Deer Park
I talked to my evil genius this morning - he said yours was on vacation -
That yellow Tantric sky and apple pies have long been obsolete -
So a sent a message by carrier pigeon down through the forest of my veins.
Mantras and mudras and erotic rites keep me awake in broad daylight.
Memories of times that never happened turn up like parrots on Russian Hill.
Tell me what you think you know and I’ll share my hallucinogenic fudge with you.
There’s a leak in the system in the biofeedback mode - take the past offline.
We must leave things exactly as they were - we were on our way out anyway.
You’d think you could say anything you wanted, wouldn’t you?
Sometimes it takes me two or three hours to get around to lying.
But personal history does not explain anything, does it?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2009 07:19PM by petersz.
Peter if all poems are experimental, then this one is more typical than most.
Les
Not whom, but what. Typical of experimentation.
Les
Les,
Oh. lol. I did know there was a 'type' for experimentation. I thought experimentation might be something that is always by nature 'atypical' behavior. But don't hold me to that because when I experiment by writing a Shakespearean sonnet or what I would call a haiku there is obviously a genre, kind, type I am aiming at with the 140 or 17 syllables with a specific lineal layout and rhyme scheme to boot with seasonal references and oblique reference, placement of caesura etc.
I'm blabbing.
amo,
Peter
It's also a town in Arizona.
also is a place the Buddha meditated.
I didn't know Buddha went to the Phoenix area to meditate.
Look how this one slid Les.
We all know that Arizona is an illusion, so how could anyone possibly meditate there? Our proof is that Barry Goldwater came from there.
Look how this one slid Les.
Peter, sometimes language doesn't say what it's supposed to.
My point about the "atypical" is that of your body of work this poem is farther from what I consider your signature style than anything I've read here lately.
Les
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2009 10:07AM by les712.
Oh Pete, I am not going to bite that one. HOWEVER, I'll take Arizona over the bay area 75 to 1. Proof, Barry Goldwater came from there.
Les, got you. Yes. Is what I meant to do... get to one of the other places my thoughts come from.
Cheers,
Peter
It's also a ski resort in Utah.
Seriously, the only times I've been to Utah and Arizona, I found them to be beautiful, mysterious places; places whose spiritual shape was intriguing and inviting, but places I knew I would get lost in. I have never been to Deer Park. the title was suggested by a mudra on one of the three Buddha icons I has on my computer desk. I visit other people's religions from the outside because I know that human behavior is shaped by politics, religion and sexuality at every moment, with one or the other of these ways of looking at behavior dominant at any one time, but all three present at all times. At least that is the way it seems to me. For myself, I find organized, institutional religion to be a distortion of my spirituality, and I won't compromise...which I think would be dishonest. It think most people could be good human beings without religion, but I find many who have never considered that. A small mind totally ignores other people''s sexuality or politics or religion all the time, we just don't have to have the same experiences of the world. I don't call myself an atheist, and I do call myself a mystic. But labels are just labels.
Anyway, I almost wish I had time to explore Utah more, but my worlds in San Francisco keep me exploring and discovery new people and new ways of being in the world every day.
Cheers to all.
Peter
p.s....I really do mean the last line of the poem:
'But personal history does not explain anything, does it?'
...which is why I write poetry and not memoirs.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2009 01:29PM by petersz.
I am currently in a small town in southwestern Utah. Of course being a countrified mormon, this is not a problem for me.
Pete, you would be welcomed in Utah, or Arizona to explore. You wouldn't explore many people, but there is a lot of land. I am about thirty miles from the entrance to Zion National Park, not far from Bryce Canyon, nor the Arches. Again, not much change in faces, but some spectacular landscape.
Didn't mean to pick on your title, the words were just there, and I have nothing to do.
tlj
Peter, you have a unique view of the world which makes you a fascinating character. Terry, I'll take Flagstaff, you can have Phoenix, Sedona, and the rest of the Grand Canyon state. I've never been to northeastern Utah, but for those who have never seen the salt flats, that phenomenon is worth the trip to Mormon country. San Francisco was once one of the most beautiful cities in America, until Bank of America built its monstosity downtown...it is still beautiful on a sunny day, which occurs 3 or 4 times a year.
Les
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2009 02:11PM by les712.
Today's a sunny day, Les. Merc, you can pick on my titles anytime you like. I also enjoy baiting you once in a while, see if I can get you out on a limb, it's an old inner city habit.
Cheers, all.
Peter
Today's a sunny day
Pete, few people outside the golden state realize that there are several different climate zones here. Southern California weather is much different from either the north coast, bay area, or central valleys.
Along the Entire coast and bay areas the best weather occurs from mid-September to mid-October. Elsewhere the best weather is in May.
Enjoy!
Les
I visit other people's religions from the outside because I know that human behavior is shaped by politics, religion and sexuality at every moment, with one or the other of these ways of looking at behavior dominant at any one time, but all three present at all times. At least that is the way it seems to me. For myself, I find organized, institutional religion to be a distortion of my spirituality, and I won't compromise...which I think would be dishonest.
Peter, I understand what you are saying here more clearly than you might be able to imagine. Sorry I can't comment on the poem, but wanted to comment anyway.
Mary
At times in the past when activities were being preformed which would probably, or intentionally put folks on the other side of the grass, religion seemed to dim in my perspective. Morality never did, but the ol' "Thou shalt not kill" was open to interpertation. Politics were always at the forefront, mine, theirs, someones, money was a serious consideration, seldom at those times did I ponder sexuality. Usually I tried to consider the good/evil of the outcome. Like a prison break on Madagascar, or an evacuation of Bolivia of all folks of the US passport packer club. Usually, when I busted an international border on a project, some people were real late for supper within a day or two. Never attacked a place called Deer Park in any language.
"Sometimes men just have to die" Gen. Marshall, when informed of the poor forgotten men at Battan.
In the residential neighborhood of Varanasi lies Sarnath, the site of the deer park where Gautama Buddha is said to have given his first sermon about the basic principles of Buddhism.
It's also a clothing optional resort in Cajon Pass, Ca