Five Poems by Greg Bell

 

O f f e r

i

n

g

!

 

The moon came to me last nighT

from her nest on the horizon

setting in the western sky

October harvest moon

waned to crescent

on  her  journey

to the hunter’s

blood moon

Possi

(         )

bility

rested

in  that

graceful arc

of a bow fully drawn

and shot clean through my heart

 

 

T’ai Chi Moon

 

tired & wired in Topanga

            I seek refuge from

                                    rageaholic egos

                                    down the mountain

                        in warring camps

                        erratic fires

 

and find a place on rocky ground

            unwinding in the probe of light

                                    pouring from the moon

                        I scoop moon milk

                        from her pendulous breast

 

and digging down

            groping round

                        and round in ribboned swirls

 

to dancing find the dragon’s

            tongue of flame

                        he curled & sleeping

            in the cave

 

weigh the one

            against the other

                        gather     pour     turn

 

blend the one

            with the other

                                    burning in the night

                        to weld in soft suffusion

                        the fire with the light

 

MoonSong

 

The sun is slowly sinkin’ down
to rest beneath the sea
Been workin’ very hard to light the day

Madwoman Moon is smilin’ now
so pale and secretly
her sacred secrets whisperin‘ the way

Ring around the moon
smiles inside the circle
spinning in the dappled velvet night

And deep darkness is the loom
weaving the mandala
reeling out the tapestry of light

We’ve wandered in where folly grins
under lunar spell
drunken monkeys dancin’ all around

We’ve stumbled out where wisdom shouts
for passions born in hell
to tear your walls and fences to the ground

Ring around the moon
smiles inside the circle
spinning in the dappled diamond night

Silver cobwebs in the loom
weaving the mandala
reeling in the tapestry of light

 

27 Astral Waves

 

I finger beads     at this party

as I caress your belly button

until in your secret mood

you show me your deepest turquoise

carved like finest Chinese jade

 

A child of Israel

carries out the necklace of the empress

to the Oohs and Aahhs of the gasping guests

and the pot shots of a random thirty-0-seven

brandished by the blind man

 

He motions to me in the pandemonium

I ascend the stairs and approach

no questions ‘cause no fear

no answers neither

as he hands the gun to me

and climbs back into the night

 

I wield the weapon as I descend

raise it to the gaping crowd

and face the center of the room

to explore this deadly     toy

the sights are caddy-corner

the trigger tends to stick

 

But I find my target   aim   shoot

the hammer flicks against my cheek

and superfluity of melted wax

shatters from the rim

as I light the white now glowing candle

 

 

The Key


Mother sews a collar for my keys

Works just fine

Used to always lose them



Father pulls up

in a pickup full of groceries

I offer to bring them in



and put the truck

in the garage

but I can’t find my keys



so I set out

down the street

to find the Keeper of the Key



over potholes man-hole deep

falling bricks and timbers from construction

rusty nails seeking out a consummation

in the flesh



rabid rats scurry everywhere

through the glowering hills and

despite warning cries of a murder

of crows



and a scarlet star that stabs my marrow

on I trudge through neon clash of clouds

up the footpath toward the Sufi’s

angry angel



while I worry about

the milk spoiling

back there in the pickup

 

Greg Bell - 

LOOKING for WILL: My Bardic Quest with Shakespeare @ Ion Drive Publishing

LOOKING for WILL -- on Amazon

LOOKING for WILL @ Better World Books

LOOKING for WILL -- at Bookshop.org