Come to Belize

“Your battles inspired me – not the obvious material battles but those that were fought and won behind your forehead.” – James Joyce

When one wonders, then suns thunder
across glossed-over underlings
like lost discoveries, nothing to see here.

She hears familiar whimpering,
steel tears still shimmering;
is all that glitters truly gold?

That’s the myth we’ve all been told,
a fairytale to quell the rebellion.
Our Orwellian overlords can’t afford
to lord the lie over us.

The sword rises over us,
the blood flies over us;
and still, yes even still,
the prophecy remains unfulfilled…

– Kurt Poleet

The unlaced thread

“There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.” – Blaise Pascal

Purplish mist descending,
upending ancient obelisks
as phantoms bewail
the last pilgrim’s trail.

Bitter smell of fresh-cut grass
icy touch, eidolon clutch
infinite emptiness
awaits the fated ones
within the broken circle…

– Kurt Poleet

Fatuity

“You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once.” – Robert A. Heinlein

Staring down the barrel of a jar of marmalade
blaring sounds so sterile that they bar the barricade.
Bosons fly, bosons fall;
opposers cry, opposers crawl.

All almost always sway
mild-mannered minds this way
or that; they don’t come back
from backbreaking madness
or track-staking slackness.

No transgress creates
the hate which lured them in,
which lured them in to sin…

– Kurt Poleet

Too late

“Imagination though it cannot wipe out the sting of remorse can instruct the mind in its proper uses.” – William Carlos Williams

My misty eyes gaze at grey skies
now I realize it was all lies.
No one’s wise when faced with truth,
omnipotence of youth
melts like an ice cream cone on a summer’s day
and all I can say is I’m sorry…

– Kurt Poleet

Misdemeanors

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” – Thomas Aquinas

No one to nurse the crying baby;
stars hide behind the fog.
Can you see through a paper-thin trampoline?
“Maybe”, said the sad old frog.

Like a pile of dirty dishes left overnight,
my sins aren’t easily washed away.
Can you see through three-foot thick cellophane?
“I might”, said the devil’s next prey…

– Kurt Poleet

Seven

“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Transcending the offending Master
causing nothing less than pure disaster;
like a neglected ancient temple,
his bravery only resembled
a long forgotten tomb.

When minstrels gather to recall
his truly ignominious fall
not a kind word will be uttered;
hearts and minds will all be shuttered
as the march of death resumes…

– Kurt Poleet

Reverie

To dream of verdant pastures and azure skies,
of panoramic bliss before our eyes;
a realm where peace abounds across the land
where kinship is born from nothing more
than an outstrecthed hand
and rests on nothing less than an honest word.

To dream of playful cheer and joyful song,
of pleasant smiles among the throng
of happy neighbors joined by one-time strangers
and warm embraces from sentimental faces
as well as caresses that ignite the breast.

Awake!
And let the dream begin…