The Path of No Path

Calculus at 7 am Smoosh and smash Push, even Frenetic button bash Busy, ... d/dx = 29 cos(5 ∏ + 3) Cold creaminess mixed with crisp crunchiness morning cereal. Too early for tasting The last woman’s scent screams out at me from the pages of QA 152.3.K44 2008 Musk of dank mildew Rough, unkempt, cheap paper scratches at my finger tips Tappity-tappity only, lonely sound in the empty library Fresh sheet Clean green engineer paper 3. d/dx = 29 cos(5 ∏ + 3)

A Scorcher I sweat Ahelgany and Monongahela scorch down my face. My lungs toil as woefully inadequate bellows enslaved in the blacksmith's forge. Air is exchanged Breathing but a memory, as the Sun continues its aggressive  interrogation. My body a blunt lethargic chisel carves out with somber devotion hot iridescent granite blocks of heat with each step I take. Pressed to my brow water and rocks fill the goblet. Precious droplets of well chilled soothing elixir resuscitate my soul. Water. More precious than Sovereigns. More intoxicating than Absynthe. Sigh.

The last 12 months have been the hardest of my life. The lightening quick ending of a 26 year marriage, partnership and friendship. The loss of my best friend of 30 years and the loss of other close friends. I am a poet and writer. Writing helps me move through both the joys and the fears and the pain with swifter and more useful degrees of grace and wisdom. Right now life is challenging, so the poetry reflects that. FYI Be in joy, in all ways! ~william

I feel like my life is shutting down. Drifting alone. Shut out and shut off. Tired of watching the passing of close friends; am I next? Tired of being befriended only to be taken from. of watching friends being cruel to other friends. I choose a simple life and am hated for it. I ache. Body and soul.

The following is a "Waku," or "Waka" in some translations. In any case, it is similar to a Haiku in that it follows the 5 - 7 - 5 syllabic form, but it adds an additional 7 syllable, new line at the end. I find the form challenging and fun to work with. Enjoy! Loss Walking alone now. Silence my new companion. Freezing. Cold Springtime. Hard lessons. Allowing pain.

I lost. Reviewing it all there was never going to be a winning position. When two friends lock horns was I meant to step back? Money now seems wasted on learning how to make win-win-work. I am not good at being a bystander. Bleakly witnessing madness unfold in front of me. Impossible choices demanded split-second decisions as the living blood-bond of friendship raped of life and love. Lies. Dead on the stoop. My friend, no stranger to money, power and position has tossed aside his strong and compassionate heart; for what! A kind woman, kicked to the curb. Her home of eight years, waits for another, another occupant! I choose to side with the poor and disempowered as the rich seem to take of their own. My still bleeding heart pumping the life force of an old friend into the gutter. The woman and I stare in amazement, sitting there on the stoop.