THE ROOM

room dark

but for the morning sun

glowing on the window seat

and leaving a brilliant

square of light on the floor


much like our view

coming in in birth?


much like our view

going out in death?




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

it will probably be

some summer morning of vivid sunlight

that will take me from this world


instead of the monochrome mornings

of winter gray that I so much love

especially when icy flakes of snow descend


and maybe neither but at least something unexpected

that will surprise only the shell of a body I abdicate...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

ENJOY YOUR WORLD WHY DON"CHA?

when some idiot judges your worth by the standards

of his own vanity and lust for power


and when so many flush with envy and no scruples

make obeisance to such flimsy straw men


you know any notion of human freedom (deluded or not)

has been cancelled out by these infernal forces


and who help you if you show even one molecule

of integrity and ability to think for yourself?


the bad guys won...they always did...they always will...

this world is theirs and they will die with it


and for those whose attempt to be good is another

vanity to be overcome...and another mistake for which to atone...


then stand outside in some wilderness with no sense

of direction but where the wind howls toward...and you follow...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO RULE

half wit

all shit




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how good to walk the streets again

without rehearsing a script or pondering a character


or trying to be what others would have me be

especially if they've no clue who they are...


I scare them because I do not reference the fads they embrace

and they have no thought without 'reach out' to friends


as thoughtless as they are...how tiresome to be a giant

to pygmies just for knowing how to cross a street...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

your wish to debate every niggling little word

is not my idea of communication


share with others the trivialities of your thought

those who like you think the shallow surfaces


of life are all there is...

I refrain and far from being the dismissive egotist


you and your would have me be...I tell you more

in my silence than you hear in the jabbing around your ears...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

PAULO POST FUTURUM

...and so another mouth

in some future dispensation

may utter these same exact words

or words of very close import


and others will again hear nothing

or hear to little or no avail

and another speaker will grow silent

and lay in...if not humility...


then at least merciful relief...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

TALKING TO MYSELF AGAIN

I was never any good

at blessing my enemies


being my own worst one

took plenty of air


out of my pomposity

and now a bitter broken pride


passes it off as the Garbled

Voice of Experience




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

this new generation is firmly entrenched

and I'm so underwhelmed...

camp followers who think

they're leading a vanguard but

there's no difference

in 7 X 7

and wisdom sounds more trite

with each mouth that passes it along

Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

MAY 26th, 2013

every time you call


I get excited

and I feel a drawing in my loins


and our years are as nothing

our time eternal as a handless clock


every time you call


I know no beginning or end

only when when how soon will I see you...





Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

live long enough

and you'll see all your enemies die off


including your own past identities...




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interruptions and bouts with bogus geniuses

leave me unruffled

leave me steady and in flight


what the hell's happened to me?

have I suffered enough at last?

have I been transformed by some love's


prayer and intercession?

now I must try to understand myself all over again...






Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

THE HAMMER BLOWS

the hammer blows

that my foes

delivered with such

empathetic impact


have toughened my hide

and now I lay along some roadside

of mind and the blows feel

like taps of steady rain


a changer of mind has released the strain

a change of heart has left me intact




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

miraculous sun

after weeks of chilly rain

shining down on this warm

ordinary day


daily citizens saunter

down the street as I watch from my window

with nothing to say...




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YET ANOTHER 'NEW DIRECTION'

I hadn't realized I'd accomplished much

of what I intended to accomplish


I was so wrapped up in the present moment

that I missed the 'permanent' long-term implications


of what I managed to do in spite of myself

my ignorance and my greed


yes we should take the long view

but our short tangles with daily reality


shapes that way forward...


as happens to each of us if we're fortunate enough


to survive our idiocies

when past and present join in total comprehension


new directions spring open and renew hope

even with the same old apparatus of choices in place...





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NOW A HAUNTING TO SAY SOMETHING

now…the increase of interest now that all has been said and done…

now…when the urge the prompting the absolute bursting out of what there is to express is a done thing…

now…a haunting to say something when there are no words left at all…

Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

FOR US

so not ‘continue’

or 'move forward’

or ‘go on’—


more accurate to say

'be’ ‘act’ ‘do’ ‘live’—

may I continue in that vein—


all here—all now—all my portion on me—until

whatever is next for me—for us…




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

ALL DONE

completion is all inclusive--

just do what you do

and you'll always be

done...




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THE CONTENT OF MY DAY

all my scenes return to my mind


the teenaged joy giving way

to young adult hope


and adult fullness...all joy and pain

at its fullest measure...giving way to thoughtfulness


which leads to middle-aged retrospection

and the realization that the time of one's life is limited


and if our habits haven't killed us

we reach the point where we pause to count the cost


and before you know it you're middle-aged leaning toward

the long evening of age where every low afternoon


cannot help but recall high noon before the violet twilight

just after sundown soothes every qualm into place


and every scene returns to seal the content of my day




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

THAT'S THE PLAN

I'm morphing into all my mistakes

the bill is due

and I settle my old business

for what is coming if not shiny then at least new


all I've loved in all I've done

rankles under the aging skin

battered by the same pleasures pains and lessons

that the incoming souls will find themselves in


I'm eased by the continuity

knowing now nothing is solved once and for all

each generation rises to the bait of perfection

and each misses the mark and mourns its own fall


but so it is ever in the earth and each of us finds

the measure of our woe and our joy in our own good time




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

THERE IN MIND

the past is never totally gone


it is there in mind

real as when it happened


it is there in mind

one aspect of the permanent here and now


that is the only Reality...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

ALL HOLIDAYS FOREVER

I will see you in passing

again at the eternal clambake

where metaphysical liquor won't kill you

and a joyous love without sex

will bind us in one embrace

beyond what any earthly climax

could guarantee...let alone deliver...

we'll take a spiritual libation

Living Water disguised as a whiskey sour

with a can of beer added for a kick

and BBQ that won't bind us to our animal incarnations


one man's heaven is another man's hell

so enjoy or not as you will

I will see you as you or I will pass

back into flesh

our work of atonement not yet finished

working for that point where there

will but no more sea

no more beach or some shore to dance along

having arrived at last to all we love at its pure Ineffable core...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

A MILE A MINUTE

I'm going off

a mile a minute

I can't keep up

with ever accelerating time


but the faster it goes

the slower I become

and at some point time will stop

and eternity will start again...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

WHAT'S BEGUN IN THE WORLD

something's finished in the world


a past that is over and done

but for the ignorant hateful frightened souls

who cling to it with all their might

thinking they can keep it from going...


oh the hell we caused ourselves

and continue to as long as we think

anything we have to say

will matter to the cosmos


find your space and step in place

and you'll get where you're going

faster than your resistance with lead

to some just doom you weren't expecting


then you'll find what's begun in the world




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

LOVE AND DO WHAT YOU WILL

I'd have something to tell you

but you already know what it is


so if you won't listen to me

listen by all mean to yourself...





Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

TAKE THAT YOU SCYTHE SWINGING JERKOFF

nothing I can do about it


time asserts it's rights

and I face my downhill slide

with joyous derision


I'll make the Reaper eat my shit

before I go and whether there's everything

or nothing beyond the veil


right now's all there is...right now is the deal...





Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

SWEET SONG

morality's sweet song

echoes in my inner ear


accompaniment to a view

of westward leaning sun


and lengthening shade

and the parade of memories


that superimpose themselves

on a sidewalk scene


of mothers and children

and busy men at their daily toil


the old who are out of it

and the young who are really into it...


the sweet song like muzak

in the department store of life


2 for 5 and a credit card's limit

and no indication you're overdrawn


until the bill comes...

the sweet song humming over every wedding


and resonant beyond hearing

at every funeral...


morality's sweet song

sounding in my ears all my life


and I hum my counterpoint

dissonant when the scene is rough and distracted


harmonious when the summer afternoon's are sweet

and the busker's basket fills with coins...


it's all good at these times

(perhaps it's always good and it's only our own


particular instrument that needs retuning...)

and when it seems that it isn't...well...


it's then we hear our own music

and each of us is our own sweet song of morality...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

DIN DIN

I'm eating a  tofu chocolate knish

right now


don't know what you're doing

but for me this moment is

as good as it gets...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

TAKE A COUPLE OF DAYS OFF

God

I take a couple of days off

and some of my constant readers

start dancing around

some golden calf

as if they fear some

idiotic lawgiver has abandoned them

(yes I am delusional heh heh)


no seriously

just pass the word

for who can receive

and try not to have a good time

at someone else's expense

and we'll all turn up golden...so to speak...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. all rights reserved.

DAILY TRIAL

if it were easy to forgive


then our joys would be unending

and the world spotless at last


if it were easy to bless


then all would be absolved

and all wrongs righted


and so we live our daily forgive and forget

as if it were that easy...





Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

A NEW SONG

I must learn a new song...


for so long I followed Catullus and his

odi et amo


but now I've tended the common root

from which hate and love spring


now though nothing's changed

everything is still different


and my screech slowly refines itself

to a song of no winners or losers


but all who get exactly

for what they have readied themselves


weep and embrace? be joyful and embrace?

either way an embrace draws notes to the throat


and the sound is a song of repentance...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

US

we join and merge

with every meeting

every day


all our skin

one throbbing

all-inclusive being


and when we part

and resume

our separate tracks


still are we one

all-encompassing

consciousness


and the way begins

and ends with us...




Content (c) 2008 -2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

COMMON ILLUMINATION

oh the anger rises daily

at times unwanted or asked for...


and no more than enduring

the clumsy mistakes or the deliberate evils


of others or the self...it hardly matters...

when one has achieved even rudimentary


awareness of our Oneness

what good the vicious psychosis of hurt ego


that hurts itself most in hurting others

or the righteous anger of the pointing finger


preaching obvious truths as its weapon

of ego in service to a false idea of holiness?


it's pointless to rage against the world

and become one of its evils in the process...


all agony of love twisted in a rage of compassion

and compassion scorned


all Oneness a yet unrealized sum

in these dank terrors of unconsciousness


so frustrating as it may be

the angers rise daily...subdued then by the joys


as we stumble on to what we shall be

entangled in everything that was...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

MERGINGS

sweet love


I fear you as a field mouse

fears the sweeping shadow at noon


I know to embrace you

is to die and to die


is to live as a new thing entire

and that I fear the most...


me seeing me through your eyes

and you moving


with my blood coursing

channels through your body


though we stay who we are

we are other and neither but a new thing entire


sweet love...





Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

YET ANOTHER CRUCIAL MOVE TO MAKE

I'm with Dante

in the middle of that damned forest...


I'm with Robert Johnson

dickering with that devil at the crossroads...


I'm with ol' uncle Walt

scanning back at roads traveled...


I'm with anyone at a street corner

looking left and right for a space in the traffic...


all my heroes and all my villains

all my saints and all my sinners


each and every one of us finds

ourselves right here at some point


ready to leap the edge into the vast air

while the avalanche closes the way behind...





Content (c) 2008-2013 Phiulip Milito. All rights reserved.

BACK TO LIGHT

it's been a long haul


what I've hated

I'll have yet to contend with


in some future traipse on the earth

but what I've loved


will still stand me in my best light

and be loved and loved yet again


on the long haul back to Light...





Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

ONE THING

I've said many things

I've lived to regret


and held back on things

that would of aided another


perhaps it'd be better

to examine myself and decide


whether to sing or go silent...

to the world it would all be one thing...






Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

NO MISTAKES

no mistakes

no fears


when I drop I drop

when I rise I'll rise


our deluded minds

make life such a grief


when an open heart

will give relief







Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

SONG OF THE OPEN INTERSTATE

how I'll end this road

is anyone's guess


but it will be the start

of another holy quest


to those who doubt

there is no death


don't pack away your travelin' shoes

and don't hold that last breath




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

SAM COOKE WOULD UNDERSTAND

while I have your attention

understand

I only loved you for your soul...


what pussy whip that sounds like

when the fragile love is tossed

by the animal hungers nyong nyong nyong-ing


through this cartoon of courtship

we act in every weekend night at the BBQ

and we think love of spirit and love of ass


are one and the same,,,and if All is One

then maybe it is and we just need to be

a little more precise and honest in application


if you understand that

there need be no problem with the music the bodies and the night...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

PHANTOM

it's so easy to hate a phantom


some proxy of yourself

to make your hatreds more palatable

to you


so why make things hard?


indulge your vanity

and when others are hurt by it

you'll have plenty of hate set by


to project onto that phantom

that fantasy figure

with such a strong resemble


to yourself

while you pay for more sins

than your own...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I want to shut down

and go on an adventure...


the mountain's are nice

but the seaside's so fresh


and riding the desert's all

we already do


Think I'll shut down

and stay home...so I can have


all those places at once...






Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

STOIC DISGUISE

I'm not sad and I'm not mad

how often can you cry over the past?


after a while it doesn't matter

what you've done or what you'll do


and the steady gaze penetrating some horizon

is stoic disguise for some wound


that will not heal...so why should I bother?

I'm not sad and I'm not mad and nothing comes to anything...






Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

WEE WEE WEE

big brother checking bloggers

all over the world


I'm sure they know of me

but what are they going to do?


I'm an ersatz poet and bedroom

visionary and they're not after me


because I haven't pissed any of them off

and how could I...going wee wee wee


all the way to bed?




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

snaking along the outer edge

of my miasma


is a queasy feeling

about the inevitability


of no grace and no hope

and no love for the duped


and all the lost effort I've made

in the foolishness of compassion


we are united in suffering

the religious books all say so


as though if you wanted to be happy

you had to be deluded


some paradise sprawling around us

but impossible to access...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

ASPIRATION

everyone's time is up

everyone's grace is exhausted

everyone's luck has run out


see you at the cataclysm

that will be

everyone's desperate last chance to transcend




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

happy

to see

me go?


not as happy

as I'd be

to leave...





Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

so easy to talk about bucking up

when the hardship's not happening to you eh?


were you were expecting brilliance

of insight and expression?


some new take on what is always the case?

you can't be serious...


you want lies then turn to art

you want truth then hear what's said...






Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

in this world

when you're poor


you say to hell with heaven

because all you can afford is death







Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

PREACHERS...BAH...

oh Lordy the preacher is back...


I too dislike him and find his insufferable


let's all be good to each other

let's love and help each other

let's live in the righteousness we're

supposed to live in


and give this loud mouth the boot.


let him put in an honest day's toil like the rest of us...





Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

UP AGAINST IT...AGAIN...

oh how materialists think I'm the bunk


they don't understand how the consciousness

that peers through their own eyes

is the real 'them' in 'real' life


and when they die it is painful

because all that eternal attention

is focussed on the very temporary thing


that is...has...already past

instead on the permanent part living this

and agonizing over the dross


and I mean them no insult

and give them no snark but if they had

the slightest notion of their eternal nature


then they'd know what's the bunk...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

MASTER/SLAVE

King of All Tyrants


we all bow and scrape

before You to no avail


You will have Your Way

You will kill us all


and in doing so

kill Yourself as well


oh servant of all self-haters...






Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

tears make no difference

to dead dry flowers


soften the soil for the

next seeding


and let the whole cycle

recommence


where the sun makes a difference

to moist ground and fresh rows...






Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Miliyo. All rights reserved.

REALIZATION

why bother

cursing your fate?


as well curse

the sun for rising...




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All right reserved.