… a song is but a little thing — and yet what joy it is to sing…
This is me in 1961. Lead singer of surf music band, the Triptides.
This is me in 1964. Lead singer of the R&B group, Brothers Royal.
This is me in 1967. Lead singer of hard rock group, Stone Fox.
Me in 1974, as punk persona Myles R. Gyles, doing insane rock&roll.
Me (standing) in 1980. Lead singer of jazz/rock band Qruze Quintet.
When life has lost its harmony
a simple song is where to start
sing — and laughter will light your day
a joyful chorus will lift your heart
if strife makes you feel you’re lost
a sweet melody will find your way
a joyful chorus will lift your heart
sing — and laughter will light your day
if you find your mind is full of worry
a tune will make the dark clouds part
sing — and laughter will light your day
a joyful chorus will lift your heart.
a cheerful whistle if you feel low
sadness flees when you sing and play
a joyful chorus will lift your heart
sing — and laughter will light your day
…this is a poem about the horror and ethical dilemma that is war, and the devastating impact it can have on the minds and hearts of soldiers sent into battle…
My eyes
crisp red
from the scalding sun
from devastation’s fires
from cruel visions
of relentless horror
my eyes take refuge
in this late evening dew
scented with munitions
settling like a shroud
wet
opaque
obscuring
I am sustained
by this damp cool pall
that descends upon me
wraps ‘round me
‘round my pain
my struggling countenance
fevered with fatigue
deafened by weapon’s roar
crippled with despair
driven
by faint memory of honor
of duty
of human dignity
I stumble
broken by this sin I shoulder
this perversion
not of my making
but of my charge
now my sin
conceived and unleashed
by soulless others
who would impose their brutish will
their twisted vision
their malignant agenda
of domination
those who would take it all
wear the conqueror’s crown
who would rule the world
a world now broken
corrupted by their distorted vision
spoiled by their vanity
a world in chaos
I have but this bloodied
ruin-riddled road
of descending twilight
mortal urgency
of dying dreams
crushed innocence
destruction
death
decay
this road
of my duplicity
of my guilt
my shame
and so I stumble on
mindlessly muttering
mea culpa
mea culpa
parce mihi deus
saturated
with this falling evening
with this drenching sorrow
exhausted
vaguely alert
nerves shattered as eggshells
numb to panic
hollow
empty
I stumble
into this coming night
I stumble
and the next night
and the night that follows
that always follows
captive on this road of murder
of mounting evil
of horrific violence
of brutal human arrogance
I stumble
prisoner
of this foresaken journey
These photos and poem, are of our former Oregon home grounds in the Cascade Mountain foothills. That is my wife Kathy standing under, and peering up into our 2 giant banana palms. This was our little eden for 25 years, from 1990.“
Drifting back in time
memory has settled at a cherished place
in my beloved former Oregon home
of 25 years
it is the large window
overlooking the amazing garden
that my wife Kathy meticulously created
through this window
remembered so vividly this day
I see the scurry of creatures
warmed by the Oregon summer
I hear nature
in splendid voice
the chuff
of a tree’d red squirrel
the song
chirp
and trill of birds
chickadee
goldfinch
western bluebird
a striking red-headed
yellow-winged
western tanager
and others
fly
flutter
and flit
in a flash of orange
a striking northern flicker
momentarily eschewing insects
is peck peck pecking
cracking black-oil sunflower seeds
that spill from our feeder
a red-tailed hawk
calls
kee-eeeee-arr
kee-eeeee-arr
from atop a Sitka spruce
swaying
in the crisp blue sky
the muffled belling of a deer
wandering the safety of old-growth
whispers
through the foothills
the distant bark
of a neighbor’s dog
echoing the basin
up along our stream
joined by scattered laughter
reminds me
we have friends nearby
good friends
my wife’s
gentle laughter
acknowledges the friendship
her tender smile
validates our love
the rustle of leaves
stirred by the breeze
wafting through the valley
smartly punctuated
by the staccato
of conifer cones
that fall
from time to time
wrested free by chickaree
and chipmunk
chattering high in Douglas fir
busy with their forage
I clearly recall the
wap wap wap
they bounce off our roof
striking the ground
closely followed
by the scamper
of their liberators
crunching their way
to the heart-meat of the cone
the delicacy
that elicits this furious industry
We are not “in charge” of earth — we must learn to be in balance…
or we will become the agents of the apocalypse!
As people live more and more “in the screens” of our myriad electronic devices, and less and less in the realtime, “face to face” world — we find it easier and easier to dismiss each other. Takes only a simple swipe or touch of those screens, or an on/off button. We are becoming more and more 2D “virtual”, and less and less 3D “real”. Even evolving 3D screen devices present a surreality. We are living more and more in a conjured world — in cities of our minds.
This ability to instantaneously dismiss, is a dangerous subconscious dehumanization, and in that, a subtle devaluation of each other, as flesh and blood. We have become more or less electronic entities we can have appear and disappear at whim and will. The onslaught of things to attract us and distract us, driven by internet, cable, and dish, via “24/7 streaming” of significant elements of our reality(s), create fewer and fewer “whole” things in which we are substantively grounded. This makes much of our daily “life” ethereal, temporary, avoidable, deletable, and superficial.
We are bombarded daily by unfounded supposition, opinions, dogmas, and blatant scripted lies; as well as immersive presentations of fantasy realities via movies, TV, grandiose advertisement, and video games. This occurs to such a degree that reality has become fluid — perceived truth has become relative. All of this leads further to dehumanization and devaluation of “real” human life.
We face an incredibly volatile situation, perfect for abandonment of a sense of responsibility for the real world, our earth in which we physically live — hence the acceleration of ecological disasters and burgeoning environmental collapse we are now witnessing. It also makes it much easier, through misinformation and subterfuge, for evil, exploitive agendas to take root. Agendas that can develop into very serious real world social exploitation — hence, the growing Trump nightmare, and its related trappings, as well as the other demagogs and dogmas that have begun sprouting forth in society. But wait, where are we now? These are tense, dangerous, and potentially explosive times in which we live. Ours has become an ever more fragile world.
truth has become smoke
reality’s now fluid
life is untethered
when we begin to believe
we have risen to favor
and privilege
above the humble
bloody afterbirth
of our origin
when in our reflection
we see perverse transcendence
towards entitlement
in which no allegiance
or kinship to nature
binds us to our center
when our insanity
of magnified human arrogance
so distorts our vision
of the sacred ancient balance
so twists our vision
of our place in
or our inherent responsibility
to protect
the bone-broken reality
of the natural order
when we blatantly begin
to eat our own
while copulating
with false gods
on forsaken gilded altars
of rampant greed
and planetary neglect
celebrating utter disregard
for the sanctity of life
all life
then the hour of extinction
is certainly at hand
and we’ve all become
the hulking mass
of the apocalypse
deserving to be struck down
by the self-inflicted rapier
of raw wild justice
yes we do
yes we definitely do
but wait
before that
I want to be a rocketman
I want to explore the universe
soar off into outer space
way up with the stars and planets
far from this slowly dying place
until then — let’s take a leisure drive
stick our heads out of the windows
wow – those beautiful butterflies
think they know which way the wind blows
we are rollin’ rollin’ rollin’
not certain where we’re goin’
I lost my pearly guitar pic
it’s been missin’ now for hours
I found my favorite baseball mitt
in a field full of wild flowers
but wait, acres of virgin rain forest
more than 200,000 everyday
what d’fuck is it we’re thinkin’
cutting those vital trees away
we keep rollin’ rollin’ rollin’
no idea where we’re goin’
let’s put on a sunny face
let’s not appear that we are dour
let us just laugh off our guilt
while we boogie down for hours
but wait, 630,000 machine guns
are privately owned in the USA
that is a lotta gaw-damned firepower
on the loose here everyday
always rollin’ rollin’ rollin’
where the fuck we think we’re goin’
maybe just to clear my head
I’ll go ’n climb that water tower
wow — I can see a lot from here
like those school kids by the flowers
but wait, 229 school shootings
337 victims have sadly died
when you send your children off to schoolg
no guarantee they’ll come back alive
the horror’s rollin’ rollin’ rollin’
the solution is not known
hey — where’s that sunny funny face
maybe if we all join in a song
perhaps sing a song of make-believe
we can smile as we sing along
but wait, our planet’s becoming a garbage dump
ton n’a half of trash gets tossed away
by every man woman and child
each year in the US of A
we’re ‘bout to blow it blow it blow it
nearly no place left to throw it
oh sure — the world has begun to flood
the part that’s not — is burning
but hell — there ain’t no climate change
just ignore all that we’re learning
let’s just pretend that all is well
these g’damned masks are irritating
these stupid lockdowns are real hell but wait, global plague just keeps mutating
the bug is changin’ changin’ changin’
daily life keeps rearrangin’
let’s forget these world problems
most are probably spread by hacks
let’s drive through for some fast food
I’ll have a coupala’ Big Macs
but wait 14 million children
under the tender age of five
starve each day here on this planet
fighting hard to stay alive
but we keep glut’n glut’n glut’n
and we ain’t sharin’ nutt’n
man — this is hard to take
like everybody’s gone insane
sometimes I’d like to fly away
just escape all of this pain
oh shit — my hair is all messed up
guess it’s time to go back home
but time has proven to be relative
many friends and relatives are gone
people dyin’ dyin’ dyin’
those left behind just can’t stop cryin’
close that open window please
my apathy’s blowin’ away
interplanetary travel has begun
perhaps I will launch someday
maybe out there I can just forget
how truly badly we fucked up
even though we had the warning signs
we refused to drink the bitter cup
we pretended it was gonna be alright
that surely others would handle it but wait — we “were” the fuckin’ others
and we never cleaned up our shit
…my memories from years ago, living in the Ohio River Valley…
F inding it best to breathe more slowly in this August heat, I inhale haltingly. I can almost feel my nostrils singed by scalded air, nearly too hot and thick to breathe. The heat is suffocating. In my need for oxygen, I cautiously fill my lunges, baking them with each sustaining breath. This broiling oven is difficult to endure.
My skin weeps, ablaze in this inferno. I feel salted droplets baste my neck, trace their way irritatingly down my spine, to puddle in the small of my back, saturating the waistband of my running shorts. They collect in the hollow of my chest, hesitant in its fire breathing. Infuriatingly, they soak my shirt.
Annoying beads of sweat, bloom and seep, from beneath the smother of hair, now just a matted soak atop my head. They ooze their way, down the fevered slope of my forehead, into my eyes — and sting! Endeavoring to transform my beard into a salty bog, they cling bitter in my mustache, impossible not to taste.
Be damned you glaring sphere! You crackle in this steaming sky, bearing down rude and relentless, heartlessly imposing, sapping my energy. Nothing will be accomplished this day, my motivation is expired. Exhaustion permeates this humid midday. My thoughts feel sticky, my synapses overheated. Can I last until the quenching Autumn rain? Questions evaporate in this blistering August heat, desires vaporize, even dreams are scorched!
life rolls on slowly
simmering here in august
even my mind sweats
She walks to the sea by her home
as the bright golden sunshine shown
slips into the sea all alone
heart cold as stone — heart cold as stone
all alone with her fractured dreams
tears glistening in the sun’s beams
she’s been pushed beyond her extremes
no more she screams — no more she screams
so silently she swims away
on this beautiful summer day
she’s got nothing much left to say
she just can’t stay — she just can’t stay
she has cried and cried and denied
the horrible lies they implied
distraught — she slipped under the tide
said no goodbye – fragile she died
April 14th 2017, at 2:00 AM, while in Evergreen Hospital, Kirkland WA, recovering from heart surgery — my heart stopped beating. I was saved by the efforts of their Code Blue team. That morning, a pacemaker was implanted in my heart. I began this poem not long after that, and finally finished it for this prompt.
Now at 74, I am no longer young
and I’ve become a little angry
temper’s short — health is shot
and my heart beat stopped last night
fortunately — right place right time
in the hospital following surgery
fate’s given me another chance
guess I had better get it right
I’ve borrowed bought and sold
lived in lotsa’ shades of grey
I damn near leveraged my soul
just to play this fleeting game
I have not always been so kind
played a little fast and loose
spent so much time chasing fortune
too much time pursuing fame
I pray I’ll not end up an old man
gazing lonely out my window
trying hard just to remember
exactly how long it has rained
not sitting silent by the fire
deeply mired in consternation
wondering if all that I have lost
was worth what it was I gained
what I gained is more than gold
probably more than I deserve
I have been given a precious gift
the love of a daughter and two sons
the miracle of a gorgeous grandson
the warmth of a loving family
I have so many lives to cherish
my heart beats strong for every one
This is a pair of poems I offer for your consideration for today’s (July 22nd) OLN – Live. they deal with two my views of life on earth. Read one, or both, and comment, should you wish, under the one(s) you’ve read. I will be reading “The City” today.
