Desert Nude

Wandering in the Wilderness . . .
It was a boyhood fantasy, coming
across a bare-breasted beauty in some
deserted place where she might rely on me
to rescue her, and her all willing
to reward my capable action with
tenderness and something undefined . . .
 
But now a man, I find myself here
in this deserted place, with this bare-
breasted young [...]

James Princeton Gar Returns

In the Cavern of the Sea Nymphs
You read about this sort of thing all the time
in myths and fairytales. But I, James Princeton
Gar, stand here to tell you, son: I seen ‘em!
Twas in the Indian Ocean, when I for the Queen
captained a ship and crew of swarthy seamen
salty as the brine and wily as any [...]

First Fire

We Charge Ahead
Sword high, arcs low
head rolls
first martyr
revolution
commences
Yet—
our pens are more
mighty than swords
We sling ink
to enrich life
not to end
aught
but to re-
create
Life
vibrant
and well-
lived

Nude Leda

Strange Love in an Ancient Land
What great imagination! A mortal
woman giving birth via swan eggs—eggs!
Was there pain? What gentle birth . . . still, Drake begs
devotion, gapes his own love immortal—
no guilt writ on that face, no immoral
glance of lascivious greed. Yet her legs
cross as though to prove virtue; here no dregs—
no vice but innocence—open [...]

Sestina: Dharma Freeway

Freeway Called Dharma
On this road to constant discovery,
the present remain present and grounded
to the concrete while spirit wanders free
learning each moment in its moment, each—
ember in Eternity’s combustion—
shooting, star-like, through cosmos in cosmos
infinite miasma of One collective cosmos
at whose center is each discovery
and discoverer. One combustion
of life into life, and all life grounded
into one. Myriadic [...]

2007: a sort of requiem

 
Wise Fools
How is it, youth must flee
like doves beyond the dawn
and hearts bank once-fierce fires
grow ashen as the beard grays
with formerly golden hair, no longer
curled in youth’s springs, but wired
in white, conservative cables, rigid
with wise caution and sprung by experience
into wires of strict habit and stiff,
stubborn cautions born of folly,
and more by folly & examinations’ [...]

Existential Dip in the Deep End

 
What is this Clear Ocean We Swim?
How long have we paddled our way through
to find but more miles of open blue, sunlight
glinting in myriad splinters that needle our eyes?
(Against these lasers, no dark shades would boon!)
When was our last serenade to that lovely moon?
Long enough she’s forgotten? Heaven seems deaf to cries
lost in eternity’s song [...]

On a White Horse (Ekphrastic Petrarchan Sonnet)

(”St. James the Great in the Battle of Clavijo”
by Juan Carreño de Miranda: 1660)
On a White Horse
You came riding in, pennant unfurled, sword
slicing down these enemy infidels
as though Michael himself! What angel yells
such obscenities, though? You just looked bored,
as though God sent you unwilling, armored
and holy as any angel; what swells
your rage that you slaughter, [...]

Whiskey-a-gogo Poem

Crown Royal Rhyme: with Variations
amber, the liquid poured in glasses short,
rocks alternative, or neat and poured straight;
best kept uncomplicated — but of late
cola is the sweetener for the sort
who like it sweet.  To this some retort
with condescension.  Purist opinion
being that sweet is much too plebian.
Smooth is the liquor of Canadian
grain distilled to be all the [...]

Venus & Adonis: Ekphrasis on a Nude Painting

(Venus & Adonis by Jacob Adriaensz)
So Hard to Resist?
Is she supposed to be the epitome,
Feminine beauty? Whose? She could frighten
most boys his age—and should. He could lighten
her day with a glance, but she . . . How could he
look on her with lust and respect—could she
respect him in the morning? Enlighten
him in the night, perhaps, [...]