Tidbits of Paradise

Fields of laughter greet my eyes.
Gleams of rapture meet the skies.
Grasses bloom and shout to me,
"See how you were meant to be?
Peaceful, loving, wild and free,
Peaceful, loving, wild and free."

Sunrise pastels paint the clouds.

Night withdraws her velvet shrouds.
Song erupts from Mockingbird.
Pictures form from beauty heard.
Thoughts are best without a word.
Thoughts are best without a word.
 
In my mind the chorus forms,
Loosed from usual human norms,
Bursting out from blade to brow,
"Lord please tell me, tell me how,
Life was better then than now.
Life was better then than now."
 
Ó1993 Bob Mason


This one came from the files, brought to mind by listening to The Innocence Mission's rendition of "What a Wonderful World." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ah96-6aOng

The poem is inspired by that moment of beauty that we sometimes get in this world, the moment that fleetingly seems like nothing could ever surpass it nor ever could have.

I've Got the Blue

Oh baby!
      I’ve got the blue.

You heard it right,

No ‘s’ on this blue.
      ‘s’ for sad,
           ‘s’ for someday . . . please.

I’ve got THE blue,

       yes, THAT blue.

Brilliant, electric,

Never sucking

        but always adding light
                to the room,
                     to the view,
                             to you.

The blue shining up

       from Crater Lake's edge,

The blue that promises

       Your movie
             is about
                   to begin.

Oh yes baby,

      I’ve got
           that blue.

©2012 Bob Mason

Defining Consciousness

Memory engages the present,
Absorbing it into the future,
And says,
“There are others!”

©2012 Bob Mason

The God Particle

 

In my life,
     I’ve heard a lot of noise
about God.
     I’ve even made some.

How shocking

      that His closest competition
Wields no thunderbolts
      But possibly rides them
A particle that may exist.

Still, ignorant but hopeful devotees pay rapt attention

      As the high priests
           Of physics
Pore over the entrails
      Of freshly slaughtered protons
           Looking for Higgsian clues
To the existence of all things,
Including me.

©2012 Bob Mason

Grace

The truly great divide
Between
Input and outcome,
Past and future,
Record and status.

Broken, I stand.

Soiled, I gleam.
Dead, I live.

 ©2011 Bob Mason

Light of Life

Picture I made of the scene using 1995
technology. Notice the oil platform and
the constellation Orion.

(On Luminescent Plankton)
 
Shimmering aqua blue
Flits lightly across
The invisible turmoil,
Flashing evidence
Of pulsating pressure,
Conflicting currents,
Crescendoing chaos,
And the power of life
In the face of tumult.

©1995 Bob Mason








Driving south on 101 toward Ventura back in 1995, I was so pleased to see the moonlight reflecting off the ocean wave tops. Then I realized that the moon was not shining. I pulled right over, completely entranced by my first view of phosphorescent plankton.

I Forgot My Phone

I cannot explain the feeling
        of utter lostness
        --so cut off
        --so unreachable

        bereft of connection

                after connection
                        after connection.

I was as if stranded
        on the proverbial deserted isle,

all alone with nothing but

        brilliant sunshine,
                cooling breezes,
                        soft warm sand,

        and quietness,

        interrupted only by

                that slurping sound I make
                over juicy pineapples.

©2011 Bob Mason