The entirety considered

 

June 4, 2012  (I was 67)

 

The entirety considered

quickly escapes thought

as a visual landscape diminishes

beyond the vanishing point

and the impossible immensity,

the dark spaces between

universal vibrations called things,

engulf the minute ripple of miniscule perception.

Nauseating realization reduces all beyond reduction,

line to word to syllable to chemistry of inspiration.

Carl Sagan could interpret stellar photographs

 

from this week of December, 2013  (I was 69)

 

Carl Sagan could interpret stellar photographs

By the color of celestial objects

he could determine or at least speculate

upon their chemical composition

understand by their quivering

whether anything was orbiting them

how many million light years away they were

or even if they were mere ghost emanations

whose dead light was reaching us eons after

it had actually expired  I suspect

he totally admired the paintings of Jackson Pollock

A tree branch irritates the roof

December 17, 2008  (I was 64)

A tree branch irritates the roof

Say it’s the wind

say it’s the cold

causes the sweep and creak

the welt and scar in the dark

Perforations of constellations

outline myths in the night

Beneath the western moon

radiates Jupiter’s throne

to sparkle the eye of Venus

It is the scrape of wind the breath of cold

decides the story to be told

Carl Sagan could interpret stellar photographs

from this week of December, 2013  (I was 69)

Carl Sagan could interpret stellar photographs

By the color of celestial objects

he could determine or at least speculate

upon their chemical composition

understand by their quivering

whether anything was orbiting them

how many million light years away they were

or even if they were mere ghost emanations

whose dead light was reaching us eons after

it had actually expired  I suspect

he totally admired the paintings of Jackson Pollock

The way we can take a dust ball

from this week in November, 2013  (I was 69)

The way we can take a dust ball

an entire microbic universe

and flush it into an alien existence

can we doubt the scope of cosmic disruption

that might instantaneously occur

Having some familiarity with Italo Calvino

I can’t help but think no one really knows

how long we can hide under the bed

I used to imagine all of creation

occupying the space above the brine

in some giant’s pickle jar residing

on a lower shelf of a dark cabinet

until someday when the unknowing giant

has a taste for another pickle

I think the results amount to the same thing

There are times the microcosm gets kicked in

from this week in October, 2006  (I was 61)

There are times the microcosm gets kicked in

and all is awash in blood light

Anxious dread that it’s too late

to correct a mistake of exposed weakness

Futility looms in the rapid patchwork attempt

to construct a temporary defense

that may not work at all

but may make time to think of something better

Then the persistent fury abates

as if the resolve of the invading force weakens

The dams hold with seams leaking

and we take our breaths in relative calm

to consider major repair to our small craft

knowing it will never be enough for all that’s out there

HALLOWEEN TRICK OR TREAT? 

johnkallio.com Go to AUDIO page,

Listen to my rendition of

Aquainted With The Night  by Robert Frost 

creation

March 26, 1998  (I was 53)

            creation

When no dog feels to bark

when phones are unanswered even by machine

when laughter is less than an echo

when the evangelical “Gees Us”

doesn’t do that anymore

when the silent internal voice

stops speaking

when the universe hums no wave

and nothing strives to call it music

when no tooth clicks upon another

no breath whistles

nor eye flutters

God may finally be

The most believable astronomical revelation

January 26,2008  (I was 63)

The most believable astronomical revelation

is the increasing distance between things

Every communication device we create

makes the separation more obvious

and proximity more dangerous

Truth is kept simple in idiomatic terms

There is fondness in our absent hearts

and discomfort in things too close

From afar we integrate shapes

into forms that are recognizable

while we deny adjacent congruencies

that might make us seem as one

So it is just a waiting game

July 23, 2008  (I was 63)

So it is just a waiting game

reduced to non-entity without a name

From the specific again to the general

the embodiment to the ephemeral

The building of nothing from the sublime

structure of now in the ever of time

The moon and howl not cause and effect

inflection and vowel not damned and elect

What can wait longest before it takes a turn

when the inevitable steers it astern

Edible red fruit reduced to seed

Was there a garden was there a need

All the possible myths of childhood

August 14, 2014 (I was 69)

All the possible myths of childhood

clicked off like light switches

in the light of day

I never believed in evil beasts

Evil had to be anthropomorphic to be real

Humans with super powers were fun

but on a fundamental level

never more than fictions

It’s the fiction that ruins Jesus

more admirable as man than son of God

God is an even bigger problem

whose existence must comprise the totality of is

perhaps inhabiting a dimension

to dwarf our own