B&W's from a secluded stream in Augusta, ME

Enter Utopia

I experience renewal
vicarious as it is
and purity enters
into my soul
I experience the exodus
the shifting of my focus
toward the bright lights
the love blooming
transcending the baseness
transforming into newness
I experience colors changing
blending, braiding
the drawn lines fading
away
away with the disconcertion
the moral desertion
I savor the experience
the blinding
enlightening
renewal that is
unknowing, though not accidental
healing, though not medicinal
breakaway, though not spiteful
I anticipate the experience
the awakening, rising up
down with our diseased hearts and minds
the end of it all now
Utopia will come
I experience renewal
I experience it piece by piece
every time I see the love
connecting dots from one to another
and the bright lights glow, rejoicing
Vicarious as it is, I experience the renewal

Gigas, or The Search For Second Chances

How to escape, I posed,
Amid manic conversations
With myself over nshima and ndwio.
Relics beseeched,
Skeleton meals without laughter,
And I could say
It was the African dust
That brought tears,
And add lies to the table.
So much better, the road,
To run and seek fables.
A land of second chances
Despite a bitter ice storm,
That encases the trees.
And when the sun rose
Over distant hills
The trees were set afire,
Crackling under the weighted wind,
A glimpse of ordinary,
Became transcendent,
And I missed my turn.
Now every road,
Leads to a judge.
Every building,
The home of a jury,
And the air here,
Thickens in my lungs.
Every breath as if underwater,
But I resurface to a voice,
Announcing a sign ahead,
Leading to the border,
Of second chance land.
When I round the corner,
I worry, will it be there?
And if not, will I continue?
Either way, should I care?
Should I care,
If this road is empty,
And I am alone.
I press harder on the gas,
Not for lack of care,
But only because,
Until I find that fabled land,
There will be no place,
To rest my head.