Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Near the Rainbow Bridge


Birds enjoy the last full rays of sun
Bathing on the riverside
Or hunting sustenance for little ones
Till the sun dips low in the skyline
Between high-risers
Over reflecting water
 and when the sun is out of sight
Bats fly from under the bridge
Swooping and scooping up gnats that hatched
As orange clouds are silhouetted
Daylight is forgotten
The evening wedded to a neon rainbow
As the last lonely egret on the wing
Head tucked into her neck
Flies to the nest in the tropical brush
For a night long quiet recuperation
And the dawn of tomorrow’s song

October 23, 2019
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Copyright © 2019 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved 

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Where After

Such a waste of nourishment
To cremate a body!
Yet why bury someone 
For maggots and worms to squirm in?
Why embalm them?
To look good at a funeral?
No other benefit from the leathery mannequin.
A good place to be put is
On a hillside in Tibet for wildlife to chew,
Or in a valley seeping in soil like compost
With consequences that keep on giving
When we reach the end of living.

Oct. 23, 2019
Copyright © 2019 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved 

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Monday, October 21, 2019

When the Balance of Love Teeters

When the balance of love teeters
Tips to one side with spirit intact
And physical world encumbrances
Dry, peel off, and flake away
Like cosmetics off a pretty face
Discrepancies balloon
One circle bulges as the other dwindle
With a horrible hiss of pin-pricked air 
And flies to destinations off limits
Landing in restaurants too spicy for taste
Where fidgety feet get busy 
Looking for holes in the wall 
Ready to exhume wire-cutters of escape
Until four eyes meet in irreversible love
On the outer limits of our twilight zone
Well beyond petty corporal desire
Like animals, fuss less, closer to nature 
Proceed unhindered into heaven
Koans unravel in greater truths
How heat stays warm when fire dies
And nothing can be furthered
Once mist has evaporated
Least we keep a front of distraction
Our spiritual coexistence
 No longer parasitic passion

October 20, 2019
Copyright © 2019 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved 

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Saturday, October 19, 2019

A Foreign Language Test

He who works so hard into a stupor
Falls asleep in a chair unknowingly exhausted
That slave to commitment is not me
As I glide from sensation to sensation
When my fidgety feet start a-tapping
Up from my seat to open another door
Attending my wake to witness more
Occurrences like from an oracle arise
Magically written the answers in foreign words
Of which I knew or guessed unsure
Is it I cannot hear clearly what is said?
Or is it the calling I do not listen
But results are revelations
Of how distracted I was or made to be
Here it comes again
Drum roll please
Onward experiences untold
Without motivation for a bank roll
To the drummer I differentiate
See what comes, no need to wait
In any case concentrate
Onward with passion
In an occupied fashion

 October 19, 2019
Copyright © 2019 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved 

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Thursday, October 10, 2019

In a Twilighted Taichung Sky

a migrating flock of white birds south
in nonchalant formation high
across a twilighted Taichung sky
as fruit bats do the loop-de-loo
hunting gnats at water view
over the swirling bended Han
flowing westward through the city
under a colored neon span
bridging the wash where the temple stands
annexing a new zone of projects
where one day may i pass
swallowing bugs with no mask 
or Thai massage my aching bone
in memory of a sun down low
magenta darkened seething clouds
on my knee with exile freedom
crackling chicharrones, an empty canteen
who can refill my dream?
who can hear my scream?
only the bats winging back to their nests
know the thrill of going home
after sunsets

 October 10, 2019
Copyright © 2019 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved 
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