Journey to Ixtlan

“One Resolve” is about a decision I must make each and every day!


One Resolve

When I wake up I plan the day
important matters on the mind
waiting patiently through the night
begging action after dreams

when the balm of sleep recedes
curtains opened, sun comes in
the moon has left the wide sky
now I’m roused to decide

I’ll declare life’s verdicts
resolutions to complete
when adulting challenges
determinations are declared

before my life is duly planned
decrees to judge the whole of life
there is one resolve before the rest
deciding where to lunch that day.

© 2017. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20170623.

“Without Boundaries” is one of my social justice poems. Fences may make for good neighbors, but they suck when a person is seeking companionship outside of the designated parking areas.


Without Boundaries

Through this life there runs a fence
right and left, directions set
boundary meant to draw the line
making simple the complex
there is a sign placed for all to see
put there by the authorities
led by writ of holy books
or by the pride of their small world

“by order of high authority
placed in our hands by deity
none shall cross from right to left
find their pleasure without our say

find your passion in polarity
never cross back to similarity
to each there own is just fine
as long as that one is opposite

know that there are only two settings
one to plug with full authority
another to receive with conformity
hardwired from birth to just conceive

in closing know that your loved
from the shrines from which this came
please obey for our comfort’s sake
lest we embrace our unconsciousness”

this is the challenge put to souls
that seek a way to move between
find their fury with their like kind
or with those that blur the lines
when the fence is in the mind
not written down by hand of man
love will find it’s resting place
roaming free without boundaries.

© 2017, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20170129.

The poem "Velvet Ropes" is about an infrequent path taken by some in our society.


Velvet Ropes

These velvet ropes mark the path
taken up when I was young
leading me where few go
unseen at the outward glance
strong as those of other ones
with simpler liking than my own

not by choice if will is loosed
with freedom to decide
given reign to see the world
in the full of leanings both
equal liking in the heart
when the urge is penchant

constraints are tossed away
wisdom begs for caution's path
embracing where the heart does stray
to be of two is more than both
not in between as some may think
instead the flavor is a mix

no expectations from the clan
considered when fondness creeps
though kept silence in case they hear
neither curse nor blessing found
in moments of relating pressed
between the willing recompensed

dark discomfort from the ends
of spectrum spanned, not betrayed
by reach of pleasure, full expanse
in the end awareness blooms
of temptation’s lure now embraced
what I am is not confused.

2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20161202.

The poem “This Detour” is about the passions of life, the risks involved, and the reason we do them anyway.


This Detour

This detour is uncommon
a difference marked in time
of direction reconsidered
because you're on my mind.
Fate should have led me
down the other road
consequence expected
completely in the norm.

Inclination rules me now
emotions steer the wheel
commonsense has fled the room
as emotions step right in.
Expectations are all I have
desires are my only prayer
leading me by the hand
rushing where I should pause.

Look out you fool cries the crowd
the warning is not heard
good intent is their goal
mine is to move ever on.
The angels blow trumpets
the heavens hold their breath
perhaps I’ll take the leap
into depths too far beneath.

I overstate the future's end
considering the risk I take
doing what the planets ask
to find you by my side.
This detour was mine to make
voluntary leave of sanity
can you help find my way
because you’re on my mind.

© 2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20160829.

The poem “It Doesn’t Matter” is a dark look at the thought “life isn't fair”. For good or bad, it takes this thought and finds a healthy response to denial. This sounds easy, but there are so many ways that it doesn't matter.


It Doesn't Matter

It doesn't matter what I think
with these thoughts that peculate
when these things are out of reach.
Who know where these come from
whispers of heaven or hell
looping through the cranium?

It doesn't matter how I long
appetite set to want some more
when angels say I'm in the wrong.
Thoughts are full of excess want
this damns me from the start
while the world says do not.

It doesn’t matter how I feel
sad or happy are both concealed
emotions churn behind the veil.
The rapture is postponed
from lack of reciprocity
emotions are best shared by two.

It doesn't matter how I love
in response to arrow hit
when Cupid sets loose his bow.
To have fallen is my response
hard or gentle it matters not
to the god's erotic thrust.

It doesn't matter and that's the charm
the wheels have turned, lot is cast
events are set against these wants.
What's done is past and future is set
the devils laugh and the angels cry
it doesn't matter goodbye my life.

© 2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20160522.

Inspiration is a funny thing. The poem “Raise a Drink” was inspired first by a pictorial meme. The author published a series of photos his perfect girlfriend. He ended it with the acknowledgement that she was now an ex, and he did not realize what he had during the relationship. This got me thinking about a life situation in which my best friend is also a near stranger. I tried to express this dichotomy, but I ended up writing a poem about a person who was drowning their sorrows because of a lost love, perhaps lost because of a wrong the drinker performed. This isn’t what I do, but that’s where the poem went.


Raise a Drink

Here's to one I do not know,
long companion cast away,
gone forever from my world.
Even now I'd hold them close,
cry to heaven with shut doors
if my memories were more than smoke.

Raise a drink to the mystery,
acknowledge my sins are many,
why life unwinds in ways oblique.
The eyes are closed, heart is broke,
life unseen as tears collide
in my glass more clear than life.

Beverage will cloud my thoughts,
welcomed thief of my sight,
impure savior of dubious plots.
Devil's brew makes past obscure,
present mired in deep gloom
while future departs from my view.

Salute the dark corridors,
paths I'll walk when I rise
from this seat of suffering.
Melancholy will have its way,
in time I'm damned to replay
when the bottles lose their sway.

A last toast to time's deceit,
damn not the ghost I expose,
the wrong was mine to commit.
To say otherwise is conceit
the cursed change I rail against
was mine to stop or to commit.

© 2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20160129.

I had the opportunity to speak to a young person I care very much about. People had made decisions that impacted them, and these decisions echoed back to times the past. It does sadden me some. It is one thing for people to deal with their karma. It is another for the young(er) generations to carry the outcomes as unwanted baggage. Fair? Life isn’t. The poem “Adrift by Choice” is a statement of this predicament.


Adrift by Choice
Poem for Day 309 – 20151106

We leave the young wondering
why choices were made in our time.
Blame the wisdom of older age,
none of which we did possess.

We were so much younger then,
at heart so impetuous,
not knowing our ignorance
as we struggled to survive.

The reasons for it all fade from memory,
forgotten for the sake of sanity.
To remember would be far too much,
the sorrow would consume our souls.

It seemed like a good idea at the time,
if only we bring the cause to mind.
Life was so much simpler,
with few choices in the difficult.

The clock does not turn back,
nor are things undone by choice,
when events are set in stone
by intent and the hand of God.

One compromise at time we said,
adding up to the tidal wave.
Now we are adrift with no paddle,
the young wondering what went wrong.

© 2015, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved.

I've blogged about my dislike of memes before... I think I have! I really dislike those cute little pictures with sayings / witticisms. The encouraging ones are OK. It is the political ones that get me going. Why? Is it because I dislike the sayings of groups that are contrary to my political leanings? I'm not keen on those, but I realized that all flavors of political memes have a common issue and I saw one today that illustrated their challenge.

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Back the philosophical aspects of this blog. The meme shares the challenge of offering a statement in short bullet form. At best this is a slogan that rallies the truth. At worst it is a shit bomb thrown into a mixed crowd. Why? A political meme is like taking a bath in an inch of water. There is liquid there, it is bath tub shaped, but there isn't enough to shape a conversation around. There are so shades of gray to really contentious topics and a meme can't do justice to any topic. They instead make Facebook a landscape of strife. I would prefer if people just stated their beliefs instead of turning to the flawed meme.

On a LJ community an philosophical person raised the following questions:

When someone says "we create our own reality" I usually respond with "I dare you to say that to a paraplegic". Personally I find that attitude is reserved for the comfortable and privileged, it tends to go right out the window when something truly bad happens. If you think about it, its a pretty arrogant position. Essentially declaring yourself God. If I get hit with a hurricane, Its because I created the hurricane? That was a pretty mean and selfish thing for me to do, wasn't it.

To me, the hindsight question of "why did thing X happen" becomes a Gordian knot of spiritual and philosophical proportions. The interpretation of a past event invites multiple interpretations. Some explanations are easy. Others reach into the higher reaches of the Divine or pre-natal astral influence. The most pragmatic interpretation would be that the person was at the right place at the very wrong time.

Bad stuff happens to good people. The "why" part is the fuel that creates religions. It can get really fuzzy as to why the child has abusive parents/relatives, the person crossing the road is paralyzed, or the hurricane destroys a region. There are no simple answers that allow us to understand these situations. Instead, we are dared to merely shake our hands at the Divine, shouting "how dare you!".

Does this mean choice is excluded? IMO, no. To borrow a trite saying, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade". While we may not understand misfortune, we can make concrete choices regarding how we deal with the misfortune. Does the child, now grown, succumb to the trauma of childhood or do they seek healing through whatever means possible? Does the paraplegic vegetate or do they live life to its fullest possible outcome? Does the victim of a hurricane assume the life of a homeless person or do they find ways to build an even better life? Choice begins when the vagueness of the unfair universe ends.

The choice I speak of happens in the operational moment. Your choice is in the now. This does not mean that your choice is the only one on the table. The outcome of life is a mix of choices. They merge into the physical and energetic outcome of the moment. Some factors of the now can reach far back into time, the result of past choices. Even while there may be a physical and energetic outcome, the result of your previous choices and everyone else's, HOW you interpret and react to the event is a choice made in that moment.

I don't have the answer to why bad things happen to good people. I am convinced that life can go on beyond these seemingly fated points. Choice is alive and well in the aftermath of philosophical Gordian knots.