Ode To Irony

our shield,
our laughter,
our camouflage,

our public success,
our hidden tears,

our shining mask,
our deepest fears,

our passionate fatalism,
our sophisticated cynicism,

our war without peace,
our acceptance no grief,

our buy
and
our sell,

(write it!)
our lie.

-4/07

To The Climbing Tree

To The Climbing Tree, originally uploaded by levari.

Your simple, sturdy branches
between scratched legs and
bare feet once transformed
a simple boy into

a king,
an emperor,
a conqueror

of jungles, oceans, deserts, mountains -

so many that I believed
your powers were endless,
and were mine.

Just a boy, we are always being reminded.
Just a boy, we are constantly being told.

But you let me have it, for as long as I wanted,
in whatever way I could imagine,
as long as I stayed within your budding grasp.

Now
I have come back to this backyard,
these woods, and I am
so tired from living with the brutality of the decorated world, though I know it is my place, and I must return.

You stand here dying, my old friend,
on this February morning,
in snow falling too soft and meaningless
to ever stick.

You stand here dying, you son of a bitch,
and it's only a matter of time now

as I sit
leaning my back against
your hollowed trunk
wishing you
would now
lean against me,
that I could take the weight,
any weight,
let alone yours.

If I could, maybe for a moment,
we could make each other young,
strong and fearless against all comers,
while laughing at these seasons,
the way we once did
together.

Dresher, PA - 2/9/08

To The Notebooks (17 Years)

meaningless history,
clouded photography,

attempts at nobility,
natural instinct for idiocy,

tossed off drawings,
the blade of reality,

studied lies,
fumbling towards honesty,

infinite pretense,
the sometimes redeeming gift of creativity,

endless violence,
bottomless delicacy,

the hole,
the ecstasy,

noble cowardice, stupid bravery,

infallible fallibility,

all the enemies,
friends,
loves,
family,

and the only proof of this residency
I've tried to record,

(for some reason
I still can't understand,)

ever so faithfully.

Los Angeles 3/1/07