THE SMELL OF
POSSIBILITIES
|
TWENTY-TWO POEMS BY PABLO OMAR |
HAPPY DAYS
When you're a poet you're
alone
when you're a poet you've chosen to be alone
When you're a poet you're alone
TEORIA Y PRACTICA
For the continued inactivity of the silent informed minority
of which i am of course a member
i think about raising my fist then whisper:
keep buying broadsheets and shrugging shoulders
and on and on we´ll stagger and mutter.
THE BRUTE ENGINE
And it´ll continue like this?
Best equip
seat
desk
cheque
yes yes yes
roof
garden
car
girl met in local bar
sufficient tv time
create the next in line
SOMETHING THE SAD-EYED LADY SAID
Her eyes two broken hearts she looks
at me says
"life is one long nightmare interspersed with brief dreams
mere moments amidst it all
you for me were but a moment"
DOG ON A BUS
Buildings built to store future boredom
the city as a construction site and moments missed
come let us talk of the madness we live amongst
i like the sound of my voice even more while being kissed
Your skin gets darker by the day as do my thoughts
kiss me while we listen to their sound
kiss my neck while i spit at the absurdities
come along my dear
come along
THESE CONSUMER DAYS
Memory disfigured by harsh words
you´re forgotten in the potential of strangers
Though it bores me you creep back in thoughts
thoughts of touch
thoughts of taste
of anticipation
and of waste
mostly waste
PEPE
Nobility is disobedience.
Stand tall
face the shit
spit and bawl
Obedience is not a noble thing at all
UTOPIAN TALK
Solitary walks
and the extraction of thoughts
the extracted thoughts will go as words on paper
the walks till i´m no longer lost.
GLOVE OR THE SUBURBAN CURSE
A writer finishes pens and pads
i finish both
i leave words of ink on paper
of the words i leave i like many
a drinker finishes cans, bottles and glasses
i´m a drinker and finish many
MALATESTA AND ME
The world is absurd
don't be so absurd
lay the book on the floor
lie down and think of me
think of me without censor
thoughts free
dogma exposed
legs open
- ? -
With the smell of possibilities
and my empty stomach i walk
walk in order to read
read so as not to talk
the smell of possibilities
is the odor of these days
an odor that both kills and creates
an odor i can't ignore.
SOME CHANGE THEN MORE OF THE SAME
Maybe i´m simple and things complicate
me
dictated by things far beyond me
your face made me forget the futures monotony
a little smile can be revolutionary
Do you know those grey days nearly sealed my faith?
In those days we´ve lost so many
but i thought clear thoughts and made my escape
ay ay ay
Maude Gonnes are so many.
ANSWERED IN WORDS
In some lugar
under the sun
backpack on
loaded soul
in hand
Outstretched hands
my friend
open air
open land
one day i´ll join you
when i stop swimming in
streams
rivers
seas
and even oceans of agreement
warm and easy
one day i´ll join you my friend
please believe me
BLACK SKIN AND JANE AUSTEN
Let us lie together
and tell each other
our thoughts
my thoughts right now
are only of you
i know little of the inside
but the outside i like
empty me and let me
know who you are
IT COMES BACK STRONG
The nervous energy fills me up
and brings me back
to a child with too much reality in his eyes
to the sunday night smell of ironed cloths
and that country music sound
A child lying in bed alone with his fear
of a world so full of chains
TEACHERS
For those who disrupt
the gradual learning process
i give them nothing
they deserve nothing
A man in the park
just opened a beer
i give him my all
he has my all
HAPPY COUPLE AND WARM BEER
Shadows of trees reach out
to touch the suns street presence
my beer once cold turns warm
unaware of the warmth around me
i think of destroying what's before me
BEEN BACK IN DUBLIN A DAY
Grey streets
grey sky
grey river
grey eye
friends becoming something less
a darker shade of grey ?
Free market economy
hip hip hurray
THE LITTLE DEATHS A-COMING
You appear before me
as newly arrived freckle
on a pretty strangers face
as a green strap on a
brown back
as a white face slowly
turning red
a hesitant smile
glancing eyes so unaware
reading a book or tapping a foot
in a hurry or changing line
as a conversation never had
words without exit muffled inside
as the other the unknown
beating heart beating hard
You appear before me as a moment missed
in this city of moments missed
You´ll appear before me and i´ll be gone a while.
HISTORY AND RASTA REGGAE IN THE SUBWAY
There's a man in the metro
who understands repetition
repeats himself slowly
while i walk and listen
keep the rhythm
keep the rhythm
brotherman
keep the rhythm
put pen to the paper
and we´ll see what i´ve written:
History like reggae
repeats itself
reggae its rhythms
history its crimes
keep the rhythm
keep the rhythm
SILENT NOISE
EL RUIDO SORDO
we've found slowness
in the rush
in the madness
in the water's sound
we've found silence
in sunlight
in shade
on damp grass
under dry trees
the thump thump
of the unspoken
the thump thump
of what could be
PURPOSE
I spent the day
looking for
and walking slowly across
zebra crossings
CRYSTAL EYE
I a normally dutiful disciple
of the theoretical school of thought
that is inaction
stand up from my floor of scattered words
and spontaneously
put thought into action
A son of defeated potential
I close my blinds on a defeated sun
SKIN AND HONESTY
A piece of skin I just saw
a glimpse
little bit of back
soft skin
fading brown
below the tee-shirt
above the belt
reminded me of a piece of time
that I describe as a waste of time
although at the time
that's not quite how I felt
MY FRIEND NATALIA LIVES IN LAS TABLAS
Lady on a road
empty road
an empty road
in a neighbourhood
waiting to begin
she pours water
on plants
plants alive
living plants
an attentive lady
looking after life
in a neighbourhood
waiting for conformity.
Conformity ?
Ah sure that's life.
I’M SORRY, BUT COULD YOU REPEAT
THAT ?
How can i listen
when the words make the mouth run
and the finish line is such a smile ?
Pablo Omar lives in Madrid.