for Claudia
Why didn’t Sisyphus simply walk away
and climb, unencumbered, up the smooth cleft
worn in the undulant hillside, up and over that crest
bright purple with wild violets one brilliant day?
Could a man who outsmarted death miss
this no-fuss solution and become eternally dumb?
With such an easy path to blue-sky freedom,
why was he now oblivious to the obvious?
Perhaps stupidity was his punishment,
not the grunting futility or eternal strain
of mindlessly pushing his faltering brain
up endless hills…and the crushing descent.
No matter how relentlessly he would chase
after answers, he would never again keep pace.
Alan Toltzis is the author of “The Last Commandment.” His work has appeared in print and online publications including, IthacaLit, Right Hand Pointing, The Provo Canyon Review, Hummingbird, and Burningword Literary Journal. You can find him online at alantoltzis.com.
BARDO.
May not the
Element of space
Rise against me
In acrid acrimony.
From the north
Arrives green goddess
Ghanta of serpent head
Garlanded with skulls
And in her hand
Holding metallic bells
Sounds of the surges
Deafening eared knell.
Let me remember
Infinite compassions
The past deeds
For all the things
Great and small
And for all the creeds.
For the white dove
For the yellow bear
For fields of worms
For earth borne cares.
Let not the
Element of sun
Arise against me
In wandering thirst
On burning symptoms.
Yogins arise westward
Bringing seeds of wisdom
With wavering garlands
Amid four coloured lights
And the scented perfumes
Moulded from purified elements.
In all prevailing circles
Let not the element
Of the seeded earth
Arise against me.
In some splintered segment.
Durlabh Singh.
We may be our own worst enemy. How true!
Sometimes sweating it out may be undue.