Long Upmanship Poems

FM
“ShallowMan, if you’ve conflictions
owing to your mind’s addictions
to subconscious maledictions,
due to doubt in old convictions;
tell me now of your afflictions.”

SM
“FactoidMan, I must confess
I understand you more or less
though subtleties provoke distress,
and even more your fine...

Read More

From birth to death, each of us walks alone,
in as a narrative we wish to feel,
thus as we embrace, release and atone,
we rely on God’s love and light to heal.
In a subject-object relationship,
we believe ourself...

Read More

Pre-puberty years
Playful innocence 
Warm ready embrace
Quarrels, aberrations 
Rapidly erased
An uncluttered mind
Open, forgiving heart
Reborn each morn anew

Growing up, ego manifests
Taught to be street smart 
Testosterone levels high
Feral instincts prevail
In the game of one-upmanship 
Need to win...

Read More

13.2
“The body is strained by practices
The tongue tires of scripture
The mind numbs with meditation
Detached from all this,
I live as I am”


The matrix of in-form body consciousness 
Employs limited bandwidths of vibration
Perceiving with defective awareness
Interpreting in...

Read More

DRUM CIRCLE
FEBRUARY 16, 2018

Tonight we talked to the earth
with our drums, our pulsating prayers
a rhythm and blues, a galloping growl,
an angry lament, a wretched outpouring
at the new Hunger Moon, at the latest mass
shooting, at a...

Read More

Beyond the imposing and the high iron gate
The picturesque setting of the Oxford University
Situates the hedonistic oriented Bullingdon Club
Founded more than 200 years ago.

The socially exclusive students get the invitation
To join the Club as its...

Read More

In a show of manic one-upmanship
With my wife saying, “Just get a grip.”
I planned an adventure to show I’m well travelled
The spoiler to that is the whole thing unravelled

I looked at the brochures and boy...

Read More

20.9
“Where is distraction, concentration, 
knowledge or delusion?
Where is joy or sorrow?
I am Stillness”

Verse revisited on 29-December-2022

 Let’s keep this verse simple
By resting thought forms nimble
Just as we look at any other object
The thought will arise,...

Read More

Encased in feeble form, doomed one day to die,
words penned in holy books offered no solace
and prayers that I muttered, quelled not heart’s sigh,
so exhausted being unable to lace
the truth of life, I deemed everything...

Read More

Political Tit For Tat
Tom’s Opinion
2-5-2020

A partisan divide hovers over Washington today,
there’s no middle ground, when children act this way.

Once elected, some appear, to think voters are ancillary,
and they return to superior thinking and being contrary.

Good...

Read More

A gray cloud hangs ominously
On the horizon, overshadowing
The last golden rays of the sun.
Below, Damocles waits;
The sword hangs by a hair!
In a great white building
Men and women squabble -
Moving chess pieces to
Make decisions that affect
Crises...

Read More

Narcissism shows its ugly head in so many ways
Sharp put-downs to show one’s superiority
A heightened sense of one’s importance, and
Usurping, whenever possible, another’s authority.

Self-deceiving, and never able to admit defeat
Being in love with themselves, misplaced...

Read More

“when that that never was dies ~
consciousness flies to new highs”


we walk on a lonely road
alone in the midst of a crowd
each soul trudges under a heavy cross
fake smiles camouflaging destiny’s dark shroud

we seek solace...

Read More

Egocentric, engaged in games of one-upmanship
I developed a jaundiced and judgmental eye
Over time, losing over mind-body my grip

Belied expectations oft made heart sigh
My reflex response was to put others down 
Mocking both the living and...

Read More

People like to take the credit and assign all the blame
It really is a selfish way to go about playing the game
Everyone embellishes their input when the praise is poured
But when things stumble and others...

Read More

So hard to really know what to believe
on news presented to us every day;
as if our world's divided into two
opposing groups interpreting each fact-
and truth lies hidden in a misty fog.

In bygone days, old movie...

Read More

"Watch out for these two! A disastrous inferno" - quote by poet.


    Talk about the definition of trouble!
 Two people tainted with potent toxicity.
 As if either of the two isn't bad...

Read More

(Shakespearean Sonnet)

The blue-grass music blares from speaker's face
as guys and gals entwine moon-round the floor,
she sits alone, ignores the dancers' pace
although her ears record the rhythm score.

He begged her love; he painted instant fame.
She nursed...

Read More

Game of pretence, is played out everyday
Our authentic self, seems to have no say
As we go about through needless parlance
Social etiquette cause of dalliance
Oft saying yes, when we wish to say nay

Hypocrisy becoming our mainstay
Subterfuge...

Read More

Inspirations flow no more,
although we seek an encore,
an urge rooted in ego,
which we are loathe to forgo.

Habit patterns control us,
plateaus after peaks, nonplus,
for our yearning’s to expand,
as of restless heart’s demand.

Though to a tree, were...

Read More

Our tender eyes betray the way we see
Honouring God’s presence within each heart 
That deems all of us as one, none apart 
Viewed thus from soul’s eye, joyous and carefree
Our innocence with bliss beats does...

Read More

build up of angst in today’s youth
the cause perhaps a suppressed fear
a lifestyle deemed by soul uncouth
dampening vibe of their heart’s cheer

the cure lies in life’s simple things
no striving for one-upmanship
growing in love, spreading soul’s...

Read More

Kansas City is over her head with joy
First the Royals won the World Series
Now the Chiefs have conquered the Super Bowl.

We are comparing stories.
What we were eating.
How hard we were yelling.

How long we heard fireworks...

Read More

Notice our subtle resistance
Manifest as hesitancy
Mitigating exuberance 
Our lower mind delinquency 

Myriad illusions confound
Notice our subtle resistance
We are yet to mind-body bound
Recognising not divine dance

We first look to our convenience 
Subject-object relationship 
Notice our subtle...

Read More