The Dreaming Cantos

by Greg Perry

The Dreaming Cantos

by Greg Perry

copy right 2006

The grapez Press

Inspired by the words of Don Miguel Ruiz

Dedicated to the Four Women of My Life:

My Mother, Gladys Feugill Perry

My Daughter, Maura (Emmy) Thompson

My True Love, Beverly Rigolizzo

My Mentor, Rhina Espaillat

The Dreaming Cantos

I. Agreements

Prologue

1. Consciousness .................................................. 31

2. In Lectio Divina ............................................... 31

A. The Dreaming Cantos ..................................... 38

Inscription 1: Impeccability of the Word ............. 33

Inscription 2: Not Taking Things Persoonal ........ 34

Inscription 3: Not Making Assumptions .............. 35

Inscription 4: Always Do Your Best .................... 36

Introduction

3. Clearing ............................................................ 37

4. New Day .......................................................... 37

B. Point of View .................................................. 38

II. Love

Energy

5. Sea, Sky, Ground ............................................. 41

6. Naturally ........................................................... 41

C. Ardor ............................................................... 42

Creation

7. Revelation ........................................................ 43

8. Guarantees ........................................................ 43

D. Rebirthstone .................................................... 44

Overcoming

9. The Voice of Knowledge ................................ 45

10. False Luv ...................................................... 45

E. Artistry ............................................................. 46

III. The Dream

Fictions

11. Adamnic ......................................................... 49

12. Odysseus ........................................................ 49

F. Stories .............................................................. 50

The Real World

13. Voice of the Past ............................................ 51

14. Material Fabrications ..................................... 51

G. Circadian Rhythms .......................................... 52

History

15. Becoming Another ......................................... 53

16. Conspiracies ................................................... 53

H. Orchestrations ................................................. 54

IV. Domestication

Evolutions

17. Solutions ........................................................ 57

18. Options ........................................................... 57

I. Instructions ....................................................... 58

Fear

19. The Mist ......................................................... 59

20. Voices ............................................................ 59

J. The Fog ............................................................. 60

Stories

21. The Alien ....................................................... 61

22. The Boss ......................................................... 61

K. The Joker ......................................................... 62

V. The Skyler Ancillaries

First Ancillary

23. First Epistle .................................................... 65

24. First Chronicle ............................................... 65

L. First Line .......................................................... 66

Second Ancillary

25. Second Hand .................................................. 67

26. Second Thoughts ............................................ 67

M. Second Sun ..................................................... 68

Third Ancillary

27. Third World ................................................... 69

28. Third Eye ........................................................ 69

N. Third Time’s the Charm .................................. 70

VI. Belief

Myth

29. Critique of Pure Reality ................................ 73

30. The Gods of Logic ......................................... 73

O: What's Up Doc? ............................................. 74

Essence

31. Effervescence ................................................. 75

32. Rigged ............................................................ 75

P. Play It Again Samsara ..................................... 76

Facts

33. Quarks ............................................................ 77

34. Knot God ........................................................ 77

Q. The Mayonnaise of Maya ................................ 78

VII. Dreaming

Streams

35. Dreamland ...................................................... 81

36. Afterlife .......................................................... 81

R. Morning Glory ................................................. 82

Tide

37. Perchance ....................................................... 83

38. Draft ............................................................... 83

S. Flood ................................................................ 84

Real

39. House of Mirrors ........................................... 85

40: Attention Span ............................................... 85

T. The Tao of Dreams .......................................... 86

VIII Waking

Views

41. And the Eternals ............................................ 89

42. Worlds ............................................................ 89

U. Planetary Breathing ........................................ 90

Divinity

43. Continuum ..................................................... 91

44.Creed ............................................................... 91

V. Rider in the Rain ............................................ 92

Shadows

45.Chaos ............................................................... 93

46. Reckoning ...................................................... 93

W. Baptism .......................................................... 94

IX. Creation

Waters

47. Lakeside Meditation ..................................... 97

48. Shore .............................................................. 97

X. The Word ........................................................ 98

Life

49. Quantum ......................................................... 99

50. Pulpit .............................................................. 99

Y. Resurrection .................................................. 100

The Mystic

51. Vision ........................................................... 101

52. Beyond Words ............................................. 101

Z. The Dream's Prayer ....................................... 102

I. Agreements

The outside dream hooks our attention and teaches us what to

believe, beginning with the language that we speak. Language

is the core for understanding and communication between

humans. Every letter, every word in each language is an

agreement.

~Miguel Ruiz

1. Consciousness

Action heroes moving

grand decisions forward

to creation; super

conscious effort turning

future tense toward living

recreation; inner

dialogues of anxious

paradises-lost turn

unexpressed at present.

2. In Lectio Divina

In Lectio Divina,

holy readings of

their scripture, monks reflect

on passages as open

conversations with

their God. And in that spirit

I’ve been reading words

by Don Miguel Ruiz

and writing poetry

A. The Dreaming Cantos

I call the Dreaming Cantos.

I am energy,

that essence of the living

universe, who dreams

this nightmare of our planet,

hellish lies of fear

and loathing. But with love

and true forgiveness, I

begin to dream anew.

Prologue

In the summer of 2006, I discovered the books of

Don Miguel Ruiz. It wasn’t exactly a New World,

but one I felt I had always known, but somehow we

had never been properly introduced. Things I had felt

on an intuitive level as well as things I had learned on

an intellectual one suddenly were revealed to me in a

metaphysical way. A fog lifted. The holy sun was

shining. And all summer long I would read his words

and then would write my own, attempting to digest

things in the best way I know how. In poetry.

Inscription 1: Impeccability of the Word

For better or for worse,

with every word, we make

our world alive again.

With every action taken,

we make creation dawn

again. With every day,

we generate a light,

despite our lies, that leads

our life to love, if wise.

Inscription 2: Not Taking Things Personal

A thousand lives will orbit

your life each day. Each one

complies by laws of nature

distinctive from the ones

your world obeys. So pay

allegiance to the gravity

of your own. But question

even that: don’t let

false airs turn wings to stone.

Inscription 3: Not Making Assumptions

Most questions can’t be answered

but we reason every

unknown anyways.

It doesn’t matter if

our finding’s true; a lie

that keeps us safe will do.

But in a world where mystery

is the answer, only

truth provides a clue.

Inscription 4: Always Do Your Best

That energy which moves

my incarnation is

the concept they call God.

To catch it like a sail

encompassing the wind

is all there is to do.

No idol, ritual,

or mantra is so dear.

My motion is my prayer.

Introduction

3. Clearing

After the flood, the river

forgives the rain for falling,

and the land forgives

the river for rising. The sun

reflects on everything

transpired and calls it a day.

The next day nothing remains

except the recollection

a watermark has made.

4. New Day

Faith is but a sail

boat drifting in a river

on this certain morning

underneath a navy

firmament enlightened

by a nuclear

reaction that consigns

four million tons of awe

towards otherness per second.

B. Point of View

Fathom not the peaks

of someone’s point of view,

unless it’s really yours—

and then you know it’s never

true. Such depths don’t lie

within our own life’s story.

At best, truth is sensation,

sound. The instant voiced,

it tenders higher ground.

II. Love

Energy

5. Sea, Sky, Ground

Blue with love, the sea

embraces sailboats with

an ever-flowing present.

Blue with love, the sky

exchanges visionary

daylight with a cloud.

Blue with love, we live

on ground reflected from

around, below, above.

6. Naturally

A photograph defines

an element of landscape

with chromaticity,

delineation, and

cold-blooded certitude.

The eye sees differently.

In fear, surroundings lose

all sight—outlandish perspective—

but love looks naturally.

C. Ardor

Scientists are certain

that the world is simply

energy aligned

in forms of matter if

and when we see them so.

But love is form that sees

itself as energy

and recognizes nothing

else will tend to matter.

Creation

7. Revelation

To dream creation, I

reveal creation deeply

saturating me

becoming life revealing

love is all there is.

The Beatles dreamt it, Jesus

dreams it, Buddha, Moses,

and Mohammed. Even

Einstein loves that living.

8. Guarantees

Note: disassembly voids

all warranties; your word

wields guarantee enough;

the small print is the simple

recognition that love

assumes no previous

arrangement with the former

or future, so and so

on ad infinitum.

D. Rebirthstone

An amethyst owl alone

—in skies of onyx darkness—

forwards his voice to discover

territories once

the terror of points unknown.

There, taking heart he is singing

a round of love, an expression

forgotten but now reflecting

the lapis of utter creation.

Overcoming

9. The Voice of Knowledge

Neurosis, God of Lies

We Tell Ourselves, All Knowing

Omnipotent Belief

informs me of my perfect

inability

to write this poem about

Emotion, Heart on High,

Archangel of Our Passion.

In Mythomania—CRY!

10. False Luv

People love to fall

in love—for reasons many

misunderstand. It's never

romantic paradise

nor sexual kingdom come

we're crazy for—not even

the love of another lover.

It's license to love one's self

because we're loved by another.

E. Artistry

Our lives are not exactly

random, but follow love

in ways distracted by

the sudden gust of fear

or other emotional

obstructions. But spirit waits.

In time your life creates

its art. Not art for art’s

own sake, but life, at heart.

III. The Dream

Fictions

11. Adamnic

I eat an apple whole

and know without a sailor’s

doubt the world is sharp,

my life is built in ruins,

and nothing holds me here

but gravity and hope—

for freedom from such knowledge—

for oranges and gardens,

New Jersey before the traffic.

12. Odysseus

Every yacht is looking

condescendingly.

And all directions point

at me, insinuating,

with the current, tales

of second-rate Ulysses.

I know it isn’t so;

it’s just the planet moving

me to think I know.

F. Stories

The issue of our lives,

you see—they’re just invention.

Nothing’s real but life

itself; the rest is fiction.

Some are better story-

tellers, start at once

upon a time and go.

And some will wait in vain

for greater truths to show.

The Real World

13. Voice of the Past

Voices inside my ears!

The boy I was who fears

first grade soon tears at me.

The adolescent lost

in sere self-consciousness

still reappears High Noon.

The husband, now divorced,

avoids—nay jeers—June love.

Pray soon I overhear.

14. Material Fabrications

The dream is real enough

to sleep through life, pretending

fashion matters: madras

bleeds for you. Belief,

we know, is strong enough

to judge ourselves an open

book: seersucker thinks

for you. Our guilt grows common:

polyester rules.

G. Circadian Rhythms

The dream climbs higher daily,

reaching altitudes

no one has ever gained:

tuition, mortgages,

insurance, entertainment

systems of religious

body politics

erotic war. No wonder

we’re afraid of waking.

History

15. Becoming Another

In the beginning poured

the light and such delight

became the body filled

with insight that divines

the brightness whole around

and all within until

some particle begins

to call attention to

itself as something other.

16. Conspiracies

Who killed Kennedy

suspends our disbelief

in no solution. Lone

assassins disassemble.

The grassy knoll is not

another solid rock.

But stories come and go.

Commissioned fabrications

make one hell of a show.

H. Orchestrations

We are the walls and ceilings

where roomfuls of effects

determine who we really

pretend to be. Or are we

blood and intestinal

extremities? Or do

we move invisibly

and lovely in concert with

one living symphony?

IV. Domestication

Evolutions

17. Solutions

Our reality

evolved by physical

necessity to what

it is today: a mirror

of our senses for

survival. It’s subjective,

not a true solution

of what is. What is

will breed re-evolution.

18. Options

No words elucidate

the present energetic

look: a symmetry

evolving from opposing

stimuli. On one

hand there’s the milk of love.

But from a sharper hand

spills blood. You either smile

or cry—until you die.

I. Instructions

They scare up a screwdriver.

You secure the wrench.

Then rest a bolt within

an ear canal and turn

your consciousness until

domestication clicks.

Be careful not to strip

the thread of narrative

or else there is no else.

Fear

19. The Mist

The cormorants are not

afraid to be alive.

The cormorants are merely

drying off their wings

while waiting in the mist

to hear this bedtime story

about a man who sits

beneath an eastern pine,

afraid to be alive.

20. Voices

Afraid to be alive,

the pine trees shed their needles,

quiet down the younger

rhododendrons, still

the voices in the sky.

Afraid to be alive

no more, the pine trees shed

their old growth fabrications,

voice their green and thrive.

J. The Fog

Afraid to be alive,

I wandered in a world

of fog and listened to

the voices in my head

afraid to be alive.

Deep-rooted voices whisper

in my head a bygone

fog of dreams that seems

afraid to be alive.

Stories

21. The Alien

The war of worlds is not

an alien invasion

from the deepest reaches

of the universe

but one within ourselves

against our self. It’s life

contesting all the stuff

that’s alien to life—

our extraterrestrial story.

22. The Boss

One day the river descends

to depths of blue pollution.

So angry it could flood

the sea itself—although

it knows the ocean is

its better—it drowns the rainbow

trout and underlings

instead. Such subjects fill

our food chain to be fed.

K. The Joker

We love our stories more

than all the teas from God.

They fit like threadbare slippers—

worn dark nights before

we nod. These dreams are all

that stand between sea level

and our weak-kneed legs.

We aren’t exactly chicken;

we really want the eggs.

V. The Skyler Ancillaries

First Ancillary

23. First Epistle

Dear Skye, I saw myself

the other day, a mirror

image echoing

accounts I’ve told myself.

He said his name was Skyler.

He worshipped dragonflies

and preached a nebulous

philosophy of odd

belief but no surprise.

24. First Chronicle

He tells his story well.

Environmentally

correct, he labors in

a mill recycling paper.

Skyler recycles wit

as well, a poet just

like me, his latest work

involving dragonflies,

their buzzwords almost wise.

L. First Line

A dragonfly will draw

these perfect storylines

across our consciousness

connecting mythical

creations with the buzzing

drone of what we think

reality to be.

Such lines are true although

the stories disagree.

Second Ancillary

25. Second Hand

That dragonflies are neither

tells you less of words

than wisdom in their choosing.

That dragonflies are sometimes

damselflies relays

awareness that’s confusing.

That dragonflies are landing

on my hands conveys

this story for my musing.

26. Second Thoughts

I know that Skyler wants

to draft another poem

concerning dragonflies.

They’ve opened up his eyes

to all that universe

behind this wall of things

he’s seen since God knows when,

that’s made him think he doesn’t

realize where he’s been.

M. Second Sun

The light of dragonflies

reveals itself in time,

at first a subtle, almost

diaphanous delight,

becoming neutron bright

in sun’s own dynamite.

Softly, this summer day,

the light of dragonflies

alights on light au lait.

Third Ancillary

27. Third World

I wish to say this straight

as flights of dragonflies.

The world is not the world

we see and sense as such.

That’s just a dream within

our story. Dragonflies

consider us as much

as we consider what

the otherworldly is.

28. Third Eye

If Skyler understood

what all these dragonflies

are signifying, he

would see enlightenment.

But Skyler only knows

the wonder dragonflies

present the world and words

to tell such wonder with.

His dragonflies flee myth.

N. Third Time’s the Charm

Instead of new construction

I know dragonflies.

Instead of interstates

descending through the suburbs

I see dragonflies.

Instead of subjects, objects,

flags, geography,

untold woods and rivers,

behold the dragonflies.

VI. Belief

Myth

29. Critique of Pure Reality

The dream begins with green

accordions unfolding,

revealing oranges

exchanging names with apples.

Momentarily

the watermelons look

real business-like. A lemon

is a lemon is

our carrot after all.

30. The Gods of Logic

The gods no longer use

the telephone or ask

a sacrifice of first

an appetizer, say

the quesadillas. No,

they raise us to invest

instead in logical

mythologies like time,

wall space, and toiletries.

O: What's Up Doc?

Perfection is a diamond

in our carbon-based

reality. Perfection

hurts and there’s no crying

in perfection, Joe.

Perfection is a carrot

Bugs Bunny never wanted.

Elmer Fudd desires

that silly rabbit though.

Essence

31. Effervescence

If we’re doomed to always

misrepresent the essence

inherent in the living

ineffability

with words too effing stupid

for words, then why we try

is unbelievably

cold-blooded or else a warm-hearted

tolerance for tales.

32. Rigged

I’ve read the history books,

and clipper ships once spanned

this harbor with their rigging,

bent on places once

the terror. This we know

from chronicles and paintings.

But none has leaked a single

secret in the making,

never mind an era.

P. Play It Again Samsara

You must accept the fact

there are no facts except

that fact, before the truth

begins to dawn on you

that you are not the true

authentic you, but one

who suffers through a life

conducted from a view

untrue. It’s love that’s you.

Facts

33. Quarks

And verily we fail

to comprehend the quarks

we really tend to be

believing facts instead

involving physical

anatomies containing

brain and kindred matter,

despite the sciences

we know that preach the other.

34. Knot God

Poetry without

a god is like a cell

without a formula,

or to be more precise, like a cell

whose knot of formula

contains a circular

reference, always referring

back to itself, false gods

without the poetry.

Q. The Mayonnaise of Maya

There’s not an ounce of knowledge

worth the weight of living

yet we value nothing

better than belief.

We understand so little

yet profess to know

the meaning of it all.

But worthiness of fact

is infinitely small.

VII. Dreaming

Streams

35. Dreamland

This energy we call

the weather answers clearly

summer perfect high,

endowing energies

interpreted as river,

meadow, hillside, trees

with vibrant spectrums filled

within, without, with light.

This dream is out of sight!

36. Afterlife

A fishing line is breaking

through my view, a thread

of other consciousness

broadcasting its desire

past my impassiveness.

It’s strung as tight as life,

a tautological

conclusion well-supported

by nothing at its end.

R. Morning Glory

The river is a dream

that wakens in a sea.

The sailboats in its stream

pull at their moorings while

the current of the earth

whispers about the birth

this morning of the sun.

Soon they will open sail

to make their own dream run.

Tide

37. Perchance

We wake from nightmares half-

asleep and deeply conscious

we’ve been dreaming life

away. Still weary though,

we know we need to sleep

again, towards reverie

instead this time, angelic

revelations. Or else,

return to living dead.

38. Draft

But once awake, your dream

becomes a beach ball maybe,

something frisbee free,

a dream that knows it’s dreaming

circle alphabets

the coloring of roses,

heart of hearts, the word

aware it’s poetry

alive before rewriting.

S. Flood

The tide begins to turn,

all sailboats drifting towards

the parallel of current.

An ocean asserts itself

with hesitation at first;

our rudders remember the river.

But then the pull of something

like the moon transports

our will to face the sea.

Real

39. House of Mirrors

The real world isn’t all

that real. There’s images

on images and dreams

to dream. There’s who we hope

you think we are, and who

we judge we really are,

and who we guess you are.

But none of them are who

we live when loving true.

40: Attention Span

Death convinces me

the story of my life

excepting love is nothing

unimaginary.

Understandably,

familiarity

with unreality

will breed a certain knowledge

insubstantial too.

T. The Tao of Dreams

The bridge that opens is

the only way to take.

And where the river meets

the sea begins the dream

the earth remembers when

it sleeps. Horizons far

away seem much closer than

our course. But when you start

to drift, you’ll see its source.

VIII Waking

Views

41. And the Eternals

Past Blake and innocence,

I dream an aspen quaking

in experience,

its argent parchments forgetting

that they’re silver leaves,

believing to be gray

decreed and regulation-

sized—until a sounder

wind can turn the pages.

42. Worlds

The Navajo have no

appellative for global

warming. And that’s a start.

Unlearn the names of all

those spheres we’ve sorely profaned!

There’s no reality

like tragedy and, man,

the comedy is this:

we swear such worlds are real.

U. Planetary Breathing

The secret is to breathe

the earth within and turn

a pleasant landscape green,

and then exhale yourself

completely out becoming

high horizon blue.

In time you’ll circle back

to what you’ve always been—

a loving scenic view.

Divinity

43. Continuum

Before Greg Perry, I

believed I knew myself

a personality

as callow as leaflets, as

emotional as iron.

Little I knew that ages

ago, I exercised photo-

synthesis, and eons

from now, I’ll oxidize.

44.Creed

I don’t believe myself

believing in beliefs

breathed into being by

some dreamweaver and sons

incorporated. Truth

be told I just believe

in disbelief—the sun,

the further, and holistic

enchilada, dear.

V. Rider in the Rain

Divinity resides

in Phoenix, moonlighting as

a paralegal. Living

with her eternal sweetheart,

she’s now expecting. You

exist within her mind,

as I do. In a New

York minute, we will move

to Arizona too.

Shadows

45.Chaos

A trawler waits in harbor.

Its gillnet is entwined

haphazardly while waiting

to make the passage to sea,

where fishing crews will lower

that illusive weight

below the surface shadows—

to capture something formless

between its open spaces.

46. Reckoning

Our story is a lie,

one consecrated by

the faith that holds the whole

shebang together, faith

in negatives and less

than integrated figures.

Pray for greater faith

than zero, faith to reveal

the wraith and make it real.

W. Baptism

Between the concept and

its realization lies

a shadow world where life

returns in play of light.

Between the shadows comes

a focusing of sight,

revealing something bright.

Between such focal points

an energy anoints.

IX. Creation

Waters

47. Lakeside Meditation

The green unbroken tree-

lined shores surround this lake

like dreams, defining life,

encircle consciousness.

The cumulus-filled sky

beyond commands attention

like each thought that passes

in our head. That all

is one is left unsaid.

48. Shore

The miracle of lakes

and all that water gathered

like a congregation

found reflecting sky:

the individual sparkle;

ripples of genuflecting

white caps; waves intoning

rocky shore; the depths

unseen, unknown, but sure.

X. The Word

So all things here have names:

the rocks; the pond; the wind;

the waves, invisible

and visible. Yet names

annihilate the living

energies around

and in me. Everything

is indefinable

and absolutely lovely.

Life

49. Quantum

Sailing the dream called life

depends on essential force

we cannot see. It fills

our cells with microbursts

we solely divine are there

because they will our movement.

Resistance to this motion

is vain fantasy,

a death-defying notion.

50. Pulpit

Returning from the sea,

I fear the land is something

of an afterthought,

superfluous, dependent

on its visible

extent and boundaries,

but there’s no substitute

I can identify.

The amber waves grow high

Y. Resurrection

Sometimes I forget

that death stands in an open

door awaiting life

to ask it in with welcome

arms and house and title,

acknowledging that all

belongs to it except

this present moment, now!,

and nothing else is vital.

The Mystic

51. Vision

The world beyond our senses

probably exists

without our time and spatial

preoccupations, working

past and future in

the present, there and back

again to here, where mystics

see a semblance of

materiality.

52. Beyond Words

Seraphic fantasies.

Celestial chiffon

phonetics. Nanosecond

secular liaison.

Sonic nitrogen.

Genetic Ichabod

kaboom. Bombastic time

tomato. Matter tune.

Notorious retracing.

Z. The Dream's Prayer

O Ever-creating Creation,

Grant me the Faith to Sever

The Bonds of this Old and Untrue

Dream, and through Wisdom and Focus

In Love and Compassion, Create

This New and Beautiful Dreaming,

Here on Mother Earth,

Beneath this Father Sky,

Within the Great Mysterious.