life on earth is hell

because we are all

mirrors of each others

and we hate ourselves so...


even the good struggles

against all the evil

we've amassed

lifetime after lifetime


and has little chance

because grace is so weak

and perfection spoils

all amendment


nothing's ever good

ever perfect enough

but all terms run out

and all terms close out a sentence


and what could be more heavenly

than release?




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

ORWELL GOT IT RIGHT

Orwell got it right


the soulless ones

have taken over the apparatus


you're so careful

not to put out anything you'd regret


others finding out

and it's already out there


ready to bite your ass

the moment you step out of line


and ideas like hope

and faith and perfection


all leave much to be desired

when all you can do is be grateful


when everything's peaceful because

no one's looking for you...


oh Orwell got it right


the wrong ones got control

and it isn't so much that


the bad guys won as it is

there are no good guys...





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

PERFECT

drained of any inclination to connect

with my fellow souls (the fools...the wretches...)


I'd rather watch the whole parade

of malice and mendacity


pass like a turd from creation's anus...

what a waste of a soul's living


to live in the compromised earth...

oh I know...we're here to learn something...


but is the cost ever worth the suffering?

I say no...I say divine demands are absurd at best...


trapping you in the very imperatives

we are to overcome as if rubbing our nose


in the very shit we're trying to transcend

would not reaffirm 'like begets like' and teach us


something new...oh the vicious petty evil fools

who get a pass while the good suffer endlessly...


but then why complain? is it worth your time to argue

with the saps coursing the stem or to challenge the sun


as it draws the buds out of their seeds?

this is just the way it is...


creation an stinking imperfect turd sliding out

of a perfect asshole...





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

life feels like more of a prison

than it does a school...


so o.k.

I'll have to repeat the form...


I've paid my debt to our

society of souls and our Headmaster


and graduate after marking myself

on a curve...






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

SF CHRONICLE BUILDING FEB 2012

I love the low leaning light of

approaching sunset


to me nothing in life

is more beautiful or soothing


(unless it be the violet or pale olive

afterglow of twilight itself...)


this is all I need of a day

this is all the growing peace I want...

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

all right

you've heard everyone weigh in


death is nothing

and life continues after we die


good


or there is nothing after death

and everything just stops


also good


if you live you live

and if you don't then how would you know?


just breathe aware alive

and deal with your matters at hand


and the last thing here will be to die

and find out the truth for yourself...simple...no?






Content (c) 200802913 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

Why preach?

Everyone knows the score
And who needs a windbag to add
To their troubles…?

What promises of an imaginary paradise
Can compare with the mere silence of being alone
With yourself…your own reflections

All the finger-wagging you need?





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

Say what you will…

Something in plain sight hides
And will overtake you
When you look aside off your path
And imagine a quick death that will
Release your soul from your earthly torments
And return to some place you cannot know
In your own skin

And say what you will…

But it will be a place beyond anything
You’ve envisioned for yourself
The justice of metaphysical fact
Will fill your mouth with a different sound

Then say what you will…
It’ll be truer to the actuality of the Only Reality
Then you’d known while you were here
And with it
A growing recall leaving you regretful or bemused

You yourself that thing in plain sight
And nothing over…




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

Through the turgid day
No sound but muffled mouths
And muted moans

No clear reasons
And no straight answers
And not one handing hand

Without a joy buzzer in the palm

Then on into night
Air as thick as a wall of plaster
Through which we push

To get back to the precarious
Safety of home and this in some alleged
New Age in the galaxy that resembles

The old one grinning in its calm





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

THE WORLD PASSES...AND NOTHING ELSE

let the world pass by...


by this bank is my heaven

in this water is my renewal


let the world pass

and take with it every misery


punishing us into our enlightenment...

this creek is the end of enlightenment


a world gone by and a salvation gained...






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

STRIVING

I strive to catch up...


I don't want to be left behind

from you


much as I love my solitude

I love you more


we bring up the rear

wherever we are and that's fine


as long as it's us...







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

BRING ME A LITTLE WATER

all I've learned

stands me in no stead


this much is done

but look what lies ahead


every past glory

is another chain holding you down


and all you'll do is add links

unless you break that chain


at its weakest link...

ego...your ego...my ego...


this identity we lock ourselves in

until we slip the shackles


and run like hell through the blue

morning mists of Master's preserve...


every hound of earth in pursuit...





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

IT'S ALL IN THE WALK

vindication means nothing

to the rare one who knows


he was right

it doesn't matter to him


that the rest of the world

has finally caught up


but being merely human

some like him might still


have some snark to express

well let them be at it


there's nothing perfect

in this dicey creation


and whose heard of a diamond

without flaws?






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

someone you've never heard of

will bless you somehow


and leave you wondering

how alone you really are


now you consider the possibilities

you've always ignored


somewhere a thread ties you to a destiny

you cannot figure in this knotted moment in the world...





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

WELL HERE YOU ARE, AREN"T YOU?

on the earth or in the heavens


it's a crowded creation


souls dragging their chains

from dimension to dimension


with a shitload of sins to pay off

and no matter whether they're still


wearing their pomp like masquerade costumes

or still insist on raging against the reality


of Reality they pass through levels

like lovers chasing each other through mansion rooms


while others attend and mutter

"eh why complain?"


all shoulder to shoulder in everything


on the earth or in the heavens...




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

SF 2012 YET AGAIN

fading summer


and soon

the dark part of the year


a brief passage through

the earth's night


then equally brief

the return of light


blooming summer





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

SAN FRANCISCO STREET 2012

...but really


it could be any street

anywhere




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

FAR MORE TO GO

I leave you to your angers


even as mine consume me

in my focus to transcend


just because I've gone beyond

some pale does not mean


I've rejoined the Ineffable...

oh there is far more to go


and my angers leave you to yours on your own way...





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

worthless under the heavens

dust resumes its reign





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

EMBARK... I DARE YA

here is yet another place

that is right here...


but over there somewhere...

behind the veil


there is nowhere else...

so going forth


is no issue and

no grief




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

RURAL

oh

so much where

I'd rather be...


to

get there

I'll have to see


what

I manage or am allowed...





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

EMPTY STREET #3

other than myself


that passing train exists

or seems to...





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

ANOTHER VIEW OF AN EMPTY STREET

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

EMPTY STREET IN SUNNYSIDE

a small walk along an empty street


and a row of garages in the morning sun


I would call this moment heavenly

but I know better now


it is only a vacant place

in the earth


and no less so

for my presence





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

THE ONLY WAY IN IS THE WAY OUT

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

MUCH YET FOR WHICH TO PAY

yet another prison of self


dull beyond belief

and nothing else...







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

nastiness is a hard habit to break

so indulge and convince yourself

you can master your attitude


any time you want

but don't wonder why

no one will be around to applaud


your illusion...

you lost your audience a while ago...






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

it's too easy

to call someone a fool


so much so

that only a fool


would do so...

another reason


one who keeps one's mouth

shut looks wise




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

love makes idiots of even the wisest people


and they know it

after the fact...


when the love fades and the damage remains...






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

TINY JEREMIAD

balls from top to bottom


this has been one of those days

that make you think the whole of creation


is filled with nothing but assholes...








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

POLITICS AS SUCH

Election season


(that yearly tongue on the third rail)

is drawing near


and I wonder if I'll bother...


there's no such thing

as a 'lesser evil' anymore


and do I really want to hold my nose

and go into the booth


cast my vote for some shameless asshole


then have to go straight home

to take three consecutive baths


to wash the filth from me?


(and to whoever 'socially responsible' imbecile

who'll challenge this I'll give in advance


a hardy and eternal 'fuck you..."...


thank you so much for being

part of the problem you think


you're an answer to...)




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

if life weren't so hard

loving could be so easy


but who wants the fallen fruit

rotting as the roots of the tree?




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

if I think too long

about the ones who claimed to love me so


I'll grab a gun and track each one down

and kill them for each time


they did me down and disrespected me...


so I don't think too long


why would I want to ruin my own path

toward some repentance and atonement


by letting myself be dragged down

into their sins and punishments?


the helping hand toward another is one thing


and overly identifying with your fellow creature

is quite another and you'd be wise to only answer a genuine plea


and that will be to the benefit of you both...




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

I feel ashamed this bright morning


awake to the ignorance that set my bounds

I bounced again my fences and only too late

understood the power of life to break life

its process as sure as the driving seasons

that are powered by it as its unimpeachable source

and before I let go every memory of folly that forms my content


makes me ashamed this bright morning....





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

TRY BARGAINING YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS ONE

do you believe me now when I say to you

there's nothing to fear and plenty to do?


hold my own ignorance against me

if you don't want to face what I've faced


but everyone gets there at some time or another

and the facts either kill them outright


or waken them to the falsity of their lives until then

and then they believe what they will believe


such is the relativity of all truths within One Irrefutable Reality...






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

MONDAY MORNINGS ALWAYS SUCK

the blurs of the aether whip to clarity

and I have crossed over

into the world encompassing the world I left


everything more brilliant than I could earthly imagine

everything I thought was it's only thing

is revealed in the matrix of what it is


what did I fear but my ignorance

my forgetfulness of the One Reality

oh fool wasting a life in a skin


and all the scales that drew across my eyes

blinding me to all I could see

a helmet to block out all I knew for sure


oh nothing but eternity ahead

now that I can see clearly I'm ashamed at all I had seen until now...





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

dying of thirst in a blazing sun

I dream of swollen rivers


flooding under a dark humid sky

the clammy coolness covering


sore-ridden skin that aches for

the soothing flush of a racing brook


as the damp bank evaporates

and the hot sand receives and enervates my dream...





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

this morning I rule

no world but my own


no different from

any other morning


except today I'm keenly aware

of the total meaning of that knowledge


as if I were a hiker stranded

in the desert at high noon


and no cars passing

and in some fatal delirium


commanding rocks to dance

which they do but only in my head


as I rule no way but a passage

out of the blazing day into bright dark....






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

here in this working world

our daily toil is our daily lesson


regardless of what we gain or lose

all that is ours is the knowledge


of which is which and how

having none of it is best...


you do not wish a finish

on anything by imagining it done


here in this working world...





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

DAYDREAM DISSOLVING AT A CROSSROAD

you lie to yourself

when you say all is well


no one else needs

your delusions to get by


so why should you?

you won't vanish


in a blaze of auras

if you admit you haven't a clue


what you did to deserve

the live you've lived


or the reason for your penance...

you'd do better just to stop and blank out


know you've been defeated and find

right where you are where to start fresh...





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

trust in the One

as you would trust


fire to burn

or water to douse...






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

you find your way

by stumbling forward


the road is not on

any maps you've imagined


all you've done is get

in your own way


and now blank as a shock

to your system you must start again


to stumble forward




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

LIKE NOTHING WE KNEW

we will not wait

(in fact we don't have to...)


before we know it

our next choice is upon us


and even if we think we know

what we'll do and have all in order and in place


still will the moment be like nothing we knew

like nothing we thought we waited for...





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

PERPETUALLY

the water recedes and the mud dries

and out of the blazing fire built on the beach


hands reach out of licking flames

up...up...reaching up into the air


as above

so below


we rise up out of the flames

and into the fiery sky...





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

UP THERE

up through the trees...


what is it that entices?

what fools us into imaginings of forever?


the sun...innocent of everything...

and so a target for our gripes...


oh it warms in our tiny earthly forever

it fuels our growth and our decay


in this world nothing's above the trees but the sun...





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

LOVE LIFE SO MUCH?

love life so much?


then cling to it

with all your cowardice


and die of the very self-interest

that dooms you from the start


there is no forgiving mind

there is no merciful heart


...except what you bring to saving yourself?





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

PRETTY DISGUSTING, ISN'T IT?

the only freedom 

is obedience

to a malignancy

a power-mad force

that created us

to assuage it's own vanity

and now you know

life is cowering before this Master's whip...

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

here in the earth

the whole of life

is experienced in fragments


we add to creation

by living our fragments

and trying to piece them


together into a whole...so much

the better if ours can resonate with

the whole of life...





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

GOLDEN GATE PARK, FEBRUARY 2012

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

SAN FRANCISCO, FEBRUARY 2012

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

FERRY BUILDING AND TROLLEYS, SF, FEBRUARY 2012

Where the hell is Harryhausen's octopus???



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

MARKET STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, FEBRUARY 2012

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

I will not miss you

because I won't have gone anywhere


and neither will you

our skins do not divide us


from ourselves or others or anything


and if you love life then nothing will dismay you

but if you were looking for an out

my friend you'll be sadly mistaken...





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

DEAD ENDS OPEN

dead ends are dead ends


and sometimes you're finished

before your body is...


and when it catches up to you

dead ends open into something else


and you wonder why you worried...





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

this daily world


for all its novelty

it never changes


for in all it's forms

it is always what it is


just as it is in heaven

just as it is on earth


this instant in the only reality

Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved. Photo by the author.

in our minds

this land is the ground for all our happenings...


it is only for a little while

but in itself is a manifestation


of whatever 'forevers' we may choose...

tread this ground without concern


on this we praise our achievements

on this we mourn our ruins...





Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved. Photo by the author.

LISTLESS

I get listless at the thought

of having to press on

day dwindling down

night mounting the sky


but I was fooled by my body

into thinking this was all

and tired led to weary

and weary to fitful rest


bodies return to dust

and we all press on

this we realize afterward

when listlessness is gone


night dwindling away

when we enter that permanent day...I guess...





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






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

I LET SOME LIONESSES GO

I let some lionesses go


they ran for the hills

while the Kings lazed around


waiting for something good to eat

I watched this scene


and thought heavily on humans I know

in places where the bars were part decor


as zookeeper and feeder I should know better and do...





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

ANOTHER SELF-PORTRAIT

well, Sony has released "Pretty Saro" on YouTube

as a teaser for the upcoming release

of the Bootleg Series No. 10...


aside from being another slap at the tone-deaf

ignoramuses who still insist "Dylan Can't Sing"

it and the other fragments highlighted previously suggest

this may be a superior release to the original...


hard to say without hearing it full...

I'm not famous...therefore I do not exist

to these proud custodians of our culture

(academic critical and fiscal)

and so will not be invited to any pre-release

listening parties


but since Dylan's connection to the Divine

was seemingly broken by the famous motorcycle accident

he's had the habit of burying absolute gems in the vault

while utilizing inferior material

(oh I know...not for me to judge...maybe...

but as a working artist I understand why one piece goes into a work

and why one comes out...see Bootleg 8's version of

"Someday Baby"...more interesting and inventive

than the Muddy waters re-hash that appeared on Modern Times...

but the Waters re-hash fit the thematic concerns of MT more exactly...)


Self-Portrait was the first instance of the cyclical nature of Dylan's work...

having gone beyond the pale and come back with the alchemist's gold

of The Basement Tapes and John Wesley Harding

he returned to the music that formed him as an artist

(think years later of Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong)

and if he weren't so angered by the public's conception of him

as some Be-All End-All prophet that he made a sloppy job of SP

it seems in his maturity he's sanctioned a stronger set that finally

illuminated the album guiding principle i.e. "this is the music

that formed me and my art"


"Pretty Saro" "Tell Old Bill" even his friend Eric Andersen's "Thirsty Boots"

all great performances that a common fan would say should've been

on the original...but so what? it's here now and I suspect will be worth the wait...


high talk for something that for promotional purposes has been exposed

in dribs and drabs...but as a long time Dylan close listener

I think these pre-conjectures before the fact won't be too off the mark...


after all these years...and in years to come...even the Great Dylan will finally

"have to stand naked"

but I'm sure he'll be damned if he caves to that...





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

if I worried about anything

it would be where

I laid down my body

when this run is done


and even that's false...

wherever you are

you'll drop where you stop

and those you love still in flesh


will mourn the carcass

you fled in ultimate relief...






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

praising past glories

is a useless endeavor


the time of their happenings

may be gone


but your memory preserves them

and your content is their substance


past glories are never past

but our praising shows our lack of understanding






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

ONE-STEP PROPHECIES

asteroids by the dozen

suddenly go whizzing past the earth


a weekly event

where have they all come from?


did we just never notice?

or is some long predicted


catastrophe finally arriving after

coming all the years of our lives?





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

INCOMPATIBLE

you were told it's over

told that it's done

told that for you I

wasn't the holy one

but the mistake was plain

and no reason was left

I used words to tell you

but you are deaf

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

ABOUT SOMETHING THE BUDDHA ONCE SAID

how wisely and well and much you've loved

the quality of your simple daily service to all

the grace with which you surrender all that was loaned to you

in this earthly lifetime are the qualities for which you strive


these open doors that are not doors and collapse walls

that aren't there but for any illusion that puts them there

and is dangerous because illusion is real

it is an existing condition blocking and distort our way


and so it is in your love and service and detachment

that qualities stop being qualities and the only reality

there really is manifests in their actualities...translation?


get the hell over yourself get the hell over yourself


get the hell over yourself get the hell over yourself

how much easier can it get...once you get real?




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

THE ART IN LIVING

creativity at most transforms the world


and at its very least swabs the daily wounds

in the iodine of hope


how tref  life would be if we couldn't imagine

something better....





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

OLD VIKING LOOSE AT THE HOLIDAY BARBEQUE

oh how I miss the days

of unrepentant rage


of unreflecting choice of sides

and the power to smash who stood against us...


it was always bullshit of course

but we didn't know better at that time...


now we do and it complicates everything...

love and forgiveness of our enemies?


love of another as one's self?

yeah we heard rumors to that effect


but now that high consciousness subsumes

our myopic ignorance and we've risen above that standard


oh I'm so tired of the unending questing and long

for the simpler times of blood and satisfaction...





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

you think you're entitled to your say

so you spin your ignorant bullshit

as if it were gospel and screw what anyone

else has to say


what you say goes

(spoiled as you were by your Peter Pan parents

who never recognized how privileged they were

or how false and compromised their positions)


but why bother saying anything when all is just

a cacophony of horseshit flying through

the ears of assholes from the mouths of assholes

you think I'm being too harsh? not at all...


this is my penance for thinking I was outside this box

by recognizing it as a box...this too was delusion...and why I'm one with you...




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

shadows thin as skeletons

cast themselves in the late light


a saffron twilight covers the western sky

and announces the end of this day


we all mount the sidewalks like stairs

leading up in apartments


like storied crypts with a view

for timid ghosts to look on the night and kibitz...





Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milito.

every day I wander

in some strange new world


nothing I know is left

so I'm relieved of invitations


to nostalgia and

useless mourning


and young'uns tell me

they too find no trace


of what they've known and loved

(and I must take their word


because I never knew their world)

every day we all wander


damned if we know where

we're going to wind up next...






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

I watched you

dissolve into a normal everyday human form


not the goddess on some pedestal

but the Goddess Incarnate


in the daily prison of the skin and the earth

the yearning soul beating underneath


powering the desire that fuels the love

in common that moves us together in one motion


against the walls of this world that would

teach us obedience to some Grand Notion


that only engenders resentment instead of

receiving the due it expects...doesn't even God know


I watched you

dissolve into the only lovable form there is?


demand and you'll never receive

not even the Lord and the demands for obedience


either you love or you don't

by God's Own Will...and since this God


is so foreign to us despite empowering everything

and being our very Essence


can you see why I love you more

not some unbelievable ideal...but real...and here...and now...?




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

this morning I was philosophical


this afternoon I want to lock and load

and take the Almighty's business into my own hands...


this evening I'll probably feel depleted

and enjoy a nice healthful dinner


and watch a classic movie on DVD

and huddle with my sweetie and say to hell with the world...


there are so many of us in this world like this

enraged and empowered


then diminished and defeated when we understand

we really don't know where it's at


and a night's sleep will show us dreams

that will explain much but be forgotten as we awaken


to another philosophical morning





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

how many times can you say goodbye

without leaving?

I've questioned this before and now I know...


in each instant of what we call "time"

we are destroyed and re-created

we are not who we were a minute ago


and we are not what we will be

in the next minute...

like cells we multiple in ourselves


and remain what we are...so if there are

no words to combine "goodbye" and "hello"

then why try to say anything?


it is happening in the instant...one simple intake

of breath that is hello and goodbye...





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

THANKS FOR THE LOVE POEMS BY THE WAY...

you think I know what I'm talking about

when I say words like I love you?


don't be fooled...the intent may be right

but oh God/Goddess/Whatever Almighty


how much of our hungry greedy shit

gets in there to ruin a perfectly wonderful...what?


moment in eternity? karmic blood vow from past lives?

vow to be true or betrayal to expose our blanant selfishness?


and how mindblowing would it be

to think it was sincere...honest...totally level in front?


hungers of hell or appetites for the Ineffable

it's all one in our moment make it what we will


the perpetual pressure of doing right whenever we open our mouths

to say words like I love you...





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

to walk between two ages


one you are a product of

and the other anew thing

where you're automatically remaindered


isn't too different from the prophets of old

coming out of wildernesses everything

to say woe to Jerusalem


you're in the middle of nowhere

and the hot blazing sands are

up to your balls and all you can think of


is a tall cold drink of water

Living or otherwise

you don't care as long as it soothes


fiery nuts and impossible thirst...





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

I would have life be sweeter

but the Ineffable has other ideas


and those conditions of our created reality

are firm despite what we dream


oh I once thought self-forgiveness was the hardest thing

but I was mistaken I was misled


acceptance is the hardest thing since the sweetness

of acquiescence has after all the most bitter tang





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

it isn't long before we shut the gate behind us

and who is with us is with us and those who didn't make it

will fend for themselves...to die in a wilderness

or find the tribe to which they truly belong...


no agreed idea of salvation is valid

not when so many are on their own unique roads

and any agreed compromise is a betrayal to those

stumbling along their roads


be careful when you speak be careful when you moan

any huckster will work his way in and upset

the balance of each tribe's template

like the beggar beseeching for quarters to live


you must help him but if he spends it on a drunk

then the consequences are on him






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




Content (c) 2008-2013 Philip Milto. All rigvhts reserved.

I'm excited and afraid

at what is to come


age doesn't matter in this...

what's done is done for so long


no trace remains in the world

and makes no invitation


to meaningless nostalgia

today's the deal as the pot sellers used to tell


those who complained about rising prices

I miss my herb but not so much


that I'd damage my progress for a taste

have a sip of wine (or O'Douls if your liver's shot)


I'm excited and afraid at what is to come

and here it is...and away we go...





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

you kicked open a door

I thought was long sealed shut


you showed me a way

that had been littered with regret and remorse


and tipped me off to the ways around

these obstacles that I was so busy


paying too much attention to...

oh when your fantasy tells you to get real


you know something has come to an end

and a fresh start is only a re-awakening


to what still may be...I owe you this

to be the one who shook me from my sleep


and showed me there was a way unblocked

through that open door...





Content (c)2 2008-2013 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

my childish beliefs

have finally left


and I am left with

my consequence…


every couple of days

I think this


because every couple of days

I see I missed


a warning sign

or indulged a habitual quirk


and another disgrace

peals another layer away


to show how deep

the childish runs...




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

good morning


the low rising sun casts its copper light

on the building across the window

and every move leads to an emptiness


a lifetime of living

titivates under the skin like a fly

but nothing gets accomplished


nothing gets done

nothing happens but a daily paralysis

watching the sky fall and you're unable to run


morning and the day's wasted already

and to cling to life is to have

absolutely nothing to say


and talking talking talking incessantly anyway




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

whatever celestial revolutions

are exploding across the heavens


the hard ground of earth

catches the plunging wreckage


of ill-fated flight

or the rains that water the seeds


ever planted by those

sowing with one eye to the sky


the circle joins here

in our wind-wrapped huddle


a clasp to hold our boundaries

so we do not spill before our rightful times


our force under the spewing detritus of stars

falling to earth like gold...





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