Rob Kistner – Page 79 – Image & Verse

Solitaire

“A Dinner Table at Night” — by: John Singer Sargent

Solitaire

immersed in pleasured chatter
bursts of heightened laughter

in the ringing clank of crystal
of silver on fine china

crisp bustle of starched service
lush rustle of satin’d lace

aglow in silken’d candlelight
caressed by gentle strains

wafts of sweet Bordeaux
heady fragrance of cut orchids

midst soft din and dance of mirth
I gaze upon your empty face
and see there in your hollow eyes
our game is solitaire

~ ~ ~

Perception’s Window

artwork by Jack Vettriano

Perception’s Window

we are infinite beings
awaking slowly
from some infinite place

our coming to be
unknown to us as any mystery
our essence an enigma

learned in stories
in waiting relationships
gradually we open to our identity

awareness dawns
like the rising of a newborn sun
breaking on our window of perception

we feel its warmth
and flow effortlessly into timelessness
as though immortal

we see not over the horizon
for we see no horizon
but limitless eternity

we comprehend no end
immersed only in the now
given of our origin

it is therein exists the miracle of life
we are infinite beings in this moment
dreaming to sustain the moment

~ ~ ~

The Deep / Down Down

Deep

I sleep the sleep
of the peaceful deep
where pain is quelled
and secrets keep
where hands of time
no longer sweep
and sorrow sewn
no need to reap

fall quiet love
please do not weep
my lifelong climb
had grown too steep
my soul longed
to sleep this sleep
for I’m at peace
in this silent deep

______________________

Down Down

my peace
soul-felt profound
down down ever down
into the waiting silence
without so much a single sound

absorbed
my spirit drowned
without so much a ripple
into the mute eternal
that gently buffets all around

~ ~ ~

Dwellers

Dwellers

I feel you
living
breathing
thinking
deep within the confines
of my shadowy psyche

your presence is palpable
visceral

I am not alone
my emotions
obsessions
my impulses are not yet mine
exclusively

I
am not
we
are dwellers

and we are at odds
conflicted
torn between the heroic
and the horrific

dark evil urges
spawned in the blackest voids of my soul
at war with inclinations toward the sacred

a precarious balance
between the compulsion to ravage
and the wisdom to relish

between a mania to consume
and a desire to sustain

between murder
and mercy
madness
and clarity

the duality rages unchecked
struggles
against the constraints of convention
and the confusion of mindless chaos

stirring the unquenchable ache
to break the shackles of acquiescence
to rise above morality

longing for raw freedom
to unleash the beautiful beast within
the essence of natural self
to be Nietzsche’s begotten
attentive to impulse
guided by core instinct

but

I think
therefore I am

at odds
for life

0E2E32B1-D1EF-4441-9196-D17A09E4BF70

~ ~ ~

Footprints

~
a place within
closed away
away from scrutiny
from the world

angry at the wind
at the rain
at daylight

angry at your smile
at the sound of your voice

angry at it all

this now
is where I live
and how

still you come
the storm-tossed nights
like a vapor
void emotion

leaving false footprints
in my rutted dreams
puddled shallow promises

with an offered coat
of synthetic sympathy
edges rough as a rope
peeled back
hypocrisy exposed

shivering
I wrap it ’round me
seeking warmth
but it is not supple

ill-fitted
it does not hold my form
nor bring comfort

your footprints
mark my soul
but you do not remember
the bend of my arm

nor the linen
that slid
slippery underfoot
on the marble aisle
as we stalked love

nor the vain promise
it would be constant
as the wind
as the rain
as daylight

~ ~ ~

Elusivity

Elusivity

veiled in promise
they beckon me
seductively
the elusive dreams
upon my heart embossed

yet there is a storm
can rage within
to churn at times
my weary mind
focus turned and tossed

the way grows foggy
direction blurred
the path unclear
the purpose slurred
this journey can exhaust

to stay the course
I cast and chart
and reference often
in handmade note
but not every “t” gets crossed

so my life gets lived
in bits and pieces
scribbled on scraps
of random papers
so many soon so lost

in losing them
confusion rises
chaos threatens
hopes can scatter
my elusive dreams the cost

~ ~ ~

Transcend

Transcend

this week at sfmoma
fell captive
to the genius of mehretu

rolled close in my chair
soul-toppled into stadia
carried off by the brilliance

made the journey
took the trip
my soul expanded a bit

after
there was salad
on a table
graced by orchids
julie on my mind

~ ~ ~

Evening Prayer

Evening Prayer

sun sits low on the horizon
dusk slowly advances
the breath of night begins to stir
all the daydreams are gone to bed

I sit quiet
on my ole bench
soothed by the cool breeze
warmed by the memories
that huddle ’round me

from far into the past
they drift
forward through the years

they visit gently
one by one

memories of those
I’ve been well to know
those I’ve been blessed to love
those that have got beyond
a tender tear for every one

a sweetness fills the air
just a touch of soft regret

my heart is full
my spirit calm
I surrender
to fate’s embrace

would this evening never end
but soon
the lingering day
will bow its head
twilight too will fade

as the waxing night
blankets my repose
I fall still
and pray

pray
when soon carried away
it be in deep
peaceful sleep

~ ~ ~

Friendship

raise the carafe with care
pour forth freely
to drink deep
this wine of friendship

ripened well with time
aged to a vintage true
the seasons have been kind
to this nectar rare

let its heady fragrance
sweeten all your thoughts
and its bright taste
linger long and lush

may it lighten your burden
warm your heart
and lift your spirit
to a place of peace & beauty

~ ~ ~

Heart’s Feast

I am in love
with falling in love

it is the most fragile
most fleeting
human experience

reciprocated
it is sublime
beyond measure
or words

when it ends
we fall in love
with the memory
of falling

and the heart loves on
longingly
achingly
gloriously

~ ~ ~

Rivers of Tears

once lithe and vital
nature’s great rivers
lie choked and bloated

buried misshapen
in watery graves
of reckless progress

headstone’d
by constructs
of human folly

their bones
stained
with the ghosts of salmon

borne away
on the tears
of the ancients

~ ~ ~

…inspired by the ecological damage being done by the ill-conceived hydro-electric dams now choking many of the Pacific Northwest’s, and the earth’s mighty rivers, and the pollution we dump so recklessly into our critical and dwindling fresh water tributaries…

Spring’s Interlude

…two variations on a Clarian Sonnet…

Spring’s Interlude

may winds whisper, soon summer’s arrival
in time to insure humor’s survival

winter’s rains held firm and quite long this year
but stubborn skies at last begin to clear

the seasons bow for this brief interlude
as if to hail my brightened attitude

seeds push eager sprouts through warm fertile earth
as nature cycles to this time of birth

buds pop boldly forth through ripe ready limb
new waters push fresh streams beyond their brim

bird songs sparkle crisp through tall greening trees
fragrance of new bloom wafts soft stirring breeze

all ’round the hues and sound of boisterous spring
quiet and sweet, my heart begins to sing

~ ~ ~

…and this time in the rhythm of iambic…

Spring’s Interlude

the wind sighs soon fair summer will arrive
to guarantee my humor will survive

the rains of winter held on long this year
but now the sky above’s becoming clear

the seasons bow to greet this interlude
as if to hail my brightened attitude

new seeds push eager sprouts up through warm earth
as nature cycles to this time of birth

bold buds pop forth through ripe and ready limb
fresh waters push clear streams beyond their brim

the songs of birds lilt crisp through greening trees
the fragrance of new blooms wafts soft the breeze

all ’round the hues and sound of boisterous spring
as pure and sweet my heart begins to sing

~ ~ ~

Surfacing

…giving love another chance…

Surfacing

half full

your words resonate
and ring reverberant
in my melancholy

half empty
has always been my perspective

finding safety
in my hollow solitude
seeing the world
refracted through my sorrow

a shattered heart
can no longer break

there is nothing to lose
for one who is without

but were your love
to flood my isolation
to drown me in passion

I would gladly
risk it all again
to swim up
to the light
to the warmth

break the surface
buoyant with bliss
wet with desire

to reach
in the throes of ecstasy
to encircle your gentle face
in a lover’s trembling hands

to draw new life’s breath
from your tender lips
offered soft
and open in rescue
in a soul-kiss of rebirth

~ ~ ~

Unrequited

here
in the dream level
most like drowning
the id holds court

our darkest secrets
play out
in the false light
of veiled memory

recollections of fantasies
intersect our nightmares
drawing us
onto the plane of shadows

into the realm
of the almost familiar
where everything lives
at the edge of clarity

unmade promises
teeter precariously
on the tips
of rigor’d tongues

and hearts break
under weight
of unrequited
love

it is here
I lost
that which
I never found

you

~ ~ ~

Impaled

Impaled

passion
let it run fire red
red as the roofs of Paris
that conceal the carnal
intertwined
on a starless night

in the throes
of sweating conquest
ripe with release
coursing with hunger
for the tender flesh
of reckless youth

white hot
as a deflowered bride
burning with the lust
of an august first-night
impaled on the horn
of promise and desire

there will be no truth
in these minglings
only raw bleeding need
and the quenchless thirst
for bittersweet
forbidden nectar

when you hear the whispers
know that it was so
and so it will remain
in the electric loins
of the skin slaves
aflame under red roofs

1AA6CED2-A2E9-43F4-A907-4CA0F0F4FCD5

~ ~ ~

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30