diogenes the younger

someone tell
the young
man out looking for the thing
in itself how moses hurled
law, back of his head glowing
like a lantern, and diogenes
with all his searching for an honest man
what else is he saying but he can't
trust himself?

swallow your light and keep it down
you give up your hermit
ways and you get into accounting
and an honest life is just dealing
with the things
around you

someone tell
him the best thoughts will come when
finishing up the dishes that don't fit
in the dishwasher

and
the man has to understand power
is not measured in how often you plug
the crapper.
some basic things
are built with fairly low tolerances.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

what (10)we (9)discovered
is that the universe is just one thing
but the (8)extremely flexible
space-time
and powers of magnification


are astronomical


there is
one thing
not a joke, an interrogative
a very (7)earnest jest

the (6)answer unravels to cliche
in powers
of magnification


the sun rays skate across the lake
the slaked night waits
the universe is one thing
i will buy it for (5)you
when i run to the store
if you let me (4)have a little too


in the lunchroom
at 12:58
(3)infinity is the space between
the (2)second (1)hand jerk
in 4-5 wombs a baby's heart just kickstarted
some born to time
some between

Aphorisms

One must pay for joy
in the currency of forgiveness
though such coin
is scarcely ever rightly earned.

(Read that one again. See, it's tricky.)

There are some truths we hold
so we may know more,
and some we hold
so we may learn nothing.

tortured is the soul
which cannot keep a secret from itself;
noble is the soul
which does not try;
beautiful is the soul
for whom such secrets have ceased.


as an atom is filled with space,
so a moment is filled with eternity.

what holds together the universe
are stars whose light shines inward;
though it is earth's star 
which draws her life out of the dark