess I'll go panhandle Wish I had a candle The silence is so broken At 10 the beer store opens KJG 1057am 7 Feb 2013 * Insight When the window is open at night you better look out because when it is closed you will only see your own reflection. The stars will not follow you inside. KJG 742pm 9 Feb 2013 * Ego We are so large beneath the sky, Hardly noticed by the Universe. KJG 1106am 10 Feb 2013 * Love I will love you till you poison me I will love you with a smile I will love you till you discard me I will love you for the mile. KJG 1125am 10 Feb 2013. * Lullaby The evening shatters my mind like glass. The stars reflect in the shards, and beam Images of my mind to God. God does not answer, so I await the aliens in shiny flying saucers To complete my education. KJG 727pm 11 Feb 2013 * Addiction The final step on the ladder is always the most difficult; the way back down is real easy. Always nice to have a helping hand to pull you up. KJG 1127am 12 Feb 2013 * Storm The windows are rattling And the shadows are splashing On the walls that are crashing Into me The cats are asleep And the snow is too deep To go for a walk In the desperate dark There's time on my mind It's not always kind The stars flood the ceiling With difficult meanings A race has begun It can't be much fun To try to outrun What you cannot outrun Why carry the cross That isn't your loss The dream haunts forever Like a crisis that never refuses to stop like a difficult job that carries you past a failure of task KJG February 2013 * Saint Val Day Poem The rose and the thorn The rhinoseros's horn The lust in the mud The thunderbolt's thud The Siren's just wail Ulysses looks pale He lost all his men To a sloppy pig pen But Pan is a joker And plays at bad poker And Venus alluring Brightens the curing With hollow amazement When Love makes a statement "If we have offended Let shadows be mended And quite what is given Never be taken." So in meadow or bower Let love be the flower Of youth and of beauty Let the wind do its duty And blow the seeds wide Where religion will hide Turning blind its blind eye To a long lovers sigh And the rose and the thorn The rhinoseros's horn The lust in the mud The thunderbolt's thud So be happy not broken This I have spoken. KJG 1232pm 14 Feb 2013 * What we know Everyone has knowledge of what they have no knowledge of; Those who have true knowledge rarely admit it willingly. kjg 629pm 15 feb 2013 * Do not follow me If I am the true path, Do not follow me, I am as lost as you, Leading nowhere. kjg 634pm 15 feb 2013 * revelation i was hollow i was mean i was like a beauty queen i was smiles and all connection i was in the vi section i exploded like a lemon falls to earth with so much venom it was strange to see me splattered over everything that mattered no more shelter from the ugly like a hammer it had struck me that the blindness was restriction and the glitter was a fiction so prepare for crucifixion what's revealed is god's addiction. kjg 812am 16 feb 2013 * Just tell me how, I'll follow Just outside Jerusalem Where donkeys take a shit Jesus came a-calling And knew that this was it The hill was filled with crosses And a lie was on the line He crept into the Temple Was told that all was fine I see the money lenders He said with a deep sigh What have these to do with God's eternal lie So he overturned their tables And started his own Church And many years among us The seed of God gave birth To a multitude of preachers Who have money in their girth Banks and corrupt government For whatever it is worth. kjg 845am 16 feb 2013 * Justice God created Satan As an angel I would grant But the angel rebelled Set up his own Kingdom Now God sits on his throne And revels in the torment he begot. kjg 857am 16 feb 2013 * Why does a rose have thorns? Did a rose grow throrns because of plucking? Because the edible blossom is unprotected. kjg 937pm 17 feb 2013 * understanding sometimes you see clearly and sometimes you see fog sometimes a handsome prince will turn into a frog sometimes a kiss betrays you sometimes you're just a dog when the world comes down around you look but do not bark kjg 105am 18 feb 2013 * Learning Master to a young pupil: What do you think of my teachings? Pupil answers: Not that difficult. Master smiles: Come back when you are my age. kjg 106am 18 feb 2013 * seeing when someone asks me which one of my cats is blind i always answer, the one who doesn't bump into things. kjg 109am 18 feb 2013 * credibility do not love me if you love me i have no challenge but my art my mind is my confusion and my emptiness my heart. kjg 112am 18 feb 2013 * hope when there is no hope hope is all you have. kjg 132am 18 feb 2013 * Midnight Sonnet Without even noticing midnight crept upon me: As the clock struck twelve, the ticking of each second Became a deafening stream of consciousness Incomprehensible in the sound bites we rely upon To find our muted bearings. We remain Solitary hermits it a metal jungle split with Glass and dereliction. We appear but are not really here. There is no ending. And renewal is a solitary tear. Brightness gathers brightness, and the dark corrosion Gathers just corrosion. The hollow prominence Of what we think we are is dust upon the dust. What we Do not know we are and what we think we know, We cannot be. Perhaps we do evolve slowly, strangely After midnight when the stars sparkle in our fading sight. KJG 1230am 20 Feb 2013 * Gathering The cats are sleeping in their comfort; The might continues in a wave of Hope. KJG 1246am 20 Feb 2013 * Visitor It is after midnight In the freshly fallen snow There are footprints on the path Where no one has walked before There is a knocking But there is no one at the door I look out the window And the footprints are no more. KJG 1257am 20 Feb 2013 * Gathering The cats are sleeping in their comfort; The night continues in a wave of Hope. KJG 1246am 20 Feb 2013 * Exchange She wanted to be her friend And her friend wanted to be her; So they exchanged roles, and now Both want to be themselves again! KJG 118am 20 Feb 2013 * Who do you trust? S has lots of money But it's not his; He's the banker. His own money's Buried in his back yard! KJG 123am 20 Feb 2013 * In The Beginning There once was a voice that said "No!" (Presumably God didn't know), But when Evil besmirched it, It said, "It was worth it!" And now Life's a rollicking Go! KJG 405pm 20 Feb 2013 * Residue I will wander through my equations And confuse the hypotheses Professors knock on wood And blackboards can be erased It is how we live that matters most Or how we die Depending on the host Of our convictions Mirrors can deceive And shadows only hide The shadows they abide The scroll of Truth is fragile What unravels is a wonder I hardly want to touch it The years Have such worn stairs Feet have crossed The threshold where we dare not dare To enter Do we exit I don't remember. KJG 821pm 20 Feb 2013 * Definition When the wine glass is empty Does it shatter? When the wine glass is full Does it matter? There is an old saying, Prepare for the worse. Sometimes the twilight Softens the curse. KJG 1152pm 20 Feb 2013 * Houses Houses of the murdered have the steepest stairs. Houses of the weak-armed have no banisters. Houses of the blind have the most light. Houses of the broken hearts are built of cement. Houses of death have a bar in the basement. -- Vladimir Holan Translated: KJG 1979/2013 * Quarles Let the young poets have their glory; I'm too old to please their audience. kjg 1247am 21 Feb 2013 * Normal I have never met anyone who is "statistically" normal. Brain dead maybe but never "normal". KJG 1031pm 21 Feb 2013 * I Remember In the spring we flew kites that got tangled in trees and angry farmers used to threaten us but helped to disentangle them anyway Some even showed us a better way So the trees would not be in jeopardy. In the spring of my youth I learned a lot. In the summer it was hot and my father kept rabbits and didn't treat them well. I never forgave him for that. He wasn't cruel, but I guess the war hardened him, as it did the others who never spoke of it. I stayed away that summer. The seeing made me suffer. In the autumn we ate apples so ripe our stomachs ached from a tree that gave five different varieties...I never knew how that occurred. Genetics to an eighth year old is as it should be, quite mysterious. That was the last summer there, before we moved to Canada, I remember. KJG 144am 22 Feb 2013 * Pupil said to master: I see! Master said to pupil: Open eyes! kjg 73pm 23 feb 2013 * Conspiracy The poison's in the kettle The brew is in the cup Whatcha waiting for my friend Sup! kjg 443am 24 Feb 2013 * she came she came in through the kitchen window she was wearing sandals like a dead egyptian she was smoking something like a bad religion but she came she came she came she gave a sigh and showed her contradiction she quoted blake and slobbered false inflections the language is not truth she said but friction but she came she came she came it's six am and the walls are mute i tell ya i shout and shout and there's no one in the cellar the bed is melting and I wouldn't call it "yeller" oh man oh man oh man she grabbed a rose and cut her caustic finger she said she needed what was left of anger she bled into the realm where virgins linger but she came she came she came so the rose it sheds a plastic shadow and the blood it cleanses what is hollow and the path to god is never shallow but she came she came she came kjg 6 - 1048am, 24 feb 2013 * Pupil to master: Revered one! Master to pupil: Slave! kjg 210pm 24 feb 2013 * A fool always surprises Where a wise man falters! kjg 253pm 24 fwb 2013 * Dream Song There once was a woman In the mountains of bliss She angered me sorely And gave me a kiss She said the wind gathers What I cannot resist There is shelter within me If your world is amiss She parted the desert When the desert was dry She rode on a donkey And screamed at the sky Where angles are falling Angels must die I asked her to explain She gave me the lie Her hair was dark as midnight I was crazy as a loon She held my hand securely And said she'd see me soon Why where are you going I stuttered like a clown She smiled as if a saviour In a see through evening gown Hand me no tomatoes No vinegar to match I fiddle with no snowshoes And rabbits I can't catch There's a desk you cannot write on No tv you can watch My house is a false temple To a religion you can scratch I sank into the sofa Was amazed at her deep voice I could have sworn there was a devil In the goodness of her choice She doesn't heal lame beggars And she doesn't play with toys She invokes a heavy thunder That doesn't make no noise I ask her where she's going And when will she be back I'm always there within you I'm a cross that breaks your back My lady of the shadows I stuttered through the crack That fills the night with meaning And gathers the attack If you kneel my retribution Will never let you stand She offered me ablution And stretched out a cold hand I took what it could give me And braced for a last stand The last thing I remember Then I woke and here I am! KJG 306PM 27 Feb 2013 * shit Madame le pomme pompous vain and shiny said to the cowslip I am special the cowslip smelling sweet and full of wisdom smiled at Madame le pomme and said let's just wait and see one fall morning Madame le pomme fell to the ground thick and ripe and juicy just then a moocow came along and ate her up the cowslip said to Madame le pomme see you in a while. 627pm Aug 2005 515pm 19 Aug 2005/2013 KJG * The Wall Why this heavy burden, why be stalled? --Because these 15 years I have spoken to a wall. And now this Hell appears like bloody vomit upon my welcome mat confessing everything... 1144pm 25 june 05/2013 Vladimir Holan spake (Trans KJG) * All poems copyright (c) 2013 Klaus J. Gerken Published by Ygdrasil Press 2013