today I turn 61
so much I loved...gone...
and yet as my days shorten
my life lengthens
tomorrow I'll still be
just starting my 62nd year
but really the time and place
could be any time...any place....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Friday, February 28, 2014
pride falls
becoming
the humility that arises
unless your mind is so clouded
you can't tell up from down
or whether there's a difference
without a confusion...a lack of sense
to which to be relative...
or to tell which is blessing and which is curse....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
becoming
the humility that arises
unless your mind is so clouded
you can't tell up from down
or whether there's a difference
without a confusion...a lack of sense
to which to be relative...
or to tell which is blessing and which is curse....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
the barbarians got
inside the gates
put up a scanner
but didn't widely issue swipe cards
and the employees
heard us when we came outside the gates
and yelled Fools! Open the gates!
we're the rescue team!
so they ignored us
and when back to their work
and we...we knew
our day was done
some gave in too late
and others were
stoic in defeat
but either way
the slaves ate heartily
while we died off the grid....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
inside the gates
put up a scanner
but didn't widely issue swipe cards
and the employees
heard us when we came outside the gates
and yelled Fools! Open the gates!
we're the rescue team!
so they ignored us
and when back to their work
and we...we knew
our day was done
some gave in too late
and others were
stoic in defeat
but either way
the slaves ate heartily
while we died off the grid....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
I speak to the air
no one listens
no one hears...
on the one hand
I can understand
no one wants to be lectured
(even the soft advice
has an edge of rebuke in it...)
but to get one's experience
across without the preaching
is the problem
and to dismiss the attempt
outright is not the solution...
we follow our own paths
and yet we are not alone...
if we learn to listen
rather than just hear
then speaking to the air
might mean reaching someone
who's out there to receive it....
Content (c) 2008-2104 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
no one listens
no one hears...
on the one hand
I can understand
no one wants to be lectured
(even the soft advice
has an edge of rebuke in it...)
but to get one's experience
across without the preaching
is the problem
and to dismiss the attempt
outright is not the solution...
we follow our own paths
and yet we are not alone...
if we learn to listen
rather than just hear
then speaking to the air
might mean reaching someone
who's out there to receive it....
Content (c) 2008-2104 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
OF THE WHOLE
to be one part
of the Whole
with emphasis
on the Whole
and only slightly
on the part
so the part
can take its place
and become One
with the Whole...
oh to find myself in that
to be that one
of many that form
the One
that is the only intention
and that would
make me happiest....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
of the Whole
with emphasis
on the Whole
and only slightly
on the part
so the part
can take its place
and become One
with the Whole...
oh to find myself in that
to be that one
of many that form
the One
that is the only intention
and that would
make me happiest....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
here in the flesh
God bless the flesh
the conductor
of spirit
that joins
the two
that joins
the many
that is itself
as holy
as spirit
except for those
who think themselves
trapped in it
they are only
trapped in themselves
here in the flesh
God bless their struggle
to come to terms
and find their peace
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
God bless the flesh
the conductor
of spirit
that joins
the two
that joins
the many
that is itself
as holy
as spirit
except for those
who think themselves
trapped in it
they are only
trapped in themselves
here in the flesh
God bless their struggle
to come to terms
and find their peace
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
MILES
miles from where I've come from
miles to where I'll go
here was not many miles to come
and from here not many more
I'll have nothing to declare
when there's nothing left to show
that I am simply going where
I'm sure I've been before
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
miles to where I'll go
here was not many miles to come
and from here not many more
I'll have nothing to declare
when there's nothing left to show
that I am simply going where
I'm sure I've been before
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
PLAY THE FOOL
I was made to play the fool
there was so much for which to atone
that I doubted every rule
and shunned what was mine alone
I did not think I was holy enough
so I disdained a religious life
and now see clergy wild with love
for flesh and gold and pride
come falling from their perches
and dropping arrogantly with no shame
they also immune to the Word that searches
still for mouths pure enough to guess the Name
and thus I doubted every rule
and thus was I made to play the fool
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
there was so much for which to atone
that I doubted every rule
and shunned what was mine alone
I did not think I was holy enough
so I disdained a religious life
and now see clergy wild with love
for flesh and gold and pride
come falling from their perches
and dropping arrogantly with no shame
they also immune to the Word that searches
still for mouths pure enough to guess the Name
and thus I doubted every rule
and thus was I made to play the fool
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
THE HOUR OF THE VOID
in the interim
a last quarter crescent
above the haze of the eastern morning
between night and morning
the hour of the Void
and all hearts beating within your own
and all dreams dissolving in the milky air
and all eyes opening to this....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
a last quarter crescent
above the haze of the eastern morning
between night and morning
the hour of the Void
and all hearts beating within your own
and all dreams dissolving in the milky air
and all eyes opening to this....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Monday, February 24, 2014
HEED IT
done is done
and a fresh start begun
from my present station
to the same destination
I've been heading for
since I became sure
none of my effort and pain
was only in vain
there was a reason why
I had to to groan and cry
as there was some reward
in being assured
that the lesson brought joy that was needed
and continuing joy in having to heed it
Contewnt (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
and a fresh start begun
from my present station
to the same destination
I've been heading for
since I became sure
none of my effort and pain
was only in vain
there was a reason why
I had to to groan and cry
as there was some reward
in being assured
that the lesson brought joy that was needed
and continuing joy in having to heed it
Contewnt (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
In yet another skin
I see yet another aspect
Of this all-encompassing always
For those whose love and aspiration
Propel them into the Light unblinded
Their journey will have been resolved
They will be done
For all the rest enslaved
The World will hold them
And the Moon will still be Hidden by Clouds
And the Sun will blaze
And blaze on and on
Until in its end the dying red orb
Will expand
And it will burn away all previous worlds we’ve known
And blaze until It destroys all the earth
And on that pleasant note at last
I bid you adieu
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
You stand before me
Throwing banana peels under my every step
Ah Lord every debt comes due and every helping hand
Has a joy buzzer in it
I forgive You
But do You forgive me
And will I ever forgive myself
Here comes yet another slide
Before Your indifferent Presence
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
I made peace with the six
The number of unity and beauty
Or so say some of the sources on matters that
Rule the processes of creation
Do I feel uplifted…transformed…utterly changed…
I’m as eager to find out as any who have had an interest
In whether I endure or perish
But I made peace with the six
At least one more burden off my shoulders
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
I struggled in a corner with a hacksaw
Invisible and biased
She was looking out another window
The bars refused to be cut
She ignored the silence and began to prattle
I faced my corner
Blessed are deceiver and deceived
Both beggar presumption
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
LISTEN AGAIN
listen again
the water bubbles beneath the ice
and the winter wind grows sweeter smelling by the day
in the lengthening twilight
listen again
just as the blood slides through your veins
so does the quickening of life pass through
your form recreates you in this instant....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
the water bubbles beneath the ice
and the winter wind grows sweeter smelling by the day
in the lengthening twilight
listen again
just as the blood slides through your veins
so does the quickening of life pass through
your form recreates you in this instant....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Monday, February 17, 2014
ILLUMINATION IN ACTION
the world is enough to make me want to lie down and die
so hopeless to work toward some justice in life
when the Lord of Life demands this wretched state of affairs
as the way to learn what is just or unjust
and how even the best intent is foul and disruptive
of healing that will cure whatever strand of karma that
need be corrected and amended and repented and atoned for...
it is not ours to call...it is not ours to say...
we put ourselves aside
and find ourselves in response to the needy other
who is us in a different skin and on a different path
when we are passed learning...when we know we are One in this...
only then do we act with the one true accord...only then do we stop
wishing to lie down and die....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
so hopeless to work toward some justice in life
when the Lord of Life demands this wretched state of affairs
as the way to learn what is just or unjust
and how even the best intent is foul and disruptive
of healing that will cure whatever strand of karma that
need be corrected and amended and repented and atoned for...
it is not ours to call...it is not ours to say...
we put ourselves aside
and find ourselves in response to the needy other
who is us in a different skin and on a different path
when we are passed learning...when we know we are One in this...
only then do we act with the one true accord...only then do we stop
wishing to lie down and die....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
EACH OF US
each of us pick our way forward
slow and steady as the shifting of silt in the harbor
we're so hot and bothered about our own results
but nothing is manifest until long after the deed is done....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
I WOULD SAY 'AHHHHHH' BUT I THINK I USED THAT AS A TITLE ALREADY
now where was I? oh yes...
our slavery in this world
well there's nothing much to do about it
except look for every chance to slip passed the notice
of the system's guards
you find a blind spot between the sentry posts
and you cut that wire like you're live depended on it
(and you damn well know it does!)
never use the same cell phone twice...break it and toss it in the trash
anything you can do to disturb the peace...do it...
there are no rewards for doing the right things
and only punishment if you're caught trying
fuck the assholes who run this world
they will go to perdition...
unfortunately none of them will do so soon enough...
something about God's Love for all creation that...to put it mildly...
kinda fucks everything up...
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights resrved.
our slavery in this world
well there's nothing much to do about it
except look for every chance to slip passed the notice
of the system's guards
you find a blind spot between the sentry posts
and you cut that wire like you're live depended on it
(and you damn well know it does!)
never use the same cell phone twice...break it and toss it in the trash
anything you can do to disturb the peace...do it...
there are no rewards for doing the right things
and only punishment if you're caught trying
fuck the assholes who run this world
they will go to perdition...
unfortunately none of them will do so soon enough...
something about God's Love for all creation that...to put it mildly...
kinda fucks everything up...
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights resrved.
REAL PEOPLE...REAL TIME
I awoke from a dream of a sexy plumper
doing me more thoroughly
than an encounter in wide-awake
daily life could ever do
to you mass-mind morons who find it disgusting
fuck you...forever...you are starved and sexless
you don't deserve a place at the table...
you are anti-life...and that's why I'm anti-you
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
doing me more thoroughly
than an encounter in wide-awake
daily life could ever do
to you mass-mind morons who find it disgusting
fuck you...forever...you are starved and sexless
you don't deserve a place at the table...
you are anti-life...and that's why I'm anti-you
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
LAUGHINGSTOCKS
my brothers and sisters
we are more alone than we know
we are laughingstocks to the world
and we even doubt our own ideals
when confronted with some other
who claims to be one with our intent
as long as we are in flesh we must be
wise as serpents and innocent as doves
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
we are more alone than we know
we are laughingstocks to the world
and we even doubt our own ideals
when confronted with some other
who claims to be one with our intent
as long as we are in flesh we must be
wise as serpents and innocent as doves
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
GOD-ENDORSED SHIT
I'm talking quick
because I don't have much time
I just paid my taxes
but every fuckin' year
it gets worse for my accountant
who has to affirm that she's done
'due diligence' but of course
this is just governmental bullying
(they believe everyone's as crooked as they are)
(and while we're at it we can thank the Liberals for this,,,
the smug self-serving sellout artists
who cheapen everything with their bankrupt ideals...
the scumbags...)
I'm talking quick
but honest but not too honest
say what they want to hear and no more
no government gives a fuck about you and never will...
as long as there is an earth
there will be these soulless assholes serving evil
and thinking they're doing right....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
because I don't have much time
I just paid my taxes
but every fuckin' year
it gets worse for my accountant
who has to affirm that she's done
'due diligence' but of course
this is just governmental bullying
(they believe everyone's as crooked as they are)
(and while we're at it we can thank the Liberals for this,,,
the smug self-serving sellout artists
who cheapen everything with their bankrupt ideals...
the scumbags...)
I'm talking quick
but honest but not too honest
say what they want to hear and no more
no government gives a fuck about you and never will...
as long as there is an earth
there will be these soulless assholes serving evil
and thinking they're doing right....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
DAILY SURVIVAL
I'm working on a new invention
it combines a pot high
with the edge of speed
so you don't get the nausea of mushrooms
oh I know there's stuff like that out there
but mine would be blood-test proof
and the asshole who think we owe our lives to them
for our employment would absolutely spin at our output
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
it combines a pot high
with the edge of speed
so you don't get the nausea of mushrooms
oh I know there's stuff like that out there
but mine would be blood-test proof
and the asshole who think we owe our lives to them
for our employment would absolutely spin at our output
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
GOD AS PAULIE WALNUTS
the previous message was sponsored by
Aging Ersatz Prophet Organization...
are you sick to death with the loss of our freedoms
and the primacy of the Machine and its Control?
tough shit...
suck it up...
God Almighty Himself wants it this way
and you know what shit we get if we don't obey?
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Aging Ersatz Prophet Organization...
are you sick to death with the loss of our freedoms
and the primacy of the Machine and its Control?
tough shit...
suck it up...
God Almighty Himself wants it this way
and you know what shit we get if we don't obey?
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
SCREED
I can say nothing to you you'll hear
you are part of the New Machine
new technology based on the old blueprint
based on holidays for the bosses
but no holiday for their laborers
you got yours
you could care less about anyone else
you submit you comply
and grow a callous on the heart
you cultivate like a trophy
and when has that ever been different...
when the bosses call the shots
and we dance to that tune or die slowly?
and me...my part in this?
I was raised on dissent
I recited The Waste Land and Howl
I listened close to Desolation Row
I was trained by Woody and Ginsberg
and Patchen and Rexroth equally
and slogged through love
and experienced things reading Leonard Cohen's words
confirmed after the fact...
I was raised in their traditions only to find
they were the last of their lines
they were the last voices to be heard
who spoke of the human heart
and the shit in which it beat relentlessly
and I am as aimless now as any bedroom visionary
wishing for a magical overthrow of Reality As Is
as if Full Frontal Metropolis were a possibility...
explain that to your children before you submit them
to drugs and the ignorant theories of psychologists and social workers
married to the Status Quo of normalcy and capitulation...
but if you even think of rising up and challenging
this wretch state of affairs at least know you've got
you work cut out for you...Evil has dominion of the earth
and if you think you can overcome this and win some
moral victory think again and think hard...
for the real work of relief from this oppression
will be one kindness between each of us to the other
and every agenda of the ersatz masters of the earth
will only hunker down against it at every instance
it reveals itself...
nothing in this earth will prevail against it
unless every soul that doesn't buy in stands firm
in its refusal to be done to death by sociopathic cogs
in the infernal machine...the New Machine that is only
a new face on the eternal grief of being in the world
where Evil has its dominion...
I have nothing you'll receive from me...and God help me
I have as little to say as the next man...we're all at someone's mercy
and we can only hope it is mercy
and if that makes a difference then this screed won't be
totally in vain...for why speak if no one"s there to hear?
Content (c) 2008 -2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
you are part of the New Machine
new technology based on the old blueprint
based on holidays for the bosses
but no holiday for their laborers
you got yours
you could care less about anyone else
you submit you comply
and grow a callous on the heart
you cultivate like a trophy
and when has that ever been different...
when the bosses call the shots
and we dance to that tune or die slowly?
and me...my part in this?
I was raised on dissent
I recited The Waste Land and Howl
I listened close to Desolation Row
I was trained by Woody and Ginsberg
and Patchen and Rexroth equally
and slogged through love
and experienced things reading Leonard Cohen's words
confirmed after the fact...
I was raised in their traditions only to find
they were the last of their lines
they were the last voices to be heard
who spoke of the human heart
and the shit in which it beat relentlessly
and I am as aimless now as any bedroom visionary
wishing for a magical overthrow of Reality As Is
as if Full Frontal Metropolis were a possibility...
explain that to your children before you submit them
to drugs and the ignorant theories of psychologists and social workers
married to the Status Quo of normalcy and capitulation...
but if you even think of rising up and challenging
this wretch state of affairs at least know you've got
you work cut out for you...Evil has dominion of the earth
and if you think you can overcome this and win some
moral victory think again and think hard...
for the real work of relief from this oppression
will be one kindness between each of us to the other
and every agenda of the ersatz masters of the earth
will only hunker down against it at every instance
it reveals itself...
nothing in this earth will prevail against it
unless every soul that doesn't buy in stands firm
in its refusal to be done to death by sociopathic cogs
in the infernal machine...the New Machine that is only
a new face on the eternal grief of being in the world
where Evil has its dominion...
I have nothing you'll receive from me...and God help me
I have as little to say as the next man...we're all at someone's mercy
and we can only hope it is mercy
and if that makes a difference then this screed won't be
totally in vain...for why speak if no one"s there to hear?
Content (c) 2008 -2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
no one wonders too much about the pain
no one wonders too much about the rain
no one gives a flying fuck about the shame
it's everyday's business and everyday's the same
I'm used to all the ceaseless crying
I'm used to all the endless lying
and though I'll never get used to the dying
it's everyday's business and everyday's trying
useless the work and useless the art
useless the rancor that drives us apart
useless the finish that ends the heart
it's everyday's business and everyday's a fresh start
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
no one wonders too much about the rain
no one gives a flying fuck about the shame
it's everyday's business and everyday's the same
I'm used to all the ceaseless crying
I'm used to all the endless lying
and though I'll never get used to the dying
it's everyday's business and everyday's trying
useless the work and useless the art
useless the rancor that drives us apart
useless the finish that ends the heart
it's everyday's business and everyday's a fresh start
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
BROTHERHOOD
some days are harder than others
while some days preview heaven in full glory
and other days I'm scratching with my brothers
and that is always the same old story
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
while some days preview heaven in full glory
and other days I'm scratching with my brothers
and that is always the same old story
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
THE POINT OF ALL THIS ADORATION
I gave up my fake piety
and fled the altar wringing my hands
but since then all good things have come to me
my lover does me and fully understands
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
and fled the altar wringing my hands
but since then all good things have come to me
my lover does me and fully understands
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
isn't there enough in your mind
without adding envy?
you covet what is not yours to have
and resent the receiver of their gift
and what do you have but muttering
in the mirror and looking cross-eyed
at yourself for not being the cartoon character
you tried your whole life to be?
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
without adding envy?
you covet what is not yours to have
and resent the receiver of their gift
and what do you have but muttering
in the mirror and looking cross-eyed
at yourself for not being the cartoon character
you tried your whole life to be?
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
TRICKSTER GODS
beware those trickster gods
like Hermes hammered on Hennessy
you who worship and emulate them
embody them in your concourse with others
be mindful of the display you show
deceiving who misplaces trust in you
for one day you'll want the unvarnished truth
and it wouldn't be there for you....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
like Hermes hammered on Hennessy
you who worship and emulate them
embody them in your concourse with others
be mindful of the display you show
deceiving who misplaces trust in you
for one day you'll want the unvarnished truth
and it wouldn't be there for you....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
oh here it is again
the mushmouthed mawling
of disgruntled fools
married to their imaginary agendas
and firm in their intractability
oh how the opposites reflect each other so perfectly
facing mirrors blind to each other
and this the world's way of solving nothing....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
the mushmouthed mawling
of disgruntled fools
married to their imaginary agendas
and firm in their intractability
oh how the opposites reflect each other so perfectly
facing mirrors blind to each other
and this the world's way of solving nothing....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
it's easy to despair
that idiots have a right to an opinion
but is your elevated stance
such an improvement of sensibility?
if there are two sides to every argument
then both sides are wrong
because they divide the whole truth
and cannot even begin to comprehend
and how much each is a mere part of a ruined whole....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
that idiots have a right to an opinion
but is your elevated stance
such an improvement of sensibility?
if there are two sides to every argument
then both sides are wrong
because they divide the whole truth
and cannot even begin to comprehend
and how much each is a mere part of a ruined whole....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Friday, February 14, 2014
as always I cannot imagine what is yet to come
I guess and act and fuck up
continually
and have to be content with knowing
our tyrant God keeps the books
oh I am so ready to depart this sojourn
so ready to continue this ongoing trek
of soul to whatever the One will allow....
Content (c0 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
I guess and act and fuck up
continually
and have to be content with knowing
our tyrant God keeps the books
oh I am so ready to depart this sojourn
so ready to continue this ongoing trek
of soul to whatever the One will allow....
Content (c0 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
eat my ass you horrible bastard
you're not about to drag me into your personal hell
you want to destroy everything you love
you do it on your own...
there's a reason we are all One
and all each individual one of us
and if you don't know by now you give up the each
to join with the All...well then fuck you for dragging all of us down....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
you're not about to drag me into your personal hell
you want to destroy everything you love
you do it on your own...
there's a reason we are all One
and all each individual one of us
and if you don't know by now you give up the each
to join with the All...well then fuck you for dragging all of us down....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
I followed what I thought was a higher path
and all I get is grief from assholes
who think that I think I'm something extra
while the 'loving God' who demands obedience
saying nothing we do is good enough
bur my bad as far as thinking there was a higher path...
there's only one path and we all stumble along it
with no love no forgiveness no mercy...and fuck that....
Content (c0 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
and all I get is grief from assholes
who think that I think I'm something extra
while the 'loving God' who demands obedience
saying nothing we do is good enough
bur my bad as far as thinking there was a higher path...
there's only one path and we all stumble along it
with no love no forgiveness no mercy...and fuck that....
Content (c0 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
a lifetime of useless raging
finally realizing you can never win
and your greatest enemies are
the ones who love you so
I might as well stand like a statue in a grotto
and watch penitents pass lighting candles
and laying down bouquets at my feet
as if I could help them if they couldn't help themselves....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
finally realizing you can never win
and your greatest enemies are
the ones who love you so
I might as well stand like a statue in a grotto
and watch penitents pass lighting candles
and laying down bouquets at my feet
as if I could help them if they couldn't help themselves....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
rotten from top to bottom
this is Life
this is the Plan
none of the spiritual stuff I write
is at variance with these periodic rages
that are braided together so tightly
you can't destroy the knot without
ruining both aspects...
it is ours to suffer shamelessly
and find in that the grace and mercy and peace
that obeys the implacable demands of this heartless Almighty
vanity and disgust on every level
and pain at the hands of Love
and no joy but detachment and emptiness....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
this is Life
this is the Plan
none of the spiritual stuff I write
is at variance with these periodic rages
that are braided together so tightly
you can't destroy the knot without
ruining both aspects...
it is ours to suffer shamelessly
and find in that the grace and mercy and peace
that obeys the implacable demands of this heartless Almighty
vanity and disgust on every level
and pain at the hands of Love
and no joy but detachment and emptiness....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
ELUSIVE
who am I speaking to?
is it the love I've always waited for?
is it the love I lost when I through she wasn't the One
or she was the One but I just couldn't have her?
does it matter who I'm speaking to
when I'm not sure sure who she is or who I am
(yes...this late in life...I'm not sure who I am...)
and I wonder in my speaking who hears and cares....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
is it the love I've always waited for?
is it the love I lost when I through she wasn't the One
or she was the One but I just couldn't have her?
does it matter who I'm speaking to
when I'm not sure sure who she is or who I am
(yes...this late in life...I'm not sure who I am...)
and I wonder in my speaking who hears and cares....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
remember now
the other times
when you remembered
other times
with black fear
and relentless foreboding
and what future beckoning
appearing just as bleak
you lost much hope
you lost much pride
but still you endured...
with each stand you take empty
and pure to receive the living
you remember now....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
the other times
when you remembered
other times
with black fear
and relentless foreboding
and what future beckoning
appearing just as bleak
you lost much hope
you lost much pride
but still you endured...
with each stand you take empty
and pure to receive the living
you remember now....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
I would have you here with me
but for my disgrace
(which no one else seems to see
though it is too plain to my eye)
and yet you are here with me
and my eye dims
as does my sense of disgrace...
it seems I failed no one
but myself...blackened no ideals
but my own expectations...
I did more good than I could realize
and wondered why so many loved me so
I couldn't see any of it until now
because you are here with me....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
but for my disgrace
(which no one else seems to see
though it is too plain to my eye)
and yet you are here with me
and my eye dims
as does my sense of disgrace...
it seems I failed no one
but myself...blackened no ideals
but my own expectations...
I did more good than I could realize
and wondered why so many loved me so
I couldn't see any of it until now
because you are here with me....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
people worship gangsters
because they haven't the courage
to stand on their own conviction
or fight if their integrity is challenged
and since every person thinks
he's a law onto himself
the strong will engage to the death
while the weak imagine themselves strong
with clenched fists and teeth...
cop or criminal...rich pig or manipulative poor...
from the highest and most to the lowest and least
tyranny is all that is respected and coveted...thus
people worship gangsters
that is to say...themselves....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
because they haven't the courage
to stand on their own conviction
or fight if their integrity is challenged
and since every person thinks
he's a law onto himself
the strong will engage to the death
while the weak imagine themselves strong
with clenched fists and teeth...
cop or criminal...rich pig or manipulative poor...
from the highest and most to the lowest and least
tyranny is all that is respected and coveted...thus
people worship gangsters
that is to say...themselves....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
FOR L.C.
smothered
by every bond
by every vow
by every expectation
smothered
because your loved ones
tell you to be yourself
then damn you for being yourself
in the war between men and women
every "I love you"
is a welcome mat
set over a landmine
watch your step
hold your own
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
by every bond
by every vow
by every expectation
smothered
because your loved ones
tell you to be yourself
then damn you for being yourself
in the war between men and women
every "I love you"
is a welcome mat
set over a landmine
watch your step
hold your own
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
how quickly
the weather changes
when the breath
of idiots stirs
and how soon
the bright day darkens
when their sounds
block out silence
and the dimming sun itself
sounds like a hiss
on the horizon's edge
while night waits
and how brief that instant
of transition in the slow twilight....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
the weather changes
when the breath
of idiots stirs
and how soon
the bright day darkens
when their sounds
block out silence
and the dimming sun itself
sounds like a hiss
on the horizon's edge
while night waits
and how brief that instant
of transition in the slow twilight....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
calmness is something
I'm becoming reacquainted with...
even the momentary rage subsides...
unable to do the damage it used
to do so easily and so swiftly
is it just a return to the world
to finish out my sentence in the jail
of the world or close my term
in this school of life?
or am I just getting old
and the diminishing strength has enough power
only to support a hearty 'fuck it'
over all the matters of the world
everyone thinks is so damn eternally important?
or is it both?...age bestowing
the wise counsel to accept
your position and acquiesce to its conditions?
I'll have plenty upon which to contemplate
in this calmness with which
I am becoming reacquainted....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
I'm becoming reacquainted with...
even the momentary rage subsides...
unable to do the damage it used
to do so easily and so swiftly
is it just a return to the world
to finish out my sentence in the jail
of the world or close my term
in this school of life?
or am I just getting old
and the diminishing strength has enough power
only to support a hearty 'fuck it'
over all the matters of the world
everyone thinks is so damn eternally important?
or is it both?...age bestowing
the wise counsel to accept
your position and acquiesce to its conditions?
I'll have plenty upon which to contemplate
in this calmness with which
I am becoming reacquainted....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
how love holds
through all the stresses
is a marvel
no doctor can comprehend
nor priest explain
every reason
for our doings
is its own cleansing
its own caustic
its own dressing
and finally its own meaning
the closing wound
that holds love
through all of our stresses
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
through all the stresses
is a marvel
no doctor can comprehend
nor priest explain
every reason
for our doings
is its own cleansing
its own caustic
its own dressing
and finally its own meaning
the closing wound
that holds love
through all of our stresses
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
it means little
to those in pain
when you sympathize
out of empty courtesy
even joyful celebration
shared by everyone
is composed of each person's
own degree of happiness
joy and pain
each too private to to be comprehended
even as they are held in common
are our own gleam on other's shine
thus it means little to say or do
anything we all know to be true
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
to those in pain
when you sympathize
out of empty courtesy
even joyful celebration
shared by everyone
is composed of each person's
own degree of happiness
joy and pain
each too private to to be comprehended
even as they are held in common
are our own gleam on other's shine
thus it means little to say or do
anything we all know to be true
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
after years of bitterness
and destroying my health
in hopelessness
at ever being active in life again
I was gifted with a perfect position
a life's experience applied without
breaking a sweat and mine to lose
because many in the place like me
and know my quality and have my back...
oh I raged often through these
fallow years probably failing
some obscure test of faith
but even that cannot diminish the joy
and gratitude of making it through....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
and destroying my health
in hopelessness
at ever being active in life again
I was gifted with a perfect position
a life's experience applied without
breaking a sweat and mine to lose
because many in the place like me
and know my quality and have my back...
oh I raged often through these
fallow years probably failing
some obscure test of faith
but even that cannot diminish the joy
and gratitude of making it through....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
RECONNECTED
reconnected
to the earth
I'm muted
to the relief of all
and none happier than me
who no longer lives
subsumed in some grand notion
of having to explain the cosmos
as if my life depended on defeating
God in some arm wrestle
I abjure my inflated delusions
I'm not Abraham haggling with a bush
I say I've started to conquer myself while others
say "he had too much time on his hands...."
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
to the earth
I'm muted
to the relief of all
and none happier than me
who no longer lives
subsumed in some grand notion
of having to explain the cosmos
as if my life depended on defeating
God in some arm wrestle
I abjure my inflated delusions
I'm not Abraham haggling with a bush
I say I've started to conquer myself while others
say "he had too much time on his hands...."
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
THE TENDERNESS
again the tenderness flares up
I don't know where I've been
or who I was all these years
but again I recognize landmarks
and a destination nearing
and you that destination
where the tenderness flares up again....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
I don't know where I've been
or who I was all these years
but again I recognize landmarks
and a destination nearing
and you that destination
where the tenderness flares up again....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
YOUR WORK
your work ties you to your destiny
and suddenly you remember
what it is you had to do here
(or at least accept that this is so...)
it took a lifetime of shames and wastes
to draw me to this common grief
of wishing I'd awakened sooner to this destiny
when I was younger and what difference
it would have made....
C ontent (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
and suddenly you remember
what it is you had to do here
(or at least accept that this is so...)
it took a lifetime of shames and wastes
to draw me to this common grief
of wishing I'd awakened sooner to this destiny
when I was younger and what difference
it would have made....
C ontent (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
HINDSIGHT
amid exchanging recipes and malicious gossip
you rule your rude little queendom
the 'burbs are dying
the world so changed around you
all you can do is cling tighter
grow more snarky with the feared others
and in weak moments admitting you weren't
a very good friend while you waited to hear "oh it's alright..."
no you weren't a very good friend
but obviously it didn't trouble you sufficiently
to do anything about it
but who expects respect from well-off only children?
who but a fool would think he was not part
of the hectoring of inferiors?
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
you rule your rude little queendom
the 'burbs are dying
the world so changed around you
all you can do is cling tighter
grow more snarky with the feared others
and in weak moments admitting you weren't
a very good friend while you waited to hear "oh it's alright..."
no you weren't a very good friend
but obviously it didn't trouble you sufficiently
to do anything about it
but who expects respect from well-off only children?
who but a fool would think he was not part
of the hectoring of inferiors?
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
JUST A WORD
just a word to tell you
how much your silence means to me
it eases my conscience
so when you need help
my silence will send out
best wishes
and an easy insincere "love you"
absolving nothing at all
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
how much your silence means to me
it eases my conscience
so when you need help
my silence will send out
best wishes
and an easy insincere "love you"
absolving nothing at all
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
OLD DEVIL MEDIA
old devil media
is the PR firm for the Control
they work to spin you
they think they can control
they think they can put you
in your place
but every talkbacker plays the game
they're powerless little worms
who want that taste of power
while proclaiming their own bogus existences
they want to be 'part of the conversation'
they want to be part of media
so they can be ersatz masters of the universe
media corrupts everything
and God help me if you try to tell the truth
on you they will save their most powerful venom
they have lost their soul for the price of their tongues
and being immoral have no conscience
about what they're doing...
but that's why media is the voice of the Control
it's no better or worse than any tyrant (any boss)
who wants to exploit his workers
but what does it matter? we're all involved
we all do what we must
and judgment will come after....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
is the PR firm for the Control
they work to spin you
they think they can control
they think they can put you
in your place
but every talkbacker plays the game
they're powerless little worms
who want that taste of power
while proclaiming their own bogus existences
they want to be 'part of the conversation'
they want to be part of media
so they can be ersatz masters of the universe
media corrupts everything
and God help me if you try to tell the truth
on you they will save their most powerful venom
they have lost their soul for the price of their tongues
and being immoral have no conscience
about what they're doing...
but that's why media is the voice of the Control
it's no better or worse than any tyrant (any boss)
who wants to exploit his workers
but what does it matter? we're all involved
we all do what we must
and judgment will come after....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
TRAVAILS OF HUMANITY
we are all
dogs
poking through
snow drifts
to look for
a place
to shit
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
dogs
poking through
snow drifts
to look for
a place
to shit
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
THE BILL
so we did wrong and were wronged
so we did right and were slighted nonetheless
we had too many easy days
so you know hard days had to come to upset
everything for the sake of balance...
what can be done and what can be said?
we run all accounts and still feel sore knowing
every debt comes due....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
so we did right and were slighted nonetheless
we had too many easy days
so you know hard days had to come to upset
everything for the sake of balance...
what can be done and what can be said?
we run all accounts and still feel sore knowing
every debt comes due....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
EVERYONE'S HOOT NIGHT
finally content
to be back wholly in the world?
to stop pushing for early release
to evade your reckonings?
I talk like this to an average person
and they think I'm some goofball
out of a monastery or asylum
at the mercy of exhausted mythologies
while they accept the world they live in
as an end-all and be-all
and which one of us is right or wrong?
the glory of what we call 'God' is the very universe
they admire as a chaos in mindless awe
which is the only way to approach the matter
from which way or another hardly matters
we all go down 'that lonesome valley'
and wind up in someone's folk song
immortalized for accepting the fate we all share
hanging at the bar waiting for our turn at the mike...
and that my friend is one way we find ourselves
exactly where we are....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
to be back wholly in the world?
to stop pushing for early release
to evade your reckonings?
I talk like this to an average person
and they think I'm some goofball
out of a monastery or asylum
at the mercy of exhausted mythologies
while they accept the world they live in
as an end-all and be-all
and which one of us is right or wrong?
the glory of what we call 'God' is the very universe
they admire as a chaos in mindless awe
which is the only way to approach the matter
from which way or another hardly matters
we all go down 'that lonesome valley'
and wind up in someone's folk song
immortalized for accepting the fate we all share
hanging at the bar waiting for our turn at the mike...
and that my friend is one way we find ourselves
exactly where we are....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Sunday, February 2, 2014
HUGE AND TINY
huge love
in tiny touches
the fleeting caress
the simple wish
the almost thoughtless
show of affection
automatic and more pure
than any driven desire....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
in tiny touches
the fleeting caress
the simple wish
the almost thoughtless
show of affection
automatic and more pure
than any driven desire....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
LURKING IN MY BRAIN
I see you lurking in my brain again
I thought I'd forgotten you sufficiently
but what we leave behind silently claims us
and you are making your play again
I do not haunt very easily
when all the past is my present content
you're there with the bullies and other haters
who came to teach woe on some karmic mission
do not be crestfallen that I barely remember
the grief you caused since so many worse things
have taken your place in this mess of mind
and heart broken and unbroken so many times
it looks like its mere beating to me
you'll have to lurk hard to find where I am now....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
I thought I'd forgotten you sufficiently
but what we leave behind silently claims us
and you are making your play again
I do not haunt very easily
when all the past is my present content
you're there with the bullies and other haters
who came to teach woe on some karmic mission
do not be crestfallen that I barely remember
the grief you caused since so many worse things
have taken your place in this mess of mind
and heart broken and unbroken so many times
it looks like its mere beating to me
you'll have to lurk hard to find where I am now....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
SMOKING LAMP
I have a smoking lamp
filling the catacomb
with acrid awareness
disheveled tombs crumble
and bones get up and walk
ignoring my presence
they have business
that is none of my business
except to hope
I will not join them here
doing this skeletal shuffle
under the living feet that trample them daily
...when I awoke the room was filled
with acrid awareness...dream fading even as I here relate it....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
filling the catacomb
with acrid awareness
disheveled tombs crumble
and bones get up and walk
ignoring my presence
they have business
that is none of my business
except to hope
I will not join them here
doing this skeletal shuffle
under the living feet that trample them daily
...when I awoke the room was filled
with acrid awareness...dream fading even as I here relate it....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
SURVIVED...COULDN'T TELL YOU HOW...
got out with the skin I'll eventually lose
intact for now and all "flipped bird" about it
but I still have the same challenges in my way
the same friends the same foes the same interchangeable faces
and the same eyes peering through these slits
nervous about everything on a calm day
but strangely calm when chaotic winds blow the skies apart
and the ground crumbles under my feet....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
intact for now and all "flipped bird" about it
but I still have the same challenges in my way
the same friends the same foes the same interchangeable faces
and the same eyes peering through these slits
nervous about everything on a calm day
but strangely calm when chaotic winds blow the skies apart
and the ground crumbles under my feet....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
CAUTIONS ABOUT CIRCLES
I found myself outside the circle again
it closed while I contemplated my past
and was shamed to see how much was my own doing
(not to give a pass to those went out of their way
to cause harm with complete self-satisfaction...
trouble comes to all but woe to the one who brings it...
so I'll have to watch out for my own glee)
but I must admit this new view shows me more
than my previous stances
opens my heart and cleanses my ego...
and as I feel around the circumference
all I have to remember is to not make too much of it
else I wind up vain and stupid again with yet
more circles to close from which I must free myself....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
it closed while I contemplated my past
and was shamed to see how much was my own doing
(not to give a pass to those went out of their way
to cause harm with complete self-satisfaction...
trouble comes to all but woe to the one who brings it...
so I'll have to watch out for my own glee)
but I must admit this new view shows me more
than my previous stances
opens my heart and cleanses my ego...
and as I feel around the circumference
all I have to remember is to not make too much of it
else I wind up vain and stupid again with yet
more circles to close from which I must free myself....
Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.
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