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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS I:
SUBURBAN WILDERNESS AT DUSK
Schulzendorf/Eichwalde, May 20th, 2007 - P#391
the local chapter of crows
meets by the meadow
at dusk
wryly
the deer graze
nearby
right on the meadow
shyly
it's been the garbage thrown into the forest
by unthinking varmints
attracting the crows
what keeps the deer near
is the pond
hidden
beyond all the garbage
there's tire tracks though
and an observation post
maybe I should reassess
wilderness
 May 20th, 2007
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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS II:
CATHARSIS
Eichwalde, September 7th, 2007 - P#401
well, now
let the literary critic speak
catharsis - a becoming clean,
a cleaning of the soul
of the body belonging
to the soul
a cleaning of the
body
dumping now all
which is holding us back
dumping
so that we're clean
that we're clear
(no, not that dumb-ass scient-illogy! -)
clear for a task
not clear from all senses
and sensibility
catharsis
something - an end
an end towards
an enabling end
a cleansing

the nest is clean
let her come
HER
there's always someone
now, all's making quite sense
all is where it is supposed to be
soon
I WANT TO SHOW YOU THE WORLD, MY DEAR
I WANT YOU TO SHOW ME THE WORLD, MY DEAR
now
catharsis
has finally
after long, long years
sent me an answer
to get rid of all the stuff
let it go
all that inhibits you
let it go
all that enrages you
let it go
all that denies your need:
the gin returns to the bottle
tomorrow, I need to be sober
she's coming
I'm picking her up
my life
intersecting with another
so truly:
and yes,
it is love
 December 27th, 2007
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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS III:
RELATIVITY
Eichwalde, December 14th, 2007 - P#402
everyone dying
is someone's relative
or friend
what a theory
of relativity
 December 27th, 2007
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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS IV:
AT PEACE
Eichwalde, December 14th, 2007 - P#403
how can you be
at peace with the world?
don't declare war
against life
 December 27th, 2007
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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS V:
YOU CAME TO ME
Eichwalde, February 28th, 2008 - P#404
you came to me
and I came to you
we were unattached
and just simply by the things we did
and just simply by the way we felt
we are now one
we're quite attached
and single particles, all lonely
on that day, that night of passion
became married, became one,
not through the act of preachers external
but through the truth
which had been
revealed
by ourselves:
so love, indeed, does conquer all
and rules be rules
but truth is truth
and it's of the heart
 February 28th / March 23rd, 2008
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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS VI:
I NEED A LOVING VOICE
Eichwalde, March 18th, 2008 - P#405
I need a loving voice
need to hear it
I need to hear a loving voice
to soothe me
to reinforce me
to reinforce my strength
and sense of life
within:
without, I'm lost
possibly
without the anchor thrown out towards
another being
in this world
of chaos
and death
some life, yes,
but seest you not:
all's teeming with life
yet life's span is limited
the one constancy here: is chaos
and loss
and death, all quite over
life is the thief
that comes throughout the night
the lord sweet Jesus is breaking in
as the only thing alive
into a world
either hovering between life and death
(neither dead, yet not alive?)
(and even in hovering, the trajectory's quite clear:)
the rest is silence
because the rest is death
and life
is brief
and may not last long
but as long as we have it
can conceitedly be calling it "ours"
why not
hold on
grasp
what needs to be grasped
(I know, some grasping might choke)
well, I feel choked already
and maybe a mutual choke
has still enough life within it:
if life does the choking
there might, in the end,
be
still life
I know, it can only be there
for a very brief moment
yet somehow, I see it
and somehow, I feel it:
everything here
is so dark and like a black hole sucking all down into death so eternal
and then
there's you
this little light of life, of love
won't I be crazy
NOT holding on to it?
won't I be crazy
not seeking love?
so the prize for love
might very well be
this craziness
so, bring it on
it's my friend already.
crazy in love
yes
there's only this one very kind
 March 18th/23rd, 2008
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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS VII:
LOST POEMS
Eichwalde, May 4th, 2008 - P#406
found some poems today
hidden away
in some notes
moments frozen in time
ideas
waiting
to be let out of their cage
hopefully
 May 4th, 2008
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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS VIII:
LEAPING LEAVES
Pennsylvania, March 14th, 2006 / Eichwalde, May 4th, 2008 - P#407
there was a leaf
crossing the road
up and down it ran
and side-ways
never knowing when
the journey
would be disrupted
or
when
if ever
completed
 March 14th, 2006 / May 4th, 2008
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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS IX:
MEDITATIONS ON THE ROAD
Pennsylvania, March 14th, 2006 / Eichwalde, May 4th, 2008 - P#408
like a snake
the road would wind
alongside ridges
valleys
and streams
sometimes crossing things
sometimes burrowing deep into the ground,
the mountain,
yet still
where does it end?
 March 14th, 2006 / May 4th, 2008
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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS X:
AUTO PERSONALITIES
Pennsylvania, March 14th, 2006 / Eichwalde, May 4th, 2008 - P#409
ain't it strange
how people are lost
inside the personality
of their automobile:
so quite distinctly
dehumanized:
and so you perceive
a mean exterior
or a funny one:
the face
or the rear end
of a car:
that's how you see people on the street
ain't it weird
sometimes
looking inside a car
and seeing a person
at the steering wheel?
 March 14th, 2006 / May 4th, 2008
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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS XI:
GOING WEST
Iowa, March 17th / Eichwalde, May 4th, 2008 - P#410
driving into the sunset
from Iowa to Omaha
through endless fields
on lands once Indian (some though still are)
riding into the sunset
means: going West
so I'm guessing
that's that
 March 17th, 2006 / May 4th, 2008
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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS XII:
JESUS ****S YOU
Missoula, March 20th, 2006 / Eichwalde, May 4th, 2008 - P#411
a sign
at a church in Missoula,
Montana:
"Jesus loves you
in spite of yourself"
what gracious,
all-accepting love
indeed
 March 20th, 2006 / May 4th, 2008
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Phil John:
MANAS - PERMUTATIONS XIII:
CARS IN THE RAIN
Tacoma, March 22nd, 2006 / Eichwalde, May 4th, 2008 - P#412
I was enjoying
the high-speed car wash
on I-5 South
from Seattle to Portland
the rain, my dear,
the rain...
 March 22nd, 2006 / May 4th, 2008
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