the mescal papers

Here are some poems written while under the influence of mescaline.


A desolate scene:

Man sits alone in his ramshackle
ruin of a home &
scribbles senseless hieroglyphs
onto modern day parchment

A sacred text
manufactured by Industry
w/ the pliant sounds of grief-stricken
voices shimmering
like cymbals & weathered
drum heads
tussling w/ each other
playful wrestling
soft collisions of percussive
guilt trips
pecking at his percolating brow

A lit cigarette (such a cliche)
whirling eddies of white smoke
twist & writhe & twitch
& ride their way
through the living space

The scene stays desolate
for quite some time


*/*


He stared at a photograph
centered in a technological frame

Images of romance entered his brain
She smiled back knowingly

An arch of the eyebrow
curved upward resembling
a parabola sent skyward

This picture seems alive & sentient
stark extreme black & white
eyes that can penetrate night
contrast against milky white


*/*


Follow a winding plank longer
than eagles' eyes can scan
a crooked concrete river
spanning a distance
briskly trod barefoot

Feeling no effects
anticipating the bloodstream reaction
tanning patiently in the afternoon
daylight
songs & sounds going round & round
ping-ponging
in the space between the eardrums
letting coarse symphonies
purge the toxins in my psyche

Nothing seems changed
It all feels the same
20 minutes have passed
& I want to feel no pain

I want to have no name


*/*


in our lifetime
we shall never experience
salvation or redemption
no wrongs righted
no passions ignited
emotions instead extinguished
before we slip inside our beds...

i hear the voice of god
this is his day-- sunday
the day of rest...
for me a routine involving
solemn reflection...

god if you are real
have i not suffered & earned
at least one chance to
get a mere glimpse of your face?
perhaps a slight brush of your
healing hand upon my furrowed brow?

what is it
about the mysteries
that i could not comprehend?
if they are revealed & then
destroy me, is it not my choice?

i could sign my rights away
on your dotted line in blood
and everything would be
taken care of

i would accept my fate
so please don't make me wait

DON'T MAKE ME WAIT

take me now
to the city in the clouds
invite me in to your holy house
the mansions are many
and i will hunger & thirst
no more...

lord deliver me
this instant
wipe clean the slate of my
deeply embedded hate
i cannot live anymore w/ this
weight around my neck