grace is only humility

in the face of arrogance


may your grace sustain you

in your struggle against your arrogance








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

they say you have more freedom

in the earthly plane

than you do in the upper realms


in flesh you are mutable

in spirit you are totally what you are


sorry I didn't realize this

earlier in this life

I'd've raised more hell than souls


who could populate it






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I'm dead to this world yet

I must live this life to its full term


having been broken down finally

under this grinding of divine justice


we call "His" vengeance

is there a last lingering tiny drop


of saving grace to help me

straighten some things out


or will the way open up to some

last chance that will only


be taken away from me?








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

do not hang your hat

on a promise*


nor let anyone hold your coat

for a night that isn't yours


tend to your own business

you have enough on your plate


including these mendacious clowns

treacherous as ice in spring




(*the first word that I wrote here was "program"...well..that too...)



Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

all it takes is one person to lend

that helping hand


I wish that person would finally

find me


and not some one who'd egg me

into a fight


and then not even be there

to hold my coat








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

it doesn't matter what anyone does

God has the last word on everything


fuck all this 'children of God' crap

and all that 'co-creator' bullshit


it's more than too much to do

to do your best to amend and God will none of it


no matter what weighs on us anyhow

God has the last word on everything and that is that







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

there...

now I've sealed my fate


I will be punished unmercifully

because I dared to cry out in pain


and I will be destroyed

because I failed to endure


suffering beyond

my power to endure....





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

ask and ye shall receive (a fall from grace)

seek and ye shall find (never anything you need)


seek and you may be struck blind

ask and you'll hear what you cannot believe







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

can't decide what's worse


our loose waywardness

or the tight-assed intolerance of perfection....






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito All rights reserved.

love is almost wasted

in a world where man

is wolf to man


but even wolves

know love in their kind


if that is so then what

is it about love that sets

us at each other's throats?







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

vanity is our love of self

humility is our love of another








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

a creative gift returns

but too late to matter


it cannot be used

it was not the reason


to endure this lifetime







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

going down for the last time

seeing things no one else sees

knowing to what no one else has access

the content of a whole life

so fully present in mind

it seems static in its passing


there the stars are needle-sharp

spindles of blinding light

there the smell and taste of luscious things

there the touch and sound of rushing love

carrying all seed forward

and watch the ground of our endeavor here root


going down for the last time

each of us sees in review

what no one else can view

because our views are our own

which together form the vision of

we inhabit in the Mind of God







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

when it comes to hindsight

everyone's wise






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I'm on the run

I've got to go

I've got no gun

I've got nothing to show


I've made mistakes

I'll never live down

I caught no breaks

and now must leave town


but I can't swear

I'll come back someday

too heavy are my cares

they get in the way


but where I end up

is where I'll belong

I'll have had enough

of all of the wrong


and if you come to stalk me

to see where I am

don't bother looking

I'll already be gone







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

almost...almost...anything you want

is probably not what you need


but it's only our own confusions that haunt

and even our choices are that upon which cannot be agreed


zen the issue and pick or just take a wild shot

decide then deal with what you've got






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

all is false and stacked


and everyone is treacherous

beyond belief


my...what?...even God is wholly

against us


and we only have each other

and even there we must be cautious


where all is dubious and bleak....





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

evil comes in many forms


most pernicious of all

is the guise of good







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

when some asshole mounts a podium

and starts preaching righteousness


I turn and go the other way

quickly


before the crowds begin

to boil over....







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

a long road to "heaven'

a short road to "hell"


and God Damn It

on both counts









Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

you love playing the fool?

why not?

it's easy and comes to you

naturally








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

think you're the only one


so does

everyone else


(figure it....)







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

if I knew what the hell was wrong with you

I'd know what the hell was wrong with me


heard in every household

around the world and down through time


fuck you

no fuck you


forgive me oh I love you

ah the ties the ties that love binds








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

nothing ruins a good head

like returning to the daily world


extra fortitude to keep your head together

extra strength to see your way through the day


and let other's actions be on them

your own business is all to which you need attend


here is the bread of communion

here is the human comedy in full performance








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I came damn near close

to never letting you out of my arms


sad hunger makes us forget

we are joined no matter what


stay next to me 'forever'

and go a little ways off  for what you love


it's all one anyway

and only the peaceful heart knows that for sure....





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I...you...anyone

can leave this life in an instant


but for the apprehension

of the physical trauma of 'passing over'


it's the same life here as on the other side

of this dimension...


so I'm tentatively o.k. with this...

what I have to face returned to


my true actuality I'll know soon enough

though I know at least


it will be for all the genuine gratitude

of having realize some genuine good


and all I've failed to fix going forward

to the next earthly incarnation's circus....








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

we are One in humility


our humanity a constant trial

to preserve our own integrity

and our own fragile hold on

our vision of reality


especially if your view of reality

is in sync with Reality...

to do this in Oneness is hardest of all to maintain


when so many others are lost in their own

fever dreams...


that's where we gain our edge....





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

all you can do for another is

to help and to inspire them


the rest is their business








Content (c) 2008-0214 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

well...

it's not next year yet


but the world is built and works

the way it does

every day perpetually


what does time really matter?

it's alway now and in the earth

you'll always have shit to shovel....







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

amid all the world's howling


there's a sheen of peace in many hearts

as if things have gotten so bad


that a breakthrough has happened

and people have exhausted their capacity


for this world's tragedy

and trudging on as all of us do


the way we trudge will show whether

we've stood down to let maniacs drag only


themselves and their adherents down

into their own hells or we've stepped up out of


outworn mythologies to find each our own way

back to where the morning stars sing


we'll see when we see what next year brings....






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

does an old ending

automatically mean a new beginning


(stupid phrase...what beginning

isn't new?)


if that is how one'll have it

a little variety will help


going forward...we're tired of cliches

offering a fresh start....








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

seems I missed the memo

on the violence of this time


each side raging at the other

and neither completely right nor wrong


at least I'll have an excuse

when someone asks me


what I'm doing cowering between the two

on my knees without a prayer








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

this train (which

carries no gamblers et al)


is running on time...


next stop...the end of

this line...


change there for trains


to future incarnations on earth

last adjustments and Enlightenment....






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

the Source of Life

is unknowable...


its intelligence

demonstrated by


the endless process

of its Law


its goodness

posited in the harmony


of all the parts

with the whole of its design...


and whether you call this force

"god" or "big bang" or "black hole"


or "electromagnetic waves pulsing

through infinity"


matters not...

you will either tame yourself


and rejoin the harmony

or remain in your cell of self


and pass away with the disharmony

at the fullness of creation's term...



your choice....





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

why vengeance and unforgiveness?


everyone gets what's coming to them


don't be angry because your name

isn't on their specific sin against you...


otherwise you'd be no better than they are

judgement will obtain...just watch your own back....







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

without sorrow

there'd be no happiness


hard to see

when you're mired in either....






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I thought

we were one


but we never

figured which


one...

so best leave us


be us...

that we'd know perfectly....








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

even now

in the face

of horrendous realities


people still dress up

their puny egos and

self-importantly funeral-direct


stage-managing their illusions

to whatever bitter end....








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

it takes a sorrow

to remind people

to treat each other better while we're here


and after the mourning

it is just that sorrow

that makes us backslide


into our usual....






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

good or bad

positive or negative


(meaningless distinctions

but with the power to kill)


still hold us in the deadly

illusions we think of as life








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

nothing

comes of

nothing...


which

explains

a lot


about

life....





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

the brown leaves roll crisply

down the street


elude the super's broom and shovel

and now as the dark part


of the year stabilizes and begins

it's slow turn back toward the light


the only shadows remaining

will be mine and they too will fade


once I am no longer a body

blocking the rays of the sun


once I am the motes that dance

in the unstoppable beams


once I am a mere trace of a presence

in the air of the bright day






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

my tribe withers

and I with them

wonder now

if our metaphysics jibe

with our experience


no one I know has a clue


but our ignorance

is secondary to all we feel

and is our only guide

through this mortal morass

and if a difference is made still


no one know has a clue


through all the old age pain and doubt

we'll persevere and find out....





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I do not envy the young

setting out on their course


having been there once

it is all I can do to keep my mouth shut


and let them discover for themselves

the terms of the earth their lives love....







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

NO DAY OFF FOR THE REAPER

good byes so sudden and seemingly random


it makes you realize how short the tenure

of your will and ability


and you stand on every street corner

in various identities preaching the word


everyone else knows

good byes so complete and irrefutable


they sound like hollow hellos






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

anything that can be said today

can as well be said tomorrow


current events are current

because it's the same sad story


every god-damned day

and by extension one year


is much like another

so let the folly of this sad world


have play through this season

they'll be no lack of words


and outrage come January 1st...







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

nothing en masse will ever be transformed

here on this battered old rock


each person either gets drawn back

into the perpetual tangle of living here


and repeats the form and repeats the form

or individually transcends and disappears


in their own "rapture" done with the wheel

and done with such elementary ruler-slaps-on-the-knuckles


(oh you old-time nuns....)






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

one thing about being in the earth


you always know the story

because the damn thing never changes








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

you thought you escaped

but there is no escape


as long as there is life

you are alive with all you've gathered


and each life is a peeling away

of all of it you don't need


and only the losing of it

will show you what and which







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

thought you done with me?


none of us are done with anyone

when will you learn

death is not the end?


when will you realize

you've far to go

to awaken from a sleep of

many lifetime's duration?


you are still stuck me

as I am with you

we're not finished

there's too much left

for which to atone


and we will face it all with new skins

and new identities

I am someone and something else now

and so are you whether or not

you know it


and again we repeat the patterns

we make finally break


with a fresh step....






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

well I tried...and failed...

there really is nothing fresh to say...


I refrain from saying anything...

let someone else play the fool...


I'll return as something else....








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

an all new age is upon us


a new understanding

a higher dimension of being


I won't live to see it

in full bloom


but I may reincarnate

somewhere during its term


a fresh increment

in the ongoing saga


of us trying to get back

to where we already are





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

a pipe dream

for sure


but I can

only wish


this foul god

of our


world release me

from this sojourn


before I do more

damage to my soul


as if this mattered






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

happiness

is a fever

dream of

fools






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

fools outlast wise men






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I never want

to know again

the pain of love

or the fatigue of compassion


it wears away the soul

and leaves nothing behind


which may be good or not

depending on your beliefs


are we nothing if we're something


or something if we're nothing?





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

all humanity wants

is its candy


let humanity have it...

blindness bad circulation


endless peeing...

what a fitting gift


for its grubby sugar-sweet

little wants....









Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

the masters of world

deserve to die with the world


render onto caesar

the dust that is his





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

people think I'm unhappy

even downright angry


it isn't true

especially when I don't


think about God....





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

are these words wanted or needed

or just a cry for help defeated


if I knew I wouldn't have to ask


but whether you do or whether you don't

I won't say you will if you really won't


if I knew I wouldn't have to ask








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

some days good

some days bad

some days off the

charts in every way


this is to what our

once-proud intellectual

comprehension has

been reduced...


a yattering of

mooks about

the weather

the latest scandal


who's tits are bigger

and look at those idiots....






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I swoon in the mustard

gas breath

of the "voice of the people"


they're all assholes

and should shut up anyway

but I swoon


because that

won't happen








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

despair is so old hat

that the melodramatic

are auditing courses in irony

which of course they're not getting










Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

instant celebrities


with the shelf life

of chocolates

in a candy dish










Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

give a moment please

to the dungeons of your ancestors


look in there and you may find mummified

faces that resemble your own









Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

are you what you want to be

or still a soul swimming in mystery?








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

you talk as if you had understanding

is anyone else really listening?






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

you will haunt someone

if they pay you no attention


so hold your own

then you'll have matters in hand








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

you will not regret

what you've done


but you will not forgive yourself

the things you passed up


never too late to cut a caper

as they used to say


always time to make an adjustment

in your biography








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

it's not so hot

to go re-inventing

yourself


you have to change

your language and devise

a new vocabulary


and most of the time

you have no idea what you mean

and you're still you


but like the Wizard you'll be

just "the man

behind the curtain"


if you really want to mess

with people just lie down

in plain sight


and say nothing

then they'll re-invent you









Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

my abstractions are my reality


it's the only way

my actions make sense


to me

everyone else can stay lost


in their dreams






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

talking your way out of one situation

will only land you in another


its so much easier to move along

without moving your mouth as well








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

so this…

the field of play…


infinite

within the still

unmoving point


far as an eye

can see


into itself…


here we rise

here we fall

or imagine


that we do

we are nowhere else


whatever we do


or think we do…

and we being in others

see multiplied our



imaginings that beget

the acts that form our play



each of us in our own way…


infinite and unmoving


so here it is we stay….








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

GRAY

gray


out the window

the monochrome

winter morning


shines dully through

beads of rain…

what a dream of salvation


and heaven I am now forgetting…

as if I’d side-stepped

every rung of Jacob’s Ladder


and bounded to the top…and


music of spheres…blazes of light…

all of it condenses into the pearl gleam

on the radio…its alarm just going off….










Content 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

CONVERSION ATTEMPTS

have a totally miserable day

and curse God unequivocally...


have a happy joyous day

and praise life unreservedly...


what aspect will cause

which part of you to be judged?







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

how much easier to accept

your defeat when time has worn down


all the shame and all the stuff

you thought was so important


disappears down your memory hole

along with all the ones


you thought mattered so much

as your ambition taught you your measure


so much easier now to reflect

and let all your scenes merge into this


moment of distraction....





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

RETURN

a new thing to say

is just a new way to frame

old news that encases us

in our always






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

let those who would love

love fully and finally


let those who would hate

hate what truth they find


up and down are one and the same

and at some point


hate and love will break their definitions

and empty into the only One







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reerved.

no silence

deeper than


awareness

and peace







Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

kind will have to do for us

loving and forgiving too

for there's no divinity we can trust

to find our atonements true


but if I'm wrong from a bitter life

and forgot all the truth that is in me

it's one meal of words I'll eat and like

to atone for my idiocy









Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

with regret enormous

and contrition true


please Lord help us

if indeed You do








Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

BICYCLE RACE

not goodbye old friend

but so long


the separation

will be but a moment


and the adventure will

continue airborne


Jesus Jarry you

and me...pedaling like mad....










Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I've lived a common life


I didn't know this was unacceptable


but I saw no difference in that

and in living beyond the grasp


of my understanding

nothing pleased the One


except our acquiescence in being

robots by our own consent


oh I will miss the 'freedom'

of being mortal and tasting each morsel


of living joy but it will also pass remembered


only as the lesson of our curiosity


and how each and every common life

is unique in its fulfillment





Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

who will we be next time

and where the field of play?


idle speculation

over what has yet to be


we'll still be us whether to

our joy or our dismay


but there's no rest until the enlightenment

that we have yet to see









Content (c) 208-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

entering the 7th year

but it goes no farther than this


how many different ways can you say

the same damn thing?


God 'am that I am'

and things are what they are


and we all fall so easily

and find it impossible to rise






Content (c) 2008-2014 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.