Facing

It's here:

The Tick.
The Draw
The Second.

Spinning 'round some old dial.
Reading off what was.
Will be.

On the edge.
The moment before -
The Push.

Striking like some cosmic bell.
Over and over.
12 times.

To the future.


K.J.K.  12/31/2015

Find Him In The Wind

Who do you speak of?

Where do you look?

To find him.

The one you saw and still didn’t see.

On the road.

In the wind.

Blowing like an answer

Just on the tip of your tongue.

In places you would never think to look:

Even across the table from you.

Breaking bread.

Then vanishing from your sight.

But still there.

Always still there.

Lighting your hearts afire.

With the word.

So you can go forth.

And start the telling.

So tell…

Kevin James Keyser - 11/14/2015

Perfect

Enough!
This is not real.
This is a lie perpetuated by the ad-men of fifth avenue.

The products they sell.
To "slim."
"Enhance."

Make you feel less ugly
Then you know you are.
Because you buy in to the lies.

Which are crafted by masters.
Seething out of all media.
Like a green, oozing, slime.

The more ugly you feel.
The more product they sell.
In the name of being "perfect".

Perfect.
Who knows what is perfect?
Do you?

Perhaps, just perhaps -
Perfect is what you already are.
But you don't believe it.

Because they are masters.
In making you believe the lie.
Drinking all the Kool-Aid you can get your hands on.

In the mirror you see "fat".
In the mirror you see "plain"
In the mirror you see their lies.

Not what the world sees.
Or those who would love you see.
If you would realize that you are already perfect.

K.J.K.  09-14-2015

Heart Wall

It's been years now.
So long that one questions memory.

Did that actually happen?
Was it a dream of something that never was?

Perhaps as memory fades we make up the better tale.
All too soon dismissing the real.

After all, there is no evidence.
It was lost by the hands of a mad man.

Torn up and thrown in the air.
Floating away like so many yellow, ruled butterfly's.

But it was real -
Wasn't it?

That and the message it carried.
Plying at a stubborn mind to remember.

Until something brakes.
The damn of emotion overflows.

And the memory is oh so very sweet.

K.J.K.  09/07/2015

Hemlock House

I'm in the house of hemlock thee you know me sweet.
I'm in the house of hemlock just aging, rotting meat.
I'm in the house of hemlock little do you know.
I'm in the house of hemlock drinking it all in before I go.

K.J.K.  08/12/2014

Breakaway

End Times 11

He paid a visit the day before now.
We talked over hot tea turning iced.

The state of affairs
The state of the State.

The red hot blood.
Turning blue.

What is the future?
What is to know?

How many years lay ahead -
Before it all catches up?

Before I leave you all?
To whatever devices you see fit?

Then exist only in memory.
And then not even there?

Is the world gone crazy?
Or is it just a local phenomena?

Pipe dreams?
Pikes Peak?

The cold rain of a Seattle morning?
The weirdness of Portland?

Never thought about this before.
The turning of the screw.

On this rack called my life.
Notch by notch.

One day something's going to snap.
Hey! Step on a crack, break yo Momma's back.

The Cold Man puts his frozen tea down.
Turns to walk out the door.

Turns back with a smile:
"The eviction papers will be ready whenever you are."

K.J.K. - 08/15/2015

What My Cat Taught Me About Love

Love me...

            Love me...

Stroke me...

            Stroke me...

Rub my ears...

            Oh, yeah, oh yeah!

Stroke me.

            Meow!!!!!!!!

Love me...

            Oh Yeah!

Love me..

            Oh Yeah!

Love me...

            Love me...

Grrrr! Hiss - Meow!

            Leave me alone now.....

K.J.K.              7-28-99

Spiral

Do you remember the names?
Precambrian, Cambrian, Silurian.
The end crunching of time.

Catching up too soon.
Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic.
Can't you feel the breath on your neck?

Like a warrior is in hot pursuit?
Bearing down towards our times:
Jurassic, Cretaceous, Palaeogene.

The storm is nearly here.
Neogene, Pliocene, Pleistocene .
Can the tide be reversed?

Or shall we continue to debate?
Pointing fingers until:
Holocene.

For what shall come after us?
To the destitute and silent oceans.
And poetry which will never be read again.


K.J.K.  07/05/2015

Love Endures

This is the universe.
Everything known and unknown to humankind.
From back in time to the far flung future.

The unending swirls of cosmic gas.
The birth, the death of stars.
The dark, the light.

Here there are many forces.
Gravity, magnetism, radiation.
Electrons spinning 'round, spinning 'round, spinning 'round each other's orbits.

And in all this universe, all creation.
They pale when compared to love.
What we feel. what we are.

'Cause love builds bridges
Love forges the way.
Love takes risks.

Love calls out to you.
Takes a hit on the head for you.
Protects you.

Love isn't easy, nor hard.
Love continues despite adversity.
Or the whims of Governments.

Love is here.
In the touch.
In the quiet beating of hearts.

In words said.
Vows taken.
Plans made together for the future.

Down a bumpy road.
With many pitfalls to come.
Many joys to share.

Together.
Because at the end as the beginning.
Love Endures.

K.J.K. - 3/28/2015

Dedication: For Denise and Terri Popish

The Cold Tide

I am the icicle.

Glistening in sunlight.

Knowing the point will soon melt away.

Water flowing back in to the Earth.

One day reaching Glendalough.

Where Saint Kevin once built a Church.

Eons ago.

Eons to be.

Water runs.

As do we.

K.J.K.  02/03/2015

Love On Its Own Terms

What would I tell my 16-year-old self?
If I could time travel back.
To that world of teenage angst?

One thing only.
The simplest thing.
The hardest thing.

The thing that no one ever sees.
The thing everyone knows.
But are afraid to admit.

Love isn't what you think it is.
Not some Disney movie.
Not, necessarily, happily ever after.

Love doesn't have to be hugs and kisses.
Passionate nights.
Although it can be.

Love is and is not -
What you think
For you know nothing for the something you know.

So, 16 year old self:
Stop worrying about it.
Just go out, have fun.

Embrace love whichever way it manifests.
Be happy:
Take love on its own terms.

K.J.K. - 01/18/2015

Justice

There is a scale.
Somewhere you only fear to look.

One side filled to the brim with shell casings.
The other overflowing with lifeless, bloody remains.

You are the smoke.
The eye tinctured maliciousness of hate.

Snake, Serpent.
Evil one of old.

Where you walk a shudder breaks the night.
A gasp but not of fear.

Of pure contempt.
As if the sum of mankind turns its collective backs on you.

Snake, Serpent.
You have a scale to attend to:

I do not judge you, although you will be judged.
I pity you.

All the hate you feel.
If it could be washed asunder.

That would be justice
Monsters given the harshest penalty of them all.

To finally feel what you have done.
To know it cannot be undone.

To regret.
For all eternity.

And wish it were not so.

K.J.K.  - 01/09/2015

"Je Suis Charlie"

Drummer

March if you would.

I prefer to walk.

Along gridlines and oil cloths.

Monuments to daybreak

Labyrinth places

Circular and all consuming.

"Tat Tat - Tat Tat Tat".

With a double four beat.

Pounding in the ears.

Life is a challenge.

A call to pickup sticks.

Still the drumming goes:

Where you dictate.

Hold dear.

And believe.

Fear not -

You are not the first to move to the beat of a different drummer.

And you won't be the last.

K.J.K.  01/01/2015