Noli Me Tangere

 

Transitioning into self

I am

Here for just a while

Clay feet warm my path

And laughter follows

And even as light twinkles

Over a mountain sky

My star is brighter, clearer

You see

Only a mirrored surface reflects

And all that you fathom

In glassy tears

Is not what is lost

But the best of you

Love me

As I do you

For I am happy

You have much yet to do

Hold me not

I am only climbing

To a place with a better view

 

© NP 07/29/12

Why do you love me?

 

And you will know me

Beyond pain

Beyond passion

Beyond need

I seek your heart upon wakening

But only after thanking God

For grace

For waking me

For blessing you

As is my daily request

That always comes in the form

Of greatfilledness

For simple things

Like sun

Like rain

Like running water

And toothpaste

So why do you love me?

 

When you have yet to hear my heart beat

Under the palm of your hand

My smile

Across a table

The corner of your eye

In memories

There was a time when I trusted desire

To move beyond love

Unconditionally

Uncompromisingly

Unwavering

Until it could hold no more faith

And I was wrong

To trust it

Blindly 

Reservation-less

So damage you find me

Flawed

Whole-ly

Encapsulated

Through no fault of yours

So why do you love me?

 

I know you are not he

And I not she

I cannot pay

And you do not owe

A debt not my own

Nor yours to bear

And I will hold you faultless

If you only trust me

So why do you love me?

 

Yet hide

What’s in your heart

On your mind

In your soul

For a burden shared

Is halved in its heaviness

And like two equally yoked

My furrow must

Accompany

Follow

And be directed

By your ordered steps

Of faith

You must be the head of the house

Because it is written thus

And I will be contrite

In obedience

To my God

So why do you love me?

 

I have to know that you

Won’t shut me out

When it’s tough

When you need

When you don’t

Because I will need you too

To feel that I am a part

Of your life

And you mine

And to know

Beyond a doubt

Without question

And in all confidence

Why

You

Love

Me

© NP 08/12

 

 

I want my poetry to...

I want my poetry to prepare you for death

Not for the grave

Nor the cemetery

But death

The end of all words

The end of all light

When you can sigh

And close your eyes in peace

Rested, relaxed

Sated

Satisfied that everyday

You healed yourself

From the trials of the day before

 

I want my poetry to prepare you for death

At the end of the conversation

Where thoughts meet pain

And pain meets joy

And joy is God

And God is good

Love conquers all, even the grave

I lower your body

Into the ground

And take your song

Into my soul four nourishment

Mind, spirit, breath and light

 

I want my poetry to prepare you for death

Starting this day

Let’s not make a plan

To edify and rectify

Those that require one or both

Feed bellies and lay hands on brows

With a cooling touch

Set off fireworks in the streets

Just for pleasure of the blind

Let’s do it

 

I want my poetry to prepare you for death

With words read

And colors painted

Threads running crookedly through a quilt

Linking, touching

The rough and smooth

Of moonlight

Broken glass prism-ed

Into beautiful satin

Music

Imagined in mentally challenged minds

 

I want my poetry to prepare you for death

The race run

And well set in clay

Steps to follow

A good example of a life fully lived

Under grace

Sometimes in sand

At the edge

Of tomorrow

But always looking

East

Prepared to follow the Son

 

© NP 8/13/2012

you are what you eat

Power in its simplest form

Returns itself into the void

It can never be consumed

In the gnashing of teeth

Or the burning of anger

Simple chewing breaks

Ire into swallowable chunks

Chasing satisfaction wanes

After its twin is caught and

Though tasty, does not fill

A belly bloated with hunger

For importance and success

We suck the marrow

Out of life with no thought

To tomorrow’s meal

Second helpings call to us

Through the halls of buildings

Late night when we should be home

Saying grace for little birds

Lying dead in gravy on dinner tables

We eat dreams in one gulp

Never savoring the incense

Of the burnt offering

On commerce’s altar

The offering of ourselves

And all who we say we love

Because they are dressed

In disguises of our fabrication

Reason for climbing down

Ladders in our mind

To sup with our egos

 © NP 9/12

Predilection

Poetry

Invites

Incites

Conjures

A Predisposition

To Pen

Genius

With

Praediligere

PenWalker

PenWalker

I have known for a while now

That ink is a conduit

It stains my thoughts

Providing shadows to the energy

So we can see them

Clearly, vividly, naked

It runs under my skin

Walking through memories

Erasing the pain

Creating movement’s purpose

A call to wakefulness

Lifting from slumber

In the music of india ink

Black and bold strokes

Across many canvasses

Letters and syllables

Staining pillows and curtains

I borrow the words

From the ritual of lives

Soothing colors

Stories that are meant to be told

I try on my parchment

And travel where my pen takes me

© NP 07/27/12

caught slippin...puente

I prayed for a door to open
And packed life in my backpack
In preparation of the call to move
Feet shod and hatted head
You placed the wind to my back
And told me not to turn

~less I am caught slippin~

Into wanting what was behind me
Instead of being greatfilled
For my chance to have three stones
In my desert place altar
And when you set my path
I am ready to follow.