Starling Then & Now

the earth shudders
the starving cloud startles
screams over me
they the oak
shake the mast from every tree
dust from my only eye
devour the sun in their violence
then the earth
any hope remaining
for the survival
of
far
away
stars

jppestana
Devoured
12.24.2019

Before the Before

if you wish for me
I will call to you
carry my voice in my tired hands
from across the thoughtless setting sun

these bits of me you knew
flakes of a breathless rust
from the metal
of my being
have no bearing here
no place for these far away sorrows
the far cries of those wanting
waiting to be heard
before the
before

jppestana
Before
11.23.2019

Eruptions



in thinking 
I stand well below the sunken volcanoes long risen in the western sky
the late afternoon drifts away peacefully
I expect it to say something to me
is this a living thing or not I ask
is this the promised marriage of ancient waves splashing over ancient sands
and the land fully ruptured forces breathes out towers of fire steam ash
catches me unaware like a weakened insect spiraling madly to its death
then lost in the agony eruption
of some petrified
traceless
emotion

jppestana
Eruptions
9.5.2019

Peas & Carrots

I believe in the glory of peas
and carrots
some small perfections round
diced tender sweet
coated in a sunny butter sauce
held in a tiny china bowl
eaten with a smoothly worn spoon
lifting lingering silvery notes
of the bossa
nova

thinking here the thin blue line of sky divides me
razors away slicing open the warming soul
peeking into a momentary eternity
playful eyes of a sun filled moon
and the most revealing flavors
of peas and
carrots

jpestana
9.22.2019
Peas & carrots

Peas & Carrots

I believe in the glory of peas
and carrots
some small perfections round
diced tender sweet
coated in a sunny butter sauce
held in a tiny china bowl
eaten with a smoothly worn spoon
lifting lingering silvery notes
of the bossa
nova

thinking here the thin blue line of sky divides me
razors away slicing open the warming soul
peeking into a momentary eternity
playful eyes of a sun filled moon
and the most revealing flavors
of peas and
carrots

jpestana
Peas & Carrots
9.22019

So You Say

linger here 

the horizons you left before me

vaster than your most curious smile 

open the tilted door to a delicate whiteness

pervasive it spills into me 

overflows

by the way look no more

the sun is hung where you left it

the small talk of your lonely echoes overheard

by no one scrape 

the skin of my tongue 

produce the sound of things 

falling outside the what

of us

and do you look at me 

when your eyes are closed to the unknowing world

when you linger there surprised

when I ask about your hidden universe

when you turn to me whispering

so you 

say

jppestana

10.16.2019

So You Say

The Jellybean Stone

under what stars
the sweet giggle of tiniest blue eyes
takes night and hearts with them
she has a jar full of little stones saved
mostly old broken
worn away to
almost
nothing

but then her hand clasps round the buried sparkle
squeals holding her well loved 
jellybean stone
in kindness she hands it
to the silent man standing
lost in what is left
of this

and he squeezes making his only wish
and the air is only fresh rain
and the air is
everything
there
is

The Jellybean Stone
JP Pestana
10.4.2019

The Man In the Funny Hat (2AM)

here the man
in the funny hat wonders about
turns into the senseless shadow
in a mirror of endless shadows

around him the tossing sleepless souls search
what souls always search for
continue to speak in their hushed tones
or merely sing for their sleep
their wanting sanctification

in an instant
the hint of a crescent moon
becomes the face of all men 

and what do they do with the soul of that moon
when it emerges from the saintly clouds
when nothing else matters but
the funny man
in the funny
hat

jppestana
The Man In the Funny Hat
10.1.2019

Of Another

dream of me if you can
the clouds dancing together
the poking fun
run to where the sun was once king
the stream of ethereal hills
the clearest stream 
fall to your knees
it is the least
you can do

the coyote scream race their shadows
it is the way of night
you run to where your heart beats faster  faster yet
and then was done with me
bits and pieces memories 
of a redemption shunned
a broken prayer
written on the bones
of another
 

jppestana
Of Another
9.24.2019

Purely Accidental

a swirl of barely cloud curls to wisp

air too blue for me to breath dissipates

there somewhere the sound of darkly racing wings

a galaxy that shares her faint fragrance

the purity of her heavens unrivaled

and for me
dying specks of light

extinguish before their time

before the cruel awareness

of my accidental

existence

Purely Accidental
jppestana
9.14.2019

Birth

let's go back to

the miraculous 

fleeting

nothingness                                      

of us

birth of touch

raining shimmer of drenched grass

clashing skies above the thunder

sparkling shreds of 

voiceless light

let the old worlds be kid

they've collided once enough

become one older world alone

let the dull hammer of these thoughts

beat out their ryhmeless time

there is no point to any of it

and what of the sweet whispers creatures

that slip from the dazzling spring

certainly there is more to this

than meets the heart

than meets the birth 

of  

her

first

wordless
breath

jppestana

Birth

9.10.2019

In Another Poem Deception

when the dust settles 
then spreads again
when men in their endless amens 
crescendo

an occurrence

winters are born right here 
rightfully wrongfully they exist
never leave never die in 
the way a life melts away
nothing more than a puddle
liitle ring

in another poem at the same time
the frost of her lips deceives 
they are a cold road to a frozen hell
her slim legs are exclamations
enjoy the ride 
pilgrim

there is chanting in the forgotten woods 
the leaves are sullen dreary even this time of year
men in worship predictably fall to their knees

believing in everything
they rock the dull air
the earth beneath 
bowing 
tortured 
trees

jppestana
In Another Poem Deception
8.30.2019

 Blue Suns

on the around

or thereabouts

hearts fall from a broken down sky

land heavily in warm moist earth   blossom

there were tears here

but no longer

there were girls here gathered

singing new hymns 

boys with inhuman smiles

hollering madly

their mad dashes

to girls with blue suns for eyes 

flowing cloud white blouses 

a brightness indescribable

the sounds of their chase now distant

rolling trumpeting echoes of a holier bible

here on the around

or somewhere

thereabouts

jppestana

Blue Suns

8.25.2019

The Sky Is

the sky is
a crisis of lying maddened nights 
violet light last signs of 
escaping days
the sky is what it is
small voices in darkened shapeless trees
belong to the bodies of all lost to the ages
carved away from the reality of hearing 
the quietest sounds
screams of the drowning crowd
the whisperer
a slow sip of whisky later
a man shapes his image 
with the help of the moon
then loses himself
in the warm songs
of his own
making

jppestana
The Sky Is
8.5.2019

One Day In Place of Another

she moves slightly ever so in
a gentle enough breeze
ceases to be 
then returns

diffusions of ocean light bluish enough
remnants of sun touching
deep into green leaves
the when of it
survives

fades then in the litter
of our tossing
thoughts one day
in place of
another

One Day In Place of Another
jppestana
8.12.2019

Bones

a senseless incessant breeze
withering days
leave me weak
like the waning light 
of a half-hearted day
say by the way
have you heard
I have turned into
something new
meet me in my new place
away from the old faces
old lines of old stories of life
wound deeply in a kind
of living crazy sin
and yes let the children skip away
and sing
and be
I can guess the time
I will walk alone for now
remembering nothing
but this sound of my bones
in some maddening
dream

jpestana
Bones
5.16.2019

The Call


a procession of thin clouds

brighter than the calling sun 

than finch singing 

ever so 

brightly


jppestana
The Call
5.13.2019

This Day Or Next

the sun is at a loss complete
yet the yard is ever brighter bound up in blues softer
the trees silver gloss are somehow
a thousand eyes envious upon
upon a bird surely golden
in its sensuous flight
but surely not in this sudden stillness
of this day
or next

jppestana
4.10.2019

Risk of Darkness

before me
dark horses move slowly into dusk
dust hangs low in their shuffling trot
confuses consumes the reddened horizon descending still
their wary glances from eyes too dark to see leave me
abandon all but
the risk of 
darkness

jppestana
Risk of Darkness
3.30.2019

The Shadows of Crow

ah the impossibilities of this 
deepest untroubled sleep
seeing the sparking edge
of a moon burning away 
what's left 
of my
deserted 
earth
the wind rises 
sings from the hymnal
of hills 
gospel 
of dreams
now the moon pillows me
soothes me in the tremors
or the coming 
shadows of 
crow

jppestana
The Shadows of Crow
3.27.2019

Hunter

winter rains race angrily at me from the jemez

race black gray across the staring faces expressions

of the deeply shadowed mesas

moments lengthen as the wind begins

to lick at pine trees whipping

finch hungrily feed 

flee to their juniper homes

I lick at my lips

taste what might be

the first drops of time

running from a 
hunting

rain

jppestana

Hunter

2.3.2019