Thursday, 23 September 2021

Five Poems by Ben Douglass

 



BACKWARD THROUGH SPACETIME

 

In the long, long ago before there was spacetime…

In the closeness of the Here & Now,

Weaving through this rhyme-time-life called reality,

There exists a Word so pure, that

None can speak IT. A flow so sure, that

All souls seek IT. The Word is… Allah-HU!

All souls seek IT. This life-giving force,

No one can speak IT.

This primal eternal Word,

Weaving through this rhyme-time-life called reality,

Through the Hereness of Now,

Before spacetime was, IT IS! 

 

 

A SACRED BREEZE

 

A Sacred Breeze blows deep across

The edge of silent sleep and

Slips behind my mind.

    To what uncharted sea

        Do you carry me

            On this swirling ship?

“BEYOND ETERNITY,” whispers the Breeze,

      To unlimited Truth

      That lies unhidden

      To naked eyes

      To the Great Beyond

      That remains forbidden

      To clung-to lies.

Sacred Breeze that blows deep

Across these ancient ruins of time

And lifts these veils to see

      To what endless universe

      Do you carry me

      On this distant trip?

“BEYOND ETERNITY,” whispers the Breeze,

      Just be still and know I AM. 

 

 

SIDETRACKED

 

I fell through a crack in this world

On my way somewhere else,

And in the meantime

Forgot to climb back through.

 

Caught up in a spiral of spacetime

This place of pain and pleasure,

By some quirk of fate or fancy

Appears to be reality.

 

No distance too small

Nor infinity so great to measure,

I take it in at my leisure

As it swirls around me.

 

If by chance or design

I should ever find that crack again,

Without a doubt I would step back out

And free myself from this hideous coil. 

 

 

CHERRY BLOSSOM FALLS

 

A cherry blossom falls from the sky,

Floating downward, nearly lands

Ever so softly, kisses the ground.

A cherry tree grows there,

Green and sturdy, small buds reaching upward

To the sunlight, blossoms full in crimson array

Of velvet softness, amber sunsets,

Golden sunrises,

A cherry blossom falls from the sky. 

 

 

ECHOES IN THE VOID

 

The Poet’s eye is one that sees

Beyond the veil of the

Illusion of Life,

And reports back to humanity

What it has seen.

The Poet must be both mystic & pragmatist.

The Poet’s message should be ambiguous

And direct at the same time, like

The fragrance of a rose that lingers

Awhile. Though the rose is not seen,

It conjures up the image of a rose.

There should be no doubt what is meant

By the Poet’s words, and yet,

There should be an air of mystery,

As if some gemstone were still

Hidden within the lines.




Ben Douglass has been writing poems and short stories since his twenty-first birthday. The poems presented here are the result of his spiritual journey during the turbulent 1970’s. In 2014 he released a brief memoir, Confession of a Former Zombie. In 2017 he released his novella, This Ain’t the Waldorf Astoria, Honey! Most recently, in 2020, he released a collection of poetry about the Great Mojave Desert called, Beneath the Surface. The author currently lives with his partner, Ave Marie, five cats and two dogs, in the Concordia neighborhood of Northeast, Portland, Oregon. Mr. Douglass has held a wide variety of jobs during his life: tannery worker, health food store clerk, crisis line worker, social service worker, and most recently, grocery story worker. He is now retired.


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