It has been said: That if, just one person remembers,
your life after you are gone,
then you may still be forced to walk this earth
tied to a false memory.
My prayer, is to be entirely forgotten, not recalled at all,
not for the wealth of my spirit, or for its poverty,
not for my mortal works, or for all those works,
unfinished or laid aside. LET ME BE,
I do not wish to remain, as an eclipse of your mind.
Do not linger over my progeny, or ancestry,
let them be their own flagstaff of humanity -
for are we not all, just light and shade,
quickly passing across a flawed mirror?
However, if by chance you come upon
one sunlit buttercup,
shining upon a dewy meadow,
you may recognize that same simplicity in you,
and discerning that fleeting display,
see it as a clear immortal vision,
of your own awakening eyes -
if so,
remember that - only that.
To frigid-freed heartbeats, lover's behalf,
of mindless blind mute who came from Flagstaff.
Clueless inceptions nebulously grow,
Godsend occasion leaves the dark to glow,
sparks the light of life mimic frames of minds.
Emotions indulge past regret unwinds,
intricacies of distinctions arcane.
Scattered, detached, night candle burns the stain,
shatter separateness as divisive.
Emphases realized as decisive,
conceived borders we being inherits,
everyone shares their respective merits.
Douse not our embers, but keep strong our flame,
warm the blaze to a glow from whence we came.
Come to the hill named Flagstaff
Climb to the top and glimpse the emerald expanse
In summer when kites are flying and students laugh
Or the crystalline mounds in winter when tobogganers prance
From here we'll stroll past the Carnegie Library toward the Cathedral of Learning
Where we will embark on another ascent before we proceed
To devour pierogis in the Strip, kayak along the Ohio, and go tunneling
Through the Fort Pitt and emerge at high speed
Into this land of golden bridges and charming neighborhoods
The Steel City will not disappoint
For adventures await amid Appalachian backwoods
Where a dazzling skyline encases a capitalized Point
I stuffed my pockets full of California minutes,
Set out from Bakersfield before the break of day.
Checked out a waitress at a coffee shop in Needles
Then blew through Flagstaff on my way to Santa Fe.
Cut loose and rootless, making random left-hand turns
Straight razor whiskey, gotta love the way it burns
Pulled up at Pueblo for my ration of tequila
Long after hours in the Garden of Repose.
I paid my lady love a call in Carson City,
Got tanked in Reno with a Sacramento rose.
Street lamps and neon on a warm midsummer’s night
Drawn toward the tunnel at the end of so much light
Broke bread in Stockton with a Guatemalan dancer.
Shook down a flop house called The Shady Rest Motel.
Laid low in Fresno for the balance of my paycheck,
Got back to Bakersfield in time to raise some hell.
I’m gonna ramble till the swallows leave for Egypt.
Gonna ramble till the Happy Prince goes blind.
I’m gonna ramble till I’ve gathered up my troubles.
Gonna ramble till I’ve left ‘em all behind.
Might put my suitcase under the bed,
But I always leave it packed for later.
I live in places
you’ve never seen
And sleep in nightmares
you’ve never dreamed
I choose in dimensions
above either or
Beyond the pain
you can endure
My memory lapses
in moments freed
But fate imprisons
all I see
Escape an option, death allowed,
but only if I’m willing
To marry freedom’s hope denied
—and damn my soul’s foretelling
(Flagstaff Arizona: February, 2019)
The power of dissent
—a true measure of our freedom
(Flagstaff Arizona: February, 2019)
Striving to be anonymous,
the hole got deeper still
Ties were broken, ropes were cut,
less water in the well
Alone within my loneliness
the darkness came at last
The wish, I wish, I’d wished away
—had captured me at last
(Flagstaff Arizona: February, 2019)
Racing the dark from Albuquerque to Flagstaff
old questions trailed behind me
The highway marked with broken dreams
of searchers long ago
As Gallup filled my rearview mirror
the sun reached out and grabbed me
My last horizon dropping fast
—the finish line aglow
(Flagstaff Arizona: February, 2019)
There once was a small young man from Flagstaff
Whose girl said he was too short by one half.
He devised plan giving others great laugh
For with big grin
His stilts did win
The hand of this beautiful blond distaff
A tell dem mark the day, mark it here well
Mark it from Sprigfield, Flagstaff and Hopewell
Mark it like fire in Mafoota bush, mark
Shettlewood burning in slavery's hell.
I hear the children crying in the spark
I did not plan that, just a ringing bell
If only I knew 'bout collateral
Damage then, I just want them ring the bell
Free men ought to plan their own funeral:
So on yonder gallows put me to die
And mark the spot where brave men for freedom
Lie. We with Gentile ropes to crucify
Are not afraid, nor deterred, this freedom
From Negril to Morant Point shall ring
And Africa's host their triumph's song shall sing.
The Monkey And The Woman
The monkey and the woman
Smoke swirling,
out of burnt nostrils.
Clouds exhaled,
out of female lungs.
Looks(better than a poodle).
Not young or old not bad.
Between drinks,carrying a purse.
Walking to her next rendevous.
The woman of Flagstaff,
dismissed the monkey.
No love for you.
But no way am I sad.
The part I am missing,
is still somewhere in my future.
Charles Robert Hice
Copyright ©2006 Charles Hice
TAO
Tao
To Flagstaff
Jesus
moneyless
homeless
hateless
how can I really hate you
if I am numb and there are icicles
in me
how can I really hate you
as much as you deserve particles
of dust
motes smoteing freely forming
in all of the city
dirty city
Love gone
Jesus
TAO
Charles Hice
Copyright ©2006 Charles Hice
I Can?
I can?
A girl hated me in Flagstaff
I can.
I can like you a little.
I can like you a lot.
I can even begin to love you,a little, if I must.
But I do not have to like any of your friends.
I can even try to now pretend.
That there is no one else but I.
My love is somewhere in my heart.
And in my thoughts.
Charles Hice
Copyright ©2006 Charles Hice