writing about

by Roberto Lavidez

it may come

with dramatic

suddenness

writing about

miscellaneous

sunsets of the past

seeing things

not as they are

but as they might be

explications become

a little tedious

or tendentious

thinking that

the whole thing

is damn nonsense

ripping the heart

out of the territory

earth without form

a city without soul

uncultivated because

it had been tilled

by no one

an atmosphere of

scarcity and

disappointed

expectations

existing in a

flawed world

like a man not

properly awake

©robertolavidez2014

heavenly domain

by Roberto Lavidez

there is

no end

to what

we can

learn about

the holocaust

such volumes

of misery and

wretchedness

it seemed

like a dream

from another

lifetime

in all

its willful

blindness

and grace

in all of our

cushioned

comfort

we cannot

imagine it

hate made

for cruelty

cruelty for

brutality

brutality

that keeps

our amazing

planet

spinning in

the black void

from the

dizzying sway

inflicted by

the materials

of our

remembrance

it may be

a long time

before such

inevitabilities

come to pass

a world of

no war

no sickness

no hunger

no pain

is a fantasy

of a heavenly

domain

the issue

must be

raised

the question

unblinkingly

asked:

where was

god during

the darkest

period of

history

we realize

that our

fate is in

our hands

that we have

no right

to remain

silent in the

face of

intolerance

so far

we have been

temperate

in our

response

perhaps

excessively

temperate

in times

of darkness

we still listen

to the silent

heavens

the untapped

potential of

our own minds

carry a vast

thesaurus of

contradictions

we make a

religion of

humanity’s

ability to

shape reality

remembering

only the

shock of

statistics and

soothing

the horror

that reside

in the

stories of

lives

destroyed

©robertolavidez2014

erotic purge

by Roberto Lavidez

the persecuted

had become

the persecutors

in the

agonizing

choices

with which

real life

so often

confronts

men and

judges alike

possessing

the modicum

of the logos

to distinguish

right

from wrong

and the just

from the unjust

the fruit of

a cruel and

inhumane but

consistent

logic

imagining

the conspiracy

to be

much more

widespread

than it

actually was

forced to deal

with tangled

affairs and

obdurate

human nature

soon shaded off

into abstention

from life itself

condemning

a whole

generation

without

their consent

and against

their will

purging them or

reducing them

in some

other way

to mask

and assail

the folly of the

uninstructed

captured

in battle

and made

a slave

trapped in  

a spiral of

increasing

sophistication

and complexity

possibly

democracy

is the most

beautiful

of polities

when the

slave’s lot

not being

able to speak

one’s mind

is to be

discerned

in the

heaven’s

and the

movement

of the stars

his politics

equated with

erotic dreams

inculcating in

a metaphysical

maze

a sense of

ineradicable

inferiority

©robertolavidez2014

ruled by dreams

by Roberto Lavidez

the widespread

sense of

awakening

to a new

consciousness

of freedom

in the face of

overwhelming

apparently

insurmountable

obstacles

and resistance

the capacity

to be open

to things and

let them be

divorced from

an empirically

informed

understanding

of the way

the world

works

where weighty

consequences

are at stake

situations of

life and death

extremes

all that is

titanic

potent and

massive

neither purely

transparent

nor completely

opaque

entering some

strange universe

of the shown

and the hidden

the unconcealed

and the

concealed

retaining

something

that will soon

be gone forever

the infinity of

what there is

to know

where absolutes

dissolved into

a profundity

of significant

pattern

and mysterious

purpose

in the depths

of all things

ruled by

the dreams

of despotism

a pervasive sense

of futility

of the human

condition

before the

incomprehensibility

of grave drama

an incineration

celebrates

perhaps

the nothing

of the all

that which

covers

the light

is destroyed

its destruction

without return

©robertolavidez2014

nothing has changed

by Roberto Lavidez

nothing has

changed

and yet

everything

is different

everywhere

there is

dust and

sand

everything

languishes

we forget

that the

future was

not yet there

everything

is deception

seeking the

minimum

of illusion

like the weird

image of the

fairy tale

which can

turn its eyes

at will and

behold itself

each one

knows that

the other

knows it

who by means

of his knowledge

plunges nature

into the abyss

inextricably

interlocked

somersaulting away

down the ages

weary of being

disgusted

with existence

owing the frightful

uncertainty of all

conditions of life

craves the

last breath

craves suffocation

the silencing

of will and desire

all you know of

is your own

misfortune

not a memory

without shadow

without escape

without shelter

then the remainder

of the thing in itself

then the residue

of the whole world

of appearances

and then even

the glimmer of

the undying fire

©robertolavidez2014

voice of the

unnameable

by Roberto Lavidez

voice of the

unnameable

a ghost 

of sorts

living within

the monster

and knowing

its entrails

exposed

with no world

to inhabit

inflicted by the

unimaginative

in a desperate

attempt to

resist the

cruel waves

of life

relying on the

incomprehensible

notion of the

infinitesimal

a man pursued

by himself

cannot break

free from 

the context 

in which

his thought

arises

exhibiting a

wide range

of moods

from wrathful

to sentimental

caught up

too far in a

gathering 

storm

of his own

making

the mess 

of feelings

that cliché 

can neither 

hide nor 

contain

he knew the

meanderings

of every river

the secrets of

every hill

the intrinsic

interest

of problems

concerning

his role 

in history

surrounded by

satellites

proselytes and

necromancers

the confused

and unpersuasive

fragments of

an ideology

by imitation

philosophers

longing for the

normal rhythm

of homo sapiens

upon this planet

in which poverty

ignorance and

violence will be

only prehistoric

memories

the dead chat

happily among

themselves

minds free

from disturbance

and bodies

free from pain

through dreams

they show

the contradiction

of living in a society

to which one

cannot be

reconciled

they fly

without moving

and tell truths

to deaf ears

©robertolavidez2014

between us

by Roberto Lavidez

a war is not

only between

us and them

but between

us and us

the answers

have been

kept closely

guarded

not least

the truth

about a

final mystery

everything else

arise from

all else

and all is

mirrored

in all else

the mind  

content

with forming

fantasies

could not

find its way

around the

bewildering

labyrinth of

rival claims

and alleged

exploits

tales of

obsession

tormented

egotism

existential

foreboding

mired in

insoluble

internal conflicts

complicated

as the quantum

world of the

atom itself

untrodden by

foot of man

wish-possibilities

lying in wait

would overstep

make the

fatal mistake

at any

given time

losing the

appearance

of absurdity

and incoherence

of dreams

a grim reminder

of the unwritten

law of expediency

all that remains

is your

personal word

sounding like

a distant

tambourine

announcing

its arrival

skirting

the depths

of dissonance

and the limits

of harmony

floating about

like punctuation

without

much else

in between but

a resignation

to the

inevitable

©robertolavidez2014

wrapped in

all sorts of

grotesque

ways

by Roberto Lavidez

walking

the birth

of other

men’s

memories

the birth

of history

or of many

histories

stepping into

explosive

situations

to fan

the flames

of disorder

given the

failure

of the utopias

of the world

the attribution

of a terrifying

power of

retribution

the applauding

crowds of

yesterday

have become

today

a cursing

abusive mob

puzzled by

what is not

obvious

or already

explained

within the

existing system

of ideas

the weakness

of our grip

on a world

of vanished

complexity

a chronic

situation

for a long time

transforming

to warp

to falsify

to move away

from the truth

bearing major

burden of guilt

for the turmoil

created

believing in the

ancient doctrine

of good and evil

as the twin

foundations

of existence

an inability

to imagine

serious

alternatives

as long as

appearances

were maintained

no one seemed

to ask questions

even in the

daydream

we are

speechless

everybody gladly

falls for

illusions

having dealt

close to death

or seeks

some belief

that gives

a sense

of reality

dark memories

would fade

into more

fanciful

recollections

of endurance

wrapped

in all sorts

of grotesque

ways

with little

or no sleep

pointing up

into space

a boundless 

arena

as it is below

so it is above

and there is

nothing more

to know

©robertolavidez2014