Poem – “In the Infinite Moment”

Poem.  Mostly free thought.  This is mainly for myself, but…  well, enjoy :)

“In the Infinite Moment”

Curtain the future.
Eclipse your plans with nonsense.

Roll in the mud of life.
Make sticky love.

Run naked through the cold April rain.
I promise we’ll all notice.

Be like the bee.
Bumble through lazy days.

Sing at the top of your lungs.
Sing until your throat burns.

Be a narcissist.
If only before your mirror.

Dance like the firefly.
Shine brief, shine bright.

For today,
in this infinite moment,
you are all that you are
and everything everyone else
never will be.

Russ Legear – May 2008

“Walls”

Tonight I’m going to do something I’ve never done before.  I’m going to write a poem on my blog.  This poem is mostly free-thought; I have a habit of revising until what I’ve originally penned and what actually emerges are totally different things.  I don’t want to do that tonight.  Tonight I’m just going to be me: dark, depressing, and (mostly) unedited.

“Walls”

It somehow seems base that I
would put pen to paper on a topic so abused
as walls.
You’d think they would all be smashed by now,
little more than gravel on sun-starved earth
from the incessant didactic discourse
of every lame-ass poet before me.
But here they are towering in my mind, in my life, in
my soul.
Covered in thorned vines; dark, grey, lifeless,
the walls I put up of morter and clay,
bitter blood and failed fantasies.
And the walls of those close to me,
equally high and intimidating.
After a while I just stare and stare,
my fingernails cracked open, flesh red and raw from
stretching, scrabbling, clawing toward understanding.

In the end,
all I can see are two people, panting,
listening to the endless echoes of their screams
as they try to break free.  Hoping, dreaming
of the day when a torrid howl from the one
they care about will leak through the barrier…
even if but a hint of a whisper.

-Russ Legear, May 2008

Sunday at Starved Rock State Park

Yes my friends, spring is here.  Which means you should get off your butts, stop reading this blog, and go outside.

That’s exactly what I and my friend Aran did yesterday.  The park is just outside of Utica, Illinois, and about a two hour drive from where I live.  Believe me, Starved Rock was worth the four hours on the road.  I was a bit wary when we first got there since the parking lot was packed.  It almost felt like an amusement park, there were so many families and kids.  Especially at the park entrance.  Luckily, the herd thinned quite a bit as we trekked further east.

All together, Aran and I hiked about six miles along the river.  This isn’t sissy hiking, either; there are a lot of places where a stupid person can put to proof Darwin’s theories.

It felt really good to be there yesterday.  Parts of the park had an air of Tolkien about them.  A lot of magic and life.

I’m definitely going again this year.

-Russ

Of course I took pictures :)

View from Starved Rock

Bluff

A very Shire-like scene

The Diving Tree

Pool at the base of La Salle Canyon…

…and the waterfall feeding it.

It’s not the destination that matters…

PS:  Many heart-felt thanks to the radiant Mythezza for suggesting I go.  Good luck with your finals!