Red Riding Hood

There was a dark wood I was trapped in awhile back. The light was blocked by people who didn't believe in ambition. They were crabs who climbed trees just to keep another crab from moving higher. They blocked out the sun, but they also formed a canopy for ambitious creatures like myself.

I met a fellow traveler from that wood the other day. She was clothed in cocoa leaves and smelled like fear. We broke bread in a place without trees and spoke of higher powers, miracles and such.

When I led her back to the road, she did not give me her eyes. Later, she stated her courage was fluttering, as if I carried a strong wind. I know it was just the city, but allowed her to draw conclusions. It was as if the spirits were telling me to remove the woods in my soul.
Photo: Crossing an intersection at twilight taken with iPhone3Gs, Hipstamatic app (Chunky, Ina's 1935)

Egyptian Hell

You can really appreciate water in this place. Diamonds are traded for ice cubes here, silk for refreshment.

When a government demands resources like taxes, blood and loyalty, but can't provide food and water, shelter from cold and ignorance. That government should replaced.

When a government commits violence against it's own people, the most grievous violence of poverty, that government should be overthrown.

When clean water is sacrificed for profit, the culture has turned into cancer, eating it's own people to sustain itself.

When education leads to a degree of unemployment worst than the unskilled experience - it's a type of Hell. It's a part of the pit where your books torment you. Your knowledge harasses you.

It's hot in this place, not because of flames but because of embers. Frustration smolders in the mind stealing sleep. Feet pace. There is no comfort.

Here you can not see the sky. Well you can, but it doesn't recognize you. Believing you to an enemy, you get hot rain. Acid that doesn't nourish the soil. Cracks of dry earth appear across your brow. A forehead like a desert floor.

I'm sipping this holy water for my brothers and sisters in Hell. Where demons in police uniforms test your resolve. I sip this cool water and pray for change.

Photo: ice water, taken w/ iPhone 3GS, Hipstamatic app (Kaimal Mark II, Ina's 1935, Cadet Blue Gel)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Weekend Metaphor

It's quiet out here in space. You don't so much "hear" as much as "feel" and there's little going on out here emotionally.

Sitting on one of the rocks that make up Saturn's rings is.. different. Not awesome, but a crazy bright reflection from planetside and a lot of rocks and dust.

The rocks only get pretty far away, like some people in your life. Up close they have faults, prejudice, petty territorial squabbles. At a distance they have genius, personality and wonderful memories.

My rock perch is full of holes from small collisions; like my face in an Earth mirror. But far away I too become devine, a seamless part of the cosmic whole.

At a distance, with the ego as a point on the horizon, God's presence feels closer than at any religious service. You can see that you are a part of what primitives called Spirit.

So don't be afraid if you're drifting like a rock in space, remember you're part of a beautiful sky. All your holes and imperfections make up a ring. You are a Saturday floating around a Sunday. That's an amazing weekend.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

When We Were Kings

This is my first time in a time machine. "No it isn't." said the proprietor.

"But, it's very simple really, just put your money in the meter, select the time and place, hop in the vehicle and whoosh you'll be 'transported' to that era. How long you stay there depends on how much money you'll willing to spend. The scenes from your past appear on the windshield. And whatever you do, don't get out of the car."

I am alone today, my girlfriend... Who am I kidding, don't have a girlfriend. That's why I'm here. I want to see myself when I was on the prowl. I've allowed my work to dull my senses to the warmer sex. Been feeling off balance without some consistant female energy in my life.

One hour, I believe one hour of conversation got me into Melissa's sanctuary. I was pretty hot then, in my late 20's. Didn't spend a weekend alone unless I wanted to.

Ok, this is a rough guess, but my diary says I met her at this coffeehouse, at this time.. 100 credits for an hour.. In the car and here we go..!

Damn, I was slim back then. There she is, Melissa walking towards me, our eyes met then.. she turns away. Damn. That would have it for me if that happened today, but my past self seems intrigued by it. Ok, so I did go after her.

"Excuse me Miss, but you missed me. I was siting right there.." Ahhh, the shy type eh? I see I'm trying to get her to laugh, right there in the middle of the coffeehouse, a crowded coffeehouse.

Ok, my boldness gets rewarded. She agrees to let me buy her coffee. Hmm, a few more jokes, a compliment and the defenses start coming down.

Don't remember her touching me so early. Ok, I get her to come to the movies across the street. Some chick flick.

Aww, she crying on my shoulder. Oh Damn, no I didn't just look up and thank God...

Ok, I see now. Funny, don't even remember all the girls that turned me down. Guess winners do write history, even in our minds.

photo: taken with iPhone 3Gs Hipstamatic app (Jimmy, Alfred Infrared)

Secret Window

Found this haunted house where all the ghosts are on the outside. Ok, maybe that makes it a haunted yard, but inside the house is amazing.

It's warm in there, very pleasant colors. The walls are ornate, its quiet, sound seems to get lost down the hallways.

So, how did the ghosts get on the outside? Two enemies shared this house back when it was new. Over time their hatred led to both killing each other in the house.

Some years later, children of the two found love and married. They moved into the now long abandoned house. A priest came to bless the house and discovered the disquieted spirits. He asked the couple how to proceed.

The couple had ignored the slamming doors and chairs moving by themselves. They were fearless. Once it was determined who the ghosts were, they had them exorcised, but not completely, just to the yard.

The idea was if the malevolents could see their love through the windows. Perhaps they could learn to find peace.

After that night, no doors slammed, no chairs moved, but the roses were trashed, grass turned brown. Even as the couple approached their golden years, flowers still died in perfect sun and soil.

Within three months of each other, the couple carried their love to the Other Side. But the stubborn generation continued to fight over rose petals.

So that's why the house is so warm and peaceful, because it's haunted by love. And why nothing grows on the outside because its haunted by unforgiveness. Funny, to some people even a rose garden can be Hell.

photo: taken with iPhone 3Gs Hipstamatic app (John S, Alfred Infrared)

Zen for Critics

A train indecisive up a hill. I study her, she ignors, forward and upward. Stream whispers. I know it's just a dream.

In this hot kiss of summer, I sweat memories. Rewind buttons drip toward earth. My companion in this exercise, struggles against her own ingenuity. A little closer to a perfect angle. A little more naked before god.

Memory and whispers answer to no one, a free expression of mindlessness - zen for critics. When we lose ourselves in our labor, we be. We really just be.

I see the ass of the train, a beautiful way to imagine a brief companion. Whispers can't be seen now, must have stopped talking to herself. Convinced, of the rightness of her expression.

photo: taken w/ iPhone 3Gs Hipstamatic app (Helga Viking, Afred Infrared)

Agnostics

Everybody was looking up, when I got outside. A UFO crashing into the sun. No, more like an eclipse being caused by the craft. It was several city blocks wide, shiny and had apparatus hanging underneath.

As the vehicle covered Sol, our hearts faultered. All this time, we considered ourselves powerful, even superior. Well, this round disk just burst our bubble.

Slowly it moved, until we could'nt see our original god. We became agnostics; for what do you call a power greater than your Truth? Slowly it moves from theology to velocity, the ship sped off to some unknown star.

We breathe again. There were hundreds of us on the street that afternoon. All bonded; a family of strangers with a story no one would believe. The saucer was gone, but we could never go home again.

photo: curved awning of building facing street light - taken with iPhone 3GS & Hipstamatic app