the hound
by Roberto Lavidez
the thousand
mysterious
wet smells
of the night
illuminate
moments
in the last
million years
of human
evolution
the door
of time
is thrown
wide open
like the sun
was coming
out again
grazing
pastures
and fields
of grain
stretching to
the horizon
forces
irresistibly
drawn toward
one another
designed
to purify
men and
make them
start afresh
small dark
squiggles
in the
emptiness
dazzled
puzzled and
infuriated
at the
expense
of the
entrenched
global
hierarchy
actors for
social order
denigrate
the cultural
world of the
defeated
as some
prophets
of new
civilization
argue
some people
are more or
less equal
than others
just as
the hound
serving as
intermediary
between
hunter
and hares
explains his
subsequent
metamorphosis
or rather his
colossal effort
of coming to
terms with
oneself
©robertolavidez2014
conquering
one’s soul
by Roberto Lavidez
to conquer
one’s environment
to conquer
one’s own soul
there may
have been
something
more deeply
satisfying in
our desperate
clinging to life
the common
struggle of
mankind
made magical
by huge effort
of will and
energy
conceited
about the
madness
as about
the genius
smitten with
astonishment
of the heart
irrevocably
embarked on
the path of
struggle
constantly
warned of
the pangs of
conscience
skilled at
playing words
with other
men’s minds
words
the very
marrow of
our bones
flexible
tolerant
judicious
to a host
of lesser
beings
in every
difference of
opinion
we see
beginnings of
new anarchy
and chaos
words
flowing
inevitably
to universal
uncertainties
of sudden
change
to a destiny
unknown
tangibly present
in every fleeting
fraction of time
whatever has
been forgotten
lying dormant
in the darkness
of the
unconscious
suddenly flashes
into the mind
emerging as
a messenger
and confidant
of the gods
just unable
for many
reasons
or weakness
to practice
what one
preaches
evil winds
conquer
one's thinking
one's words
fat flies
falling
on one's
dung
©robertolavidez2014
there is
here
by Roberto Lavidez
time erases
all things
leaving an
immaterial
world of
appearances
shifting and
unstable
there is
here
no self
no god
no thingness
allowing
a machine
to run
that would
otherwise
buckle
and bind
trains of
subjective
symbols
slide over
each other
to create
a world
of meaning
and promises
of equality
prosperity
dignity
freedom
tolerance
restoring
a little
humanity
to this
shattered
world
before
vanishing
without
so much of
a goodbye
a surrealist
abbreviation
of history
adapting itself
to a collapse
into conditions
which must
resemble life
simultaneously
selfish and
unselfish
dionysian and
apollonian
rational and
irrational
intense
feelings
pouring out
in a flash
of words
fused and
detached
the integration
of the
fallen man
into the
godhead of
gnosticism
an excellent
opportunity
to transgress
prohibitions
to destroy
and deform
to not stand
listening for
something
that goes on
existing
perhaps in
someone else or
somewhere else
something
that wears
the mask
of a clown
or a fool
that does
not exist
it is not
possible
to explain
the state
of mind
it would
remain
the eternal
secret of
each of us
to keep and
maintain
quietude
in the
process
of healing
bearing
the burdens
of peace
©robertolavidez2014
the unknown
by Roberto Lavidez
the fears
and unknowns
of the
everyday world
lapsed into a
moribund state
we would lose
the things
we were
fighting for
we no longer
think that
the impetus
is coming
from our
own minds
the result of
our own
volition
it all seemed
a familiar
rehash
of the mix
of truths
half-truths and
outright lies
related not
to mirth
but to
an intense
and even
painful sense
of the absurd
clever at
calculating
stresses and
cubic content
with mountains
to cross
and the most
incredible
difficulties
to deal with
stirred up
agonies
too deep
to be assuaged
shocked by
the undermining
of the word
engaging in
the nonlinear
embracing
the hypothetical
entertaining
the conjecture
no matter
how strange
or unnecessary
they might seem
we go with the
fall of the moon
freed of our
rather sleazy
sense of
omnipotence
preserve an air
of inscrutable
silence
resisting
our desire
to form
narratives
doing justice
to the implicit
the imponderable
the unknown
©robertolavidez2014
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
