Not So Far From Here

    The December 2004 earthquake released about enough energy to power the United States for six months

Not so far from here a vast destruction rules

          Not so far from here women weep inconsolably

Not too far away parents mourn for their lost children

          Not too far away a little girl sobs for her mother

Far too close the towns are shattered

          Far too close there is mud and dirty water everywhere

Almost here is the overwhelming smell of decaying flesh

          Almost here the artifacts of daily life are strewn about in confusion

Much too near half-naked people wear everything they own

          Much too near the sounds of wailing fill the air

Within our own villages there is no clean water

          Within our own villages we have nothing at all to eat

Not so far from here the cars and buses are scattered and jumbled

          Not so far from here life’s possessions lie broken everywhere

Not too far away the sea has left corpses a mile from its shore

          Not too far away unrecognizable bodies wash up upon the beach

Far too close the injured linger without treatment or even a bit of shade

          Far too close the sun beats upon discolored flesh and broken glass

Almost here a foot protrudes from the shade of a collapsed structure

          Almost here the fishing boats perch upon the ruined houses

Much too near the people are still muddy long days after the great flood

          Much too near the death toll still rises every hour

Within our own villages bulldozers perform burial ceremonies

          Within our own villages relief workers toil without sleeping

Not so far from here salty tears stream down upon their muddy cheeks

          Not so far from here malarial mosquitoes emerge from the flood

Not too far away a glance reveals artifacts from one more destroyed family life

          Not too far away shouts of the living mix with the silence of the dead

Far too close rotting bodies poison drinking water

          Far too close dysentery and cholera shadow dazed survivors

Almost here entire cities must rebuild themselves from beneath total rubble

          Almost here many millions simply have no homes at all

Much too near a man with nothing places one flower upon a single grave

          Much too near the memory of the black water stirs up fear again

Within our villages the living simply have no lives left to resume

          Within our villages the shock numbs people into a mute disbelief

Not so far from here those who fled find nothing to return to

          Not so far from here are too many in need to be helped in time

Not too far away in the heat the flies begin to swarm

          Not too far away roads are bulldozed clear of once-valuable debris

Far too close the hometown landscape has been warped into powerful desolation

          Far too close children have no schools and parents have no jobs

Almost here the aged sit on the streets under plastic tarps

          Almost here wounds fester untreated for everyone to see

Much too near the dead arrive upon the incoming tide along with more plastic debris

          Much too near the bloated bodies decay into anonymity

Within our villages there is no running water or electricity

          Within our villages the great tide filled the land with sewage

Not so far from here there has been no food for many days

          Not so far from here the weaker begin to perish once again

Not too far away the colors of destroyed lives are all of a muddy brown

          Not too far away desperate hands reach out in supplication

Far too close unpaid volunteers work tirelessly for days on end

          Far too close many good spirits have been overwhelmed

Almost here pockets of faith and trust survive

          Almost here video captures this great collage of human suffering

Much too near the once fertile soil is now laced with toxic salts

          Much too near the faithful wonder at the will and mercy of their god

Within our villages orphans cling to each other for support

          Within our villages heroes honor the dead with their service to the living

Like time to a stone

like the long spring twilight so slowly fading but not quite ending

          the dark winter's night without any real beginning

like the endless school year when we were still young children

          time, to a stone, as it is ground into sand by a stream

like the trees never growing though seen every day

          the changes on our own faces, so difficult to notice

like the loss which hurts less often than it did at first

          the future that contains us knowing only one direction

like the threads that lie scattered without cause or effect

          the lines of our lives flow then end, with no change in pressure

like the volcanic islands which arose, flourished and were swallowed

          the constant roar of the ocean as it is pounds away on a shore

like the day of the year which shifts light into dark

          the memory of a lonely figure fading off into a dusk

like the smallest of details which plagues one for long years

          the certainty of our passing can never quite be ignored

like the vision that visits in time of our greatest need

          there is this mute summons served without any notice

like the confusion that we sense at the center of so many things

          comes a slow perception that quietly aids in our adjustment

like the fearless zeal of those who know very little

          the honesty of children which cannot be ignored

like the brief moment we spend as ourselves on this blessed earth

          our un-measurable fraction of all of time grows ever smaller

like the two atoms fusing brightly in a far-off star

          the smallest cause can bring about the biggest change

like the simplest ideas that transform entire societies

          only the best teachers can explain all things to their children

like the way that details appear when one walks upon the land

          the faster we can go the less we are able to notice

like the myriad drops forming a river that’s now lost in the ocean

          those experiences unfolded into someone we had known

like the way the dawn ends so very quickly

          the morning builds quite slowly and then disappears

like the distance light travels while we are sleeping

          the multiverse measures our allotment with utmost precision

like the strain in our voices that was never there in the past

          the stranger with failing eyes shuffling up to the mirror

like the end of the day as we finally drift off into sleep

          the journey of the dying is taken alone, by one and by all

like the time that you wake up not a child anymore

          the days of our wisdom pass quickly in a dimming of our senses

like the home only dreamed of and the childhood but imagined

          the long distant future is as empty for any as for all of the others

like the many days so far gone that we have forgotten when we forgot them

          the unknown we emerged from lies infinitely open before us

like the things which once moved us and the songs in our hearts

          a quiet contemplation becomes a means to our end

like the far distant stars which move but little no matter our puny time frame

          things pass so quickly for so long and then comes nothing more

like the years passing by ever faster than we can grasp them

          the volume of uncertainty increasing geometrically

like the jagged lightning, we are hurled to the earth

          the endless days that follow leave but a random pile of pearls

like the holy blue planet in whose shallows we bathe in the light

          the darkness eternal surrounds while enfolding us into long night

like the countless tiny creatures with crucial lives to attend to

          the nearness of the emptiness spurs us on to but small actions

The Plague That Took Us

It killed not just living creatures but harmed the very earth that spawned it

          It fouled the blue waters and sullied the clear blue atmosphere

It destroyed many of the ancient microbe communities deep within the soil

          Its poisons spread evenly all throughout the vast planetary ocean

Many plants and animals species were totally extinguished

          Rats, roaches, weeds, flies and dirty pond scum prospered in its wake

Vast tracts of ancient forests, both tropical and boreal, simply disappeared

          It clearcut the valleys and rained thick silt that choked the life from the rivers

It grew in speed and power as it spread and multiplied

          Smoke and noxious gases blocked the sun wherever it was concentrated

Wandering fishes of the wide seas did not escape its deadly influence

          Evidence of its presence rained down to the deepest ocean trenches

Its burrowing unleashed sequestered toxic metals into pristine mountain streams

          Diverse plains were reduced to vast & sterile, monocropped factory wastelands

It ignited wood, coal, petroleum and natural gas immediately upon their polluting extraction

          The wastes from these activities ensured that little could return

It shattered the biospheric web without malice, foresight, understanding or regret

          Its simple movements alone became synonymous with habitat destruction

Evidence of its presence was visible to those orbiting in space

          It could even bring on global climate change with its vast toxic emissions

Sometimes it killed on purpose, more often, blindly, via simple collateral damage

          It ended great migrations and blocked the ancient spawning runs

It leveled mountains and dammed rivers, melted glaciers and turned the rain to acid

          It altered precipitation patterns, global winds and the ocean’s circulation

The world’s precious little fresh waters carried off the burden of its toxic runoff

          It joined meteors and volcanoes in producing a global mass extinction

The overwhelming noise of its progress filled land and sky and sea

          Its emissions changed the sunsets and its light even hid the very stars

Strangely it always sought out and killed vast numbers of its own kind

          There were parasites and viruses its habits raised against it as well

It even managed to spread into the atmosphere as far out as the moon

          In inhospitable environments it carried its own sustenance and protection

Often its effects were so destructive that this plague itself could not remain

          A savagely virulent minority were like the tyrant queens of drone honey bees

Little remained after its passing as it often spoiled what it could not use

          It arose so very quickly that many other species could not co-evolve

It was as if the life force experimented using entropy upon its own creations

          Even its closely related genetic cousins were not spared its savage attack

It burrowed in the earth, sped across the ground and flew through the sky

          It showed remarkable resilience despite incessant intra-species slaughter

It seamlessly integrated violence into nearly all of its behaviors

          Its activities managed to alter the planet’s carbon, nitrogen and hydrologic cycles

It wiped out entire symbiotic communities by targeting a single species

          Spreading invasive weeds sprang up to replace wild flowers in the shadow of its passing

It spread across the nurturing earth like a hideous mold on an agar plate

          Fires, explosions & smoke seemed to be by-products of its very respirations

Even ancient reptiles and amphibians perished in a geological instant

          But, many insects & microbes survived its onslaught and even preyed upon it

It could live in its wastes on dirty water and seemed content in its own fouled air

          It altered its own evolution by absorbing the radiation and mutagenic chemicals it released

Just the spreading runoff from its actions often crippled distant life forms

          It melted glaciers, expanded deserts and increased UV penetration

It metastasized in unplanned, cancer-like nodes nurtured by devastating supply vessels

          The tentacles between its colonies radiated destruction on all sides

Its success seemed to lie in its complete disregard for its own survival

          Its unconsciously generated diverse forms of emergent destruction

More powerful than a disease, its effects were like those of a geologic force

          Its behavior exhibited no discernible purpose, rhyme or reason

But when its resources were depleted, it disappeared as quickly as it came

          And after several hundred million years naught but a plastic trace of it remained

Growing Younger Every Day

To preserve the loveliness of your once-bonnie brown hair

          you dyed it a color that nature never knew

To restore your lovely figure

          you spent thousands on surgery that quickly proved worthless

To combat the wrinkles, without success

          you smeared on expensive creams and got botoxed as well

To renew the vigor you only imagined you once knew

          you swallowed many costly, yet unproven supplements

To mitigate your unwanted increase in maturity

          you piled on the large and expensive gold jewelry

To remain attractive and appealing within the confines of your mind

          you financed new, fancier cars as often as possible

To try and become sleek and fit and to lose the guilt from your awful diet

      You drove twice a week to spend 20 minutes watching TV strolling on a treadmill

To weigh little more than you did as a teen seemed like a great triumph

          Ignoring the fact that wrinkled fat is far bulkier than lean muscle

To combat your ever-lightening skin

          you sought out the sun and attained that leathery, reptilian look

To watch your weight and retain your appeal

          you exposed every bone in your anorexic face

To compensate for the diets which quite utterly failed

          your forced your hair to grow bigger, stiffened up with industrial gel

To keep pace with your rapidly fading sense of smell

          you sprayed on ever more sickeningly sweet but costly perfume

To realize the full creative human potential locked there within you

          you took a six week self-renewal course and went on a few horseback rides

To renew your attractiveness after being dumped and rejected

          you joined a gym and lost 10 pounds til you found another chump

To try and hide the wrinkles, the sags and your bags

          you troweled on many coats of concrete-like beauty plaster

To keep from having to face the void that so clearly beckoned

          you learned to cope by blankly flipping channels

To have it all you burned both ends as you stewed in the middle

          your were worn out too soon and then dried up way too fast

In A Heartbeat, If I Could Just...

Someday I’m going to really live like that music sometimes makes me feel

After a couple years I won’t have to listen to their whiny bullshit anymore

Pretty soon I won’t have to see any of these clowns here again

Just a little while and I’ll be out of here for good

Before you know it, I’ll have all the time in the world

In a heartbeat I would blow this pop stand off, for once and for all

Someday I’ll stay at that place I still remember from in my rear-view mirror

After a couple years every day will be just like Saturday for you and me

Pretty soon I’m gonna drive off in a big old brand new pickup truck

Just a little while and we’ll be doing all the stuff like they do in the movies

Before you know it we’ll beat these old timesheets into funny postcards

In a heartbeat I could pack it in for them parts still unknown

Someday I will take the time to stay a few more days

After a couple years we’ll be off somewhere chasing red Indian sunsets

Pretty soon we can sell this tired old house and retire in real style

Just a little while and we’ll make it to the top of the hill

Before you know it we’ll spend the entire autumn simply watching changing leaves

In a heartbeat, if I could just pay off a few more of these crazy healthcare debts

Someday we won’t just be acting, like we do now, every weekend

After a couple years they’ll see that I really wasn’t just like them

Pretty soon I won’t be all pissed off just because it’s Monday

Just a little while longer and I’m going to walk away from it all

Before you know it we’ll be relaxing together on some white and sandy beach

In a heartbeat I would tell them all to take a hike and ride on out

Someday I’ll have the time to read that stuff I keep on blowing off

After a couple years we won’t even bother to watch TV every single night

Pretty soon we’ll be staying home to avoid the weekend crowds

Just a little while and, Hey listen, I swear, we won’t be too old to enjoy it

Before you know it my dumbass boss will be a just a funny memory

In a heartbeat if only the cars and house didn’t cost so much, each & every month

Someday we’ll sip margaritas every afternoon in the shade of a nice palapa

After a couple years we’ll go on that trek up and through the Nepal Himalaya

Pretty soon the kids will be gone and we can start to travel

Just a little while and I’ll retire and write down the wisdom I distilled from all this bullshit

Before you know it we’ll spend nights in the smoke of the magic campfire

In a heartbeat I could give it up and sell hot dogs at the beach

Someday we’ll blow off health insurance even though we’re a little fat

After a couple years, if things get better, we should be able to retire

Pretty soon your flawed project’s artificial deadline won’t mean Jack to me

Just a little while and me and the Marlboro Man will be out riding on the range

Before you know it I’ll be on to more important things than this

In a heartbeat if I could just hit it right on a couple of quick day trades

Someday soon I’ll chuck all this shit and go off to work for myself

After a couple years it looks like the end should be coming into sight

Pretty soon I won’t find that I’m mad about something stupid all the time

Just a little while longer and there won’t be any more of that boring housework

Before you know it we’ll just be in them commuter’s way as we take off on our next vacation

In a heartbeat I’d walk away from all my MP3s and the big-screen TV

Someday soon I’ll get a break and we’ll roll in style on out to Vegas

After only a couple years I should begin to see a little daylight

Pretty soon all my money won’t be going up in smoke and interest charges

Just a little while and my fat pension might actually kick in

Before you know it we’ll quit working and stop getting any older

In a heartbeat I’d blow off this mess and go away to live like Jesus

Someday we won’t just have to worry about money all the time

After only a couple more years our time is going to come at last

Pretty soon I won’t have to listen all day long to morons on the phone

Just a little while til we ride away in our brand new RV for good

Before you know it we’ll hear the ocean from our hammocks every night

In a heartbeat if we could just find a way to get past this and that

Someday I won’t just be trying to get through another week once again

After a couple years I’m thinking we won’t spend so much time at the malls

Pretty soon now we won’t be so damn tired we cannot see by Wednesday night

Just a little while before we can start to live for whatever things might still really matter

Before you know it, we can start to spend all this time that we’ve been saving every day

In a heartbeat I’d tear up my damn credit cards and burn down the house

Someday we’ll have lots of money and we won’t have to work anymore

After a couple more years we’ll have a little time just to set and think things over

Pretty soon we’ll pack up our reading glasses, prescription drugs and go

Just a little while and we will stand aside and laugh at all the rodents

Before you know it, why, we’ll have time to just wait until the light is right for the picture

In a heartbeat but I got this deadline and we just re-financed the house for Jason’s college

Pilgrimage To Infinity

It’s a long journey that I will not be taking

          It’s a big trip for which I do not need to pack

There are far-off destinations that I won’t ever see

          There are wondrous times coming that I will never know

There are uncounted eons past of which I have no memory

          There shall follow infinitely more, all just the same to me

It’s a long journey I am not undertaking

          It’s a trip lasting forever, leaving without me

It’s a pilgrimage to infinity which I make as unrelated molecules

          It’s the bonfire of the life force in which I sparked so briefly

There is wondrous beauty on billions of worlds I cannot know

          There are fascinating creatures that I will never catalogue

It’s a great journey I prepare not to be a part of

          It’s the only real voyage, but I must leave the group

Just as I fall aside so does our kind become separated

          Just as I am remerged so must this species re-enter the void

It’s an omni-directional profusion I will no longer observe

          It’s a hopeless sacred struggle in which we all must simply perish

It’s an epic journey in which there are no chapters named

          It’s a nonsensical contradiction to entropy and darkness

There is no knowable destination on this personal voyage of discovery

          There are endless connections whose richness I will not feel

Just as gravity lessens with distance, so fade my actions over time

        Just as some functions never quite reach zero, our influences must ever remain

It is a great river that casts us to the shore and moves on without malice

          It is necessarily more than just oblivious to my brief awareness

It’s a long journey in even the least promising directions, all at once

          It’s a trip with temporary passengers and no conscious destination

         

It’s a long journey that I won’t be taking but there is nowhere that I might remain behind

Unexpectedly Into Forever

It comes early on a Saturday, out of school and without a care

          Leaving only thousands of glass shards that sparkle in the air

In a darkened room mercifully at last the long struggle finally ceases

          Leaving behind nothing but the small comfort of the ritual cleaning

After a brief and overwhelming chest pain he codes within an hour

          never had the first sign or symptom to even slow him down

Reaching for her coffee while talking on the phone she drifts to the right

          Taking out a rider who is smeared to the pavement underneath his bike

Slowly the minister backs from his driveway rehearsing his Sunday sermon

          A terrible bump and his trusting little girl is pinned beneath the wheel

A friend slides off a rainy mountain road, rolling again and again

          Those left behind are forced to ponder who stays and who must leave

A small tree planted and cared for does not awaken in the spring

          A  small part of the caretaker is consumed by his own futility

A simple misstep results in a long period lying alone and helpless

          Just as the life force slowly leaves an insect kicking on its back

Working to restore power for thousands of impatient customers

          A sudden massive jolt scrambles his life processes, all at once

Unable to sit and too weak to cough, barely able to whisper

          Fluid fills her lungs and she drowns in a bed up there on the 25th floor

Unwilling to continue coping after long & drawn out years of depression

          Sudden inspiration is followed with a quick shot to the temple

Sparking the grill loaded with unburned natural gas

          Intense explosion scatters consciousness in a fine aerosol mist

Finding a loaded weapon in the drawer next to daddy’s bed

          A smiling brother’s head is blown open, smothering the echo of his laugh

Taking a relaxing swim at a beautiful beach on a dream vacation

          The undertow silently claims another panicked victim

Working hard to save money and make a better home for his family

          The ladder slips and father falls leaving them all on their own

An improvised explosive rigged as a roadside truck bomb

          Sends bagged parts of a son home with honor in a neatly-draped coffin

Another overcrowded ferry capsizes miles out in that dark and stormy channel

          Hundreds quickly drown but others manage to struggle on for hours

Twister rakes a mobile home in which poverty’s occupants desperately hide

          Opened like a can of sardines it paws away at those inside

Oversized but lacking conscience and ignorant of moral authority

          One home boy shoots another and earns a better education in a prison

Five young graduates ride fast on country roads well after 0’DarkThirty

          And with great laughter they leave the road and suddenly end their lives together

Tiny apartment dweller is fascinated by mommy’s smoking paraphernalia

          The shiny lighter brings bright flames, smoke and fumes to where he hides

Massive sixteen wheeler crosses into the other lane as the driver falls asleep

          A coincidental family trip is ended at a randomly solid bridge abutment

Somewhere in the Andes creeping up a narrow road, an old bus blows a tire

          Forty people roll and roll into a colorfully indistinguishable blend

In the hectic traffic of a crowded southeast asian city, someone takes a chance

          And yet another cyclist spills out his brains upon that wet, warm pavement

Mother deer leads her fawn across the road for the very first time

          Speeding armored family SUV takes her out and drives on, just a bit shaken up

High on drugs and life, young men take to playfully climbing on the rocks

          Just a slight slip and that quick fall ends one life, a quick hundred feet after

One more uncontrollable burst of red-faced anger starts another day

          A sudden brain blood clot leaves behind nothing but a mute and crooked face

Loyal retriever grown too old, stands next to master’s hunting rifle once again

          Knowledge of the discharge ends when that bullet exits from his head

The miracle of a butterfly flutters through the sunlight on its appointed trajectory

          In a fraction of a second mounted inside out on the grille of my speeding vehicle