what endures and what perishes

the eternal question among all of us


but what does live will show us so

what does come and what does go


and if it looks not unfamiliar to us

we must have seen it somewhere


when we valued more than we thought

the bright and the enduring






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

pieces we will try to match and patch together


we may mend the whole thing nicely

or we make create a new fiasco

in the name of our self-deliveries


I will if I can leave your work unsigned








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

face reality

and learn that

you are a character

in the dream of a god

and you no more

or no less exist

the way you and

Popeye Smellowitz do










Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

you won't come out of this range

until the cold pale twilight glimmers

over the river and for today at least

you'll have forgotten your small shame

and remembered yourself in the glory

of the silhouettes of fading light and falling night












Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

life is pain

a framing device

to direct our minds

toward forgiven

and become a flowing of

blessings on hates

that have at last disappeared


or to direct our minds

toward the impossible hater

who may never learn

what it is to forget or to heal

but will ever be ready to destroy

whom he wishes knowing only

the pain he makes into life







Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milio.

angry as I go

I face the same idiots

who never seem to get it


yes you mean well

and yes you mean nothing

and there's no one stupid enough


to deal with you

yet another one who means to be the death of me













Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

oh talk as much and as knowledgeably

as you need to hear yourself

as you ruin your own salvation

by a mistaken choice of action

that did not understand the imperviousness

of trying a deity's demand for peace

that none of us will manage look before

you've faced some of the impossible realities awaiting







Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

I whither long in my meditation

every moment an insight if not an illumination

that tells me what I've already learned

the hard way oh how can anyone wonder

about the value of living if the value stays enervated











Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

I'm not quite sure about living


how I could maintain a calm demeanor

while every pledged-to-being-an-asshole


does his or her dedication to a vow of trouble

as long as I'm still not sure how to live with any


strength of integrity against such bottle-feeders

I'll be as sure as I can to be sure what I need


I won't be so sure about getting what I need from them















Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito. 

one minute I was young and lucky

the next minute so sick and aged

you're only left to wonder

just when and where the gun went off


how far the distances when your legs

give up so just walking down the street

is some journey but one minute the sun shines

and the next minute you're finished as rain


and clods of earth seal this particular sojourn










Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

the same souls criss-crossing

through life after life


no wonder you gets bored

or intrigued with each life


it's the only one you know

at any given moment


and the same one you'll know

when you go









Content (c) 2008--2016 Philip Milito.

learn to live

learn to laugh

learn to love

as I face the end

of this sojourn

I see I still have

my work cut out for me













Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

cats yowling in the quiet 3 am street


how intriguing to hear in the solitude

of one's own blanketed safety


to hear their distress or danger at such remove

that one could feel the full force


of their cat power whether protecting a litter

or raging in unconquerable hunger


solitary worlds in the night while one sleeps in his







Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

your tears have dried

because nothing is left to mourn


through every amend tried

another lesson has been bourne


when it's our melodrama

it comes off as mere grand opera


when it's our genuine solved karma

it's the end of a satisfying double feature








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

everything has been thought out

everything's been appeased

the facts are open and faced

and as little feared as mites

buzzing a sweaty summer arm


I never tried much to figure

how all this would form but it's hardly

the horror you'd expect or so it is for me






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

tired is how I'll leave this life


a lifetime of bullshit taking its toll

and all I can really do is


is wait for release

amid all that rumble


of stumbles and wrongdoings

but happy despite lying in the wreckage


to leave whenevr the One shows the mercy





Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

say good night if you will

you'll wake again


to more mayhem

and additional farce


and say good morning

much as you like


you'd live until you're

so tired you'll wish again for sleep








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

frozen into the interior decorations

of this long-passing life


I feel the same every day

watching shadows cast accents


on the walls and furniture

imagining other lives I have lived


while this life itself was no more

than a tinky shrine to isolation






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

don't be too curious

you may find out

about some travesty

that wouldn't have happened


had you not known







Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

you'll listen but too late

but still you'll listen

and too late will come

your blinding illumination







Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

do not believe yourself

when you've pledged the amendment

of your soul


you already are shouldering

enough merde to seed

a whole new world


and you're not even sure you're up

to finishing off the old world






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

I want to throw this wireless mouse

against the wall

I've lost so many thoughts

I don't know what to think


jump the page and lose the statement

I'd love to shove it up

some idiot techie's ass and let

everyone's shit follow them













Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

wet leaves on a rain-slick street

you remember the way here

the dull old streetlamp here

no urban renewal here yet


casting that black gleam on the alley wall

how long ago and a different kind of night

did the hazy summer night open the alley

to lovers who stepped from the block party


and kissed in twinging excitement while a boombox

filled the street with a loud leveling joy


oh how impossible to go back when so many

have gone on while a varied memory lasts

for all who've survived and let it come when it will

to want it is too much like asking for help






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milio.

I saw the Lord Himself


early morning

He had to have known I was

in the stone passageway

leading to His grotto


something pierced my hearing

and I turned away hoping


I in my turn will acquit myself as well






Content (c) 2008-2016 PhilipMilito.

all hinges on the new faith

and the empty mind


that swept out old ideas

wrong as a mirage


here in this mindset

you can hear the echoing


of archangels in some far end

of your vision







Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

DESERT SOAPBOX

he doubts now

what he firmly knew before


he sits quietly sits aside

and listens to yet another


desert huckster selling us

an unflattering picture of ourselves


as people howl assent around him

he looks up in the slate-violet twilight


and imagines all present looking at

different pictures of this same soapbox







Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

THE AGONY OF A PROPHET

his fineness of line

was not his concern


he simply needed

to blast through any


convention to say

important things


he felt needed to be said

before the world ended








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

clear vision

you gained your peace


oh still every aspect intact

you're still who your are


just elsewhere from here

and far less the bad habits


another chance to make amends

clear vision until the next appearance










Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

the last thing someone remembers

when they get ready to go


is usually the very first thing

they learned in the earth


the desire to tie up matters always strong

even when it has been dome


and there is who you are






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

the dying words

find life again


echoing in the ears

of your corpse


you will hear them

as you fade


but others will hear them

in their dreams at night






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

SUNDAY EVENING

sunday evening

blue and shiny

despite a forecast

of white gray rain


here leaning sun

deposits

silvery pools of light

in the twilit overgrown


warmth of open air

the salty taste of sea


sunday evening predicts

even as it splats with night

the boons in presentation

something I've seen somewhere

 






Content (c) 2008--2016 Philip Milito.

you'll regret your rectitude

when you'll remember

surrendering it would

have strengthened your position


the self-doubt that turns on

the fact of the matter

but that ignores the fact

with the invention of your


own denial








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

vanities

guide us

through

the whispers


of god

by leading us

up against

our own dead ends






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

desire is our anticipation

memory our satisfaction









Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milio.

ALL TALK REVOLUTIONARIES

who will kill Trump?

who will kill Hillary?


no one

no one at all


the malcontent citizens

of this former democracy


scream for definitive change

the wind up voting each for their own


dictator 




Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

a liar will reveal himself

when an honest man ignores him








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

let the echoes of all

the selves you've been


whisper to you

in the singular voice


of the entity

that tried them on


in find out the true being

who goes by your real name








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milio.

what end you seek

is already written


your panic is only

forgetting what


you came to say

or do and even though


it costs a life to recall

the purpose of your


reason for being

when you reach that end


you have nothing to fear

but your own sorrow






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

the brittle stars rise cautious

over the long spring night

from which the insistent winter

that has finally departed


there is nothing left to say

about the new leaves

the daily sun continued to tug

out of their buds


the weary eyes have begun

to inch shut in growing sleep

the stars bursting into a speared gleaming

and the last waking consciousness


imagines these stars as pin holes through

which the eternal white can subsume and soothe









Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

against the world

we are as nothing


against ourselves

we are too strong to forgive


and so it is the hardest thing

to do to match intent


and find the way we were

meant meet each other in the world








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

how wrong I was

to think for myself

and think I knew

when all my suspicion


fell out on all the happenings

between my  friends and foes

and inability to distinguish

oh I'll find otherwise


in that void of my own

that will empty of myself

and clean my thought

so I will examine the fullness


of my confusion and find myself

in total shame of what I thought I was







Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

I didn't mean to hurt anyone

I'm just a bad shot


I aimed at myself

and hit every one else









Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

now the hurt hater gives up

his personae of a clownish Satan

but nonetheless a Lucifer

all the more clownish for his

lack of a sense of humor...


now this sorrowful mass

of pathetic want raving

at others as though he were

looking in a mirror

or or launch blasphemies


at his own false idol


now this contrite spoiled child

learns again the language of confession

on his tongue pleading forgiveness






Content (c) 2008-2016 PhilipMilito.

why hate life?

why fear death?


it's all one living

just close your eyes







Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

HOWLING BABY

howling baby

in the burning night


it foresaw its future

it despairs of its life


it vaguely remembers

a cold hearted force


its serpent eyes glistening

as it dispatched the this soul


into its new body

of thirst and hunger


pain and shocks

hatreds and fears


suffering and blindness

in the burning night






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

we all know right from wrong

even if we have help distinguishing

which is which


and there's the so-called rub

right isn't always right

and wrong isn't always wrong


and you must be sure of where you are

and how you are toeven guess let alone know









Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

the will to amend

is far different than

the will to heal


to fix is external

and easy


but to heal is something

you must let time do toyou

with the cooperation


of your own effortless effort


the effort of will and

the effortless acceptance of the atonement













Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

the only disappointment

in being in the right

is the opponent who swears

he isn't in the wrong









Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

regret is nothing but tears

after pride has been defeated







Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

love dies nasty here

both are to blame


each honors his own reasons

and wants the other to carry the shame








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milio.

idling


waiting for the inevitable

whose arrival I cannot know


dispensed by a force I cannot see


and who will be custom clerk

of the universe


who will charge full penalty







Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

I regret every move that reduced me

to this position in life


just as I'll praise every process of creation

that leads me from it






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

anticipation is a fool's way of mastering foresight


especially when the fool can't clearly

see what is all around him that brought him to this point

and naturally lead away from it








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

now that time isn't long

all of it is rushing

through my mind


I watch memories

speed by my awareness

before I even recognize


their content and I find

I could always be whever

I wanted to be


I was all of them

in one self

I was all my identities


and time now is so quick

I can see it as one mind's gathering








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

will I live here long enough

to witness one last winter's worth

of snow?


I guess I'll find out

for myself and if I don't what matter when

there had been soon many?






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

our love will not die

we'll be together again


hocking and nagging

each other unless


we stay friends and lovers

instead of mates


we've already proved monogamy

is insane


next time we'll love love purely itself








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

happy are the unbelieving


they'll have a hard time later

but while they roam the earth


they are the happiest creatures alive








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

a long life betrays you into

thinking you are blessed


tell that the tired ones who have had

enough and have stopped taking food






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

I do not wish to see many of you again

once a lifetime is quite enough


but for the possibility of that old

Veil of Forgetfulness dropping


again to remind us of only one lifetime

shit


God's hard love at it again










Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

when death comes it doesn't matter

you go on while dragging your train of ruins


and take as long as you need to uncouple

each karma load until you forget who you are


and get off the train

arrived


yourself










 Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

every moment of earthly life

we are staring into a void


your souls full of shit

and talons and frozen glimmering darkness


as long as we alive in the earth

we are staring into our own caves


always wondering at the back of the mind

which apparition will come carry us in....






Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

whoever blesses you

blesses you in spite


it is their turn to watch you

suffer under the blessings


of some fantasy of brotherly love








Content (c) 2008-2016 Philip Milito.

DEATH BY MORONS

pain reminds you of the folly of trust


when everyone is too stupid to know

the value of another's privacy


and uncaring of what they do to do


especially professionals

who act like gods and murder


by power-madness and such

self-serving misdirection about it


(looking at you idiot Abou.....)








Content 2008-2016 Philip Milito.