Collected Works

This book is being written, but you get to read parts of it here as I work on it. This helps me pre-market the book, and I also get your valuable comments and feedback. Thank you for understanding that this is a work in progress.

One strange day when you look back

Aug 5, 2012

I cannot know your hidden soul nor your slice of future time I see you, but for a moment, as you change before me Could I but reach that second, where you once were To know your unique truth, but alas you are gone. And so I chase after you and grasp at empty air Where you once stood I catch the shadow of your last step I will never catch you darling but will catch only a glimpse -- from time to time -- I am the past looking at you, and your eyes are to the future. When you look back, I see you, but you are a mystery to me I am a mystery to you too, a father, but a man you will hardly know Until one strange day when you look back, and see me-- as I see you now.

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Shout, Weep and Sing

Jun 21, 2012

Let us shout, weep and sing, for every dark and bright thing. Let us joy in the breath, for the minutes we have left. Such is life for the muse within, the dearth of art the cardinal sin. And so I scribble, wail and boom, my art my mark upon my tomb.

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A paradise for them...

Feb 18, 2012

Swallowing up the corpses An appetite of doom Many a meaty courses Made my gut a tomb I devoured moms and babies My hunger near a rage Down to Davy's Locker The bars of my ribcage My swollen putrid innards Filled with fish and foul And beastly guts and gizzards That rot within my bowls Grinning over my plate With a leg bone in my hand Like a grim reaper of fate To the creatures of the land Maybe there is a paradise For those creatures of misery Whose terrified pair-of-eyes Hauntingly, live-on in me

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I Found I AM

Feb 16, 2012

I looked under every rock. I looked in every flower. I looked between the seconds. I looked in every hour. I looked in every shadow. I looked at every Star. I looked in every meadow, At things that were, and are. I found every darkness, I found every glory. I found every choice, In every single story. I found I AM the difference, My thoughts are free to be. I found it isn’t what it seems-- I found, it’s only me.

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I Am Beyond Definition

Oct 11, 2011

I am not this man you see I am not even me I am not my traditions I am self seditious I am not my countrymen And I am not my kin I am something deeper Something far within I am beyond definition I know I am not a man I am the reaching soul of life The grasp beyond the hand I am ever changing I am every thing I am every simple hope I am every dream I am not this man you see I am not even me I am something wondrous And so I’ll simply be...

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Chemical Days and Nights

Sep 13, 2011

chemical days and nights prefab’s in the suburbs chemical vinyl siding over chemical walls glued little bits of trees chemical paint and carpet microwaved food and preservatives hormones and antibiotics dishwasher detergent residues chlorine, floride and shampoo artificial colors and smells ocean breeze air freshener a deep chemical breath lovers with chemistry chemical colored and cleaned sheets chemical perfume and romance chemical erection pills chemical birth control chemical lubricants and sex chemical vaccines for HPV chemical days and nights chemical living; a chemical life slow chemical reactions chemical consequences chemical chemo therapy chemical death and chemical embalming

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Birth of the Universe; Lover's Journey

Jan 22, 2011

In the fury and sweat; beating breath and blood, for a moment, they left all dimensions, to the void. And therein the cosmic heart of nothingness, they found again, a tender splinter of one soul united. Like a germ seed of creation; to explode from their chests, like a budding cosmic flower-- To become the universe once again, so they could be born, and find each other, for this moment...

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Letting the Sunshine In...

Jul 12, 2010

I want to rip the roofs off of all the buildings So you can look up and see the sun shinning And then knock down the remaining walls To create an endless garden, we all call home I want to lift my cup to catch the rainwater And drink from blue skies, with no rusty drains I want to bury my shoes, and hold a service, Where my feet meet the Earth, that received the corpses I want to pluck fruit to eat from the trees, As I consider them my friends, and their shade a gift I want a little dirt on my imperfect vegetables As I forget the cold institutions of death, called stores I want to hear the birds, wind, ocean and children's laughter Prevail over strange noises of TV, cars and synthesized music I want everyone to quit their jobs and throwaway all the money And give everyone a new occ...

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Beautiful Flower Let me Hold Thee

Nov 11, 2009

Beautiful flower. Let me hold thee, and inhale your fragrance. And touch your delicate petals. And praise, with gentle caress, the artistry of your being. Let us bathe in the warm cosmic light That flows through our openness To the infinite mind of the beloved, Where we shall live and love forever Let the great cosmic void take us Every atom and thought, washed away in waves That course and move upon us, and through us With rhythms of lovemaking, breathing and heartbeat For only then, will our love be fully expressed As we become a thought in the mind of God's delight A warm celebration of joy, from his own greatest creation, Love, returning to the source of the universal mind My beautiful angel, open all you have to me Come with me, and as me; and I with you, and as you. We are us, w...

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Sandcastles

Aug 11, 2009

Life wears you down each day, little by little Like sandcastles, grain by grain back to the sea, breath by breath Back to the soil, the blood recedes to the unknown, from the unknown Hands that create, and then wash away…

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Please! Please! Please! Please!

Oct 10, 2008

No more ugliness, cruelty or pain Sad victims, and broken hearts The ghastly horrors, left to reign Once whole people, torn to parts A new world exists for us all Free from the gross ravages of fear From deep within comes the call For those that choose to hear The real world is speaking to you, Calm yourself in quietness and listen As the illusion flees from your view And truth rushes back in your being The truth of what life is really about To be this human magnificence Free from the fear and poverty of doubt Is the beauty of a kinder existence We can live in love, respect and peace For all people, and all living things, Division is the most deadly disease The dark bell, from which all misery rings We are all one, and we are all worthy Of our brief, and fragile moment, To live in th...

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Digital Pheromones and Heart Packets

Mar 2, 2007

Cells, pixels, bits and bytes Digital pheromones Transmission image Bated breath hot flash IP packets into the heart Cybernetic eye catch Satellite glance Warm skin, cool LCD IP molecules, digital pheromones still make the heart race Fiber-optic transmission silicon, sand, glass and starlight Elemental touch the divine human Awaiting connection...

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Who Creates the Ghettos?

Dec 5, 2005

Who creates the ghettos? Who creates the farms? They that plow the meadows They that worship arms Swords into plowshares Let the steel transcend, The act begins by caring It’s the heart that bends

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Moments After

Dec 22, 2004

I have held a human soul As it flew right from my hands And I watched that warm red glow Chill, and then disband I have looked in knowing eyes That knew not any more Nor winked quaint goodbyes That twinkled just before I have felt a weakened breath That moved in shallow sighs That rattled upon death But spoke of no goodbyes I have held a hand in waiting Until minutes before the night Our clasp slowly abating Then gone just with the light There was nothing I could sense No mystical night surprise Just a profound silence Broken by sobs and cries

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What we truly know

Dec 12, 2004

We know of a few things Of beginnings, middles and ends Lifted heroes, fallen kings Changes like the winds Needs, hopes and distant dreams The suffering that makes us stronger Things that are, and things that seem And a life, we wish was longer Birth, death and a brief moment For mistakes guilt and regret Sins that need divine atonement Our wrongs to thus unset Many more; the things unknown Yet all can know the way For the path is clearly shown Through life and death each day

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I am the Lie, I am the Destroyer...

Sep 22, 2004

I have heard the rumors and whispering of discontentment I have seen the shaking, angry fists and pointing fingers I have felt the hot breath of heavy arguments raging I have tasted the bitterness of people divided by lies And… I know the joys that set the roots of longing in your past I feel the desperation in your pleas for promise and hope I sense the anxiety as you hold tightly onto the present I believe in your worthy longsuffering to shape the future For You’re the split bodies that bathed distant shores to bloody red You’re the American, born, baptized, and buried dressed in white You’re the desperate hands that hold the stars on waving fields of blue You’re the wish that your bright banner would never fade away Yet I will blow down your sacred edifices of long traditions I will...

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You will live them one more time

Apr 4, 2004

What shall be known of the days we’ve wasted The friends we’ve loved and those we’ve hated What will become of the laughter last Or those once known in lives long past What shall we do with the time we’ve wasted Or the gentle lips like wine once tasted What of our children alone when we die Or our bodies like fallen leaves that lie What will come of the mornings and the days Who will remember our purpose and ways What of our memories and what of the pain Who will know them as us the same It is you— that will live them one more time And you will taste those lips of wine You too will know the joys I knew, And sorrows’ longing, for life anew See More Poetry and Photography in Bryant's Book:Collected Works of Poetry, Photography and Art

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Consuming all til all is done

Feb 24, 2004

They love the greedy harlot’s hand They love the selfish gaping grin They love the murderous natural man They love the supple, silky skin They taste the baby, budding fruit They gulp the green-leafed tender bud They taste the sour, shadowed root They drink the darkest demon’s blood They consume the world, their own estate They do not love their children one Their own flesh, the thing they hate Consuming all ‘til all is done See More Poetry and Photography in Bryant's Book:Collected Works of Poetry, Photography and Art

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The Tree of Life

Oct 10, 2003

1 The tree of all life divides The limbs and branches bifurcate, Yearning growth shall not subside The will of life will not abate 2 With men and leaves the same Our family lines divide Through this freely flowing vein Life’s hope, the young derive 3 The branch from which you grow Will tell you who is kin, And all those we truly know, Are those we call our friends 4 This simple truth of bloodline fire, No greater gift is known, Than knowing why our hearts aspire, To forever cherish our own. 5 Like leaves we live and fall, On branches we all abound The graves that catch us all, Are scattered on the ground 6 We all return to soil, This fate for both is known For seeds are grown like souls, In death new life is sown 7 The ties that bind us taut, Man’s family tree of souls Are like lea...

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I am your infection

Jun 15, 2003

When Gregory was 20 his father died, leaving his enormous wealth and estate to his mother. Gregory had mental illness, and was a burden to his mother, who he believed was always ashamed of him. After his father's death, Gregory was sent to the street, penniless, and without any support or safety-net, where he lived out the rest of his life. I took this picture of him in 2003, and wrote and dedicated this poem to his life, in June of 2012. It writhes, and tides and turns the guilt-man burning burns he sits out in the sun baking cracks into muddy truth Can I simply be a human? is there room left in your world or do I disappear when you walk by, like my stink that swirls and fades Your nose and heart closed i am repugnant to you-- superficial cunt, perfumed and adorned, but ne...

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This Life

Apr 4, 2003

Love the lips, taste the wine Curves of hips, intertwined Up the hill, down the valley Children shrill, bodies tally Fickle fate, despot masters Hour’s late, great disasters Children sleeping, gentle faces Stars creeping, cross the spaces Love your daughters, love your sons For time’s waters, quickly run Wake the flies, stir the worms To dust that dies, to ash that burns

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You are my galaxy

Feb 2, 2002

You are my galaxy. Let me touch each star.

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Peacefully at Rest

Dec 22, 2001

I am not peacefully at rest, on a silk pillow, in my coffin A stitched smile on my face, beneath mortician's make-up An illusion of a gentle slumber, to ease the fear of those left. Every bloom, fragile seconds numbered, the final gift of death. Do not look away when I reach for you, or beg for a sweeter hereafter. I have no time for your sorrow, nor the lies I hear in your laughter.

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Surrender to the Kneading Sun

Jul 17, 2001

I stood out from the shadows The shadows cast of my own standing And let the humble Sun Flood my form with fiery light My rising blood and rhythm In the gentle sway of the hours My breath an extravagant ecstasy My pulse a sweet and mighty delight The Sun kneading and pressing Working deeper into my skin Asking for every willing opening Every dark place to brighten In the true garden of peace I feel hands preparing my unfolding To stretch and expose before the light A single point, like a final smiling wish To carry the exploding ash of my form Colorful and bright, like looking into the Sun

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Small Towns

Aug 15, 1997

Small towns, freckled frowns, far behind the times Drawl downs, heckle-hounds, childlike pervert minds They started young, and just for fun, they called each other names And now their tongue, though youth is done, embraces still these games Oh meet them today, and watch them smile, and say then fair-the-well Deceits underway, for all the while, they're talking you straight to hell Feverish whispers, judgments high, condemnations fly As little tweaks, by mental freaks, through connotations lie They're scared inside, that's why they lied, at themselves they mostly frown For deep inside, in fear they hide, themselves they thus then crown A crown of chatter, a crown of hate, a crown of jealousy and woe So know your friends, and say good things, and by talk you'll kno...

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The Vision of an Orphan

Mar 11, 1993

In the early dawn of the first Autumn day, In a small town-- Few to whom had known, Awoke a young orphan boy. As usual he made his way through the town, While silently his soul did sing, Through the thick of the woods-- to the edge of the lake, By the way of the winding spring. At the bank of the lake he sat quiet and still, That even the animals knew, Of his wisdom's taught, by nature's insight he wrought, And to all he lends wisdom hitherto. And over the years of seventy and nine, His shadow as one did twine, With the leaves and the trees-- by the sun's peaceful ease, To a wreath of the soul and the vine. He only spoke once that the town people heard, From a drifter of the lands of the free, So he said once he heard-- like a flittering bird, Chirping psalms of the gods begging pleas...

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