the dancing dervish

this poem is still in its infantile state, needs to rot and develop a bit, but for what it's worth, oh, and it might require a wee bit of sufisim research :)...

Exchanged our rusty keys for yet another prison-
unadulterated art- Infinite. through a prism.
whirling clouds gather in dance-
meditative vision jailed by trance
lift. drop. your outstretched palms-
beg. grasp. pollutive alms.
Born in confinement the philosophical Mind-
Escapes to convention where daemons are kind.
Naked white robes- for violent red rags-
destruction of Self induced affliction scabs.
Mystical circle completed by choice
humming. force. hoarse. inner voice.
Memory of a brick unyeilding wall-
Disintegration of consciousness
numb by the Fall.
Forms. Images. Boundaries to repress-
till the shape of shape, returns to the Shapeless.
the expansion. contraction. extraction. of life-
pulse of cyclic order. symbyonic Strife.
inward. outward. flows River of Bliss
Male. Female. embrace to dismiss.
water of Heaven. fire of earth
revisits death, repeats birth.
a web of contradition, a kaleidescope of acts-
brilliant light. lost night. creator. craft.
smoke curls. whirls. wildly fans
spoils of battle. sacrifice of man.

a good thing to remember:

"LOVE IS LIFE. ALL, EVERYTHING THAT I UNDERSTAND, I UNDERSTAND ONLY BECAUSE I LOVE. EVERYTHING IS, EVERYTHING EXISTS, ONLY BECAUSE I LOVE."

-Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

Hebrew School class painted their parsha mural today...it looks fabulous, took my 12 year old boyfriend Yudah to the B'klyn Children's Museum, they have the most adorable display of life-size instruments...granted a very noisy one...and then went for a car wash despite the fact that mass snow storm is predicted for tomorrow, now homeowork, school work, paper work, possibly shower and bed? ...exhaustive but extremely fulfilling day...good luck Hula Girl with your maggots, good luck Lea with your blog, good luck Chaya wiht your life, good luck AXB on your gig tomorrow, if you're in LA check out their site for details...and werdie i need partee details...:)

and now presenting... a series by lea...

one of those very exciting saturday nites, where there's loads of work no one wants to do....

that would be princess ferkie

a dialogue of rebellion

sort of been in "Shins" mode all week, so this one is for B. Maj- the man on the 2 train that saw "a leaf" : ) thanx mister.

i will not compete with your Loneliness
as it inches further down the resilient
Branch.
dangling on a haphazard
Thread of indifference.
Captured in the admiration
of unyeilding Wind-
that twists and turns upon the Fascination
of a vain and transparent Season-
Recognition in innumerable
Heaps of Colour
endless patterns of Nature's civility-
No one will notice your unbending position-
Your final Dance
perilous circles in Space-
playing so fiercely
against the inevitable Chill.
Swept along the brittle
deadened piles
that bluster without Cause
and slowly settle into Anonymity.
Lost in the aromatic pain
f yellow airs
unknown-
to but you and I.

from Abraxas Bridge:

new slang: the guys that bridge it all- i won't analyze :) i liked the whole album but particularly liked this song (i think that would be #3):

Sing in silence all alone-
we search a space to call our own
memories take their place
leads me far from grace
and all the times we had.

damage comes a feeling grows
how it stops nobody knows-
the memories take their place
sweetest after-taste
of all the times we had.

and if i fell beside you
would you just push me away?
and with your heart to guide you
would you care for what they'd say?
and if i fell beside you
would you just push me away?

Days grow long swing high and low
drift beside the ebbin' flow
the father you embrace
i see it in your face
but it's not that bad.

and if i fell beside you
would you just push me away?
and with your heart to guide you
would you care for what they'd say?

and with your heart to guide you
would you care for what they'd say
and if i tried to find you
would you just show me away?

got invited to this summer dig in southern Transylvania (i am serious here, the anthropology department is affiliated and this is the grunge work ('member it was a measely undergrad that found the evolution-theory busting skull of sahelanthropus tchadenensis in Chad...so you never know) being that i will, Lord permitting, be on my tour of the continent (with the ever faithful Rose) I thought i'd throw it out there... if anyone's interested let me know... :) Rose, maybe we can stop en route to Greece? i'd really like to find/see Castle Dracula :) .... oh, and life permitting (this time around)- i hope to spend Purim in Long Beach/LA...with Reesh :) gtr i'm late for piano student...again. :)

Aristeia (midnight version)

Lightning struck her mind's inner ore
Sparked the eye of self free to soar
Apocolyptic genius is to be reborn
An insufferable silence burst by dawn.
No velveted fancy nor nectar'd spill
Alters her dazzlement blind to Will.
Stripped by the savagery of artistic obsession
Granted so freely, she begs for confession.
Clouds dissipate from a visionary sky
Till she cannot hold the storm's tear'd eye
Needs to deconstruct what was once she
A kite high in the winds of epiphany.
The labrynith unraveled in a headache of bliss
Moment's escape of her close-mindedness-
In maddening guitars of a spirit's haze
Innumerable years that passed like days.
Till fingers pierced the stubborn bleu
Gently becoming, with wings that flew.
Mastery's defiant in a poet's great feat
Capture of electric G-d, lingering sweet.

"middle love"

used the history of Valentine's to exhibit various dimensions of 'love' that do not exist.

the season's circles
hold due time to mourn
as you stand in the center-
and will to be
born.
how little of you,
i intimately knew
back then-
lost,
in the crazy judgements
of hysterical
men.
the music we sang
still plays in my head
a love so bright,
so real
is
wasted
all said.
my fingertips remember
as do my still lips
the words
of your forgotten poems
smelling like rose hips.
and my eyes-
looked upon the altar as
Love
slowly
bled away-
Seeped
into the womb of Earth
as the conscious dying
pray.
How fickle is man and
his faith
of ever blind color
Till wee Cupid lusts Fauna
runs
from her
holy
brother.
Oh, great
fearless
passion,
strike us all
furiously-
Ripped
like the hides of Rome
in breathless
Ecstacy.
Graceful,
magnificent
have Sorrow and Anguish been-
But i'm tired
of Fancy's tricks
drunk
on the blush wine
of Sin.
Observe me now,
as i fall
from these stark high lines
Hide me
in the mess of perverted affections
so that i might
risk to
survive.
and still-
i know no fear
of this grave
and mortal truth-
to live in vain
my whole damned life
with not a
scar of proof.
to this fountainous beauty
i will never
surrender-
the balance of existence
a convulsion
bruised
and
tender.
i refuse to weep
and provoke
my sacred salty
seed-
to swim in drowning frenzy
against
the powerful waves of need-
for when you catch this
Romance
by its thickly thorned
wreath-
You find Love all alone
in her moment
of tortorous
grief.
And its easy,
so easy
to let her out into the rain
Deaf to the wailing siren,
crushed beneath
the moving
train.

as always-
hin

veritus lexu mea

run from prayer
flee from sin
dizzy,
nauseous
endless
whirlwind.
your words communicate
as does air.
breathe of
sky, sea,
smile and tear.
numb are you-
save for the utterances
of meaningless disquiet
disturbing pretenses-
Settle.
as would a gifted liar-
a broken body
begging to expire.
tempting little finger
beckons
from the throes of silence
tantalizing
taunting
by choice and compliance-
Nightmarish memories imbedded
in the road to succeed
speak to you in foreign tongue
reach nowhere
and bleed-
At what price are you bought
o, wide-eyed slave?
to be frightened into giving-
what you've already gave
Freely.
and was plunged
into the cackling black mud
words that cost you
your peace
your self
your love.
what piercing pain drove you
to the coldness here
to the lonely forgotten corner
of spiritual fear?
the empty hands of fatal hope
that held out no cure
for the glorious euphoria
that seeps through your pores
Leave them all.
to the abondoned,
rotting alley
littered with the rats
and trash
of human folly.
you have aged so much
in your short
and fleeting youth
grown dumb, wise,
hard and aloof
you've plunged like Icarus
into sensation
thrived in the Chaos
of degredation-
fallen in love
with easeful Darkness
and its aching prize
a whole world that exists
in purple shadows
beneath your eyes.

For Anonymous

Grapefruit moon, one star shining

shining down on me

Empty street full of feeling

Erato's luscious tree.

Grapefruit moon, one star shining

Juices running free

Tickles your endless singing

sweet, blue melody.

Grapefruit moon, one star shining

grows a sphere to see

thou' minutes are always leaving

pits of memory.

this is from one of my all-time fave poets...Shel Silverstein (who, if anyone is interested in- has a new book of drawings out...) and to lighten the mood of this bloggie....

somebody has to go polish the stars
They're looking a little bit dull
somebody has to go polish the stars,
for the eagles and starlings and gulls
have all been complaining and they're tarnished and worn,
they say they want new ones we cannot afford.
so please get your rags
and your polishing jars,
somebody has to go polish the stars.

highly recommend his books: the giving tree, where the sidewalk ends, the light in the attic...

*

i burned my tongue on espresso, in the most pleasurable pain

as i watched you slowly rise from the dew and hazy rain

old churchbells sang gently with the early morning sun

that brushed your arms so gracefully in sensual abandon

indeed you had not stirred- you were so barely awake

slowly stretching sleepy limbs in a silent rippled wake

mingled in your curvy streets i taste the sweaty sea

Leaves your breathe upon my cheek in ephemeral beauty.

(written at 4:46am- Venice)

you will rise again Pheonix child

from the blackest midnight of despair-

your wounded wings will softly flutter

stir the trembling of chilling air.

carry you into yourself-

upon thick and pure blue flames

further into a cloudless state

freed from the cage of purple haze.