TO CROW MANUSCRIPTS
Freedom Cafe
Two
AM
It was just me and Tony, a couple of fools,
having a good time-
night time summer time, New York time,
us
-tripping
between the flowers and the Big Plan
heading for the Freedom Cafe.
Then there's Tony, jumping up on the bridge
rail
balancing
above the abyss.
Just another game
before we go
to play the
band.
His flesh is shining in the
soft bruised heat and
when he turns grinning, and loses footing,
His eyes give up a piece of light
to mine before
he leaps out of the ocean of his brain.
His shadow like a dark fish, floating
downward
past the neon sign, past the neuropathways
flashing " Freedom Cafe.
He is let go
Cut away
from the old man
He had been waiting
to become.
He sinks fast, time rewinding in the pit of
His belly.
Lowers himself into
some other realm,
where there is
no river
no sidewalk still holding the sun
no heartbeat in its warm cage
no sound no summer
no people passing by, laughing,
no garbage or city dogs sniffing the decay
No music from the Freedom Cafe.
I scream Tony Tony
flying like an angel
towards the waters
past the dumb dark pines
whose scaley cones are
blown out like
dead Christmas lights.
And he is a planet
careening between the dark and the light .
And I am a ghost on fire, screaming
Tony Tony as he falls
into the mud
beside the luminous stream.
Two AM
In her sleep, his woman
whimpers Tony
Tony
Falling
Deeper into the dream
Her sex aching like a swollen river
She turns away from him
forever
And into her old womb, the sleeping Mother
gathers back again the bones
of her broken son.
Buries him into her mud.
_____________________________________________
Heart
Holy little drum
Precious ventricles of truth
Radiant rainbow of ever
pounding meat
Teach me well your way
of knowing soul.
Speak of sorrow too,
of blood spent
and of love.
At the last beat of your drum
The ancestors will pause in that silence
And then wait.
_________________________________
I'm Leavin' as the Crow Flies
I'm leavin' as the crow flies
If only in my brain
Tired of my old lies
Just tryin to keep me sane.
Well the sun is hot
and the wind is cool
underneath my wings
And I wont feel alone
for leavin' home
as long as I can sing.
------------------------------
Singin' fly away old crow
You know somethin' I dont know.
Bring me back some shiny thing
An old beer can or a diamond ring
Something bright to make me sing
And liberate my soul.
( caw caw
old crow)
Zan
___________________________________
Women of Creation
In the beginning
out of the silence
we stepped down, carrying in our feet
the dances of the stars
hair aflame with a
thousand suns.
On the first day
in green stockings
I wade through the long wet grasses
of riverbottoms.
I gather
night dreams
into the moons reflected bowl
My black body makes
the earth move
the heart beat
the trees breathe. I leave colours
in my foot prints as I dance.
My golden feet unbound at last,
in dreams-
I am
the lunar moth
dance wild my hearts true name
around and round the flame.
I dance in leather feet
- dance in the way of women
- firm upon the earth
I leave my path
fresh, unbruised
for those that follow.
Mothers of Creation
Down through time
we have carried our dream- bowls
forever
filled with light.
____________________________________________________________
Sandpainter
A bright patch kneeling
on yellow sand
-the skys blue skirt flung across the day-
she paints with pieces of the desert
a religion of red, of blue and gold.
Shapes for praying,
Patterns to surprise passing crows.
Dignity of simple shapes repeated over time.
_____________________________________________________________________
23rd Psalm - a derivation
Come down, angels, Divinity
Let me drown in your alien seas
If drown I must, to be with thee.
Upon thy shores then broken tossed
to rest my green heart
Upon my Mothers earthen breast
Until the storms of this life pass
- become a distant hum,
And into your great AUM
broken come
and in your stilĺ waters
Am restored.
Down alleyways I've stumbled
where false lights glare
And men stare.
Anoint my body
Mother Divine
And lift me out of shame
And with Thy will
My strengthened spine, proud chin to thy
Compassionate Visage lift.
Then Brother Death
My old familiar friend
Can take my hand
And from this field of flowers
Down through that lonesome valley
My life end.
_____________________________________________________________
Poem to a Spirit Being Born into Flesh
Little Spirit
Do you remember when you first
came into this world
Through my dark bloody waters?
How long did you wait before you
stepped inside this shrieking living meat?
While we waited for you did you breathe with
the winds through the trees green lungs?
Was it you who, in a dream
sang for me your true name
While the world awakened into dawn?
We love you
And have been waiting for you
looking for news from Home.
