Topic: nichi poems

[nichi]

Now

I have no recourse but to leave
The home of my flesh and bones.
Wind against my face,
I drift over towns I have known,
Watching for the light
Which calls me in its blue hues,
Looking forward to a fire's crackle
And a familiar voice in strange lands ...
What will come is quite unknown --
Will the timbre of sweet violins
Seep into my ear one night?
Will I begin to think of men
In beards and tophats,
Men in wheelchairs
Applauding fireworks,
Men at telephones
Calling for the bomb,
Women with protest signs,
Long marches to domes,
Hot dogs and hot pretzels
And children running rampant
On a hot summer's day --
Which one will call me back?
Atlantis underwater,
The mountain villa of calabria,
The sacrificial gates of java,
The smiling kookaburra's laughter,
The golden eagle's highlands?
These beautiful and spacious skies
Will have to guide me
To the place I need to be
In this odd time,
Wrong time,
Right time,
Long time searching
For the only time
I will have in which
To see thee again.

~V

[nichi]

Reunion

Another day...
Listening for the lows
Of my lost family,
Walking this ancient, dusty road--
Remembering water holes
And my child's sweet breaths
Wrapped around my legs.
I pushed the trunks aside
Off the road, when I heard
The crackle of dry brush,
The snorts and sighs
To my left, and swaying
Beyond the vines,
Eyes upon me,
Chirruping,
There they stood!
There they stood!
Unstoppable, I ran
To meet them,
Never hearing the mahout's cries,
"Come back, Come back!"
Never again, kind man.
Into the mountains at last
We will go, and never look back,
Listening for the lows
Of the stars
To guide us.

~V

[Michael]

that's the way

[nichi]

Spirit-friends assembling...
Taking a place in the center
Which pivots through the love
Of stars,
Whirling with wind and water
And the speed of earth's turn
No, faster than earth's turn
And faster ...
As I raise my head up
To the light and extend my arms
And hands
To you, on my right
And to him, on my left
Inhaling particles of stars
And spinning.
Such lovers in this center
And carollers in our west,
Singing "Kumbaya, my lord,
Kumbaya..."
The world won't end today!
Steady!
Come here, come closer
Let me see who you are
We may whirl together
On through to infinity
In this one moment
The world won't end today
But it's better in its turn
For taking your hand,
Dear friend,
Dear spirit-lover.
Come here.
Come closer.


~V~

[Jennifer-]

This is beautiful V, thank you for sharing it.

Much Love, Jennifer

[nichi]

Across the street, the caballeros
test their percussion,
rehearse the mariachi,
interjecting "Uh huh, uh huh," in falsetto.
Lovely ladies in high heels come
and all the neighborhood
rejoices -- good salsa,
good rhythm, sad lyrics
with a musing parrot's caws --
driving hard and perfect,
it's so good, but what is this?
Old white woman enters the street
spreading her arms wide,
grabbing the young mexican man
as he passes, "Dance with me
for a moment, dance with me.."
One-two-three, one-two-three,
she waltzes and smiles
a crooked smile. "Thank-you!
Thank-you for all the joy
You've brought --
Don't you know we are each other?"
The young man slips away,
whispering to his friends,
"She's loca, who is she?"
And right there in the street,
she disappears
into a mist...
But all the young men
still hear her humming...

~V

[Michael]

good one!

[tommy2]

She musta bin a time travelor
stopping for a wink
a chip o'salsa
taquilla drink

Slipped away
before she came
not to stay
but here the same

Ask the wind
whatter name

Thought I saw her
yesterday


t

[niamhspark]

Sí, she's loca, but she left happy anyway

[nichi]

At night the moonbeams cast our hearts;
Through shadows, woodlings see
Two lovers from a starlight hide,
Whose souls fade in the sheen

The unsurpassed joys drop in time
Like cones from evergreen;
Collecting those which fall to root,
We pluck love's plenty clean.

But love your absence never takes --
The echoes coyly tease;
In circling -- gone like autumn birds --
Your ghost is left with me.

If honeysuckle saved the rose,
Then ivy swathed the tree.
A robin's remnants soothe the soil,
I'll keep this love with me....

VLambert

[Michael]

The echoes coyly tease

mmm...

[nichi]

Little Sparrow

Into the tessellations you wander,
at first not knowing,
dazzled by intricate design
and vibrant color,
playing with frayed pieces of string.

The windchimes tinkle
further away than before,
as you make your way
to the center,
with a bountiful beakful of twine.

Home ---
this is what you wanted,
at the center of the maze ...

You sit on the nest of feathertufts
and close your eyes,
hearing chimes
within a little heart.

The silence is irresistible....

V

[nichi]

All the gods of lightning
Met in circle last night
Above my house --
Flashing their commentary
And objections to each other
"No-Yes-No-Yes ---
Take that! No, you take that!
Me-me-me-me-ME! I said ME!"
As my room lit up
Every other second, I smiled
That even the gods dispute
Each other, seemingly unaware
Of the cowering trees beneath ...
Of the bare-chested roof,
Exposed and Watching...
Their own fierce agenda blinded
To the rest.
A television was turned on
By a bolt within these rooms
As the rolling conference
Moved northwestward,
Away, still in hot converse.

This morning, I watched a catbird
Perching within the porch
Half-drenched, preening,
Shaking off the night...
I commented to him, "Rough time, eh?"
And he answered a resounding, "Yes!"
Before he flew off, pretending
We had never spoken.

~V

[Michael]

wild stuff - i love those lightening events, esp when I'm in bed.

[nichi]

Finally!
The earth beneath my back
Juts upwards --
I ascend to the stars
On this new-made mountain.
I am dizzy, elated
With realizing
That any way would work
After all.
So perplexed I was
By abstractions
And acrobatics,
When all I needed
Was passion for the sky,
Desire for the stars,
And heart for this
Crumbling,
Breaking
Ground.

~V