Mu-mon-kan

The Gateless Barrier

Archive for the 'poetry' Category

Another 5 AM

I don’t want to sleep.

OK…that’s not entirely true.  At 5 AM, I wish I could sleep, but my mind’s too active and, seemingly, uncontrollable: I think about shows, past/current relationships (intimate and platonic), work, mistakes, random scenarios (real and imagined), etc, etc, ad infinitum…

Maybe “life’s too complicated,” “I make life complicated,” or some other unoriginal thought.  I want the reality of an Iron & Wine song:

One more drink tonight as your gray stallion rests
Where he lays in the reins
For all of the speed and the strength he gave

One more kiss tonight from some tall stable girl
She’s like grace from the earth
When you’re all tuckered out and tame

One more tired thing the gray moon on the rise
When your want from the day
Makes you to curse in your sleep at night

One more gift to bring we may well find you laid
Like your steed in his reins
Tangled too tight and too long to fight

The warmth of Sam Bean’s voice and the beautiful simplicity of his lyrics entices me into an idyllic life of horses and stable girls.

Realistically, I need to be able to afford the stable, horses, and tall, female employees.  Besides, could I really leave the comfort, the connectivity, and the knowledge behind?  I don’t require much, though I think I need more.  Love, food, and horses might be all that’s needed.

…and sleep.

3 comments

I Thought His Name Was Lower Case

Some poems stick with me.  I’ve thought of this poem by E. E. Cummings since high school: anyone lived in a pretty how town.  Though I don’t entirely understand the imagery (you can take that statement from the school of thought that says the author has a distinct message to convey), I like the poem for the same reasons I love Mike Doughty; there’s a rhythm and a resonance in the word choice.

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone’s any was all to her

someones married their everyones 
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

I enjoy it based on how it feels when I hear the words and not because of a deeper understanding.  Why do other people enjoy it?  Or why don’t they?

2 comments