resting
on the knees
of the gods
by Roberto Lavidez
the silhouette
of a bent man
tilling the ground
the sign of the
irrevocable
decay
cut off from the
comprehension
of our
surroundings
each time
he lifted
his hoe
the frightened
birds
rose and flew
swiftly away
a weary
pilgrimage
amongst
hints for
nightmares
blundered
into a place
of cruel
mysteries
not fit for a
human being
to behold
mass of men
accustomed to
wretchedness
and humiliation
bogged down in
fruitless inertia
believing that
destiny rests
on the knees
of the gods
as their
oppressors
command them
to tear
treasure out
of the bowels
of the land
they stagnate
deplorably
in unbearable
poverty
imagine
the growing
regrets
the longing
to escape
the powerless
disgust
the surrender
the hate
but the more
they understand
the more
watchful
they become
the more
they come
to realize
something
altogether
monstrous
intolerable
to thought
and odious
to the soul
that notion
of being
captured
by the very
essence
of dreams
a tremor of
struggling
revolt
attacking
the heart
of domination
taking
the lead
with their
brains
and their
muscles
in the fight
for freedom
defying
fate
written
in the
capitalist
manifesto
by the
flabby
devil who
loses the
unbounded
power of
eloquence
until
he no longer
runs the show
ah!
but it is
something
to have
at least
a choice
of nightmares
©robertolavidez2014
all a search
by Roberto Lavidez
it’s easy
once you’ve
thought of it
how subtle
arrangements
apparently
innocent but
profoundly
suspicious
seem to
ameliorate
the deepening
crisis involving
human life
or personal
freedom
marching
the rhythm
of the drum
has its own
functioning
its own
knowledge
deciding its
own results
justifying
ruthless acts
suppressing
doubts and
scruples
not afraid of
pulling down
by shedding
blood
the system
incapable of
absorbing
the strains
brings out
its essential
correlations and
spontaneously
rejects the
incompatible
the notion of
an end
to be pursued
for its own sake
a pathological
condition for
which no one
in particular
was responsible
they are the
acts of cunning
endowed with
a power
of diffusion
not so much
of the greater
reason that
enters the habit
of the ceremonial
use of rules
the right
to existence
to survival
to subsistence
from a body
united by
common
sufferings
and common
interests
all that
we seem
able to gather
from history
under the gaze
of a permanent
corpus of
knowledge
comes from
a segmented
frozen space
ensconced in
the embellished
tower of
the castle
of imagination
an absurd
nostalgic
delusion
that gives
meaning
to the
insignificant
in an age
that is
all questioning
all questing
a tendency
towards
too much
exuberance
all yearning
all searching
for nothing
©robertolavidez2014
what are we
dealing with
here
by Roberto Lavidez
a dream
so sweet
waking up
was cruel
the curtain
came crashing
down
just at the
moment
when the
drama
seemed
to be
moving
toward
a peaceful
finale
suddenly
plunged
into an
unthinkable
grief
raw absence
sadness
madness
without
a full moon
a lone flower
popping up
from the
hard earth
of a winter
of despair
it smells
to high
heavens
sometimes
rakish story
belie any
hint of
stodginess
but there is
no dialogue
to exploit
the secrets
had been
stolen
most
underhanded
and unfair
everything is
in shambles
in coping
with such crisis
it stumbled
long before
it learned
to walk
destroyed
by jealous
conflicts
of interest
and now
we are
beginning
to wonder
who or what
we are really
dealing with
having a sort of
magpie attitude
to facts
killing slowly
by ceaseless
investigation
gossipy and
voyeuristic
until the
pendulum
swings
trying to
dislodge
the inherited
assumption of
a structure of
right and wrong
in the universe
or following
the path
to deadening
mediocrity
as one
responds
to the
conditions
one finds
oneself in
a common
idiocy of
our age
shimmering
like a mirage
the image of
a perfect society
©robertolavidez2014
press down
or lift up
by
Roberto Lavidez
all life
is caught
in a
crossfire
lives
bound up
with each
other
in many and
complex ways
the overwhelming
richness and
sadness of life
pressing down
or lifting up
on you
finding
meaning
that is
personally
authentic
by the
assembly
and synthesis
of the right
memories and
emotions
by rejecting
social hierarchies
and embracing
tolerance of
human
difference
or reflecting
the usual
fault lines of
what seemed
on the surface
a harmonious
celebration
of nature
experience
and the way
memory
interprets
the world
must be
more than
kaleidoscopic
sliding into
new meanings
and new worlds
as we cross
invisible
boundaries
before fading
into the dark
with all the
tradition of
human kindness
love and justice
and all the
constructions
of the human
imagination
a perpetual
flux of
balancing
the varied
principles
against
one another
because
none of
them is
absolute
like certain
wavelengths
of light
absorbed
and
reflected
through
a stained
glass
a buffer
between
the chaos
and the
deep
ordering
systems
of the world
of the mind
©robertolavidez2014
Vortex
by Roberto Lavidez
a fatal
formlessness
is immediately
perceptible
where nature’s
tendency to
gamble away
the lives
of men
comes in
trapped
in the confusion
and restlessness
which could not
be made
comprehensible
by the splendor
of coloring
humanity
is doomed
to a vortex
which sucked
man in
to his fate
desperately
searching
for the best
apologia
for his own
painting of
apocalyptic
visions
victims
sometimes
stumbled
sometimes
they also
fell
higgledy-
piggledy
into the pit
masses are
like heaps of
useless dust
and shards
of stone
swept away
by Rodin
at the end
of his day
cheers and
laughter
could be
heard from
spectators
sitting on
rooftops
watching
the show
what worries
Blake
was not the
collapse of
revolutionary
principles
but the
growing
realization
of the cruelty
and general
beastliness of
human beings
under the
impression
that they
were being
resettled
masses
kept on
coming
from the
city
to their
graves
as every
unsuspecting
group
had to be
worked out
afresh
we are made
far more
conscious
of the dramas
which they
portray
while the
executioner
whose hands
are perpetually
stained with
blood
played Mozart
in the evening
filled with a
tremendous
yearning
yearning for
a quiet
peace
and love
©robertolavidez2014
