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Christopher Luna by Alisha Jucevic for the Columbian

Christopher Luna by Alisha Jucevic for the Columbian
Christopher Luna by Alisha Jucevic for the Columbian

Friday, April 3, 2020

National Poetry Month Poems by Christopher Luna

National Poetry Month Poems by Christopher Luna





Freight train graffiti by Christopher Luna 

The Path by Christopher Luna
GHOST TOWN, USA
Burnt Bridge Creek Trail
March/April 2020

What irked me about my neighbor was—They didn’t know what to do. She’s  definitely—she’s definitely a character. She’s done a lot. I have some friends that are pretty spiritual. I think they’re laughing at each other. The people or the birds? It was nice to hear that I was a good communicator. What’s gonna be interesting is when everything opens up. I’m overdue for a haircut and my dog needs groomed. Don’t chew on that. You make it how you want it.




“You certainly are a star in my heart”
Jenny Suzumoto

Email from poet and tarot reader Jenny Suzumoto, April 2, 2020: “Thank you so much for your uplifting note. You have utterly brightened my day! So I picked a card for you – the Star, a card of revelation, meditation, illumination, and lustrous honoring of the Self. The Goddess shines her luminous sweet love to you. This is a good time to lift upward, and contemplate the cosmic wonder of life, the mystery, the infinite creative force, that goes on forever and ever and ever. An uplifting focus beyond the crisis, and CNN news. Creation continues to explode in crescendos, generate rainbows, sparkling stars, and galaxies, on and on and on. A lovely card to nurture self, and feel into the star of your own beautiful heart.”

Goddess may I join you?
dancing barefooted in
a field full of wildflower

rippling
joyfully
unselfconsciously
in diaphanous
sundress

overcome by your beauty
& your innate strength
I move alongside you
hoping to catch your eye
the glimmer there
the warm invitation
of your smile

& am transported
to the moment
years ago
when I first discovered
the coursing white light
exploding from the core of me
to send branches of tendrils
streaming forth in every direction
 connecting me to all things
and them to me

Goddess love me
embrace me
show me how to be
the star in your heart

April 8, 2020


SKIN HUNGER BLUES

The endless search
for the perfect word
the precise choice
a sigil with the weight
to convey
the roiling hunger of
this skin
the loneliness
of the human heart
dying without the reassurance
of a hand upon our flesh.

April 9, 2020

  
PREMILLENIALIST JACKPOT

Some motherfuckers may not admit
that this is the apocalypse they prayed for
complete with AntiChrist

you got your plague
your anarchy
collapse of civilization

except there won’t be
         
no RAPTURE

no WHITE JESUS
         
coming for to carry them home

April 10, 2020


WALKMAN REVERIE

What music do I turn to
          reflexively
in times of trouble:

https://www.ledzeppelin.com/
PHYSICAL GRAFFITI

the first Led Zeppelin cassette
to accompany me on my paper route
delivering Newsday in Ridge
          on the Long Island
of my boyhood—

Kashmir
In My Time of Dying
Custard Pie
Boogie with Stu
Houses of the Holy

          “on the wings of maybe”

                   my fantasies of a life beyond
                   the dreadful ennui of the suburbs

                                                                                            did take flight

April 11, 2020

  
FOR TONI
who suggested we write love poems to each other
after reading Kenneth Patchen’s poems for Miriam


When I see my sweet little cupcake smile
I want to be the reason for all that joy
The man who can see the little girl in saddle shoes
And brings her the moon because
the Queen of All My Dreams           deserves it

let’s dance
and make love
and laugh
and argue
and discuss the state of the world
and kiss
and hold hands
and read poems to each other

          savoring each and every
          present moment we have
          before our cells betray us

April 12, 2020


“ALL THE HOTTEST ACTION AND
MOST VALUABLE LESSONS WILL BE
BLOOMING IN THE FERTILE DARKNESS”
Rob Brezsny, Free Will Astrology
(Virgo horoscope, week of April 9)

the soul is a tough one for me
born with a skepticism
as undeniable as breathing

still, the search never moves
in a linear direction

empathy may be impossible
when our very existence
is in question
          our worth so diminished
by capitalism & language hijacking
slowly eradicating once-understood ideals

time to turn toward reality again
these countless corpses [become]
          cradles of compassion
when we function on a belief
that we’re all together


The soul is a tough one for me. Steve Getlein.
Never moves in a linear direction. Suzanne LaGrande.
Countless corpses becoming cradles of compassion. Sarah Wood.
We function on a belief. We’re all together. Wynton Marsalis, interviewed by 60 Minutes about the death of his father, jazz musician and educator Ellis Marsalis.

April 13, 2020


AN ENDLESS LUCID DREAM
SURVIVES BEHIND MY EYELIDS
Angela Douglass

hypnagogic phantasmagoria
tendrils of color undulate
in Jackson Pollock ecstasy
the myoclonic twitch
of a thousand kisses
upon the eyelashes
stirs as
long-ago sleights
& victories
replay on a
somnolent stage

threatened always
by the interruption
of encroaching daylight

cascading stars
implode
in reverse time lapse
leaving immense darkness
in their wake

Christopher Luna
April 14, 2020



Poem Beginning & Ending 
With Lines by Leah Klass

“we are all running to something”

even when forced by circumstance
to be still
indoors, at home

with all the time necessary
to turn inside out
        to examine who and what
        you truly are—

beyond commerce
beyond the tasks
you so dutifully complete
for the benefit of Your Master

as terrifying as 
facing yourself 
for the first time can be
it is important to see
that this time with yourself
may seed a radical transformation

personal evolution
& possibly even liberation

“joy is our ticket”

April 15, 2020


I have suppressed the content
Paula John 

of this nightmare
in order to survive
the daily shit show
of a country 
with a madman in charge

babbling fool
thief
        rapist
        bully
        hater of all not rich 
        and//or white
turn off his daily campaign ad
billed as press briefings

the man has no ideology
no love of country
he seeks only to annihilate
all that is good

go outside
check on your
more vulnerable neighbors

we will need to be united
to fight what comes next

Christopher Luna
April 16, 2020



there will be
another
this into
that

assume that
half of what
you think
about it is
bullshit

and you may
become
clear enough
to actually
see

April 18, 2020

THE QUESTION OF READINESS

These are not easy times.
Every illusion fractures

          as the context                 floats away

& one is faced with what remains:

                                   deep fear
                            
                                        a lot of pain

                                        the self        

                                           (such as it is)

It may have been some time
since you were acquainted

          or it may be the first time 
you’ve met—

                         do you like what you see?
         
April 19, 2020


Can I have some remedy?
I take enough to please me
Black Crowes

we need each other
infuriating as that may be
we will not make it alone
vulnerability is not voluntary
it is our most natural state

this plant carries
magical properties
medicine for the
mind, body, & soul

so open your heart
breathe deep
we shall begin
again

April 20, 2020

throwing the remote

pout like that again
& I’ll bite you
hard
suck on it
til I’m full
then devour you
whole
consumed by
this compulsion
to swallow it all
want you inside me
slide down my throat
course through

no question
regarding
our connection

furthermore
I want to be loved
nay, adored
no amount
will ever
suffice

they always told me
I could have
anything
I wanted
& you’re
next

April 21, 2020


What makes an individual valuable?
Barbara Lynn Cantone

How does one measure it?

How to properly respect our complexities
the fractal web of our 
        many contradictions?

Does a person’s value increase according to 
         our knowledge of their actions?

There is so much we never see.

Close your eyes: envision the enemy

make a list of your judgments

Would your choices survive 
                        the same scrutiny?

Is your conscience clear?

Have you managed to make it this far 

without hurting anyone?

without making any mistakes?

Can you let go of their 
imagined transgressions?

April 22, 2020



The Pulse of the Poem Licks the Page in Syncopated Time

steel type swings down with force
enough to strike through the aching emptiness
of the blank sheet in repose

enough to cause the page to ripple
with a quiver, then allow you to
flip her over

trembling in anticipation
of the next offering

the impression of a thousand sigils
dripping in reverse

these leaves of grass
yawp as they reverberate
with the promise of the dawn

April 24, 2020




WE NEED EXTRA MORE
For Coraline Luna
upandcoming poet

I want more
   extra more
   extra more         smiles
                             love
                             hugs
                             empathy
                             understanding

   extra more

                             will see us through
                             our time of separation

          the tactile
          & the tangible
          the touched
          & the felt

the solidarity
borne of our solitude

and the daily reminder
of our need for each other

          stay safe
          stay cool
          stay home

                   dream of extra more
                   good times ahead

April 25, 2020

Poem Beginning & Ending
with Wisdom From Ai Wei Wei

“How to escape the common daily burden:”

relax
think
pick up materials
assemble something
that did not exist
before you conceived of it

a made thing that
could have no origin
other than your heart

                   your mind
                   your spirit

step back
become audience
smile           ingratiated
pleased with yourself

moments later
doubt & dissatisfaction
inevitably creep back

          & your endless search
                    for meaning
          your eternal agony
                   is rekindled

just a human consumed by
yearning & vision

“still trying
to escape control”


April 26, 2020


DYSMORPHIA DILEMMA

what combination
of arrogance
& denial
makes it
impossible
to see
just how
enormous
I have
allowed myself
to become?

wherefore
this sickness
that convinces me
that what I see
reflected is
acceptable?

Christopher Luna
April 27, 2020

PANDEMIC POETRY PARADOX

Although personal expression is my vocation
I feel a visceral reluctance to mentioning
the blessing of my living situation:

          a partner who loves me

                             cares for me

                             enjoys my company
                             enough to fantasize
                             about me staying home
permanently

in this era of unquestioned oversharing
wouldn’t it be cruel to be too candid
about my good fortune?

Christopher Luna
April 28, 2020

YOUR PRESIDENT

wants you
dead
infected
veins
filled
with
disinfectant

starving
destitute
intubated
suffering

because
you
ignored
the scientists
in favor of
the thug
who daily
destroys
our
democracy

your president
not mine

April 29, 2020

WE WON’T SOON FORGET

the Spring we stayed inside

          to stay alive

alone                    together

staring at screens  with a desperate need

          for answers           or good news

writing, sobbing, worrying

waiting for

          the nightmare

                   to end

paying for the sins

          of the corrupt

          and the willfully

ignorant

April 30, 2020

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