among the ruins

by Roberto Lavidez

contemplating

the incredible

edifice

rising out

of the bare

stony ground

grimacing

with anger and

vindictiveness

what has happened

to the cradle

of humanity

cannot be undone

fleeting moment

fades out

in the light

of eternity

there is nothing else

apart from the

inquisitive soul

a stranger to itself

it is not 

communicable

because it is not

intelligible

legend tries 

to explain

the inexplicable

to reconcile what

was irreconcilable

to impute significance

to the gibberish

reluctantly submitting

to a man’s importunate

and painful mastery

vascilating between

self-righteousness 

and remorse

it can only be made

from a vague

abundance of 

old stories and 

embroidered truth

by men in tuxedos

and women in furs

with stuffy air of

social superiority

that few people

dare to challenge

too timid

to break the

bonds of loyalty

to old ways

crawling into bed

with a groan

of blissful peace

against the glimmer

of the undying fire

a mixture of fear and

superstition billowing

against the backdrop

of submission 

centrally oriented 

to the heart

of the empire

they lay vanquished

as part of the

master’s cargo

their new life

blossoms

among the ruins

©robertolavidez2013

philosopher

prescribed

by Roberto Lavidez

with their

arms crossed

and their eyes

lowered

under the old

simple schema

of confinement

and enclosure

bodies prodded

and poked

inspected and

analyzed

weighed and

measured

like herd

animals

whose meaning

is reworked

through language

and historical ruse

attacked in

the most

contemptuous

manner

according to

meticulously

subordinated cogs

of a machine

the agonizing

hunger and thirst

the soul draining

exhaustion

denigrating myths

propagated by

colonial masters

do not require

rational justifications

or compelling

empirical evidence

supporting

conceptual fortress

surrounding

the slaughter

and exploitation

philosophers

served

the cause

gave those

tantalizing

uninterrupted

play of

calculated gazes

to popularize

the loathing

to reshape

the self-

consciousness

of the powerless

and start the

healing process

for wrongs of

the past

©robertolavidez2013

about those things

by Roberto Lavidez

intoxicating smells

of the flowers

through which

the necessities of 

life were passed

working of the

human mind and

the structure of

the universe

minding souls

undergoing 

purgation

enraged in the

most hateful way

about those things

weighed down by

conflicts of carnal

temptations

an utterance of

intelligent indignation

in spite of all

amorous adventures

with a vigor and

emphasis that

no one could excel

the fear of arousing

unconquerable

prejudices

how nasty and

damaging is war

superimposing

man on the world

from the heavens

to the abyss

unaware that a

new age

had dawned and

that the old age

had died

got it all

conventionalized

and everything

unpleasant hidden

in the fertile 

and pleasant 

surrounding

inadequately 

supported

by evidence

being tossed

by the winds

of man’s desire

a rather jaded view

of human nature

implicit in the

repertoire of the

nervous system

the fiery force

that once kindled

all sparks of life

©robertolavidez2013

calculable uncertainty

by Roberto Lavidez

a gap 

opens up

on a breeding

ground for

discontent

that the mind

can’t fill

exploring the

hidden world

supernatural

in nature

to extend

a story’s own

premises into a

hypothetical future

to imagine a life

without

beginning

or end

disorder and

disruption often

tend to be

the rule

any sense

of illusion

would clearly

be shattered

ability or inability

to comprehend

calculable

uncertainty

uncomfortably

near the

unblinking

light of day

mind led on

a psychedelic

journey of

surreal images

dealing with such

an artificially

contrived misery

subconscious

sucked into

dizzying array

of images

flickering across

muted pictures

small insects

weaving between

blades of grass

find scaffolds

unnecessary to

save the revolution

sense of destiny

is in the dignified

vigor of prose

around fires

glowing

in upturned

oil drums

a poetic climax

that drives

the argument

deep into

the memory

stammered

for words

that would

not come

©robertolavidez2013

vacuum fluctuations

by Roberto Lavidez

creatures 

cowered

in the corners

enduring their fate

the corrosive

spiritual 

deprivation

snatching away

what made life

tolerable

indifferent to the

supposed freedom

of human will

sending the

imagination on an

endless flight into

vacuum fluctuations

from the future

in some absurd

mixed state of

being both dead

and alive

inflicting a never-

healing wound

on a natural

evolution

toward greater

disorder

leaking out

into the

extra dimensions

involving a kind

of entanglement

across space

and time

shapelessness

and incoherence

somehow make it 

to the golden gates

of paradise

treated as ideals

by space-crazed

believers clapped

into an asylum

carrying forward

the drive toward

higher entropy

a last attempt

to regenerate

a senile world

aiming to find

the keys from

the heaps of rubble

of uncivilized times

that would unlock

all of life’s mysteries

while facing

martyrdom

of being judged

by  the most

intense evocation

of the destructive

impulses in mankind  

preaching havoc

against those

who had

compromised

themselves with

the symmetry

lying at the core

of an evolving

cosmos

©robertolavidez2013

the last refuge

by Roberto Lavidez

unending

monotonous strife

between existence

and essence

always haunted by 

the consciousness

of sin where desire 

and indolence

struggled against

each other

exasperated

beyond endurance

by the outcry

fixed against

the great mute sky

proclaiming 

absurdities

of freedom

involving the whole

of human servitude

painstakingly 

wrested from the 

head-hunting

society and 

its cultural

scar tissue

calculating on the  

invidious practices

and misfortune 

of others

setbacks resulting

from barbarian 

egotism

quietly witnessing

the perpetration

of cruelties

under patterns

of prejudice

and discrimination

of the past

the outbursts

of violence from

the perversion

of concepts

in political 

economy

the overlordship

and the silly

mysticism 

of property

if there ever was

a deep sense

of deliverance

it must be tinged

with melancholy

set against the

terrors of solitude

the ironic contrast

and the inexplicable 

silence

without taking 

advantage

of the calm

without certainty

of sustaining

consciousness

to the very end

an abstraction

comprehending itself

as abstraction

©robertolavidez2013

in the way

by Roberto Lavidez

difficulties

standing

in the way

after a period

of pragmatism

and cynicism

when social

movements are

at a relatively

low ebb

irrationality

imposed upon

the world

by the interests

of the ruling few

obviously against

the beauty

of being human

strangeness of

the grotesque

transgressing

boundaries

tension between

transcendental

and mundane

forced with

resultant fractures

and contradictions

destroying the

practice

of ancestor

veneration

what was

a mass grave

becomes a church

what was a church

becomes an

execution site

wheels come

full circle

new tribes

old ways

producing

a world at peace

lapsing into

anarchy

in the end

accelerating

decomposition

of social life

along with

networks

of solidarity

a visionary world

standing on

the shoulders

of the intoxicated

©robertolavidez2013