Poem: "No Exit"

1
On the inside
looking out
no end in sight

no end of sight

2
God here
reporting for duty

God here
on the case

God here
using your eyes

to see
through

3
No other way
out

except to look
at it

with your eyes

4
Suppose you were
someone else

Suppose you were
the man you always wanted to be

Suppose you could be dead
in a painless instant

Suppose you could sleep
with Cleopatra or Bardot in their prime

Suppose you could turn shit
to gold

Whatever happens
nothing will be different

5
From the moment
you were born
you used light borrowed
from stars already dead a billion years.

From the moment
you were born
you were already living
in the afterlife.

6
Here is there
by being as far as
the eye can see

7
On a clear day
you can see forever.
On a cloudy day
you can see as far as
you need to.

8
You are so much like your father
the one with a capital 'F

9
Ways pursued
and ways abandoned
come to this full stop
of attention
paid
in panoramic full

10
Drinks are on the house.
The Milky Way
is crying rivers
of spilled milk
above the rooftops
this crystalline night.

11
No exit
from the theater
where you breathe
the fire that consumes it.

12
What's wrong with this picture?
Storm clouds so buxom
there can be no end of rain.
Yet the river does as asked
and stays away from your door.

13
You can't go home again

because

a) you never left.
b) your reasons for doing so aren't right.
c) it's an inappropriate question for a college admissions exam
d) it's none of your business.
e) it's the name of a novel by Thomas Wolfe


14
Mind is matter
and all the thoughts it is composed of.
No need to conquer
what you already own.

15
When asked how to find God,
Zen master Rinzai said,
"Looking for God
is like putting a head
on top of the one you already have."

"Do you mean
we should call off the search?"
a student inquired.
Rinzai answered,
"I would very much like to meet
the man you will call on to do that."

--David Federman, Ardmore, February 20, 2013