i'll know you better when ...

i'll know you better when ...

i'll know you better when
the summer comes
when the light is brighter
and all the world is not
cloaked in the grey shadow
of slow motion
that records time
in frozen moments and
lifeless lapses
aimlessly deferring the wonder
of every experience
like two unimpassioned lovers
blindly undulating
beneath woolen blankets
strangers to pleasure
who hastily seek the destination
and ignore the journey

i'll know you better when
the days linger long past
watching the sun melt
into a kaleidoscope of vapour
when the dawn
wakes the world
to a hopeful renewal
of the unexpected
and not to the sad repetition
of yesterday
which in turn
is so easily mistaken
for tomorrow

i'll know you better when
the rains have
come and gone
when wildflowers drown
prairie fields
with puddles of colour
intermingling
on a blank canvas
delicate waves of beauty
that with a simple turn
of your head
begin streaming
in excess
over the edge
to pool at your feet

i'll know you better when
i hear the songbirds
jazz up the solitude
of early mornings
with a sudden and
almost alarming
fusion of sound
when the undertones
of this mysterious cacophony
blends into a harmonics
that unlocks the windows
of my imagination
and my eyes catch a glimpse
of the world unfolding
with the same purpose and certainty
as the disappearing panels of a geisha's fan
a second sight that transcends
the immediate
and reaches far
beyond the cruel horizon

i'll know you better when
you turn to wearing sandals
over brightly painted toes
when you undress
into a threadbare flowery frock
that carves the outline
of your breasts
and reveals
in the brighter afternoons
the puff of down
that succeeds
in a single glance
to both hide and reveal
the yearning ensō
of your sex

i'll know you better when
your lips blossom
like the reddest rose
escaping the tight-fisted bud
of green uncertainty
to open and part
over my lips
when in the utter silence
that follows
i hear only the poetry of your body
whispering to me in love's language
and coaxing me with the rhythmic pulse and pause
of a singular heartbeat
to know the all and everything
that is you
until when
the summer ends
we turn like
yellow leaves falling
from the highest treetops
to drift apart and away
with the western wind
into barren
winter skies again

© Kennedy James. All rights reserved.

 

It's All So Simply Complicated ...

It's All So Simply Complicated ...

Some people always seem to be complicated. They live complicated lives, have complicated jobs, drive expensive and complicated cars, eat a complicated menu of foods, enjoy complicated sex, have complicated emotions, complicated moods, a complicated past, and complicated plans for the future. Everything about them is a mishmash of maybe this, maybe that ... a quandry of hypotheticals, unknown variables to consider, tangents, angles, contorted schematics, and obtuse dramatics. Every vision has a revision. Every problem creates another problem. Every thought needs rethinking.

You ask them a simple question, such as "How's it going?", and they reply, "It's complicated."

Other people live extremely simple lives. They have simple jobs, drive inexpensive and simple cars, eat simple foods, enjoy simple sex, have simple emotions without great mood swings, enjoy a simple past, and hope for an even simpler future. They don't change much from day to day, they are happiest when "now" is not hugely different from "before," and if there's an apple cart somewhere, they would prefer that no one upsets it and sends those apples rolling down the boulevard. They confront problems with a seemingly single, simple solution: "Everything happens for a reason." Of course, they don't give much thought to what that reason is or might be. That kind of speculation is far too complicated to pursue.

You ask them a complicated question, such as "Do you believe that God is watching over us?", and they answer with a simple, "Yes," because saying "No" opens the door to a discussion that they do not wish to have. "Yes" is simple. "No" is complicated. Above all else, these people follow the philosophy of "KISS" — "Keep It Simple Stupid!"

Now, most people live somewhere between "complicated" and "simple." Most of us would prefer to keep things simple but find that our interactions with other people tend to make life complicated.

As John Donne once wrote, "No man is an island entire of itself." We live in a world of connections. I am connected to you even as I write this, and you are connected to me even as you read this. That connection may be small, trivial even, but there it is. You don't get to say, "I have no connection to him." You do.

If you tend towards being a complicated person, you are already reading between the lines, trying to figure out if there is a hidden message or meaning to what I am writing, and in the worst case scenario, you are getting frustrated and possibly even sexually aroused.

OK, I'm not sure about the sexual arousal part, but what the heck, complicated people are always quick to be sexually aroused, so I just threw it in there.

If you tend towards being a simple soul, then all this will seem very obvious to you. You will simply say, "Yes, I am connected to him."

And there it is ...

Not only are we connected to one another, we actually care about connecting with other people. Whether complicated or simple in nature or somewhere in between, we want to cross the space between one another. It's all a bit like touching two live wires together, if only to see if there's a spark between us. We like a spark. It's what's expected.

Sadly, there is not always a spark. On occasion, one of the wires has no juice, no electricity, no pulse. You can still connect the wires together, but the lamp probably won't turn on. You'll still be sitting in the dark.

Connections do not always become what we hoped they would become. Sometimes, a connection turns into rejection which then quickly creates dejection.

Nobody likes to feel "dumped." Nobody likes the "blues." Nobody likes the "blahs" of unhappiness.

The trick is in how you react to missing the mark when trying to make a worthwhile connection with another human being. Complicated people try to figure it out, twist it this way, and turn it that way, always looking for a reason. Simple people just let it go. But, everyone feels the hurt. It's just a part of life, so fundamentally simple and so confusingly complicated at the same time.



© Kennedy James. All rights reserved.

 

i'm standing in the rain ...

i'm standing in the rain ...

i'm standing in the rain ...
i suppose
if i had an umbrella
i would not be wet
and possibly
more content
i suppose
if i had a yellow slicker
with a broad-brimmed
bucket hat to match
i would not be wet
and possibly
more content
i suppose
if i had knee-high gumboots
over thick wool socks
i would not be wet
and possibly
more content
but i have
no umbrella
no yellow slicker
with a broad-brimmed
bucket hat to match
no knee-high gumboots
over thick wool socks
and so
i suppose
i will have to consent
to getting wet
and be content with that

© Kennedy James. All rights reserved.