Paleo Prophet

The unmuffled internal combustion engine

forewarns our demise;

hated to say this, but how can we avoid

the implications? An unwitting clarion,

celebrating the unchecked universal appetite

as it powers the fragile steel skin

that emboldens with its roaring illusion of invulnerability

the puny hominid on the upholstered seat within,

perched amid the stink and detritus

of cheap forgettable delights.

We are insatiable,

consuming with gusto the stuff of fantasy,

pleasant poisons in pleasing disguises,

growing fat, sassy, sick and unrepentant, overladen,

fooling ourselves with easy aphorisms,

that belittle with cheap irony niggling doubt,

and fairly staunch malignant dread;

the billboard smirk says live for today

and whatever gets you through the night,

for tomorrow...well, tomorrow

might never come.

Denial is getting harder and harder,

the sarcasm harsher, brittler;

realistic hope is fraying on the rasp of inevitability;

the tragic lovers ride their hell-bound bucket with glee,

while the stubborn gather kindred souls

to join their Arcadian dream.

                                                                       -- m.d. paust

All Hallows Eve

Once upon All Hallows Eve, I'd just ingested my Aleve,

Whence came a tapping at my door, a tap tap tapping,

A damnably intrusive rapping tapping, rappity dappity tapping...and nothing more.

Of course, I opened the goddamned door, and there stood monsters, three or four.

Wee ones, they, bedecked in hideous array as tiny ogres, I must say,

They held out baskets, expecting pay by way of treats, or tricks they'd play.

I thought, OK, if that's the game we play this day, you'll get your treat and then away

From here to stray no more to my front door at this late hour as before.

In each ghoul's basket I therefore did place an apple, which afore

A needle I'd embedded in its core, with hopes this bother nevermore would come a'tapping at my door.

And yet next day to my dismay a rapping sent my nap astray, two strapping cops led me away.

Heartlong

The head is good, but the heart will take awhile.

Reason understands the whys, but reason never lies,

Oh the ego had its fling, and the world seemed to sing,

So easy then to smile, as stars conspired to beguile,

Then the joker showed its face, made the hand give up its ace,

Now the head knows what it should, but it'll take the heart awhile.

Grace

The instant you remember

gratitude

with enough focus to awaken its power

to embrace you

and all around you

with arms so warm,

so forgiving,

the muscles in your neck and shoulders

unwind in celebration.

Doubting Dylan

Do not go raging into that bleak night,

Old age should know frustration's not the way;

Float, float when all about you's losing light.

Wise men at their end know it be quite

Demeaning to our dignity to bray,

Do not embarrass others with your fright.

Bad men blame the universe with spite

For taking their proud fantasies away,

Float, float when all about you's losing light.

Dreamers at last see what's wrong and right,

And know that what they wanted would not stay,

Do not embarrass others with your fright.

Brave men, dying, who're forced to quit the fight,

Realize then there's nothing left to say,

Float, float when all about you's losing light.

And you, my friend, with verbiage so bright,

Remind me now as darkness comes my way:

Do not embarrass others with your fright.

Float, float when all about you's losing light.

First Sonnet (for slam challenge)

Shit, I guess I'm gonna hafta

Sit here, wrack my lobes and crafta

Sonnet for the first time only,

Or be lettered lost and lonely.

Sonnets silly are not favored,

Serious stuff is what is savored,

Yet my temperament finds follies

De rigueur to feed my jollies.

Nevermore shall I endeavor

Such an effort to be clever,

As prize of praise being faintly doled

Incentively doth leave me cold.

Yet tap the keyboard I can do

My faint praise I shall save for you.

Love Defined

Love heals.
Lovers know this from the start,
Yet they may not know with certainty
What love is.

Not that it matters especially
When they find the magic within the power
Of unfolding lust,
Of redemption,
Of unmitigated joy.

There's a mutual recognition
In the eye to eye surrendering
To trust,
To promise,
To the unimaginable other.

And when all is gone its memory remains
To wield the rage,
Reminding the heart
What love is.

Tribute to a Planet

He called it Rosebud, this chocolate starfish orb
Of jacksy ring
To rectify the back door thing
His brown-eyed, elementary cleft did sing
For Venus, Mars and more
Considering the sun don’t shine
So much on Jupiter, but for
The Plutoid bung of Saturn’s rung
To run with Mercury’s speed on Earth
“No!” they cried You never tried
Your Neptudism’s tune’s derived
Uranus, you must call this find.

Cloudstopper

It started one evening, she was home all alone,

Adrift in the hot tub with a drink and her phone.

She wanted to party so she called a few friends

But nobody answered; she was now at loose ends.

So she fired a doobie and took her a hit,

Which lightened her mood and she giggled a bit.

She was Clementine Cropper and didn't you know

She's the one you remember when there's talk of the blow.

This evening alone in her tub she looked up

And saw the clouds moving without interrupt.

Quite high from her doobie she stared at the sky

Her mind now adrift as she watched the clouds fly.

They slid and they scudded across the deep blue

And some became angels with wings the wind blew.

She was Clementine Cropper and didn't you know

She's the one you remember when you think of the blow.

The seraphim smiled and she felt a thrill;

It made her feel special but it gave her a chill.

She smiled back at the cherubs and begged them to stay,

For she feared what would happen if they went away.

She silently prayed and she pleaded until

The clouds all stopped moving and the angels stood still.

She was Clementine Cropper and didn't you know

She's the woman you think of when remembering the blow.

She told all her friends what had happened that day;

They grinned and they nodded but had nothing to say.

Yet Clementine knew what she'd done was for real;

She practiced and practiced and she prayed a great deal.

She'd make the clouds stop with her friends standing by;

They'd pretend not to notice, wouldn't look at the sky.

She was Clementine Cropper and didn't you know

She's the one who got lost on the day of the blow.

The day when the blow came it started out warm,

But it hinted of weather that might bring a storm.

Well, sure enough along came a front rolling in

With black clouds and lightning and a thunderous din.

Now Clementine watched this from her favorite tub,

As she soaked in hot water and her skin gave a scrub.

She was Clementine Cropper and didn't you know

She's the woman we speak of from the day of the blow.

Well, Clementine studied the clouds overhead

As they swirled, flashed and grumbled she was looking instead

For her angels 'til she found one, then she willed it to stop,

It was dark and looked angry and it started to drop.

It came closer, growing larger and its mouth opened wide

And Clementine's tub went a'sailing inside.

She was Clementine Cropper and didn't you know

She's the woman who vanished on the day of the blow.