Maybe Down the Road

between placitas

and santa fe

sweet clouds fall

from the sky

flutter

land in

snow

maybe feeling sees me

beyond my senses

maybe it's just

algodones

my eyes wander

first in desolation

return only

with small treasures

pleasure of a smooth

stone bleached

bone

then maybe see

some odd dawn

of timeless light

unearthly arousal

surrender of

all kinds

then

lingering

stillness

is this child awakened

a late celebration

scarred heart

worried words

soaring song

maybe it’s the raven's tree

hidden in the pitch

darkened in the wind

trembling like an unsteady hand

drunken

with pen

jppestana 1.23.2017

Speak To Me

you speak to me in dream
the dream that speaks in deep
or restless sleep
in the now
or never
the howl
the whisper
the torrent
the drip
the look
the touch
the song
the silence
the sun
the cloud
the drought
the flood
the flame
the freeze
the stone
the flower
the father
the mother
the birth
the death
the tremor
the quake
the fear
the tears
the love
the loss
the winter
the winter

january 21, 2017

Old Friends

he shuns redemption

like an old friend unvisited

missed for ages

his sins
unwanted guests

choose to stay

stain his foolish soul
an endless confession

remain his unsaved

unrelinquishing
grace

old friends

of another

kind

jppestana january 19, 2017

Dark Charms

what world was born

your dark charms

are they locked away

in some guarded spot

the tower from which you see eternity

for what it can be

an instant burst

afterglow of teasing souls

I see a history of you

your casual torments

scribbled notes

on yellow wrinkled paper

and I wanderer

cower in your tempting shadows

afraid that I like cobra

will be kept in a woven basket

only see the sun

when your dark notes play

when coins dropped

by curious tourists

in a cup ring

ring in the trance

sway of my

hypnotic

dance

jppestana january 19, 2017

Caught

A low moon in blue snow

A passing car

Bright lights passing

Chasing snow

A moon unharmed

Caught in blue snow

jppestana january 12, 2017

Or

and my january land

is all tans rock and grass

interrupted by juniper

the sun does

the best it can

struggles above me

tries to break free

of its restraints

and the clouds

impossible to tell

if the mountain 

is cloud

or the cloud 

mountain

jppestana january 10, 2017

Dissolve

for a moment forget

the poets' timely rhymes

unreasoning seasons of love

after all what do they know

but their own rapture

I say no spring is needed

for these fleeting hearts to flower

no fresh rain to boldly cling

to the warmth of their

captured bodies

wet cotton

its in these cold

shaded whites

grays of winter

precarious clarity

of dripping ice

that spark

the easy dreamers

chasing blossoms

dissolving

to dreams

jppestana january 9, 2017

Elijah

I feel

there is more to this

than meets the eye elijah

we are going to rise again

from this low sofa lowly life

face the day together as one

chat up the chatty blackbirds

the reluctant crow

in this heat wilt of leaves

crowning flowers

on this crust of earth us

we will call down the thunder

roar of sky

strike fear in the hearts

of the helplessly heartless

be our pagan selves

dress as lions cunning and king

crazy saints praying up a storm

calling to the heavens

they are waiting for you elijah

if only until the sun is done with itself

until this safe harbor of stars

is safe no longer

jppestana january 9, 2016

Sandia

the brawn of a brown cottonwood 

brown field

a thousand geese 

crane

rise of a 

quaking 

dawn

jppestana january 8, 2017

The Blurring

from this high ground
by the dead tree etched skeletal
a gentle snow crowding clouds 
peacefulness of a tree blessed with dove
hung like dark ornaments
sentries to me
stands out against all things
a tree for a christmas hymn
still unwritten
conceived in wind
if only this blurring
swept with snow
could see what I see
see its echoes
its far away tears
the affection of a snowflake
on a warm cheek
if I stood here forever
beauty could never escape me
and the earth ever her muted
her dull colors open before me
this would be enough for me to ever see
just some plain colors
for a plain man
wanting
for
nothing
waning
in his
muted
elations

jppestana january 6, 2017

The Burn

the lavish burn

eats away at me

her lipstick ring

veiling smoke

inhale me

I am held in her lungs exhaled

her red like rubies red lips

glow like hellfire

move together sinuously

the piano is untuned broken keys

she sings the deadly sins with me

the player has left for the night

the music is his broken slave

still playing

strike of match

hiss of flame

she is a coiled snake

a flicking tongue

the music is in chains

the painful

melodies

play

out

he

is

van-

quished

put

out

cigarette

jppestana january 3, 2017