VISIONS OF LIGHT

                 ISN'T THIS THE TIME
                 (for Charles Stonewall)


isn't this the time--right now!--when you
can no longer keep yourself from dancing
since every molecule's bursting with soul?

isn't this the time--right now!--when bliss
breaks out all over     and the nightmares
snaring you release their strangling clutch?

you leap up suddenly     both arms raised
splayed hands harvesting fistfuls of Light
thrum!  go your bones--they will not stop!

isn't this the time--right now!--the waking
when doubt disappears     when the faces
of flowers beam     swiveling to greet you?

O this is the time--right now!--that heaven
ignites a vision in your eyes    and you see
through every guise   the exaltation of love


                                  ***

                               Handfuls of Light

     Virtually all my drawings either inspire a poem or, as here, are inspired by one. In this way, two sides of my creative spirit--apparently the masculine and feminine--come together and dance as one.  Expressed through companion pieces, each then helps to illuminate the other, evoking together a larger visionary synthesis.

The City At Dusk

             THE CITY AT DUSK

visible from space    the city at dusk

scintillates    a capsized constellation

or it may be the galactic mother ship

arriving in splendor to gather us home

drugs    knifings    drive-by shootings

still plague    devour    but camouflaged

with enough distance even the worst

goes veiled in the bedazzle of miracle!

stark silhouettes braille against the sky

set aflame by sunset's guttering glow--

bare trees    the crisscrossed branches

stitching together twin firmaments

glyphs that spell  "as above so below"

arteries binding the city to the stars

                              ***

    In this instance, the drawing inspired the poem. There's a paradox here. So much crime and violence go down in our cities every day. Yet viewed from a distance, in the softening, luminous light of dusk, the city appears magical! I allude to both realities in my poem. But the drawing especially evokes the magical dimension. Here's an example of how companion pieces--poem and drawing--together can express a greater richness of meaning and experience.