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Atlas’ Journey

Hopelessness clings like a straitjacket
Constricts like a boa
Weights the feet like walking through watery mud

The legs gave out long ago
But the mountain must be climbed
And I trudge on

Hopefully I will see the summit
If the sun sets without me
I will savor all it illuminated during my journey
      and fertilize the trail for the hiker behind me.

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Handwritten Note

This one is scribbled on a napkin shoved into my poetry journal and dated August 6, 2004 along with Of Time and Aging.

If at first you don’t succeed may your rotting corpse serve as a warning to the next guy. -DM 6aug2004

Another on the same napkin:

Yesterday was never as hard as it seemed at the time. -DM 6aug2004

And the final is an old favorite that is not an original of mine.

Today is the tomorrow we thought about yesterday. -author unknown

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My One-dimensional Reality

This was written for a open mic night around 1992.

I wrote a poem the other day so in the spirit of the evening I would like to present it to you.
Ready?
It’s called "My One-dimensional Reality" and it goes like this:
Dot!
Well, it lacked a little point so I wrote another called "My Two-dimensional Reality" and tried to draw lines between the meanings. It was then that I started to get deep and philosophical and expanded the two poems into "My Three-dimensional Reality." It was here that my thoughts exploded in ALL directions.
I started to write "My Four-dimensional Reality" but I ran out of time.
And one day, I want to write about the larger dimensional realities but at the moment my concepts are beyond words.

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Chaos Wrangling

I look about and see
All the chaos which surrounds me
Clutter on the desk
Clutter in the mind
Clutter makes it hard to progress
Leaving me far behind
To get ahead I need to clean
Remove the chaos to be free
Tasks at hand take priority
Leaving chaos to encompass me
Remove the chaos from the physical world
Digitize and organize in bits and bytes and clouds
Where’s my chaos now?
It’s still there but I’ve misplaced it somehow
I stored it on a website for all to see
Recycled the physical evidence around me
But they changed their name
Bought by another company
Delicious bookmarks are all but broke
And the price gone from free
To $4.95 monthly
My chaos still burdens me
I need its comfort for my strange insanity
But now I cannot find it
My desk is clean
The chaos in my head still surrounds me.

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Voided

Drip, drip, drip, drip
Into the void it slips
A black hole sucking the darkness in
A container filling within with out
Nothingness becomes somethingness
Still less
With every sampling the void grows
Blackness stimulating
Maddening
Addicting
Hate it, Crave it
Driving force
Of … what?
No answer
Drop, drop, drop, drop

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We are all one breath away from the end

Today I saw a man dying on the side of the road
He lay within sight of trained paramedics, a mere 325 feet
As I came to the scene, parked cars lined the side road dangerously close to the speeding traffic
I criticized whoever allowed their party guests to park so carelessly
I did not know they celebrated a life
As the distance narrowed, my irritation turned to concern
This looked more like a car accident than party
A footfall field away, sirens roared and lights flashed, help was on the way
I pulled the side to clear a path, to my right my worry turned to fight
There in grass, lay a man surrounded by people and one pumped his chest
I do not know what happened to that man
I drove away, I could not help, I’d just be in the way
I did not see his face, he could be someone I knew well, a neighbor, or a stranger
I do not if he breathed again or had his last day
He left my mind as quickly as he entered it
I had no emotional or philosophical response
I did not think of his family nor mine
I simply noted that my CPR training is out of date.

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Noooo…. Grounds!

The coffee is gone! The coffee is gone! Watch for riots in the streets! How could we have let all the coffee grounds run out.

Oh bean!
How I miss thee
Not long ago
     I coddled thee
I’d shake your bag
     Like a maraca
We’d laugh with glee
Then I’d give you a ride
The grinder it spun
To fine powder
Then a steam bath for you
While you drip dried
I’d have a drink
Now I thirst.

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How vivid are your dreams?

My dreams are filled with color, details, and sound. Last night I was watching a well machine, straight as an arrow, perfectly round one inch thick steel bar. While I looked at the bar from close distance, it hung in the air with no apparent forces being applied to the bar then without warning it snapped in the middle with an incredible, piercing pop! I flinched to miss any shrapnel, and in the process bolted upright in bed, wide awake, with my ears ringing and heart racing.

No interpretation needed. That dream is as clear as the single, ear splitting pop which came out of the dream and into the real world.

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I cry

I hold you my son
And I cry
For I cannot give you all the world.

I watch you my daughter
And I cry
For I cannot give you all my time.

I teach you my son
And I cry
For I cannot give you all knowledge.

I guide you my daughter
And I cry
For I cannot prevent all your mistakes.

I set you free my son
And I cry
For I cannot protect you all the time.

I love you my wife
And I cry
For I cannot give you a better life.

And I cry
Tears of joy
For all of you give me such happiness!

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Oneself

You come into this world alone
Yet in the company of others.

You live your life alone
Yet in the company of others.

You die alone
Yet are mourned in the company of others.

Why can the heart not be alone
But yearn for the company of others?