I Cannot Sleep

Can't sleep?
I know that anxiety,
sweat on the pillow,
crick in the neck ...

I know I am not a kind man
I don't do little dances
to make children giggle ...

I am a mimic
a fraud, case of nerves,
fearful to be left alone,

Carried issues around
like toadstools
issues that I get to later...
maybe.

It hasn't been fun ...
Nope.
When do I wake up?
Which expert do I call?
I am not a beautiful man,
I cannot sleep.



Patrick Darnell

Impromptu Limericks from Life

""Anyone who watches it and is so much succumbed to it they are almost hypnotised and seduced by Rugby League!""


That needs a Limerick:

There was a young Muslim from Bekk,
Whose life was a total wreck,
He saw a game of rugby,
The winners brought the bubbly,
So gaunt Muslim from his habit did trek...



Patrick Darnell

Even though there are 2000 Books and Films

The nation pays for chronic double mistrust
Confidence in government has declined
Participation in voting has gone down
National appetite encourages peddlerism
Evil is never easy to accept...
... Let it go ...
Time to accept the conclusion
There is no evidence to contradict
... the establishment.



Patrick Darnell

Fallacies

Fallacious
Argument
Lacking
Logic
Associated to
Closeted
Informality
Exploiting
Syllogisms



Patrick Darnell

Offering False Reasons

Forty fallacies
do I count
for these claims
you make...

Your innuendo
masquerades
like a hyperbole
I can see the weasler
in its incredulity.

Reasons good or bad
the meeting falls short
your pseudo-reasoning
begs no further retort.

Behind your apple polishing
is a red herring
smelling to high heaven
and truth deterring...

Give me reasons
to discuss good and greed
and I will soon forget
your bad seed.



Patrick Darnell

Shorter than Short

The world is full
Of souls
Who
Cannot
See tomorrow
Because of
All
their
Yesterdays.


Patrick Darnell

Epilogue

The jury got up and walked
to morning things and specialties
Happy they with what they'd seen
Aware of each's own history.

"Welcome," said they, "to the world ours."
... Moments were passing as hours.
Then their kisses hit my face like meteors,
Still, I dress in closets with glass doors.



Patrick Darnell

Safe in the Realm

"We are young, then we are old,"
Said the wise owl to the toad.
"Hummmfff... ribbit?" was the reply though.

The hummingbird whirs
To tell the deer of other birds ...
But antlered ears cannot hear
Nor understand hummingbird words.

Nor can the aardvark see
a skunk's point-or-view ...
Beyond his long snout and termite stew.

The rabbit does things exceptional
With rabbits' foot;
Though the bear considers it an insult.

Yet, who builds a dam of off fall
to fashion a pond giving drink to all?

And the white-tail runs through dense woods
Warning others when danger intrudes.

While bears protect their cubs
And owls watch the tree tops,
All are safe as peers of the realm.




Patrick Darnell

I am a Planet

I am a Planet.

One of Terra Kichas, zillion, s'millions planets.

In a solar system
In a galaxy
In a universe
In a superuniverse.

I have height and depth ...
Width and breadth.
And space, lots of space.

Life lies asleep Slepus Numbus billion zillions years.

Then when conditions are right
Life happens very fast;

It multiplies rapidly

Making a soup
Of a Planet such as me.

I am alive in the universe.



Patrick and Samantha Darnell (1990)

Impossible House

When I get big, I'm going to build a house.

...What kind?

Oh I think it will be on Mars.

... That's an impossible house.

How about a house on the ocean:
I'll build that one.

... That's an impossible house.

I know, I'll build on that can fly!

... Seems impossible to me.

Okay, I'll build a house where fish can be.

... Oh, Tiffany!

Where else can one be:
if not the sky, space, or sea?

... Why not a simple house?

Okay, I'll build a house on a hill
A cedar house for you and me,
And, a swing for maybe three!


Patrick Darnell

Tote the Basket

I have strong
Opinion
Where this basket
Should be.

You
Who dare
To be
A prophet:

Listen to me!



Patrick Darnell

Hello Pumpkin Whisper

Did you know your support
Is in your early memories,
Fondest memories?

Maybe I'm not your fondest
Maybe I'm the one you fought too often...

Can you imagine a pumpkin patch,
Did you walk in an apple orchard?
With whom ... were you scared?

Were you tempted to kick a plump pumpkin...
Or toss an apple at your friend?

Which is your favorite season:
Fall, Winter, Spring ...
Summer is too hot!


Patrick Darnell

My Feet Follow My Nose

My lips tend to follow my nose,
... Anything that goes.
My tongue wants to taste,
... What my lips try and chase.
My eyes squint to detect,
... but blink as my head genuflects,
My neck twists to give the other cheek,
... As my ears were curious to seek.
Shoulders lean
... As the neck twists again,
Arms pendulum swing,
... As the body ambulates,
Swinging arms might rend,
... Waist to crunch, legs to tighten,
While knees will soften and bend
... Feet shall consequently descend
Firmly, while balancing the mass,
... Making imprints in the grass.
So , for anything that goes,
... My feet follow my nose.



Patrick Darnell

Credo

I believe in the intra-uterine genesis
I believe in the perpetuation of the species
I believe in the Son of Man.

I believe today as to be the beginning
Yesterday is the past
And God to be the fearful future.

I believe in discovery of mans' personal strength
And in the persevering strength of woman
I believe in the coalition of these strengths.

I believe in professing the Apostles' Creed
I believe in the sainthood of children
I believe personality is a very gentle
... and fragile subject to be dealt with.

I believe in the tragedy, comedy and fantasy of Life,
I believe in the subtle nature of contentment,
I believe in talking to Jesus through prayer ...

I believe in the final outcome
I believe in the means to it,
I believe in resurrection and judgment.

One final belief, through faith am I personalized,
That I have personalized an understanding
of the three part God.




Patrick Darnell (1984)

Mother's Day Sentiment

What is Mother without
Her house and child?
Babies are born
and grown in her domicile.
Many houses she has known,
Many seeds she has sown,
Where she settled, made it her own ...

As years gather number
Some ideals are put to rest
Children now with children
Are wiser, but never, at best, alone
for Mother journeys with them
Seeing always bright little faces
... Hearing falsetto voices
in a din ... full of trust and whim.



Patrick Darnell

Never Yours

See this leg, mine --
It's been with me
All my life,
I'll write it down
and sign it:
ALL MY LIFE!
PD.

This towel
... on the other hand ...
When it appears in the stack on top,
of mismatched white, pink, and violet,
Bathing rags and towels
I stare in disbelief that
This green towel is still around,
It's been twenty years --
Is this towel never yours?


Patrick Darnell

Church is the Body

Fulfillment of Creation
the body developing
Each new segment important:
... politic
... law
... evangelism
... sanctification
... Marriage

The bride, creation perfected
... in woman
... in procreation
God creating thus
Speaking to me,
Speaking to all,
Through you
In these words
As I write.



Patrick Darnell

Christmas in December

Cold blankets the earth
Winter dark covers the city,
Muffles sound, freezes the ground,
Cold people would like to know their worth
Alone on their earth wandering about town
Searching for places snow bound,
and landmarks no where to be found.

Peace and warmth could sudden be found
A warm coat to wrap around
While snow falls ever so lightly
... in a hush,
Remember then the others,
Light may fill winter dark

As god reveals Himself
In like manner at autumn's demise,
Enduring peoples' passions
Ever in awe of Creation
... His birth ...
He, Emmanuel, deity on earth.


Patrick Darnell

Curtain of Tears

Stiff fog tonight
Cambridge
Planes creeping
No sight
Tired eyes
I'll be damned
Crawling through mists
To columns' bases
Fluted to the extreme, and tall.




Patrick Darnell

Barf Abuse Sandwiches

This is my fantasy:
We go out
and I buy for you maybe
a really expensive outfit...

Then you simply
out of gratitude
roll me over and
do the wild deed
of love-making ...

Then when you are through
you are not gratified ...
Wanting nothing
more from me ...

You want something
from the one you love ...
desiring, anticipating ...
occurrences -- forget about me ...

Then, lighting your cigarette,
walk to the refrigerator, open the door --
light floods the dark room
revealing a carton of milk
and left-over barf abuse sandwiches
from last night.

Patrick Darnell

Which Direction Your Tears

Which direction your tears,
Were they wont, worry, or care?

Sobs of encouragement
Messengers of sorrow
Visiting separated lovers
As their touch be gone tomorrow?

This house empty
Bearing no life, could it
Bear the sorrow of no promise?

When you woke in terror spoke
... No, please, no ...
Is this fear to fail
In loving too deeply
In obscurity, fathomless?

Wont these tears of yours
And mine; tasting of salt
The worrisome present worry
Of being alone and without.

Which direction your tears,
Which wont, worry, care has wrought?






Patrick Darnell

Men Laud the Entertainer

Truth is for a human
His days are numbered
But human nature seems against truth ...

Prophets' reward is death
to the nearest decade
So they better have the feeling tonight
Speak gibberish, as fanatics cry,

See becalmed stance of man possessed
As in caverns miserable,
having jumbled thoughts
in eye of hurricane...?

Dwelling midst crags, this entertainer,
flim-flam man held in by slippery walls,
wandering not far on perilous crags,
Entertainer would scarcely survive wilderness,
... though he be lauded...




Patrick Darnell

Portage Chips

That woman caught
my eye every time
... without provocation
She has two girls with her
and her husband ...
I over heard her say
They're from Colorado
That's not all...

She misjudged distances
from Cleveland to Minnesota
... and back,
and, across Illinois ...
just how far is it?

Should I know?
I really need someone
to talk to
... is there a USO
here in Ohio?

Distracting, this lady
too distracting her family,
I'm too sleepy to drive on
And completely out of portage chips.


Patrick Darnell

Under Emotional

To be over emotional
Obsessed, poor, lost ...

Impoverished.

Is there a pill for this
... to take
So I could be under emotional
Hungering for stimulus
Denying to cry ...
When small things die?



Patrick Darnell

Time Card

Time ticks
As I get out of bed
Brush my head
Know that I have
a clock to beat

With scheduled work
A set time, certain place,
And a boss to heed
To the clock I flee

Laugh me then
At my haste
The clock is FAST
I've punched in
... ten minutes LATE!



Patrick Darnell

The System Grows

Passages of Corporate Burnout

Naivete
Grimness
Shock
Coastal cool
Snide
System Analyst
Assail-ship
Searcher
Memoir
Verbal deals
A employees
Socializer
Service creep

Deficit

Written deals
B-employee
Politicker
Indentured slavery

Debt

Patrick Darnell

I Dress in a Closet with Glass Doors

I dress in a closet that has glass doors
Through which others walk would kiss me
And inspect my clothes serenity to restore
But their rapport causes duress in closet with me

They all watch me while I dress
Through doors with etched glass
Froze I and stood very still
For to breathe I could not -- no will.

Said one she: 'Close the door I am total bare,'
Said she this as washed she her hair.
'So I see,' said I as I stand and stare.

'Close then your eyes while to closet go I
My bareness there in closet deposit.
Leather not nor silk pleasure there
Only denim rubbing my skin cannot forebear.'

She in leather coat and silk underwear
Leather boots, cotton, and other things
Accessories and morning song to sing
'Where will you be?' queried she;

She opened the glass doors to give me a kisses
And kiss back, I could, my missus' ...
To where I answered 'I do not know,'
She said, 'Oh, then see you in a week.'





Patrick Darnell

Miscreant Blues

I go down to the river
to drown myself, but my super body
won't let me.

I go down to the river
to drown myself, but my super body
swim me back up.

Go on, take this hair off my head
give it to somebody, I don' care
take these teeth and fingernails
give them to somebody else
to bite and scratch and flail
I don't want them ...
swim me up when I should be gone.

Take these hands and these arms
take these feet too ...
and these ears for someone proper;
give these elbows to someone softer.

I go down to the river
to drown myself but my super body
float me up ... and it's you!
You who love me ... won't give me up ...
So, I won't go down to the river
I'll just stay here forever.





Patrick Darnell

Slanters

Downplayers
Escaping,
So called,
quantum jumping,
service industrialists
in disparaging absence
'Pardon the expression, but,
is that your dysphemism?'

Can't you soften that
with a euphemism?
Tyson a rapist?
That's a loaded question,
My old man
drives a jalopy...
would be more pleasing, eh?

Disenfranchised
partners tried to weasel out
by nudging their bets...
But their contact
provided a proof surrogate,
Every body loses.

Central casting needed
someone dangerous,
someone savage,
someone philosophical
some guerrilla fighters,
and someone archetypal ...

But they found only tired
old rhetorical players
Psychopathic liars and
persuasion spinners
... packaged stereotypes.






Patrick Darnell

MAIEUTIC

Midwife
Antagonist
Interrogation
Educational
jUdgment
Teaching
Induction
Critical thinking

MAIEUTIC.
Accept
Reject
Challenge

Patrick Darnell

Second Age Sexuality: Rage of Wild Horses Bridled

The end of the era of sex shall be like the
Unsaddling of wild horses, and in their rage
at having been bridled... rage coupled
with its release as it is pulled through death
into the aspirator of steam then fused
To a peaceful symbiotic spirit
In second coming -- second age of sexuality.

The soul may at last rest peaceably
Waiting its second commandment
After the first directive of peace
He said 'Go forth and proliferate.'

But by the juxtaposed jewels of Judas;
And parallel protuberances of the Pope;
Sex should die in the second age?

How then shall they proliferate?
No! ... Sexuality lives yet in the rebirth.
In its proper state.

As creation is intra-uterine ...
That cannot change over time,
Revealing the second coming is
a brief Midwesterner's Paradox,
After all only a gnat's sneezing,
... a whale's blinking
In the ever whole scheme of eternity.



Patrick Darnell

Words is dumb
Yep, they do not speak
Nor do they hear
Soliloquy this repeat

Words be dumb.
Words do not say
What be in my head;
Nor bleed what be in my heart.



Patrick Darnell

Da' Rap

Poke a hole in a stomach-a'
Take out DNA 'a 'a
Stick'a in'a sir--ringe 'a 'a ...
Put in 'a leetle tube 'a

Clone to da bone ...
Clone to da bone ...
So we can be to-geth-a
Fo-ev-'a


Patrick Darnell

Tree

You are so static
My eyes you at first
do not attract

Density, depth,
Passage in a forest
Give you shape
though surrounded in dark

If not for thine flower
Passing quietly in night shade
to the forest floor
After brief shower.

You sang in a whisper
Sudsing your lengthy veins
In widowed rain...
After night's heavy dew.

Lessor beings have bedded down
Theirs to ever sleep ...
... trees, living monuments,
Earth derived self-sufficiency

The night wind
delivers soul the message
These thoughts for thee
May one day be
Though long suffering
and time worn
Refuges in your boughs
Testimony of your great power.


Patrick Darnell

Though constantly man seeks nugget to exploit
And riches constantly to spill
Earth unafraid to their quest to spoil
In grace, nor in martyrdom could not be killed,
Potential ambiguity unfulfilled

Always special, whether eccentric in position
Round and full of gravity
Or esoteric, melancholy, ever cooling
Ever hot, and obscure in history ...

As in the housing of deity, Earth shall
House mankind, whether he wants it or not.
Earth's grandest scheme in specificity
To house man whether he likes it or not.




Patrick Darnell

Earth's Grandest :: "Invasion"

Trees know only movement centuries rooted
in one place allows; initial
Branch'ed grand papas seem well suited
To communicate well in their vigils,

I am the invader who shall be
Found guilty of trespass, for the elements
Of surprise are conflicts' testament,
And trees witness all events.



Patrick Darnell

Beware, she's the Reverend's Daughter

Uptown, near sweet corn vendor
... and the 'Your Name Here Tattoo Parlor.' ...

Bum's been living off waste, sleeping in vestibules
... of Brownstone portals.

'Making it through one more freezing night
... don't make you immortal.'

Early March flurries of snow, make it unseasonably cold
...'might as well get comfortable in my own brain.

How does that song go again ...?
... 'Move like Jagger... Move like Jagger ...'

Phone battery is dead, been dead for ages
... Oooops, just like I thought, No new messages.

Maybe if I turn my clothes inside out
... I would be warmer.

I remember when I could spoon
... with, what's her name ... Nor, Nor, Nor, Norma?

He lies on the hard walk, dreaming of when he was taller,
... wakes up under the sign of 'Your Name Here Tattoo Parlor.'


Patrick Darnell

Beautiful Pasta

Where there is beauty
... there is pasta.

and patters of butter
... on angel wings.

Cheese and yolk
... here, there, everywhere.

Teeth cannot keep pace
with the gorging on keen
... milkened disguised
... cultured surprise.

Plate, let me lick you,
... before puppy gets you!

The palace floor is full of crumbs
... emptied stores after feast is done.

Pots cooled, leftovers to drool,
... after all night boil and fry.

Beautiful pasta in my belly
... till I lay on floor and cry.



Patrick Darnell

Papa and Pupae

Tending a switch
for bad behaved siblings
folded leather and paper
for cats, dogs, puppies, too
but especially for children

Red buds bloom spring,
from reddened butts,
seeing red all around
humors Papa's zeal ...

Of his appeal to be heard
beyond quieter mornings
nearer amid steaming roofs
rafted over bedrooms
of late sleepers

Eastern sky brightening
sloughs shaded grounds,

He stalks the ill behaved
with shoo-shes and frowns
his clouded mood
in morning mists, a mere
morning rays, foggy air, sears
when laughter and pleasures
around Papa reappears.



Patrick Darnell

Erin

It has been twenty-one years
since sadness seized me.

By another
twenty-one years
time will have emptied
the waste baskets
of my being.

Out of duty
I write sermons
to pass on to others,
in hopes they can find
value in them.

Might prove valuable,
noticeable in creature genius,
by shear depth of woe,
might jolt an approval,
so many beings can continue
to the spiritual.

And, then again
I grew up in this church
and was a child here
more than once
because I was born again here.

I suppose it could be worse
that my last sermon preempted
your death ... but I too find no more
to write about,
or read about,
or even to believe in.


Patrick Darnell (1977)

Begis and Visay

[In the Office one day]

As he walked by her
he moaned lowly
low on the decibel scale:

"MMMMMmmmmmphhhhh"

Yet she heard it.

She turned, squared herself
held her papers-to-be-xeroxed
like a coat of arms
across her chest,

He smiled.

Said she:
"Look, spoiled brat
I do not appreciate
your sexist sounds
and harassing comments.
Sexual harassment in
any workplace is crime.
So I promise
I will sue your
badly tailored clothes
off your back!"

He quit smiling.

Said he:
"I suppose you think
you're really on to
something here
I happen to believe it is
my living breathing
human right to make
primal sounds
anywhere, anytime.
You're hard line purist
feminine stance confirms
a world heading
for the worst kind of revolution
... Let me explain ..."

Said she, interrupting:
"Just simply say you're sorry
before I reduce you
to a pile of rubble
Barney style...!"

He sniffed,
looked at the floor,
... walked away.


Patrick Darnell (1978)

Consummation

Is it not enough
to grow up in vastness
and in expectation
with the idea
of casting out
bad property
and advancing in the
consummation nation?

Expect to travel
Expect to learn as
Travel is the best
teacher, best book.

Wade out into the sea
find bottomless expanses
where poisons are churned
close in on your place in it.

Once you fear less
you begin your journey
across the face of American business
and each contract you best
you will consummate for the rest,

Closing the sale for real.





Patrick Darnell (1981)

Now Delicately Old

Here we live like
paupers again
cantankerous old men
look on spent lives
years numbering 83
to 153 -- happy?
They're sure they
married right --
has been a delight
full piece of study.
They mutter, giving voice
to a word describing idealists ...
watching television --
though denouncing it --
its effects on grandsons --
All we ever wanted
to do is write poetry and paint
Painting pictures no easy chore
and poetry must rhyme ...
They did share
the spaces together
who does the dishes?
indifferent to the causes
disturbed somehow,
but always well wishes.
Visions broaden
turned hard with
childbirth...
to live without this?
Young mothers clay molds
a natural process
young girl already holds
pregnant porcelain
but not accustomed
On a street corner
looking for a father
now choice hers
after biology billows
Shaken awaken
blood in the eyes
paupers' cries are bold
... young ones stir
and dogs bellow yelps
once young ...
... now delicately old.



Patrick Darnell (July 1976)

Not Happy on July 12th, 1984

I had a glimpse
of what love can be ...

But it passed
from my view, that is,
the nature of the glimpse.

A stern lesson learned
based on a jealous streak
a mile and a half long

Standing not so nobly
on one side of a yellow line
tossing arrows across ...
... to the other side

Women start wars.



Patrick Darnell

"I'm Cary Ann, I Care about Others ... "

She sat elbows at rest
on arms of the chair
hands calmly placed on
her skirt covering
her rounded thighs
flattened from sitting

Her chair was
Queen Anne ...

Almost her turn
to respond,
introducing herself

Little hairs
on her thighs, bristled
a tiny change took place
... as her heart raced
... her palms got a bit damp,

[...]




Patrick Darnell (1984)

Life Passing through the Mind at Lightning Speed

There remains
locked away
hidden in God's mind

Sort of a criticism
of design
that restores life
holistically
when life is lost.

In patterns
of life
within young minds
little childish wishes
garnish joy
in this accomplishment.

When a day is
different from other days
have they heartfelt
emotional edges
and display long faces
when the ball bounces wrong.

And in our dimensional reality
that spells exhaustion indeed
life is passing through
the mind at lightning speed.


Patrick Darnell (1981)

Clayton

What's he make?
You like the smell
... of money?
... of money.

Money, got some?
rich diet,
... isn't it?
... isn't it.

A real high if
you can fly it,
... a testimony
of extra money.

Help yourself
to confidence
put it all down
lost some every time
Ahh, there's plenty
to go around.

Killer looks, with,
rich kids' haul
fishes on the hooks,
... trips to the mall.

Can you boil it out?
from a distant remote sky
did I lose this bout?
... ha, I didn't even try.

Money money money money money
... it's a funny word
bottom feeders cannot imagine you,
... you're such a strange bird.

Help yourself
to confidence
put it all down
lost some every time
Ahh, there's plenty
to go around.

Oh, what's that?
all your money all spent?
Could I possibly be
... any more ambivalent?

Listen to the voice
on the telephone line
did you have a choice
before you broke that spine?

Get you every time
... all malcontent now
Gone rich kid blind ...
You've got the syndrome, and how,
Time to sell your scrawny behind!

Help yourself
to confidence
put it all down
lost some every time
Ahh, there's plenty
to go around.

Patrick Darnell (1988)

A Symbiotic Balance that Discretion Allows

A sea of mortal comedy
... swells up
as polar caps melt
and cause icy veins to crack where water flows.

A court of Pharisees
... fills the continent
with stiff-necks
and fused spines too hilarious to count.

Masters of structures
... ponder the cap
and measure redundancy
of jargon incessant spewing from clowns.

Pitiful clowns spoof
... and claw their eyes
for half-witted climate geeks
and after-market modifiers of no remedy.

Up springs double negative
... obscura impacta
to further confuse and distract us
from symbiotic relationship that discretion allows.

Yes, a tragic comedy reject
... no one can fix
what we see is what we get
nature's impact of enormous clicks, and water everywhere.




Patrick Darnell

Segregationists

Regional segregationists
speak in codes
with midget minds.

Acronyms they plagiarize
as if their works
were not insipid.

Their premise
is 2% limping
98% eat up.

Yet, their course
was effective
for hundreds of years.

We disdain their
operational mode.
Cursed among us ...

May their dogs
shit all over
their houses.

May the
steering columns
of their trucks fall off.

May their grass
turn to dust
and termites infest.

May their children
change their names
and move to Canada.

The bigot,
the segregationist,
is a parasite.


Patrick Darnell

3-5-2-5-5

Adjacent
sits in symmetry
reflects
fossilized limestone
relatively young,

Glass shaded
in structure within
connects
to external frame
weightlessly there hung.


Patrick Darnell (1974)

Obscurity

Turtle retracts his head
into his shell,
... sinks dreamily
into his terrapin shield.

Dreams beneath current above
rests on pond's peat floor
... buoyant in thoughts
too ambiguous to explore

Secure in humble station
Not readily noticed or seen
inconspicuous reputation
... hidden, secret, concealed.

There is a place for obscurity,
lying on the pond floor,
when you think you've got it
the turtle shuts the door.



Patrick Darnell (2000)

Break Through

When or where
did any sufferer
suffer consequence
of learning?

Education is to sway
negotiate, intimidate,
and explain

Think critically
seek parlay,
... who quit sinning,
... on what day?


Patrick Darnell

Ghosts out of
time in disarray
Put others
into play,

And, toil they
to all's dismay
each is spoiled
... today.



Patrick Darnell

Midas

Someone prayed my way
My days are full of ease
Wife and kids laugh and play,
Unwanted dreariness ceased.

The Pastor said 'Hello' to me,
an old friend hugged my neck,
Someone called me handsome,
My kids kept me awake.

Whatever was the part
... of my heart
that made me weary
... is gone, clearly,

Someone asked for my recovery
My days are filled with grace
'tis nice someone thoughtfully
has lent prayer my way.



Patrick Darnell

Before the Meteor

Confer with your
collaborative star
philosopher
that you are

With your vegetable claw
carry valise familiar
... and there you are:
fastidious
hyperactive
ideas popping
tedious toil
beasts not stopping ...

Deciduous
thesaurus
infectious
famous
dinosaurs

Far-fetched at large
secure, fleshy,
fatal beasties
do not blame
accountability,
No, no, no,
It's a cycle
that always beats us.




Patrick Darnell

4-6-6-1

Writing haiku
is similar to the
symbiosis of chirt
dirt.

Writing haiku
is similar also
symbiosis of Christ
dust.



Patrick Darnell

Escher

Toward completed universe
look to sketches
by Escher ...

Fill in the blanks
Trust, God in Gravity,
converging flanks,

The Violator is the
only one we see
in this Time and Place

Fluidity of space ports
a hellish flux to pass
through, even if whole,

Given words to forms
Liars learn to pass ...
from level to level,

Math effort frustrated
by logician's emphatic
of shadow and light

Random subject Architecture
Rationale in Abstraction
an Art and Science nomenclature.


Patrick Darnell

Very Simply Begis

Begis thought
that worlds
began with:
"Stop
"Put in order
"Placement
"Friendship
"Friend
"Patriot
"Friend, again,
"and, the Innocent

not:
"Bleak
"Cryptic
"septic
"Dyslexic
"fried
"imploded
"and, smote ...

Begis thought to himself:
"Apparently the term
of Scott the Worm
as symphonist did score
... poor."

So that Begis further thought worlds
began with end and it all got sorted out
... somehow

"Biological basis for
behavior of Begis,"
thought Begis to himself.


Patrick Darnell

Heartache

Each alone
truly seeking
not able though
in complete
understanding

Alone
and crying
trying
to do better

Darting
to aid each other
... too late
heartache

Feels intense
absent
and dim,
and dark,
crying
trying
alone
human
heartache.



Patrick Darnell

7-5-5-8-5-7

Some need only a sweet taste
Others need to eat
most naturally
eventually, consuming

Lies there the nature
to be human on two feet.



Patrick Darnell (1982)

Sonnet #1

Instituting your basic youth conflicts --
Warning it may be hazardous to health --
Investigating will reveal the depths
Of how you must face all that you are dealt.

Metamorphic ingest of babe to teen
Does hard expose much to ponder this way;
In such as how to find one's self esteem,
When to fight, when to run to save the day.

But worry no more for the tempests wane
Ritual scars, and seeming bars will disappear,
As hard work and study rises again
You grow as blemishes of youth are sheared

And you become ever more beautiful,
Imperishable, to life suitable.




Patrick Darnell (2012)

Bike-a-Thon Chicago

Will this Cure Cancer?
by Pat Darnell

The wind sand blasting
our eye-lids
nose hairs littered
with dust

The return trip
is a walk up a hill
compared to this
tail-wind breezed beginning.

Figure ten thousand bikers
loosed upon, packed on, a
ten mile downtown course
... Chicago ...

I pulled out into a Y intersection
and cut off a female cyclist
She yelled 'Jeeeesus Khrist LADY!'
... Chicago ...



Patrick Darnell (15 May 1983)

John Hill my Friend

Dormant passion under
paper thin guise,
... I dreamed it,
... or spied it,
Love developed of late
in my friend's eyes.


Patrick Darnell (1973)

Living Corporate Chicago with Shirlene Drong

'Er, Frank Bresinski, and I,
are in the same office area,'
said Shirlene.
'We have agreement on how things
should go in our department ...

... But he is creepy,' whispers Shirlene.

'He is the guy
who nothing phases,
his daughter has lived with guys,
his son does drugs
his wife made him ...
made him, you know,
... a cuckold.
Nothing phases him.'


Patrick Darnell (1984)

Separatist Sons

Summer love quickened
an affair of desire
and need, not to win,
because it ends,
before it begins.

Once begun though
work of separatist sons
enslavement enshrined
in an experiment
they would not endure.

Find a better end
to means concerned here
can separatist sons forget
what once was revered?

Who would've known
what this Summer fling would bring
the disengagement of sons
to the system they spring.



Patrick Darnell (1973)

Urban Environment

What functions?
Let's see:
source of ship channel
safe harbor
by a central business district
in smothering sun
under green canopy
in disappearing
drainage apron,

Traffic grid lock
omitted in master plans,
daily movements in
cycle of one week
establish priority
for academic tools.



Patrick Darnell

Site Analysis

Peaceful
bird sanctuary
blackbird
mockingbird
sparrow

Mildly wet
after rain
vacant lot.

Sounds:
airplane
automobile tire
people
chirp
whistle
call
cricket.

Automobile engine
people applauding
broke muffler
spoils the simmer
of sun now
drenching lot.

A/C unit kicks in
from nearby
neighbors,
... the elderly
car door slams.

Then focusing
on the grassy
flanked path
dragon fly gliders
around my shoes
ants and grass spiders.

Large butterfly
more blackbirds
caution tree circling
squirrel, and,
a brown dog
with a collar
pays a visit.




Patrick Darnell (1977)

Couldn't be Said

Got an extra bone
up in his head,
and a nappy, grabby,
lizards tongue
up in his mouth.

Moth-like instinct
for light, at night,
days of ten filled
with donkey-like doubt.

Couldn't be said
our silent Dad,
he'd sleep in the barn
with a whole animal swarm
... should it be said
... about Dad, that is.

It's too darn cold
for even the beavers
ears burn in cold
makes us under-achievers
like embers of coal
head covered in gray yarn
they all fall asleep
up there in the barn

Stiff-necked bovine
up on the knoll
that's Dad's beyond what
we don't know ...
... He wouldn't let it be said
... and, we don't tell it
... 'cause he'd be mad

But if Dad would let it go
We'd say: 'Wha's the good word
and a hey diddy hey, hey diddy ho ...?'
And, 'Dear Dad, ...
What about the day dream
... that you had?'



Patrick Darnell (2001)

Sweet Sounds

Jour, jour, jour, jour ...
Ummmmmmmmmmm ... hhhhhh,

Phar, phar, phar, phar,
... Ommmmmmmmaaa, ommmmmmmmmma ...

L'l, l'l, l'l, l'l,

Brrrrrr, Brrrrrrr,
Snuggle, Snuggle, Snuggle ...

Clik Clak, Clik Clak, Clic Clak,
Drip, Drip, Drip, Drip ...

Cellar door, Cellar door, Cellar door,
Jip JIh Ji Ji Ji iiiiii,

Phrrrrrrlffff, Thwappa, Thwappa, Thwappa

Thwap!



Patrick Darnell (May 1988)

Even in the path
of greedy gatherers
who would salt the earth,

Your soul is
its own vine,
stable in pruning,
critical in careful grafting,

The vine
becomes distinguished.

Strengthened,
your soul face
still withers
in untimely heat,
withdraws in lack
of nurturing water,

Your soul body
climbs higher
in intemperance
to live in conservation

Is it only in
the spirit of the Gardener
why souls like vines
are planted?

Who plants vines,
creates a path, and
puts a lamp
at your foot falls?



Patrick Darnell

Why Get Up

Today
Sunday November 13, 1977
sold all rights ...
the issue inevitable,
stumped in my
personal growth.

Device
write passage
to say from my discord
HARMONY!

Arrives
clock springs
striking midnight
no longer Sunday

Will I
do the project?
use vanguard tactic
in some stream
of luck?

... a form of
HARMONY?

Balance
the rest of the night
of the things
with footpaths
forgotten in
crags and cairns,
morality in mortality,

We
here once in
litany, memory
testimony and
spring steady
the harshness
of Winter

On path
finding
dormant morals

Value the happening
think no one thinks the
equivalents of
HARMONY

Personality can be's
responsive, passive,
wan'nabes' ...

Misnomers
misjudgments
on the table
for no sleep for this
all night'er
till the job
is complete
... knowing
this is the
right thing to do.

Clock spring
strikes half-past two.


Patrick Darnell

Cold Bone

Let me introduce to you
Georgeanne Bender, a girl
whose parents didn't know
what college to send her

they opted for DUKE
then Louisiana State U
but neither of those two
fit Georgeanne's suit

It turns out, she had been
Daddy's little knobby kneed
Apple dumpling, sugar plum
who learned to jump and run

Said Dad: "Little Georgie girl,
even when you are heavier,
you are still my little savior."
And it took to heart for sure.

So then, how does your kind
come up with those rhymes
like when you say rum and lime
is it Georgie girl on your mind?



Patrick Darnell

Escape one's
own guilt,
self right,
one's self.

Neve' excuse
too many tasks,

Not enough gumption
... too much guile
to finish,

This is my
greatest complaint.


Patrick Darnell

Emerging from self
calm primal calls
tenderly persuade toward
a higher shelf
our moon passes over
calls out ebb tide
shell creatures spy
and curious spirits arise
... till our bodies collide.

I wish t'were prophecy
but it is only record
... the present passed moment
when with me were you
and now you are not.

Moment no quatrain, limerick,
nor couplet or strain
...can explain
only the bridge of hope
memory built of memory's refrain.

To collaborate and be absorbed
in projects divine,
and motion of planets
with their moons sublime
... up shored
Spirit mine inks tiny words
... no guile entwines.


Patrick Darnell (Jan 2001)

Adrenaline

Emotion:
awaken shaken
blood in the eyes
hands in fists
... nausea,
urge to fly,

headache persists
war the norm
entire world shunned
communication, gunned ...

Into the pool surface
... he peers,
glimpses a normal world
just before it disappears ...
Adrenaline runs its course,
squinting in now bright light,
leaves him pondering its source.


Patrick Darnell

E.D.

Blush tone fleshed
renegade soul
hot love, hot head,
steam roller boy
hated by many
walks miles
on his heels
wears out soles
long before their time
he is pure green
Emotionally Disturbed ...



Patrick Darnell

Sleep says the Night

Time before sun
in my father's house
In moments
... dawns fire shall come

Cannot sleep
... before the day,

find me awake
... waking,
... adjusting,
... recapping,

Vanities vigil...
... a bird in the nest

'Sleep' says the night --
sleep now for I am here.



Patrick Darnell (1974)

Denial

Patterned footfalls
connect with sand
fusing it into glass
... shards flowing
through time.

Tempered kings
awaken and cringe,

Recognized only in DNA,
put fingers to keys,
and rearrange;

Then they, the kings,
return to denial
and death shadows
and things.



Patrick Darnell

Chic

She gets along
incredibly well
knows how to
handle parents
and others, still
... parents love it.

Demanding from all
who are tired lazy
and fat, she affirms
what most felt ...
... or feared
We will see about that!

Parents terrorize each other
help her child yearnings
and foaming madness
at being put off
developing to a peak,

Apex of impatience
such a simple thing
lost or wasted
on lessor beings
and non-siblings,

Patience, peace, cooperation
fruits of one's intentions,
are as inefficient to her
as joy, chastity, and, perfection
in her acts of contrition;

Hides from complicated tasks
though she feeds on
pledges of others...
dawdles on a limb
... her natural requiem

Thinking all the while
of hideaways,
and perfect slumber,
for her ubiquitous schemes.
Chic is not what it seems.

Patrick Darnell (July 1976)

Life with Samantha

She fell in Monponsett Pond
last week, in two feet
of water off
Grandma's pier.
... Daddy fished her out.

Sam was shivering
more surprised than scared
Derisive only because
of the suddenness
and no tears ...

Soon again she was
happy around Woo's
and Purdees !

Patrick Darnell (1983)

25 May, Samantha

Samantha
... decided to demonstrate
every trick she knows,
diverting with total
abandon, ran
from room to room,
beseeching,
falling, and
screeching!



Patrick Darnell (25 May 1983)

Aware

Simplest things
make up mortal beings,
The fibers we cling to
connect us to
infinite fabric,
One thread, one life,
infinite, not to any end.



Patrick Darnell

Daddy Rhapsody

Once upon a time
it occurred to me
my father might be
himself driving
to an early grave ...

When indications pointed
to illnesses
of the stomach,
and intestines,

Then surgery
Then bed rest
Laid up
then his epiphanies,

Over the years a
consistent development
coughing, or choking,
fits, like dementia

Rooms filled
with his tension
condition worse
overcame him;

[...]

I once wrote
a letter
in my head;
document
to my observations
what he wants
for his life.

If you start again
not to a grand end
nor out of tense gut
nor broken hearts
no, you live forever.

Who could have told him
'High Roller' meant
'Rolaids' and,
possibly shortened days
... No one dared to say
because would he have listened;

[...]

Screaming matches
no longer can we afford,
though this time
I come to you
I feel a doom
some hurt and shame
loss remains
a gulf separates
shore to shore
uncrossed;

Father please
do not react
... truly I know
you want the best
for your family,
go ahead ask
ask you loving wife
dependable source
and sure mate,

Maybe I feel guilty
a bit, and feeling shy
and away like an
absurd thing ...

Should it be
worked out
after able to sit down
tell a long story
about a king and queen,

and the daughter, son,
who went away
whose children both
boys and girls
return to find
purpose
history
long stories
lusty tales
and some unkind things too.



Patrick Darnell (1977)

Tractable

I am sick to death
of love,
yet ...
quiescence,

and dual nature
easily led out
by oneness,
and observance
of pandemonium
of love, I am
... sick of.

But this is
the down side,
walking
riding
crawling
in reverse order
boasting indeterminable.

Workers
deny
in unbearable
romantic determining
conserva' ... what?

Just because
there are eyes
watching
unmeant threats
in urban theater
environment;
very tractable.



Patrick Darnell

Mostly I don't walk
in rain any more
nor climb trees
except if necessity
for survival...

Never for fun
for I've gone beyond
time and gotten old ...

I may now contribute
to playing roles,
and posturing in various hats;
I look like a scared fool
up a tree like that ...

Any attempt is generally slack
to kid around with bric a brac
and things that no longer appeal to me.


Patrick Darnell (Sep 7, 1983)

Canopy to Dust Dwellers

How to determine the age?
Something dies in shadow display,
Lets oncoming be lit,
For a deadened day.

Not a good, nor simple step,
A goal it isn't,
Study in depth of norms,
The length of the determinant forms.



Patrick Darnell

Blood shed and trains
... they rode
the war took them away

Hot heads shrieking pain
... for fame replete
a meal dead men eat

War brought them home again
... all that remains
trumpets for kings of bane

All that remains to tell
... stories random
of hog's heads swelled.

Hogs' heads piled high
... like abalone shells.
boys got shot all to hell

Kings of bane
... 'round their necks
not holy chains.


Patrick Darnell

Who will preserve us?
with gift of life
in hard knocks of life
about learned trust
and with sincerity ...?

Agree in unison
to end enchantment
forget songs of despair
govern a good life
in genre of repair.


Patrick Darnell

Isostatic Apostasy

Somewhere along the road,
I picked up an nihilist,
a hitcher who sits
on my shoulder still.

Pausing, dealing,
with this impediment
stumbling block for the blind
He isn't gone yet.

This nihilist says
'I don't want to scare you now,
but Area 51, fall guys,
... rich malcontents,
aren't they all described in Daniel?'

Said I:
'You mention this because
you are in isostatic apostasy,
... and your path,
you cannot see?'



Patrick Darnell

And So Ends the Month of June

Next Summer you say,
procrastinate away,
Okay, well, next Summer
is only a Winter away ...

This Summer
I planted 3 trees
2 by myself,
Made a bait worm home
out in the corral,
planted tomatoes.

Cooked my meals delicious
mowed, washed dishes,
observed much about
natural phenomena
and cows.

Made better friends with Smokey
and he with the herd,
... practiced guitar ...
Improved intuitively,
Now I prepare to leave.



Patrick Darnell (June 1974)

Falling in Love on the Dance Floor

The title of this song
is better than the poem
as most always is ...

Sex without love
is Violence;
got your attention?!

Just remember this:
all God's children
love their mommies.

And around mommies
dance is invented
let me explain:

The first dance ever
was the positioning
of male and female
in toil of joining ...

The beauty of the first dance
is in the positioning
by the baby later
in toil of nursing ...

Takes instinct ...

Get behind me Satan!



Patrick Darnell

Hermann Park with Friends

Older lady in the park
... I with friends
translucent scarf
about her face in the wind.

She might be here
for my first time
doing something new
out of thoughts sublime ...

For me though this might not be,
rather what she does
in Hermann Park, don't we see,
... I am not her judge ...

My friends are just as taken
she walks ably all around,
Our memories are brightly shaken,
she picks things up off the ground.



Patrick Darnell (Oct 3, 1974)

Just Drop in and Play

Invoke
deontologist
viewpoint ...
of a seriously
deviated
situation,

Tragic,
commensurable
mind,

Conjure
not pure tragedy,
where facts flee,
disorder claims
another ...

Such an inmate
of laboring mind,
never is free,
to cogitate ...

Simple scrutiny
never realized ...

Function and
activity of
the lonely.

Glad in debasement,
he reciting to others,
and to himself,
puzzlement, and,
gaudy conviction,
with self deprecate.

Coupling then
stranger thoughts
into generative rulings ...

Terminative being
of the third nature,
until six o'clock.


Patrick Darnell

Went to a Sea Garden Party

Went to a sea garden party,
to see what I could see,
people everywhere,
... saying nice things to me,

Karaoke in the corner,
just past Uncle Bob,
Cousin Steve was tapping a rhythm
... Didn't sound the same

But it's all right now,
I've learned my lesson well,
You see, you can't please the captain,
... Until you ring the bell.

Dolphins leaping over foam,
ship heading 40 knots south,
people enjoyin' cloudless sky,
... atop the deck on this ship's bow

Wishin' I was shippin' and,
getting favors from passers by,
walkin' to and fro, odd lots again,
... really not the same. [but you know]

It's all right now,
I've learned my lesson well,
You see, you can't please the captain,
... Until you ring the bell.

That I come this way at all,
this is odd, you know,
seeing's how I don't go to any garden parties
... because they really blow. [but you know]

It's all right now,
I've learned my lesson well,
You see, you can't please the captain,
... Until you ring the bell.

Patrick Darnell (2000) Vanishing like I do ...

How can it be so
when there is
only grossly
over-simplified
rationales
and there is laws
in legal state
... begging feeling?

Callous, conviction
impeachment to reverse
what is wrong ...

To put in order
the order of things;
Why did he
say anything?

Imbalanced as he is
was he scared?
Yes, in fact he was,
and she along with him
in temptation failed
and wronged everyone.

Had he stood
for mocking
she would have stayed ...
switched signals
while he stood
veritable,
meritous, and.
submissive,

This he had not
the wisdom to choose.

He chose instead
complete obstinate
and tight-lipped
fastened, shut,
mouth closed,

So, with tears,
she fled.


Patrick Darnell

Hyper-tone

Just saw
walked
beautiful girl
height medium
assured eyes
brown
quick walk
demonstrating
clothes
apparently

Blood in motion
call out
asked her name
t'was vain ...

Hyper-tones
... time -- got any?
poor one
see her again
friendly
encounter
trace
energy
that flows
there

well proportioned
roam
you, my hyper-tone.




Patrick Darnell

Up We Go

Pieces of environment,
complex associations of power,
though neurotics sometimes
in perverse attempts
to communicate
with other worlds,
times, and beings unseen.

This brain is a firetruck
on the scene of the fire
slow to process to a
quick happening like fire,
but an appreciated industry
never-the-less ...

Like a dancer heading
for stage's wings,
spinning around inscrutably
making invisible corners,
shapes, and visions appearing,
bold and beautiful ...

Perceived in exploration
while wrestling gullible senses,
brain intensely seeks contact
The dancer now behind curtains
collapses in exhaustion
on the floor.


Patrick Darnell (1975)

Truth is,
-- yet stated --
absolutes,
so, why punish me
against better judgment?

I went all the way over there
probably justifiably,
I never was told the truth
... just punished.

No talk ...
rather a set of symbols
and body language ...
So, I never told the truth.

Whether I dreamed it,
-- not determined --
dreams fell in
three categories:
war, death
and punishment.

Thinking about it later,
in many years made for
sweat-filled nights,
and days of paltry dogma;

So why did I go
all the way over there?

I think, to escape.




Patrick Darnell

Cruise-a-Matic

That woman will sleep with you
bed you down,
put the smell in your nostrils
stomp you and dummy you in the ground,
inflate your body with rocks
roll you in cruise-a-matic
knot your eyes together with sleep...

It lasts a while, and your mind returns
but not with regrets,
nor problems old and leftover,
new business is right before you ...

Air fills your lungs, and satisfies,
a blood starved heart recovers,
and you might learn death stunts
are no longer scary.
... In her theft, your new life starts,
she beds you again if she's smart.



Patrick Darnell (1974)

In entirety I thirst, dry,
For the correct thing to say, try,
There is no sense in sense itself,
... no satisfy
When comes down the last person
... who survives,
It comes down to third person,
What does he say to all?
... 'Who am I?'
Then who is to be blamed
for these ends,
When means are absent
and lips deny?


Patrick Darnell (1973)

Spring rain this morning
... the first ...
Mud paste on pavement
Sleet mixed in,
With winter dust
and darnel.

Tulips gathered
the moisture
With every breath
in growth spiral
God's simple plan
growth upwards
from Earth terrain,

The great Encourager,
with sinless chin high,
Daffodils, snow poppers
Grow they, go I

Forager father
to gather sweet aroma
of Spring.


Patrick Darnell (1994)

Software Plumbers

If plumbers wrote software
installed freely in our mother boards
would it be 'sewer' not 'servor'
found in Master Plumber Will Gatevalve's STOR?

Would Software Plumbers while writing the spec's
Include stem pipe, and water hammer arrestor;
... Would they write processes and APPS
for nipple, bend, ball-cock, and smoke testors?

In lieu of stipple, sort and/or SPOOL,
Cast iron, brass, and copper flash
would towers be made like porcelain stools
and be used as well for fixture casts?

Service industry standards has thrown us all a curve
and Software engineers might learn a few new verbs --
Would Software Plumbers while bending pipe agree
tapping some brass is where we want to be?




Patrick Darnell (2000)

Trucker's Lament

Halfway to Dallas
Half a six pack to go
Beeper went off
a half-hour ago

Just leavin' town
shoulda' stopped me
... at the sound
Caught up a' dreamin'
shallows, disturbed my tow
and a claim to all
I ever wished to know
included I wished
... all axes interred
Truckers's lament, I suppose



Patrick Darnell

Brain Industries

My brain is mysterious
it contains all that I am
a macro in a skull of bone
... mind you, mind me, my mind.

It says all the time
I am what I eat
Yet it eats everything
and I do ...
mind you, mind me, my mind.

Some might say
'You control the brain
then you control the heart...'
Not so ...
...

My brain is libido,
my heart is motion;

Think,

This brain sits
While the heart runs

... times factors in billions ...

Do you get it?


Patrick Darnell (10.2000)

Dimensional Standard

This dimensional standard is
a humidity from surround
boiled cabbages fills cavities
of skulls' olfactories, that was
... long ago splintered
by squeaky, oily, city life ...

And the trusting flowers in bloom
with pleasant fragrance all around
after long eerie cleaved winter
the bones and edifice entered
... long ago splintered
by squeaky, oily, city life.

Where souls might be misjudged
and fallen angels collapsed
by elements re-circling
in half-lives entombed perhaps
only to parrot God's work that was
... long ago splintered
by squeaky, oily, city life.


Patrick Darnell (2000)

Pat's 'del Junco Style

Out of junk
his style comes
birthed with reluctance
like every child

Yonder reckons
Mormon light
recollections
of yesteryear delights

Trash in the dumpster
he cannot invent other souls --
pity not, nor, fathom tongues
that from his mouth unfold.



Patrick Darnell

Toothless Ernie

Ernie was a bog trotter
before he got his teeth
pulled out

Now gums 42 Sliders
in-store with better speed
no doubt



Patrick Darnell

Rich Kid Rage

A syndrome,
Outsider, or,
Insider, or,
Double insider, or,
Daddy's little terrorist.

... Only his shadow knows ...

All that, and,
Homicidal tendencies, and,
Monologue monotony.


Patrick Darnell

Meld

This meld, regrettable,
in debasing terms
lacks tactile quality
or begone conclusion:

While like in a dream
ignorant, furtive pupil finds
self-inflicted longing grief
in this, his, difficult time:

Judges impersonal, staid
and with disdain always
inflict tactical trauma
in superficial ways:

And memory loop
now destroyed
cannot keep up
with drama record,

Coming of age while
roaming instead
extols the traits
of the wasted,

This meld regretted
diminishes in the doubling,
children having children
belittles minors' coupling,
disastrous because
what awoke in the world
... is troubling.



Patrick Darnell (1978)

Poet Man: Lexx Super Nova

Insufferable,
Dullness all around,
Ephemeral expressed
Allegorically blessed

Blunted by duress
Boredom riddles the rest

Tedious dribble...
... leads to unrest.

[hmmmm; good words.]





Patrick Darnell

Government Contract

A mapper's mapper:
... take one step forward
... two steps back,
Stamp your feet --
and yell 'Bullshit!'


Patrick Darnell

Pick and Pull

I am a predator
I am a vulture
... in field of carrion.

My sneakers are raising
dust on the stony ground

... Should find boots and oil
... Should find wrenches
... for my toil,
... Should find pockets of spoil

Cars like tombstones
raised carcasses of elements
fabricated forms of bent metal
abundant variety fun to hunt

Sun blazes down
on all that rubber
and quarrying ground
... parts to pick and pull.

Dollar got me in,
... stamp on my hand,
this place is better than
three Disneylands

Boots, wrenches, and pockets
can't get enough,
pickin' and pullin' 'em,
pickin' and pullin'
pickin' and pullin' ...

Sun blazes down
on all that rubber
and quarrying ground
... parts to pick and pull.

Patrick Darnell (2000)

Apostasy

This is the condition
of the Universe at this time:

Still mostly unknown
to humans.


Patrick Darnell (Jan 2000)

Aftermath

What was it Peter did
... in aftermath?

What we all do, in our own
... way and path.

... Spindle, stoop, sleep,
... eat, bend, and crystallise,

But shedding no light on
how does one eat aftermath?



Patrick Darnell (2000)

Funny Pages

A sociologist
once predicted
that probably
any 200 of
opposite sexes
or same sex
would be appropriate
for any one
candidate,
partner, mate.

So happens
only 1 in 200
ever finds any
given point in time
necessary in life
to sew the thread
of mate-hood sublime.

Then said sociologist:
'Could infer as
from Soap Operator's digression,
for one partner is
possible 200 marriages
in succession...

Welcome partner to
the funny pages as
someone else's
obsession.



Patrick Darnell (1974)

You said you are a Witch

Did they burn you
once too often?

You deserve a reward.

I wish to protect others,
yet, I shall know you
from your spells
How do you do it?

You told me you are a witch
... do you still believe that?

Were you contacted
in your travels
by the pious and practical
Mothers of Virginia?





Patrick Darnell (1974)

Effect

Praying delivers
Justice accuses
unjust abuses

Set-backs,
little secondary
infections;

Meanings not clear,
but for the first time
I give them names,
and give them away.

So, instead you
regarded forever
Impulse and wrappings,
and sent, returned,
weaknesses
in congruence
made punishment
priority.



Patrick Darnell (1974)

Beggin' your Pardon M'am

I talked and talked
all night,
not keeping to
any subject,

I talked you down
talked you all around
around .... around ... around
till you uttered: Yes.

Because I caught you
in your own game.




Patrick Darnell (1974)

Designing deluding
Creating eluding,
Though I knew
what I wanted;

To define it
I acted like a child.

It was big hopes for myself,
revertible, I worried
about survival

Careful today
for what I say;

Whether to struggle
for ends secure?

Believing
in the long run?



Patrick Darnell (1974)

What is created,
with mastery,
to wake up a fool,
besides mankind?

When a good thing
comes around
some faction steps up
and says: No.

A very complicated
wet blanket
sort of existence
I prescribe.



Patrick Darnell (2000)

Down Forget Me Not Lane: for Hillary

Probably a bit gone
If I could be more receptive
'n not always so worried
about what others
are so worried about

Can I get some relief?
Will I be totally washed out?

Spirit uplift ... I need
short trip ...
Sunday chapel ...

God hears me ..
my sincerest plea
all that I have done
and ever will
He sees.

I wonder ...
truth is in people,
... truth is in people ...
after all.



Patrick Darnell (July 13, 1973)

AOL Sex

Just an AOL two-timer ...
... [an AOL two-timer]

With AOL one-liners ...
... [AOL one-liners]

You say yo' member so long ...
... [member so long]

Your BS is too strong ...
... [too strong...]

Your appetite
is bigger'n your eyes ...
Don't ya' fill me
... with no AOL lies!
... [no AOL Lies]

Tellin' me your personal data specs ...
Well, then, that's your AOL sex?!
... [That's your AOL sex ...]

Jus' another po'boy AOL lying ...
Poor son uv'a bitch, ain't even a' tryin'
... [ain't even a' tryin']




Patrick Darnell (2000)

Blame God

Blame God
... for knowing
all eventualities,

Blame God
... for putting ban
on human contact,

Blame God
... for planting
seed of Choice,

Blame God
... for putting His
face upon you,

Blame God
... for leavening
produce of man,

Blame God
... for the understatement
that is Christ,

Blame God
... for faith, hope
and charity,

Go ahead
... Blame God
but if you must ...
do it with all you are.



Patrick Darnell