Readers,  Welcome to an issue of Musea that is introducing a new type of poetry called "VISION" poetry.

 

WARNING: This is not 'Poetry 101'. This is advanced. Vision Poetry does not rhyme (most of the time), and it's not what you are used to. If for any reason, after reading two or three of these short poems, you don't 'GET IT'; please, fold up the zine , replace it on the stack where you found it, and slowly back away.

 

Now that we've gotten rid of the neophytes, let's continue.  Vision poems are part koan, part hallucination, part vision, slightly enlightening, and peppered with occasional  eureka moments. They are word pictures, dreams, fantasies, jokes, lightning strikes, and kafkaesque situations.  Read them with a sense of adventure. Then see if the startling images  - somewhat like what a painter might see in his mind before beginning his new work - suggests anything deeper or more profound.  Enjoy and let me hear what you think.

 

 

 

I had a nightmare

that I was trapped

in act two!

 

As twilight approaches

the sun dims

and the light in the upstairs window

comes on...

 

today

I passed

the garden

by

 

The eye chart had

made up letters!

 

X: How high can you count?

Y: Through the elevens.

 

I switched

to channel "X"

and I was

the TV

and they were

the watchers

 

I went ahead

and took the toothpaste

and added a year's worth

to my brush

 

I watched aghast

as she rinsed out

the  water bottle

 

Forest football

 

I had them build me

my dream house

and place it over

the river

I told them to add

extra bedrooms

for all the visiting

fishes

 

then and there

I heard and saw

lightning and thunder

all at once

 

the stone skipped

over the pond

and up, up

to the Moon.

 

I brought a telescope

to the star crossed lovers

"Look! Look!

I demonstrated

They did and "oohed"...

and shrugged their shoulders

and kissed farewell

forever and ever ...

Fate moved a bead

in another room.

 

I held the dictionary

and shook it up

all the letters

now out of order

 

what is this -

the snow is bouncing

 

the small snake

moved through the dust

writing a question

"Why can I write this?"

 

icicles

for walking sticks

 

wherever he went

the broomstick would follow

 

fog cloaks

building after building

 

blockhead

with a crown

of woodpeckers

 

in my copy

of the book

the words get up

and move about

 

Humptyy Dumpty

versus the Wall

Egg against Brick

a grudge match

Come one

come all

Now it's become

personal!

 

building a staircase

on a gust of wind

 

everywhere I go

the same pigeon

 

walls were made

of gates and doors

 

in the blue swamp

there's still black water

topped with white froth

in overlapping circles

 

wheat stalks bend

heavy with grain

monks in the temple

bowing down

 

without being told

the child knows enough

to look up ...

at the Moon.

 

and the forest was flooded

with overflow from the river

and each tree was topped

by a fidgeting squirrel

 

rain from the clouds

and above it

light from the Moon

 

too crowded in the Temple

brain waves bouncing against the walls

like a hive of robotic bees

at full speed ricocheting

Not an inch for contemplation

 

Blue Mountain has steps

that circle around

but never go up

and never come down

 

my heart

is not here

 

birds fly over

beyond them stars

 

Sun's a stone

Plop!

 

not all

Rothkos

 

hope torments

 

lightning and thunder

firefly and cricket

 

Lover's kiss

balloon heads

 

the way she walked

danced in my head

 

the path

leads me

 

Clock maker's heart

goes tick-tock

 

the giant used people

for clothespins on wash day

the job was boring

but outdoors and good pay.

 

butterfly lands

and there's a

slight spring

in the flower

 

Lost at night

in an antique mall

and suddenly a chair

begins to dance

 

One thousand matches

waiting for a spark

 

They put the genome of a tractor in a virus

It made a new model but some G's were flat

"Back to the drawing board," said all the engineers.

"And where are the spark plugs to run it? Where's that?"

Said the virus now tired and upset

 

Moon water

very rare

iced to perfection

then bottled here.

take a sip

tastes so fine

intoxicates

every time

Moon water

Crater Wine

 

on the last night here

she went through the gate

but left it ajar

with a glimpse beyond

 

r r r r

a a a a

i i i i

n n n n

 

Hawk dives

claws out

hits the lake

tears through the water

rises up

wake settles

curves around

wings extended

 

someone YELLED,

"If these walls could talk,"

and I in a maze

heard a deafening din

 

I stared at the painting

with my friend

She turned and said,

"They've hung it backwards!

the GOOD side of the work

is facing the wall!"

 

 

I saw out of the void

a Johnny Appleseed

tall as ten suns

walking through space

pulling from his sack

a single red apple

placing it with care

one to a planet

then moving on

never ending...

 

"This is where short

turns into tall,"

said the tour guide

as he held up his hand

 

little lantern

copies the Moon

Bright! Bright! Bright!

out too soon.

 

the raven rises

and disappears

the night noises

stop

 

daydreaming ...

a milky window

a light fog

a misty rain

 

Dr. Frankenstein

needed a friend

so he went to his lab

and built one.

 

my daydream

one cloud

 

Oops! Tom's in orbit

around Venus again!

 

I watch the Moon

the Moon watches me

we stare and stare

till I fall asleep

 

I bought a Zen compass.

Instead of a dial,

there was a wheel!

 

I pray that bread

tastes like cake

I pray to sleep

I pray to wake

 

my boat is small

the sea is wide

 

star gazing ...

mind goes numb

finger painting

on the Moon

 

he time travelled

from the Middle Ages

and was most impressed

by salt and oranges

 

I'm allergic

to spaghetti!

 

maybe a clown

in the circus,

maybe not

 

dark night with

storms lashing

and one lighthouse left

 

I saw all the world

wearing one overcoat

against the cold

 

In the middle of

an empty field

I looked up to see

10,000 white owls

circling as one

a halo over head

 

can one word hold all the stars?

 

a field of wishes

tucked into bottles

 

city without buildings

country without hills

 

I am running on ground

that is running the other way

 

Counting and counting

we came to a number

that was the last one.

We had to start over.

 

there was a drought

over all the land

they built a city

out of paper.

It rose enough

to scrape the sky

and flutter in the

twilight breezes

 

I took a picture frame

and hoisted it up

after a few minutes

the Moon left the sky

and entered the painting -

a masterpiece!

 

the psychic sighed

"Oh me oh my

I haven't slept

for the next two weeks!"

 

the Moon

went up the stairs

The Moon

went down the stairs

 

in Heaven

everyone rides a bike

the sound of their bells

can be deafening

 

He was one

who read so much

he learned Braille

to read in the dark

 

the stone cathedral

sways for an instant

 

ten miles of birds

flying over my head

Sing! Sing!

Ye choir of angels!

 

this tea

sweetens itself!

 

when there's more

books than words

 

this rose

has bloomed again!!!

 

and I saw an orbiting row of chairs

each with a poet sitting there

gazing with awe at his slice of the Moon

raised and ready, pen in hand

 

vacuuming a dust storm

 

that combine

has run amok

carving dogma

in the crops

 

this room so vast

inside was out

 

be like the ducks

when waves lift up,

rise into the air

on hidden wings

 

I am a messenger

with important information

but lost in a maze

and no one is waiting

Butterfly

floating on the wind

sliding over the blossoms

 

"Waiter,

my water is too diluted!"

 

whirlwind of leaves

practicing

 

the other

white noise

 

a faint trail

through the graveyard

 

up

with the lark

 

from her deathbed

she watches the dust

dancing in and out

of the light

 

late night in a hotel

watching the lamp post below

people walk into the light

go through it and out again

 

"What's that ribbon tied to

the handle of the tea kettle for?"

"It's the antennae."

 

lightning, lightning, lightning,

... but no thunder

 

trains in a row

all going west

a thousand tracks

all parallel

all packed with -

trains going west

 

clear dye

 

Don't float off the ground

It's soooo annoying!

 

"Wink, Wink, & Nod"

Attorneys at Law

 

When I push up

on THIS elevator

it starts to 'whoosh'

but never stops

after an hour

I look outside

and see only stars,

stars everywhere

 

I went in

the religious section

and came out

a different door.

 

jagged baton

conducting the thunder

 

what's at the end

of this long aisle?

 

a breeze tickles

my eyelashes

a whiff of mystery

is left in the air

 

I play badminton

with the Moon

holding a mirror

in my hand

 

"Explore the Mansion,"

said the butler.

"But beware the red room.

It contains the 'apple'.

 

Children -

Make way for the stars!!!!!

 

Typewriter look!

More poems!

 

 

 

 

__________________________

                                                                                                                                                                    

Musea is

Tom Hendricks

4000 Hawthorne #5

Dallas Texas 75219

tom-hendricks@att.net

 

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