Richard Denner

Poised
     for Webster Hood

Why is there a Universe!
How did the Universe come into being!
Shouts of joy or fear or accusation.

Bumping my head against the wall
like La Motta in Raging Bull,
“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

Bertrand Russel’s frustration
when, as a child, he asked,
“What is matter?”

And the answer, “Nevermind.”
“What is mind?”
“It doesn’t matter.”

The Universe is big
and getting bigger, expanding fast
and ever faster—a basketball

crossing twenty-four time zones
on its way to the hoop.
Only there is no hoop.

No end to an expanding Universe.
I drift in infinite space
(or no space), an illusion

of myself in an obscure place,
a floating reflection,
nothing holding me up.

What’s nothing’s circumference!
Pi and light—
the defining functions.

A circumference of no-space expands
@ speed of light towards a critical radius.
The impalpable algebra of infinity.

This U
a sub-atomic structure
of a larger U.

No U, just dots on a time line,
or like a bulb on a timer
on/off.

Vacuum soup. Eternal Mind.
An egg, a holy word, a string.
Winos and zinos in stasis.

Black bodies, black holes, blue lights.
Anti-matter, negative space, and big bangs.
The quarks of love and strangeness

and the quirkiness of God.
No limits: multiple Universes.
Limits: a one night stand.

Singularity is the “instant”
the Universe appears, every region
squeezed into a single point

on an “axis” of time.
Poised.
A=πr²-1/Threshold/+1E=MC²

Empty: does not exist,
has never existed,
will never exist.

Empty: has potential to exist.
Primordial mind pool.
Heap of awareness.

What is truly empty!
Every minim has stuff—
even without mass, there’s spin.

Exists and not-exists at the same time.
Either/or, neither/nor, both and.
Nothing spinning—no word for this.

Given previously annihilated U,
then there’s potential
for a new U to come into existence.

Things are already out of hand
by the time the Prime Mover
produces/invents/creates the U.

Angels cruise by in a ‘00 Ford Escort
with automatic weapons on their laps.
I hear them peel out

on the corner of Hall & Piezzi,
laying down a streak of rubber
before their Dunlops dig in.

A mirror in the void.
A flight of photons
against the force of darkness.

Can’t see the bullets coming.
A bullet from the past
and one from the future.

A bullet on the chart
and one to the heart.
Spirit tries to reach me,

but it hits an event horizon
like a bug
on the windshield of a car.

 

This Morning

I'm sitting on a city bench
watching people passing
feeling lust as much for age
as for youth

The world
trembles and flows
grows younger by the minute
as it dies and vanishes

 

What is Mind?

Dad awakes, shaking—
says he’s embarrassed, he’s wet his bed
and doesn’t know what to do
so, here I am
bringing diapers to my main authority figure

He also wonders if there is a drive on
to change the color of the grass
I can buy into this
I wouldn’t be surprised

Friggin’ scary
even a bit moribund—
feel this way because I am still
indulging myself
and fear the weirdness of dying

 

Le Petit Soldier du Jean Luc Goddard

I have nothing
aside from
the shape of my face
and the sound of my voice
you will never know what I am thinking
or where my voice comes from
already all is silence

 

Carrying My Bones

rays of light coming out of me
as I walk down the street
I’m walking an inch above the pavement
skimming the surface
responding to the simplicity of rainbow body
as I mutate into a welcome mystery
ahead of me, temptations pile up

 

Samsara is an Airport Surrounding a Delayed Flight

I’m stretched out with my eyes closed
listening to the travelers and the intercom

“...want my money back...”
“...want to be in San Francisco, now...”
“...really no reason for this...”
“...is it a red color code, today?...”
“...is it really raining there?...”
“...will my luggage arrive?...”

“Will the pilots for flight 2807
please report to gate A6?”

“This is your final boarding opportunity!”

All this inside me

 

I Know Nothing

Silence before me and behind
preceding speech

What I am now saying is false

Everything smells of mock orange

I skipped today, went
around midnight into tomorrow