Audio

Original DDE™ art: “Doors of Morpheus” by: rob kistner © 12/9/25

 

—-<§>—-

tonight

the sky turns itself inside out

leaving only an appliqué moon

clinging to its dark cloth of night

 

a forgotten wind performs a backstitch

along the horizon—

sewing yesterday to tomorrow

so the day won’t spill out

 

gravity tilts—

the world leaning on a quiet bias

 

mountains stretching sideways

as if to capture memories

 

time folds inward

its edges seek binding—

a soft capture before they wander off

into the open wilderness of unmade things

 

deep beneath reality

a bobbin unwinds a silver thread—

the thread of unlimited possibilty

on the spool a heartbeat uses—

when it has misplaced its own

 

tonight—

four doors appear…

 

what we regret

what we cherish

what we wish for

what will be

 

each a trembling buttonhole

cut into the fabric of sleep—

inviting the dreamer to step through

 

shadows rise—

their long needles

darning the night

 

patching constellations

where stars have worn thin

 

desire positions the body

with the precision of a dart—

 

shaping air

 

shaping longing…

what we dare to desire

 

the dream loosens—

a wash of ease

moving through the seam

until everything drifts

 

a soft-faced guardian waits—

 

the facing of courage—

a lining stitched from old storms

and new breath

 

the earth turns on invisible teeth—

the feed dogs of creation

pulling all of us forward

whether we resist or not

 

slowly

night begins to gather

pleating silence into a single pulse

that enwraps us

 

edges blur—

a hem glows—

 

the bottom of reality

folding light in on itself

so it doesn’t quite yet

unravel into dawn

 

dreams brush the world

in the direction of its nap

 

smoothing the wildness

just enough to be touched

 

when it all comes apart

 

when the dream splits open—

a luminous seam ripper rises

the seam ripper of truth

delicately undoing the false

 

freeing what is true

 

making room

for another dream

to be patterned

 

for a wish to come true…

 

rob kistner © 12/9/25

Poetry at: dVerse

 

 

Original DDE™ art: “Memory Boxes” by: rob kistner © 12/7/25

—-<§>—-

memory shifts these days

loosening in small

unhurried ways

 

a thought drifts off mid-stride

circling wide

taking the long road

 

ahead momentarily

on the wrong road

 

fumbling in contradiction

mumbling in garbled diction

back toward my recognition

 

until at last

facts from fiction

 

many a memory box

no keys for their locks

 

I’ve learned patients

learned to take these gaps gently

 

like lost lyrics

of an old song

once known by heart

 

the melody does remain

rattling in my foggy brain

 

so I pause

wait

listen—

to pleasantly learn

the words

did quietly return

 

no pomp

no fanfare—

 

the thought

quite simply

is once again there

 

with a laugh in its pocket

 

other times

I hold only the outline

of a mystery feeling

soft as worn cotton

 

certain there is something

in this moment

l’ve forgotten—

but I don’t worry reeling

 

cause my friend…

life keeps moving through me

light and free

 

in the glow of morning

something stirs near

 

eschewing fear

I deflect to reflect

on the wonderful joy I feel

of simply being here

 

when suddenly

that same morning—

 

another memory falls

at my feet

 

unexpectedly

 

landing perfectly

without warning

 

surprising me

 

as if it had never

wandered off at all

 

I greet each lapse kindly

knowing—

it’s part of my way

of being alive…

trusting my heart’s

deeper archive—

 

where nothing truly precious

goes missing

for too long—

 

except that damned song…

or why I came in here—

 

oh well…

if it’s meant to be

it will come back to me

 

if it don’t

worry — I won’t

certainly not yet

 

there is more than enough

in my addled mind

to forget

 

rob kistner © 12/7/25

Poetry at: dVerse

 

 
Socially Sidetracked

~

At 72, I have grown up immersed in a climate of blatant prejudices, and the related verbal slurs. I have also been exposed first hand to the social movements that have arisen to strike out against the prejudices harbored against race, gender, sexual preference, ethnicity, physical disability, age, and others. While not personally engaged in these movements, I have always felt they were just.

However, I have learned that in addition, I’ve also been “unconsciously” conditioned not to recognize the more subtle prejudices that now have a social light shined upon them. I am not knowingly prejudice because I feel no animosity toward these groups I mentioned. I grew up with, and still have “black” friends, “gay” fellow band members, and a “ Chinese woman” doctor. These are people I value as part of my life. I ‘think’ benignly at times with these adjectives in association with them, never voicing such. There’s no thought or intent of it being a form of prejudice. It is simply what I understand I see when I look.

I know the terms that I consider derogatory descriptors, find them highly objectionable, and don’t use them, out of respect and decency. But in recent years, exposed to the PC environment, these terms are now prejudicial. It is a very confusing time for this old man. Difficult to be learning that these terms are now considered to be provocative, that I’m apparently hopelessly preconditioned to be insensitive, even prejudiced. There are terms and acronyms today, related to sex and gender, completely unfamiliar to me.

As I said, this is confusing to this old man. I am trying to learn, but with my health and age essentially isolating me from daily social interaction for the past 8 years – it is hard to know what constitutes evolving PC thinking. Difficult to realize you’re out of step.

hard to discover
I’m a stranger in my world
socially sidetracked

~ ~ ~

rob kistner © 2019

 

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