Snippets By Jonathan Berman

2/27/2013

Unbranded

Do you relate?
Right out of the gate, seeded indoctrination
Pledge of allegiance to the flag
Every encouragement a carefully seeded sensation

Everyone's messiah, a bridge across a chasm
When I sneeze it is in mockery of chains

And nothing is wrong with believing, hold on loose enough
to hold your brother tighter.

2/26/2013

The wind sang loudly outside my window. The rain swept a song into my soul, where it trickled softly into my ears. 

My hair grew moist, my eyes grew weary, and the flowers of music stirring, began to grow. 

Until I could not hold back any longer, and I too began to sing.

A gentle rain within me fell, so you could stand in the shadow of shady trees. 
To rise like a bird where the angel's swell, my life a love poem in your memory.

2/22/2013

Ode to a Flower Petal

A flower petal floats in water, drifting to the sides of the cup
Sometimes it stays there and gets stuck.
I push the petal down into the water where it is freed,
but I feel guilty for all it has given up.

The petal is no longer dry, but it glistens in a way that is pleasing.
So I dip my finger into the water, and imagine what it might be feeling.

2/18/2013

it's easier to love a moment after the fact, once it's past we can identify, find something there to believe in... but those are the ashes of the fire long burned away...

2/14/2013

You deserve all the love with which the angels made their wings.

2/12/2013

"Let listening be the candle by which you write." ~JMB

2/9/2013

A dear friend of mine passed away yesterday morning, he was only 37 years old. Life is impermanence, my heart goes out to his family. I wrote this poem for Richard.

I used to think I have so much to say, 
but I was not listening, Quick to indulge.

Then I thought what do others have to say, 
but I was not listening, Quick to judge.

Then I thought what do we say without speaking, 
but I was not listening, Quick to defend.

Then I thought what is nature saying, 
but I was not listening, Quick to ascend.

Then I thought what is the universe saying, 
but I was not listening, Quick to ammend.

Then I closed my eyes, I let go of thinking, 
quickness left me, stillness embraced me, 
and I was Listening.

2/7/2013

For what is a human life but a fleeting, fragile moment in time? To be a link in an unending chain of possibilities, to sing for a moment, an echo in eternity, then to write no more. A paw print in the snow.

2/4/2013

It is the job of the finite to teach the infinite how to be patient... you see, because we don't live forever, we must learn to appreciate each moment or we will be unhappy... God, lives forever, and becomes impatient knowing the outcomes... God made us to teach him patience, love, surprise, epiphany, everything we value in life is not given by God, but rather by us to God. Gods cannot experience these things, for Gods cannot be pleasantly surprised... in this way, we are more powerful than Gods... but only by the ineffible, inexplicable, unanswerable knowledge of Gods do man exist at all to do our work...