the Void stretches out to infinity


in glittering starlight

the remains of life


sparkle in the ice and snow

of the end of all process


complete and at peace

stand in the shivering darkness


and love the light that glimmers

on the ice fields of unscalable heights


that light is the seed of new creation

should there be any more creation


we have nothing to say but only to look

transfixed in the suchness of being


as we stretch with the Void into infinity






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

I will live in the present moment

whatever that will get me


I'll at least be with those I love

and we'll all go down together


if love matters at all

then this is the value in life


if love matters at all

then our 'salvation' is here and now








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

I don't care what happens

to me anymore


even doing right

changes nothing


love and do what you will

what does it matter?


you'll live or die by the whim of a maniac

and it'll be all your fault







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

God is Love. Discuss. - Stephen Reynolds



God is an asshole at best

end of discussion








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

involve yourself

with the cosmos


pontificate on

the heavens


weep for the alienation

that separates people


from themselves

ponder the aspects


of your imagined deity

all you please


and ache over the sadness of life

but still will you need


at times a few bucks in your pocket

and a beer and a love


and a moment to breathe






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

hollow as a heart


my will is gutted

and I have only


to search the sky

for a last cloud formation


to encode all I've lost

in this life to give me


aspirations I no longer feel










Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

it's been said

if it weren't for God's grace


the world would have ended by now


I don't know what's staying the hand of the One

but this ugly world we've created


and congratulate ourselves on so thoroughly

is so ripe for its destruction


I can't imagine what God's wrath is like if this


is his love








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

I'm not all that greatly evolved

I cannot forgive the enemy who holds a blade to my throat


but if he's about his business

then I will gladly die


I'll go on and he'll suffer

with my blood on his hands








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

there's so much more to life itself

than this hardbitten world


but you cling to it

as if your life depended on it


it's not the truth

it's not the reality


and if you cling to this world so hard

you deserve to die with it








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

what will it take to find even a little peace

but to surrender the ego enough


to lose its selfish frightened clinging

and not renounce the self that is


our eternal abiding life?

what will it take to wake people up


to themselves and to find themselves

but losing themselves?







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

happy now

that you've ruined everything you had


to try and attain

what was never yours to begin with?









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

why do we covet what another has

when we ourselves have the same things?


in essence this is true

in outcomes it's inequitable


because we are pledged to the outcomes

embracing the morphing displays of ego


and not to the essence which is the grounding

for all our living







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

human nature wrecks the earth

every second of every day


but I hold will those of us

who hope we know better


and struggle to maintain

some control over our ravening rages


keeping our hands in

for the sake of making a graceful ending






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

suicidal maniacs take others down

with them into the grave


wild animals disguised as humans

ravage the streets


those that rule still hold the keys to the kingdom

and withhold entrance to others


and so many just wring their hands at the injustices

and suffer from battered compassion


lift a hand against such evils

and you yourself are culpable


we are all involved in these daily murders

and worsen our involvement with the trite wisdom


that this is the world

and the world is unfixable








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

stuck in twilight


we remember the day

and imagine the night


fever dreams of the lost








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

sweeter nights will bless the spring buds


when we are gone under the tree

to nourish them


with the blessings of the soil

and the memory


of our eternal stars overhead








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

I thought for a minute I plateaued


but that was a mistake of perspective

from a cliff edge I hit

during a decline








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

come down to the kitchen


the light is dim and electric blue

like the old florescent lights

that sputtered in the kitchens

of my childhood


the night is cool

and traffic in some distance

roars like waves on a shore


come down

sit with me

the radio is playing doom

in soft mellow muzak


the coffee is warm

and 4 a.m. wouldn't feel so lonely


if you came down and joined me








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

I long for that white endless horizon


always receding farther away

as long as I am in this skin


no less frustrating or frightening

for the knowing


that any moment will catapult me there


and all the longing will be as naught

for what was always one moment and one step away







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

hovering overhead

birds of a different aspect


vultures keening

as they circle


they too are of the air

they too land on the earth


then rise again

satisfied





Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

I seek shade in the desert


I bake in the sun

and imagine an oasis


it is my last thought

before a shade enters me


and what I seek I find







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

flatlands after rain


the mist rises in the glowing sun

the wet clay clings to feet


eager to be on their way

but with no idea


to where or to what

or to why


just movement toward what is everywhere







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

under rainy skies

we huddle under the eaves


we rejoice when one joins us

and weep when one leaves








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

my freedom is an illusion

fed by envy for the flying birds


they ride the winds

to wherever they'll go


but I am blown aimlessly

over the earth


and across the sky

not knowing heaven or earth as my home






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

what do I care if no one understands?


I don't understand

and I'm as at sea trying to dope it out


as anyone else who mistakes some port

on their way as a final destination


bribe the official with ignorance

get canned for his uncompromising adherence


to some murderous code of honor

every port in a storm


is a storm onto itself

and no one understands why


and I don't understand why

so we stay adrift in the stormy sea


holding our journeys if nothing else






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

suffering makes one almost autistic

with the slow killing of the fatal mistake

that delivered one to one's downfall


all the rage targeting heaven

the blasphemies nothing more

than self-hatred directed at an imagined deity


but the pain is real for the sufferer

writhing in a tangle down a frightened street







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

idiots rule when elephants fly...


christ...

there's another one lifting off....







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

ROUGE TO THE END

I ignore the herd

and wander off


enjoying the solitude

those silly cows sully


and while I may die alone

and broken


at the least

I'll go as my own bull








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

we have responsibility for our souls


o.k.


for my part

I take responsibility


for the happiness

I feel when I say


to hell with everything


I'll die the way I lived

drugged sexed at peace with nature and...well...happy....






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

KILL ME LORD...YOU'RE GOOD FOR NOTHING ELSE

the One is leaving me to die where I drop


it gouged its price and demands our adoration

but all I've learned from this is the hard way


of the life source itself

no grace no love no mercy no forgiveness


just our sins and our price squeezed out of us

and all blame on us for what we did not create


life disgusting from top to bottom

and just trying saying this truth


and see what you get from it

more misery more suffering more pain


because there is no love or grace or mercy or forgiveness

because the source of life will not have it


never to lift a finger to help us but always ready to punish and destroy







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

what will you say to me now?

now that we've destroyed our love


with each other's mistaken notions

of who each of us were?


as long as things were happy and easy

there was nothing we couldn't face


but when hard reality made its claim

suddenly nothing mattered any more


you have your resentments and I have mine

we both made the same mistakes


for the same exact reasons when we thought

love would resolve our crooked paths


and what will we say to each other now

that we can't hear and we can't admit our culpability?









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

no sense to any of this


but oh the absolution

of our ignorance...


the One may not accept that

but then the One accepts nothing


but Its own satisfaction...

and if all consequence is on us


then indeed love and do what you will....






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

oh for the love of Christ now what?


I survived my privations

and still I wonder where death is


what more must I endure

before judgment is satisfied?


what more do we all have to suffer

before we are free to find our place


where life is no joy

and death is no release?








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

nothing

then something


then something else

from that


I'm not alive

I'm not dead


I just am that I am

like that which made us








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

beyond the pale

it's cold and dark out here


no sign of god

no sign of anyone


just consciousness of nothing

just echoes of memory


dissolving back into

silence and nothingness









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

the broken heart finds full relief

after it has been broken


no false hopes trying to mend

the tears and no more love


to glue back together

the hurt pieces that tried so hard


to amend and heal and failed anyway


only the fading bittersweet ache

fading into the past gives way


to the soothing calm of defeat








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

belief is the easiest way

to be led away from truth


and since truth is so variable

where do you find a hope


to believe in?

stumbling blind is our way in the earth


the darkness where there is nothing

but yourself and that of which you're made....







Content 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

the road lengthens

the farther we walk on it


instead of coming nearer

our destination


it stretches farther away

as we approach it


if I were to stand still

all movement would stop


or if I were to stand still

the road would shrink down


to no farther than my next step...

but no matter what I do


there is still a road leading

to some ultimate destination....





Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

make any of your plans flexible

because life itself may change the game

and if you have no backup

you'll wind up broken and lame


and even a backup may not do it

you have to make do on the fly

and see through any consequence

until the moment you die


here's you word here's the signal

the starting gun the dust left from hooves

in flight down the circled track

that leads us back where we made our first moves


follow where it will lead...you've no other choice

but to make with your hands and celebrate with your voice....





Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I'm in free fall now

I'll land where I will


whatever death I face

life will go on still


I've no idea what it will mean

for you or for me


but whatever happens next

we'll have to wait and see








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

how sweet the cool of the evening

when the blaze of the sun is over


and the violet twilight in the western sky

announces peace beyond all knowing








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

blind trust in an illusion

is what makes worldly power strong


and the weak yearn for the strength

that the world's rulers embrace


in the reality of death

and the total apathy toward it


that the powerful ignore thinking

they could be stronger than it


and not caring whether they are or not


as long as they are alive in their skins

they'll know nothing


not even themselves and the weak who envy them

are no better themselves


blind trust in nothing but what they can hold in their hands






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

I've been broken

score one for the 'love' of 'god'


now as I try to piece myself

back together again


every wrong fit will have to be

ripped apart to star again


and that will also be added

to my cosmic manifest






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

the world is what it is

but I am not longer who I was


the damn place got the better of me

and now I join those I despise







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

nobility attracts the worst elements


after all it's just another

rotting piece of meat


and maggots don't care what carcass they infest








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

of course you'll be missed

when you die


think of your creditors your dependents

the bum on the street you studiously ignored


they'll note your absence

regret the hold they've lost on you


then go elsewhere

for their need to coerce







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

I wish I could be

more graceful about my suffering


but it hurts like hell

and no one else cares


so why should I nobly suffer

on their account?


they'll be lucky to have some guy

at the morning breakfast wagon remember them







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

if I had any more 'good' friends

I'd have more pallbearers than any man'd need









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

I had a hot idea

and watched it go to hell


seems my backers

couldn't think of


a practical way to exploit it








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

as my night ends

another's day dawns


and laurels will fall from brows

and roses will bloom for their moment


and as another's night ends

yet another's day will climb


on and on until there are

no more nights and no more days








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

aspire to the heights

and put all your love

into the endeavor


lest the world

and all who claim

to love you so


chain you to their ground

and hate you for your trying to rise









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I did not create fire

but I did get burned


from the hospital bed

I see the late afternoon sun


painting copper all the facades

of the city for at least this day at peace


all my love went into sunsets

and twilights but also at times


the soft melancholies of dawn

and mist and rising sun


I love the cool of the brilliant night

but expect to die on a hot summer day


I did not create this love

but I surely got burned






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I did not think until too late

that love could turn to frenzied hate


or that trying to make amends would worsen

the situation and lessen the person


from big-hearted trust to implacable rage

resentments pacing in a cage


where once were no bars or despair

only happy creatures in the light and open air











Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

spotted on the horizon...


a distant shore

much like a mirage....








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

we sweat and struggle

and wonder if there's such a thing

as grace


why is everyone else sailing along

and we get snagged on every rock in the reef?

well who says everyone else is sailing along?


why doesn't the world work for us?

well who says it works for everyone else?

grace may be available to those


who believe and trust in it

but why are we denied it?

are we denied it? maybe it would be there for us


if we stopped sweating and wondering

if there's such a thing as grace....






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito.

the hell of earth

is what we've earned


the hell of earth

is where we burn


the hell of earth

is a fire by which we see


our illusions celebrated

as if they were divine mysteries


but the hell of earth

is only so because we make it thus


the light of the hell of earth

is the light in which we see again


the darkness we've created

lit like a glowing candle at its end







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

where goes the past

will go the future


what you do

right here right now


will show the continuity

the entity you truly are


looking through the eye slits

of your current disguise


in the only moment

I'm eternally 21


though this body tries as it will

to disabuse me of that reality


but this body will fall to its reality

and I will hold the content ever in being






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

the fall has been accomplished

and the rising remains to be seen


fine as long as where I'm going

is different from where I've been









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

you are best with stubbornness

stonefaced against the soft wearing away of

intention


that's why I worship you

I am lost

because I am free


bending with the flow of tides

peccant to a fault






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

wrong for years…

and uncomfortable realizing it now…

what friends said behind my back…

how stupid I must have seemed….






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

from behind the thicket of the soft morning wood

I heard the last coo of the mourning dove


but by time I got there

it was gone....





Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

full moon setting in a cold mist

old life done


sun rising in a golden blur

who's day do I watch


dawning as foam crowns the shore?








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I work toward my release

and do not know its worth


our choices of good and bad

are illusions to our condition


whatever we do hangs in the balance

its value wasting into destruction


why work after all when release is inevitable

and I'll never know its worth at all








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

in the heavens

forever is always


in the earth

all things end


this is the fact

this is the blessing


that whatever it is to which we go

there will be an end of this worldly mockery of life


do I want to find out when and where?

does it even matter at all?


it will come when it will

and it will go as it must


and we can do nothing but go along

burnished in the pure fire of passing






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

"Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord"


the only truth

I've ever found

in Scriptures









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

SUFFERING HUMANITY

and so our suffering is just

the bread of communion at last


we all suffer under the strictures of the One

and none of us is exempt


and yet how common it is

to forget this reality


as we pursue our own ends

clinging to what we think


is "our truth" and second-guessing

a reality beyond our comprehension


that the One is an asshole at best

is  a reality we must make peace with and accept


at least we know right from wrong and will strive for

for what is best despite the consequences






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

now that I've spent all my pain and anger


now that I've exhausted all grace


run out of all luck


and bug-eyed see my time just about up


what changes to make

what healing to try

if all I've done has sealed me in this tomb of self

and left me watching the way ahead


open like a highway before an amputee


what then with so little life left in this sojourn

mess made damage done pay fully paid

and lesson learned to no grief


what funeral fire of soul ahead

to lift that dependable old standby the phoenix....





Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I leave you goats and sheep where you are


have the delusion that I'm "speaking my truth"

while you are judging me from yours


our "Oneness" drags all of us down

and the One puts its hands in its pockets


and strolls away whistling

not once acknowledging any complicity


"I Am That I Am" goes only so far

but if there is no grace or mercy or forgiveness


then why bother? if the Source of All Life

wants nothing more than obedience that will be punished


in any and all cases then truly what point in living?

but live we will despite our destruction at "God's Vengeance"


live and go on until whatever end as the cattle we can only be....







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

let our psychotic power-mad Source of Life

have its murderous way


the One may have no mercy or grace

or love or forgiveness for its creatures


but as long as we exist

we'll do our best even as the One


does its worse

oh hell of life....








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

done down by morons

my whole life long


but what am I

but yet another moron


for thinking he could rise above

this shit


that the Almighty itself has mandated

in its self-serving thuggery









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

99% of humanity

are grinning sheep


frightened of real moments

of passion and anger


99% of humanity

needs to be sheared


for their coats and butchered

for their complicity








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

the falsity of people

deserves terror as a punishment

people killing each other

until nothing is left

but their excuses

and even then

what a joy to see

a truth prevail

Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I've been saying goodbye for so long

I'd begun to wonder when it would truly be


well the time has finally really come

and I am more than ready to go


no matter what I have to face

on the other side of this life


eternal life or nothingness

at this point I don't care


I'll go and it will be what it will be








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

where have you gone without me?


our sufferings reduced

to an old American Songbook standard


showing there is nothing unique

about our pain


love will kill every sad delusion we've held about love

and that is our perpetually sad condition


in the earth which like God does not forgive








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

when you realize you're done


it is the most graceful thing to do

to stop trying so hard


and retire from the scene








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

it is all I could do to keep up

but my strength failed finally


and now I am left on the side

watching the ongoing life


come to those incoming souls

so they may do their damage


to the earthly life

just like I and mine did in our time







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

when we finally let go of ourselves


only then will we find ourselves

as we actually are


and all our imaginings

will fade with all the sorrow


we incurred trying so hard

to be more than we could be


letting go of all that is not us....







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

FALSE HOPE

oh such false hope...


you said you found a way forward

and I knew you were heading back to some old time


longer ago now than the second that has just past us


oh this is how we lost our minds


we think we're doing such good

and all we do is add to our foolishness


and we call our unfortunate errors determinative harm


while our imagined good is some impossibility

to our shame recognized only afterward the fact








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

MERCY? NOT IN GOD'S VOCABULARY

what more do you need to break you

out of your delusion of repentance?


you decide nothing

you suffer for your sins


and you try to go forward

despite what reckoning you must face


and you must keep going forward if you don't want

to be stuck with this mess of a life on your burden










Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

FOR JACKSON C. FRANK, WHO KNEW THE DEAL

eternity may be the name of the game


but you have no access until you've finished

whatever earthly term you're enduring at this instant


don't believe the bullshit of organized religion

and take extreme caution with the New Age hucksters


who think there's nothing you can't do

despite what karma you're suffering under...


your payment exceeds the easy slogans of power-mad

sleaze artists...good God you have your own shit to settle


without adding the misdirection these assholes are offering...


do you really have to be told to trust yourself?

do you even know what that means?


eternity is the name of the game

and don't doubt blues runs the game....






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

"THAT'S NO DISGUISE" SAID BELA

I gave up on wondering who I am


I've always been me and haven't changed much

and yet I've been many different persons


what connection between the me I was

and the me I am and how does


the subjectivity of other's view me

yolk us together?


do they who remember me at 14

recognize humbled 62?


do they even care except for spite

and malicious gossip to fill up their boredom?


shall I put my face on a milk carton?

shall I leave cryptic clues under doormats?


I'll rid myself of a false nose and wonder who the hell

you are....






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

what happens to others should be no concern to you

although others are concerned about you


what tricky exchanges

of mind and heart


it is to love but not interfere with what

a loved one must do


and to suffer out of compassion

because you yourself know what they're up against


true there is nothing we can do for anyone else

also true that compassion will compel us


to what what we can


the responsibility of each of us is to ourselves

but that includes being of service to others in time of need


what tricky exchanges to love and to suffer








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

only the fool waits for and expects a miracle

the wise man works with comes to him


and apotheosis does not matter


what matters is the doing









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

what an unbelievable day!


the One did His asshole routine

to such a pitch

that one thought creation itself

would fall part at every seam!


why does the One go totally berserk

on some days?

we are said to be made in His Image


let's look at ourselves to find out why....







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

when does Power ever

listen to Truth?


especially when that Power

is Ultimate Truth?









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

today my head

is filled with

thoughts of heaven


because my earthly life

is such a hell


no way in and

no way out

except for here where I stand









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

the egret cries

as it skims over the water


I watch and feel

my heart flutter away










Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

abandon yourself to your effort and let the tally resolve itself







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

why must the fool be wise and the serious so lacking in wisdom?

gross contradiction or wondrous paradox

I still cannot tell wheat from chaff or gold from dross








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

expectation blocks the flow






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

calm before the storm is really bliss before the ignorance









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

good is never rewarded because it is expected







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

oh will you miss me then


my all-too-human love

your tears and mine leave us bereft

as we wonder what went wrong


unless it was right for us to fail

a cosmic price needing payment

and all we had as nothing was something else we missed


oh will we miss each other then....







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

the way home

is as fraught with danger

as the paths leading

to new calamities


in the morphings of the world


oh all is pain dislocation and shame

here in the appointed hell of creation


and treacherous is the road we choose


for the heaven we imagine

and whatever the actual home in god

or big bang or black hole

or dark matter


nothing makes one sadder

than to miss it for our blinding tears







Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

peace and transcendence

are dreams to which the broken cling


and if the broken do mend in some holiness

enlightenment will come so secretly


and suddenly that the broken

won't know it until after the fact


and then the fallen condition will be

as if it never were and released unnoted


for being achieved










Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I don't recall what will

finally kill me out of this world


(my higher self

may know but I don't)


I am an imprint

on some entity that


is really me and will

go forward on its journey


carrying this identity

as an addition to its burden








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

oh maybe there is grace

and maybe there is mercy


and maybe forgiveness will come

even in the midst of our bewilderment


but even this cannot be known

or trusted as certain as the permanence

is as far above us as pinwheeling galaxies

colliding with each other in ordained flux








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I never believed

life would be so hard

that no dicy blend

of selfless will

and anguished acquiescence

would fail to guide a soul right


but that is the way we find it

we have no control over anything

except our next move and even

that choice is subject to negation


I wasted a life living in the delusion

of a good forgiving god when all there was

was a great leveling and those left standing

would wish themselves dead








Contwent (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

hear everything come down to street level


the music of spheres hum through the sighs of melancholy

while the daily cacophony distracts with the flat static

of gibberish and tinny tunes


people lost in their headphones against

the world with their buffering music

crushed to death by garbage trucks or buses

they didn't hear coming


and "oh the humanity!"

lives that intended great things snuffed out

"oh they loved life so much...so much to live for"

if so why did they tune out the very world they meant to conquer?

fear that might have paralyzed them out of their safety zone?


the death that eventually cast them out at street level?











Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

THE LOVE SONG OF A. PORKY VERDEGAST

I'm back in the world

I drink my coffee

and have my egg sandwich

and stare out at the morning throngs


and being old I watch today's parade

which though the faces have changed

still look like last month's or last year's

or 10 years or 30 years ago


even old possom spoke of muddy feet

pressing to early coffee stands

on his dark brown London mornings

going to the bank or Faber


or whichever anchor to the world

he choose to fix his in his unconscious condescension






Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

putting myself in harm's way

just going out the door


each morning to take my spot

on society's killing floor


and still I dawdle toward the train

my age is not so forgiving


and still I press on utterly amazed

that people call this living








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

repentance needs strength and stamina


because no matter what you amend

nothing is ever good enough


for the unforgiving One

and your price will be gouged out of you


even after you've paid

in life you're always broke and in debt


and relief is staying one step ahead of the Divine Forecloser

(as least as long as you can)









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved

FOR B.G.

when you die

may you be

three men short









Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rightsreserved.

I've crossed these tracks before

I recognize these prints


and wonder how who they belong to are getting on

if that's what they're still doing


companions each following their path down

to the same lunge for home I'm making


good friends who were such bad company

bless 'em








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.

I had a change of mind and heart

and turned to go back home


with the way strewn with the rocks

and broken glass of the easy stupidity


of my casual mistakes

and me with my shoes stolen


while I slept off the drunk of my life

and determined to turn and go home


but the way seems longer than I thought it was

the soles of my heels cut and bleeding


and yet as long as the way may seem

its distance...as far as I'm bound to go...


will be swiftly covered and time will evaporate

in the slipstream of my passage....








Content (c) 2008-2015 Philip Milito. All rights reserved.