Poetry from Paul Tristram

Detaching To Become Whole

There’s no (Magical) ‘Elixir’

… fix yourself,

with much patience.

Create compassion,

and eat your own fill first.

Recognise any unfairness

directed at you,

in a detached way,

whilst also realising

your part in the proceedings

… continuing to interact

with mean, selfish people

(I’m being polite here)

after discovering their truth,

is foolishly accepting 

a future ‘Energy Exchange’.

The best lessons 

are learnt through 

‘Trial and Error’

… accept yourself,

and acknowledge 

each tree ring of growth…

as you gradually become

a (Self-Sufficient) ‘Universe’. 

Reflections on Charred Landscape, 1960

I wasn’t cheating; I was lost all afternoon

in Lee Krasner’s ‘Umber Paintings’

… I’ve become a different person now.

I’ve witnessed friends 

taper ‘romance’ into ‘comedy’ eventually

… and I can’t quite forgive them for it.

I blame ‘Agape Love’

for turning glorious, burning sunsets

into ordinary things

… no God’s watching as we lose Glory.

Kafka’s nervous mental fidgeting

is more ‘Common’ than you’d imagine

… I see where your curious footsteps

are leading you… and I care too much

to watch your ‘Bright Colours’… Darken.

Yes, That Was Clever… But 14 Dominoes Along Is Where Things Get Sticky

Apparently, Alec Guinness enjoyed partaking

in teasing and gossiping…

I’d rather go straight for the throat! 

Your ‘Talking Tough’,

but behind the posturing

your essence (what little there is)

reeks of musty old man’s corduroy breeches.

Some ‘Dodgem Car’, while others ‘Ballet’

their way through the haphazard day…

both ‘Knife-Edge’ and ‘Country Walk’

are relevant and needed… to keen and slick

our continuous rotations

along and through the ridiculous ‘Circles’

that help us progress up to Levels 

which the comfortable never end up reaching.

More Hand-Me-Downs, Please

She explained, matter-of-factly

… read Jung and Nietzsche,

and all of those other 

heavy hitters, by all means.

But, hand in hand…

I would suggest listening

to ‘Old People’, last lap

and backwards looking.

Not about their successes

and achievements, loves

and travels, moments of pride.

No-no: their regrets, missed

chances, wrong turnings,

the times when they 

foolishly painted themselves 

into frustrating corners…

with doubt, hesitation,

nonchalance and arrogance.

Then, how they learned to live

… and carry on, filling once 

empty hands, and smiling again.

No-No… I’ve Got This

Becoming a Mountain to the Storm

takes TIME…

from leaf, to bough, to tree,

you must shake, bend, and bre/ak.

Keeping the furnace 

hidden yet aglow 

deep within your Heart…

adapt, and face the external World

exactly as it is, without blinkers on.

This will HURT…

your Soul will stretch upon the rack

of incomprehension, disgust,

and dismay… until it AGES.

The Transformation

must ROOT…

from within; no ‘masks’ will do…

your ‘Strength’ must grow

Independent of everything 

but your own ‘Logic’ and ‘Intuition’.

Until There Is No Breathing Room Outside Of Your Craft 

Massive, like Johanna Van Gogh-Bonger’s 

‘To-Do List’… Talent is a gift

but Master Artists are built

over an entire lifetime of slog and grind

… crawling through nightmares,

rejections, addiction, violence,

imprisonment, abandonment,

insanity, poverty, defeat, exile

and every other layer of hell imaginable…

just to grasp the fragile POWER

of being able to alchemise 

‘moth wing powder’… smudged…

along the decaying corpse-lips

of a long-dead ‘Love’… through

the sherbet-kisses of a new Summer

Romance… and out into the tight-walk

of an Autumnal Partnership… augmenting.

Wrong Poem For Adrenaline

Spiritual ‘Retributive Justice’ is not a sentence

… (Karma is running concurrently,

just as always)… but like Embarrassment,

it’s a momentary Punishment

meant to trigger an inner awareness…

that, besides certain behaviours

being wrong/criminal/abhorrent

… there are Internal ‘Consequences’ also.

‘Lingering’ is damaging and futile…

Ego has no place in ‘Lesson Learning’,

The Trial is over… and your character

can not only heal, but also grow…

from that unsettling and unpleasant experience.

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