Globe gone Warm?

Warming globe?

Naw; I don't think so ...

Truth is:

We are all skeletons,

'n We all have trouble,

Letting go.



Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

by Pat Darnell

A poem is
germination
of a vine
that withers
or lives
to transport
sustenance
to the fruit

... is
harvest
gathering fruit
pressing
in wine presses
separating


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Cro mag non Man

I don't want to be
Cro mag non Man
I don't want to shout
when a whisper will stand

Sugar loaf comes to mind
when I think of you
No, don't want to be
No Cro Mag Non kind

I want to be there
When you unwind.


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Here's the deal dear
I could turn you
Yes I could
turn you

Turn you,
if it your wish



Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Sorry Captain Harley

BP wants fish that taste best
Not fish with shark skin vests!

The Monarchy is silent
for the oil spoil toil
there has been no kingly recoil

Sorry Charlie:
BP made fish and fowl spoil
now "we" have to recoil
but 'dem sharks
eat anything

Fishin' hole is spoiled, boy,
Foist ahoy there, Charlie
the fishin' hole is spoiled
Give me a hard port turn
Captain Harley Finvalve Sir
Fin hoist that yardarm

What's it like down there
Charlie?
Hey, this is not a shark park,
Charlie.

Sorry Captain Harley
We want sharks that
taste good
not sharks with
good taste ...

Shark skin suits? Bah!
BP wants what's best
If it means sharks
in shark skin vests?

Fishin' hole is spoiled, boy,
Foist ahoy there, Charlie,
the fishin' hole is spoiled
Give me a hard port turn
Captain Harley Finvalve
Fin hoist that yardarm

Now there's a sport!


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Peter Protocol

Before the Rooster crows
... three denials

Peter is flawed
his fear made him crawl
Don't you know Jesus?

Rooster crows
knee-jerk guilt
Guilty by association
failure
betrayal
by proxy

It's not Me!


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

What's Up?

Kick back
put up your feet
stretch out your arms
put your hands
behind your head;
give out a big sigh
look up for the sky ...

Oops, there it is
a badly fit
ubiquity inside
a hung ceiling
in this patient room
turned waiting room ...
caged bird
... looking up

two by four drop down
tiles on tracks
that were powder coated
white, faded gray,
dusty 2 x 2 supply vents
twelve feet apart

Return air grilles
2 x 2 at far corner
EXIT sign over door
glowing

Canned lighting to accent
or excite us on floor
oh wait ...
a plastic ligustrum tree
was the target

Over there ...
baby poop color
plastic round
smoke alarm
and some other
alarm stuck up there

Round speaker
with broken plastic
round knob bezel
tight to the tiles

Try, try, try ...
... try to dream
beyond this scheme,
to beautiful skies.

[11\16\08. 1201 Briarcrest]
Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Curl

Curl ...
in base of
Fibonacci
integrity and
consistency
say's to
profess ...

Like out not
slice of life
but in first
bite of every
harvest ...

Hydro
drag
on structural
elements
till there
on edible flesh
lies ...
a Pearl.


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

6 Reasons why You're Not in the Mood

by Pat Darnell

Show her why she is worthy of your love

Discover 10 ways the blues hurt your health...

Bad enough you feel tired, listless and blue.

Memory loss? ... 10 natural remedies
Fresh Pomodoro Pasta, ... White Beans and Olives
Mental health experts ask: ... Will anyone be normal?

Jobs, professions, influence cause of death

But Lucky you. You're going to Vegas.
-- Oven-Fried Zucchini Sticks !!

What 'clinically proven' means to you
AND -- Modest weight loss may curb urine leakage

So, do you know Ways to get from slow to go
Get designer brands up to 70% off retail;

Flower arrangements for any occasion

Your opinion is valuable. Get paid for what you know,
And when you arrive ... take what they give,
Permanent enlarged penis with Dr. Duress --
Grow 4 Inches and 150% wide in 90 days or less

But you only have 89 days left to live ...

Did you suffer from injuries from your Accutane use?
No worries --
Pills On Sale. Quality VIAGRA $1.89, LEVITRA $3.29 and $2.29 CIALIS

All about keeping an eye on your home.
What good is a roof over your head if it leaks?

It's a big job, but someone has to do it.

Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Pretty Woman Revisited

by Pat Darnell

Somewhere there is a good picture
of you with me
when we were young
and I pleased you
in every way

Now you hold my heart
no other may hold it
... star struck melody
you crossing the street

when the ground trembles
I think of you
When I see our child
it's you he resembles

I lived and I died
in your arms before
... do it all again
would I ...

For this picture when
we were young
and I am still yours
across all avenues



Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Reverse Engineering Terrorist Attack

Dixie crowded barges
floating flotilla carnival
tight-roped trail rider
gets on with his smoke

Down river white trash from Texas
Lantern ladened wagon
Sleepy dog-faced patrons
Go direct to the heat of Dallas

They get tickled drunk
and someone owns an idea --
but some fella in a corner
thinks it's his mission.

he makes a bunch of
suicide videos
and writes a series of
last notes

he checks in to
last chance resort motel
and makes booty calls
hires an escort infidel

A deadly mixture
a mutt from Texas
Arms go left, feet go right,
Body don't look just right,

finds two Volunteers from Tennessee,
Out of the North
Out of the Night
Poor boy goin' lose his life.


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Whiskey, Wimmen and Whisker Burns

(An Old Song Gone Bad)

Scotch and soda
Mud in your eye
Baby do I feel high
oh me, oh my ...

That next town seems
so outta reach
just outta reach

Dat' woman g'wan kill de family
to get her way ...
She sell her soul cheap
Oh me, oh my ...

Dry Martini
jigger of Gin
Oh, what a spell
they got me in
Oh my ...
... Do I feel high.

Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Visitors and Brain Industries

Elongated cranium
fashion from
Sirius B and A,
Potolo Ama,
and Dogons,
knew it --
"Star Knowledge"
nomenclature
told through oral culture.

Artisans -- split apart hybrids ...

Catalogers left to hash it out ...

Sirius B -- how far away is that?

Zuni -- 1200 BC
Egypt is at bat

Dogon Spacemen
visitors, Sky People
Keepers of Space

Cachinas:
Dance each year
in full head dress
in costumes to re-enact
coming of Space gods
and elongated cranius
That's a fact!

Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Hotel Chelsea

Meetin' Maggie at the Hotel Chelsea
Will the door man
diffuse the situation

Waiting waiting waiting by the gate
to hear the voice of coma

The gate is a trap door
friends are measured like teeth

Gates separated by long walkway
ramps to run rapid transit

Quietly quickly to pedestrian heart beat
... to connecting flights

Funny looking feet
At Chelsea Hotel ...
... we're gonna' meet!



Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Humanism

by Pat Darnell

Like trying to sell
life insurance to
a Muslim

O r to collect long term healthcare
stipends from Hindi's

as if under cloak
covering dimensions
of space and time
...  innuendos
Where is the joy?

Where children are born
and leavened to humankind
to be treated rough
in rites of passage
meant to set them apart
as what ... warriors?

this nightmare
feeds terror
surmounts to blood terror
and terror of death
feeding terror again ...

Many that will shorten
their already short lives

and choose very differently
from their fathers' lifestyles

regard other lifestyles
other than
trodden paths
of descendants past

of rivaling fathers
those who are
rodding their child
to be canon fodder

A basic question
put before Protestant Hedonists
and profiling Humanists

Who are you who were commanded
to love God the Father
and to encourage one another
Until His return?




Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Florida, Orlando

Bocce ball
Blue crab not moving
4 candles --
2 South, 2 West,
on a linen blouse
a lock of hair ...

Still life on a curb
Orlando, florida

A disturbance call
somewhere down yonder

Did ya hear the call?
Reckon we'll be smart
and git on down there ...
with no real Where to start.

Maybe muster our minds
Could have been passion
could have been economy of direct action
Probably just eviction ...

Yes, passion, I suspect
luster now gone, nonetheless
festooned , yes
and garland of confess
could be passions last request
and these left clues
on Orlando's curb
Bocce ball and all.



Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Sore Nation

by Pat Darnell

You cried to our hearts
You thought for us
 ... not we listened

Look about us now
You say, I have laid out
your lives in reason.

Built
Repair
Guilt
Despair

Control re-entry
You cried to our minds
Chosen minds focussed
instilled Revival from rind
you fortified and buttressed
... Reviled death
... Sought fitness
and strengthened in spirit
Deliverance in abundance
Disinterment, decisioness,
You sore nation, our fortress.


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Staying Naive is Best for all

by Pat Darnell

love is this stream
rippling on thighs
Spring water rushing by
my hand around
your torso
in gentle hug
bathing, listening
looking through trees
for love --

love for you, this inlet,
is this stream
where we lie
with ripples all about
pushing your thighs

love is not occupation
boots nor dust, but
younger stronger
deserving and robust.



Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Hurley-burly

I am the sacred absent
I am a chill down your spine
I vow trust, and love,
But torrents, tears, are mine

To give away and reset
to fall away and beget
to miss out on evenings yet
bend toil all night in regret

long suffer'g spider weaves her net
works at night, her I should forget
that moment when I was present, yet
victim in rising water, with tetra ...
[... glowing all around me]

I would drown that night
If I did not love you
shed instead my shaking ...
Shakiness that you always hate

I sent a message late
and a text too early
and the morning was met
with quiet hurley-burly


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Owl

by Pat Darnell

Almost hidden to bet
but not good enough
for my sharp eyes
and circumnavigate neck
my vigil gaze
sharp end fluttering wings
send chills down their necks
and wake them in darkest haze.


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

And the Fat Man Wrote

by Pat Darnell

All that's left
for some to see
is windmills
and lighthouses
and animal menageries

In the sixties
a fella was shiftless
and way to smart ...
Midwesterner sort ...

To let his what if's
go into so what's
Soon produced his bachelors
in philo of fine Arts.


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Grand Traditions

Careful how you
rewrite the grand traditions
or , How to not rewrite --
and be all big-legged;

Don't topple
the chicken cart?

Go land your cart
and catch instead
a mess of mud bugs

Just how it's done
we get it on
you kno'
Jus' go on and on and on.

Say: Hi Jane
Say: Hygiene

Say: Chicken, laddy,
Say: Craw-daddy!

a triumph ...
or et un trionfo' ..?


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Demi, the Life Changer

Pre-approved
Junkily
Corruptible passage,
Others joined in
With prevalent sin
we all turned
away from God
But Demi found us
in the end, at the path
of trodden wrath

Demi, the Life Changer,

She'd return for me
when it's time

All I had asked
is where's my daughter?

... followed then all this free verse
under bentwood chairs
over expressed on oak desk
to delight of rest

I headed into the wind
Southerly to a heading
not marked as unknown.
Only as a son born
to find his daughters and sons.

I finally slept it seems,
as Demi, the life changer, crept
back into my slumbering dreams.

Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Gimme a Line, Kid of Mine

START:

... the worm knows
about wormholes

everything that ...
is to know ...

[ ... ]

"So, I don't know
I'd love to do that
but I can't think of
' a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g '
Right Now -- Dad."


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

The Generalist Might say:

Generalist

One cannon ball
changes the way
things are.



Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Poetry Geist

by Pat Darnell

Tell the water
to be still
Call the clouds
if you will
Tell light
to sit tight,
Tell time
to stop ...
... on a dime

Tell those
who pray
to call it a day

When you feel ignored
Don't blame the Lord

Doesn't sound cricket
worms with rickets
on a pitch field of dreams
Being so thick, it
sullies the stream.


Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Trials

by Pat Darnell


To think, to even stir
Required eternal
And stop to say
In turn, true to form,

Someone out there
Invented this
Beside the stillness
Individuals fell against
The storm once made

Could not they
And all the rest
Have said good day

June 2010
Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Eat Up

by Pat Darnell

I been to the depression chamber
I been lower than a grass root
I was ground and dappled
Like pepper on a salad
Till my daddy give me fruit

He’d croon up to our rooms
‘Now hear this; ‘Now hear this
‘Sweepers man your brooms
‘Clean sweep down fore and aft’

[Twheeee ieee wheet]

‘Clean sweep down before we eat!’

This is so good
This is so good that
This is so good that the
The Navy eats it
Yeah, the Navy eats it up

I am tired from aches and pains
I been chippin’ paint all morn’
Hidin’ my chaw in my cheek till
O’er the horn:
... swells: ‘Twelve bells’

I spit a wad in the leak...
Yeah I spat t’bacco
To stop the leak
Until I return

This is so bad
This is so bad that
This is so bad that it’s good

So good, the Navy eats it
Yeah, the Navy eats it up... They do--
The entire floatin’ Navy
At twelve noon, eats it up!

It keeps us all afloat
How we care for our boat
We steam to Tuscany and Omaha
We visit the China Sea
But what keeps us on our feet
Is three squares a day we eat

Eat up old boy
Eat up skullduggery
Scrape and grind; repeat ten times
The hull you plug her ye’
But at noon clean your plate
... you see
Eat up and clean your plate
The Navy cannot wait

Gulf of Mexico; Oil Spill 2010

by Pat Darnell

Dirty juice
nasty sluice
and briney balls of tar

fetch me a frog
in this mutilated bog
and refrigerate her

calamity cross
evil doer loss
to thick to even stir

condition dismal;
crude oil baptismal
broken bracken interred

broken - then fix it
not broken -- then do not fix it
broken -- then do not fix it
not broken -- then fix it?

Dull sewer dirty
Damaged downed dinghy
when was it discovered?



Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Presto Chango

by Pat Darnell

Wonderful world
change -- indicators
Indicators -- lag time factors
Lag times -- industry
Industry -- increased gravity
My history begins ...
... in the Civil War:
... the 1960's.

That is, when I was
Eight years old
I was there,
When Change got its name.

ISS today:
... a change in collaboration
ADA EOE:
... change due to a water fountain
ENRON:
... change due to Oxley and Sarbanes
Black Matter:
... change in Astrophysics
Death of Crocodile Hunter
... change in journalism
Ethanol:
... change in Petrochemicals
SETI:
... change in Transparency
Presto Chango
... a concept that follows SETI
Photonics and Lasers:
... a change in light
Crime and Punishment:
... Legal Beagles trail the field
Fashion Industry:
... who can really tell?

Lag Times:
... Space -- One
... Aeronautics -- Three
... Astrophysics -- Sixteen

How many years left
am I gonna live?
So I can say
Life is elemental;
chemistry is dealt.



Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Nun's?

Impromptu Limerick
by Pat Darnell


One Response to “Inflatable Church”
Pat Darnell and Friends says: August 7, 2008 at 9:12 pm

NUNS?

Once I kissed a nun
who came very undone
in the pew next to Bartholomew…
Where I prayed

She glared at me in a state
that could scare diamonds off a snake
and send me to hades
in the back of the Pope’s Mercedes…
[Turns out] — She was more interested in passing of the plate!!

(Poolcan pd-in-full)

Paint_teeks

by Pat Darnell | 2010

Collectives

One Melody

a Thousand lyrics

One lyric

a Thousand melodies.

We are sold

In this country

are we Dead ghosts

Going home

at ____________?

Yesterday someone killed ___________ thousand.

Dead ghosts, why'd they let go;

a thousand Ancient forgotten souls

and all their bones

Collectibles.

Description -- At the Dog Show

Massive of brachiocephalic nature,

with a heavy appearance in stature,

covered in soft loose skin, her

shape like an elongated bucket

meso-form whose body is longer

than height at her cross, accentuating

her long form,

the bitch being slightly longer

than the dog.

The cranium face proportion

is her 60 to 40 percenter

width of skull provides three-fifths

of her total head length.

dog of medium size, eumetric,

Rustic and well proportioned,

with a straight profile and black face.

Seriousness of such is calculated

measured by how far it varies

from standard requirements such as

Excessive wrinkles in facial and skull

which don’t detract from the dog’s expression.
*
*
But my dog

has Square outline,

A triangular, narrow angled square head,

and an appearance light weight,

A tail that is curly, very thin,

... of equal thickness throughout length

some deformed, and then again

some of her sizes are very small and also very large;

Dorsal line saddle shaped, small chest, weak front,

Ribs insufficient --

She has tight skin without elasticity,

Light coloured eyes,

Eyes too close together and obliquely

Deep set, not projecting.

Excessive jaw protruding,

A few missing teeth;

Ears rooted too high in her skull --

A skull which is round and arched;

slobber that seems to seep --

skull and facial lines divergent;

Flat fine hair, a poor mask marked,

A long thick neck, insufficient.

But a very kind bark !
_____________
Retrieval by Pat Darnell
Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell
[SOURCE]

It Happened this Way

J says | October 12, 2008 at 6:52 am
[ ... ]

Now the whole “associative” can of worms is a lot of fun. Imagine that I wrote a hymntune (a new “Amazing Grace”)…and PD wrote the lyrics. We copyright it and a few days later there are two Youtube slideshows using our hymntune as underscore. One features photos of children in prayer. The other features photos of vertically-challenged transvestite albino nuns wearing Doc Martens and stomping kittens and puppies. Imagine how detrimental this second association will be to our career! Somewhere there’s a lawyer out there for this case.

Have I been “served”?  http://jinright.edublogs.org/files/2008/10/01-moopig-hymn.m4a

The brothers from the Moopig Marching Monastic Mass Choir had a few issues with the irregular metrical footprint.

Pat Darnell and Friends says | October 13, 2008 at 8:15 am
I tried to avoid being called out for days now… Imagine that I wrote a hymntune (a new “Amazing Grace” )…and PD wrote the lyrics.

Well, J, this will teach ya’ to never do that again…

Transecting transvesting
I’m lost in mySpace
entitled zigzagging
albino Schoolmates
vibrato clapping
paunched boozing
many nuns Catholics
minimalist specialists
Transvestited conjugal
A transvest tripe licked me face

Coney Isle warm begot mellow
Sylvia strongest mask photo’d
Marclein martelled cantorello
Prologue of the nuns’ priest tale
‘de Chaucer an old, odd fellow,
Blind Doc Marten Martello’d

Monica, aria impressed, begot ciro:
‘Waar kan je te koop
‘E’en husky als
‘splatted triangle’s blackmails
‘als puppies kopen dear’o
‘van spotter in noord… escargot!

Canto Kinta prologue’d
Double forte rittard
Of the nuns’ priest tale –
Once entitlement zigzagging
Now, nuns shit wedging
toward this ending
on a Discordant chord…..
and much oath and pledging….

Pat Darnell and Friends says | October 13, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Oh my Gawd… ( :-o Holy Mackerel !! Sweet Mother of Jesus and His Step-Dad… vertically-challenged transvestite albino nuns wearing Doc Martens and stomping kittens and puppies… making irregular metrical footprints

It’s a good start, I think… no? Not served: U D Man… *[genuflecting large big dumb animals]* We Serve U

Reply | Pribek says | October 13, 2008 at 10:40 pm
now I’m not going to be able to get that tune out of my head


PHEW!
Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Singing Falsetto

by Pat Darnell | 2010

The best place to play

They call the ghetto

Where is there a park bench
... to lay down
... none in the shade

Where I can curl up
... and do time again

... can't afford, I don't ask
... lead a conscience green

... read your last letter last night
... whimpered alone

... all for lost time
... scripts down a scene

Unscripted it felt
What I think
ask her: No. It's done.

What am I going to tell everyone?

Little League Sign Up Day

by Pat Darnell | 1995

Sun struck driver
creeps by
urchins carry
boom boxes on shoulders
along sidewalk warm
playin' winter's discoveries
like teenager alarm.

Cabin weary moms
stretch out
in dusty, musty
jogging suits
a little saggy

faded and bagging
on hibernated legs
and torsos a little loose
like pajamas on the Mamas

Every one out
for a look see
at salted curbs
debris, will there be
one more frost?

on Easter...?

before soil disturbed
by daffodil, tulip
strawberry, and weeds

No sign of Dad yet
no hurry, except
for those in charge
of today's
Little League Sign Up

Around you see
those with tans
already they
been livin' largess
heavy hitters
who split
during winter mess

Yes; some Mom's 've been yachting
Some Dads leisured on Feb beaches
near America's Cup sweeps
lucky ones with nose up
richer gettin' richer
parents persnickety,
their kids are all pitchers!

Try-outs in the gym
winters melting
in fields wetting
So the clickety-clack
of baseball bats
must wait till
winter whey
all goes away
in seasonal decay
is born Little League Sign Up Day !

Pain Never Ending

by Pat Darnell

My Pain is endless
it never ceases
On waking, it cringes
At dusk, infringes
Keeps me sleepless

A neck strain today
toothaches yesterday
rheumatism, eye strain,
I'm not pretending,
Enemies? Your revenge
on me, I'm getting

Daughters your anger
answered this appendage
As pain never end-age
Upon a man intending
no elder life like this

Sometimes a lung
sometimes a thumb
feet like slabs of numb
chest's dull nag ...
... head hung

By witness of bone
these prizes I bear
alone
can I mitigate home

No mantel nor cloak
to conceal or abide
this stranger than life
episode I wish to hide

My humble prayer
to God above ...
release all my folk
from this despair

Calmly, quietly,
in warm attachment
... let me go,
for these pains impeding
pain never-ending
no one should ever know.

Inside Outside

Play on carpet
with domino
look through a box
bang my head
on the window

Happily clap
with wrists up
and up, elbow up
goes wild my pup

The storm descends
always washes away
I get out of the wind
as the stormy weather
interrupts my play

Quickly return
to my Spring-scented day
in the yard ...
... full to the curb
covered with juicy clover
puppy runs all over ...

Play outside ...
till the storm clouds cover
play outside ...
till the clouds come over

Stiff thunder scares me back inside
gray sky thunder makes me hide.

Life Changing Events

by Pat Darnell | Foggia '05

Check all signs
parlay the scriptures
call the Comforter
repeat the six prayers
from prayer chair

Deliver pet dog
at kennel by dinner
Toss her to the chain links
she muffles a query:

Do not eat this
Look, I did this
... this or, this?
You did none of it.
I did every thing
You did nothing.

Light flashes
on -- then on again --
YEPP' and MP3
Cellular, then off,
then wait, then
crackle...

Then BBC, then engines
very large engines
Then a push through
weather

A rock skipping over the clouds
a stone flies again

Do you know
where we are
?

Muncheritis

by Pat Darnell

Hanging upside down
on a pine branch
like a wren looking
for an aphid

I let the Minsky
frisk me because
I wouldn't blow
in his tube

Then it struck me
this is like images
within a mirror
with attitude

And I swear
that is not why
they jumped me
in verisimilitude

Of my actions
as it is plain
I was only out there
searching for food.

(Today, May 2010)

Earth Does

by Pat Darnell

What tethers
us in space?

No tackle
nor knots I've seen

like a kite
on a string

pulls to earth
us back in

a bucket
out of a well

depth breadth
comprehensible expanse
trek out a far distance

not to be lost
at our entrance

looking for face
recognizable out in space

what tethers us
in space?

Everyday at 17:00 hours

Prophets are Jawboned


How can I go on believing the greater you is in me?
Burst-ed bones of broken legs into a fire
potash and embers of Yaupon and Aspen
And jawbone of an ass
Jutting out, smoky mass --
Turning watery eyes watery
Crackling, disturbing to the finish
A wash of mountain yonder made
End of day, in fixed array
Devoid of end shade
Fixed time light dappled
Ordinary mottled
And variegated home
of praying mantis

Darnell 2006

Tough Love

by Pat Darnell | Nov 2007

Don't you ever
want to know
how I got here?

'Want to know
how I put
this road
behind me?

I thought you
would want to know me
if I became a tree
you might carve
your name
in my bark

And return one day
and see how
I protected you.

Let Loose a Tear

by Pat Darnell | Nov 2007

This crying
should probably
stop,

in a decade
or three

I keep trying
to write
the alternate ending

Sort of turns
out like a
letter within a story

True love reared its head
leered at me
then went to bed

Goal achieved
like background music
at cinema twenty-three

Focus on victory
break through stillness
celebrate in warmth

Accept my fate
story goes on
as endless coast

Of treasure, love, sea
tears and prophecy
some old songs

Lifts a few of my burdens
takes me back
'n lets loose a tear

Concert of Circle

Concert of song
see the fellowship
of women strong
... it is the songs
of children ...
of child birth ...
and so on

and of desire
and of great longing

Hush, maybe, do not disturb
their heartfelt songs
prayers in concert
... hear sisters sing
about their children
and their lives ...
with their hums,
between belling ...

Observe how they
grow chatty ...
around the bread
along with fishes that
seem to always follow
women ahead

Peering there --
just behind Jesus ...
... amid branches
sifting streamlettes,
and tinkling triplets ...

Singing their songs
to sustenance,
to strength,
from beginning to end
fellowship of women...
isn't it remarkable
their concert of circle.

Patrick Darnell (2001)

Descry

by Pat Darnell


Dangling at the end
Of the food chain

Was a soldier.

Who lost his wife
His gun, his son,
And nearly his life.

When then he found a clarinet
That upon it had his name,
A honed woodwind,
primed him in
breathing easier,
until one day,
He wrestled a tree
Finally fell
His body went
To pieces, which
All the creatures ate.
A happy feast that day,
At heaven’s gate.

His soul escaped
Not devoured
In final hour

A hand reached out
To catch him,
Put the young soul on a cloud,
At about half past two,

The soul of the soldier
Said, “Thank you.”
The one with the hand
Told the soldier’s soul
his new name --

“Metronome.”

And the cloud’s address
is 12, a matchless home.


The clarinet re-toned
with scales of delightful scores,
Notes uniform, and impossible
For human ears to hone.
On that same day
Upon earth fell
Twins, borne ‘neath
A channel, in gale,
whereupon two games
Will be played.

Each would owe life
To the soldier’s demise
While shepherds
Pastured their sheep, ‘neath birds
In their freedom flight,
To the river to drink

Their blood is from
The river flowing
To the iodine sea
They fly above
the living pleasure
as rocking waves knead
the banks, fertile with seed

As naught has ever
Been seen froward
Nor in reverse, evinced
In famish, nor, glory ward,

Obscurity, nor lucidity,
Neither scheme, schism, nor worry,

Beheld the brilliance in life
as a dread vantage of rough
High-spirited games
Dangled by threads above gulf
Just below cloud twelve
Stirred at soldier’s end, just
A gnash ahead in the food chain.


1991

Willy's Turkey Chilli Paste

Three years workin'
and he ain't tellin'
what it is ...
... you are smellin'

by Pat Darnell

Three years work ...
and pot likker still
tastes like chicken ...

Just Kiddin' !

Prawn to King three
clock is tickin' time
turkey bastin' -- let it be,
thrice cooking ...heat lickin'
Fahrenheit two hundred nine...

Farseeing, slow cook toil
like desert gravel boil,
mesquite leaf grind,
Darjeeling, still no oil

Mocking birds don't mock,
'cause beads of sweat pock
meaty cook's forehead
and his big arm-like hocks

Cigar meshed and wet
between monstrous molars
ash mixed in pot sweat
and ash falling to floors

Foliage swept and ground
watered in morning rain
added dandelion to mound
pewter pot boilin' plain

Beads of sweat
... form stains
on chef's hat ...
his legs and neck strained

Pot's right!
... he exclaims
Grandpa was right
... it is the same

But whoa it is tough
... to embrace today
what some remember
... as good old days.

But down home we try
We're willing 'n braced,
To sit by and cry
... when we all taste:

Grandpa Willy's ...
... Wild, Turkey Chilli.

[pd. 2004]

Lord let me die in a Book Store

Lord let me die
in a book store

So my last look
is edges of books

let my head fall
on the bones of Elisha

atop collections
of Natural Curiosities

In the Barnes at noblesse
or Joe's Book entrance

let my arm grow limp
under weight of clearance

99 cent bargains in tow
of Pollack, Tristan and van Gogh

So I will have died
just as the dead rise

so, Please do not weep
over my face ... nor book

You might get wet
the type on my place

or dampen picture anthology
of one more LOOK .

[pd]

Patch

by Pat Darnell

Shadow won't stick
won't stay attached
sent me adventuring
for thimble and tack
'n needle to patch.

Patch where past
meets a future
but jealousy flaps,
cuts quick ... a
perfect suture.

No more than rocks
can walk on water,

with little faith and stuff,
to arms! ... say for starters
shadow always tempted,
... sure enough ... Seems,
Shadow always gets broader.

[pd.2009]

Don’t be codger to me old man

by Pat Darnell

I don’t like being tossed aside
I am fretting my fate
Kitchen spills may be small
But too many broken hearts
Simply we do not repair all
You hear distant voice
A fond soundtrack
Predestined of choice
And you fret and crack
I had my heart attack
I reveal my full heart ache
You listen but abate
As heartstrings leave slack
Difficult flat to mitigate
even for hummingbirds
to trans-navigate
You are Specie of Strength so youth say
Don’t be codger to me old man
I am not interested
And you are in the way
Or, as you don famously
To point out the way
To clues of nerve chords
To invert our shameful play
Thanks but no thanks
You play too many tricks
I loathe your blood anger
And garlands festooned
Like piñatas beat with sticks
Seeds of salvation are rand
And not in your hands ole man
Nor in the works of your hands
From raptors talons, I howl back to say
Into this imbalance youth threw me too soon