The Last Hour
His clock strikes one last hour
Holding his warm hand
I cry like I’ve never cried before
He doesn’t hear me
He doesn’t see me
No vital support
No vibrant life
His last hour has arrived
© 2009 David Greg Harth
Death is the End
I watch you slowly depart
Every organ halts
Even your heart
Uncontrollable body secretions
Beg for quick departure
Plead to escape these institutions
So grey and white
Old and pale
Perhaps taken this very night
Frail pile of bones
In a year’s time
Your grave covered in stones
Prayer to your Lord
No more despair
These gates you migrate toward
Last goodbyes
No more heartache
Lost loving eyes
Join her in heaven
Your one true love
One floor above eleven
You’ve lasted so long
Your voyage has begun
You’re about to sing your last song
At the end
All that is left is death
As the angel does descend
Almost free
You are at peace
Where you want to be
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.11.23.01:51:28@130BklynNYC
List of 10: Cities I’ve Visited
1. Berlin
2. Tokyo
3. Rome
4. Beirut
5. Istanbul
6. Basel
7. Ramallah
8. Madrid
9. Athens
10. London
Note: Cities are listed in random order, not chronologically.
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.11.08.24:41:27@130BklynNYC
Disease of Difference
In my land of Palestine
I discovered a gold mine
Traveled to the Golan Heights
Witnessed forbidden sights
Washing out the dust
Telling these stories, I must
This smoke, this history
I surrender to the border control
To high walls and west banks
I smuggle in humanity
The necessary, the water
My black shoes now white
From white rock and desert trees
Powder of a thousand years and a thousand deaths
Government forced blood tears
Apples and infiltrators crossing borders
Syrian students hidden from their mothers
Destroyed a Jew, destroyed a martyr
I climbed these walls of stone, I walked over water
Stealing Jerusalem, tunnel digging
Launching rockets, rope rigging
Victory is yours and victory is mine
Rip out the signage and rip out my spine
Jews and Muslims embedded in bed
No answers, no reasons, bury the dead
In cloaks and hats and veils they dressed
A disease of difference confessed
Makes no sense or cents, no flood, no blood
I brush my hair, I brush my teeth
I trust you with rock, I trust you with flame
Their weak heavy tanks roll over my feet
Gather at my wooden table and let us meet
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.10.17.11:30:00@TK001Istanbul-NYC
09.11.07.23:57:53@130BklynNYC
Hard (Version #2)
It’s so incredible hard to go on -
To live every day and not be in love.
I ache constantly for you.
It’s one thing I’ve always wanted
All of my friends know it, my family too
Even my nephew recently asked me,
“Did you meet any new girls? So, you don’t have any new girlfriends?”
I have none.
No one is in my heart.
No one has captured it.
No one has claimed ownership.
Where are you?
I plead for you to come forth.
End my misery of terrible ache.
My drowning sorrows.
This bad day dream.
Let me love you,
Like you love me.
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.10.21.09:51:38@130BklynNYC
Lost Without
Lonesome journey remains
Ache circulated through my veins
Diving off the cliff of the unknown
Body limp in a pile of bone
Let your will be left to the wind
In this holy land I have sinned
Freedom sent to the local crusade
I dropped to my knees and prayed
Search for you makes me fatigued
What you bring keeps me intrigued
Shouting from the mosque at night fall
Slip away and plunge from the wall
Alone with no direction
I plead to you for a little affection
Guide me to a brighter light
Save me from my death tonight
Years pass in time, dying slowly without
Give me rope, rescue me from this drought
Looking and waiting, I beg for you to come forth
Hidden, I am lost without my North
09.10.05.11:02:00@BirzeitPalestine
09.10.05.20:57:58@AthensGreece
She Doesn’t Know
Wake up
Slowly rise from your secure sheets
Set aside last year’s tears
Paperwork is done
Signatures made it complete
I love her beyond any moon’s dream
I love her from eternity to infinity
How come she doesn’t know?
I haven’t told her yet.
Wake up
From the sleep which hides you
Bring forth your beauty
Allow me to enter you
As no man has entered you before
I love her more than the stars cradle the moon
I love her more than the waves break on the beach
How come she doesn’t know?
I haven’t told her yet.
Wake up
Let my whispers guide you
Let my gentle touch caress you
This heart belongs to you
Forever you may keep its chambers
Let our lips collide
Through transatlantic borders we do not divide
Love like this will never hide
How come she doesn’t know?
I haven’t told her yet.
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.09.26.14:29:05@BirzeitPalestine
BC2
I’m better off with a graphite stick
Behind my closed door
Beneath my wooden plank
Much better than before
Jesus Christ ruled and ruined my life
My gold is gone with spoiled sweat
And spent tears in my struggling strife
Roadside bombs
Light up the avenues at night
I told sister, I’m not going to moms
Holy monks on fire
Shafrazi, Solanas
Everyone I admire
Rachel’s object carefully kept
Burden you with a repeat
Three months in I quietly slept
I’m gay, I’m straight, I’m bi
Does it really matter to you
If I do or die?
Pull up alongside me
September spread in Vogue
Connective ladder is the key
Elevated to the likes of the common few
Hedge funders and President Emerita
Models and curators I can now screw
Lincoln crosses the street
Suicide inevitable
In Wyeth’s field of wheat
Dried without starch
Multiple mediums and now large
Recognition of nothing somethings
Let’s begin the charge!
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.09.10.19:57:00@CanalStQNYC
09.09.14.21:48:00@130BklynNYC
09.09.17.15:32:41@130BklynNYC
Problem Solver
Let’s stop eating --
My cock sure could use a good beating
These useless goats are stuck in my head
Son of Man told me to neighborly break bread
So, I’m howling at the moon and I’m not making any alterations
Saluting complex decisions made by enemy nations
U.S. of A. is launching radar-evading jet fighters
While Commies have jailed rebellious writers
Lower the disguise, do not hide
Not my fault, Dear President lied
Inside battle not yet won
Truth is, my grandfather thirsts for a gun
All is quiet with death at the door
My Muslim brothers declare a backyard war
While my ex-girlfriend is finally seeing someone new
Several months have passed, I remember you
Salty cow’s tongue (against my chest) tasted like honey
Sold under black market tables, whoring for lots of money
Packing up my luggage, heading for Argentina
For years I secretly wished to date last year’s ballerina
Once told a man that I’d be on a box of cereal
Addicted to St. Matthew’s Vaseline material
Milk missing and children missing
Shorelines of Jersey reminiscing
Scattered synapses transmitted
Neurological institute committed
One day masturbated in her sight
To Freud’s mother, a trans-Atlantic delight
Politics at Brooklyn’s wooden table
Architecture to God burned to a child’s fable
Remind you: my next-door resident is a digger
Truth is, I’d pull my grandfather’s trigger
Bring on the jungle and mount the Veteran’s flag
It’s my wide girth that gets every little old fart fag
Offend you with my art, offend you with my words
Fourth day sunrise, we’ll kiss the Kurds
Debt rises with the ticking of the clock
Mounting doubts among the shepherd’s flock
Worldwide spread of McDonald’s juicy lard
Let me promote myself and give you my card
Coffee consumed and I have to take a smelly piss
Exhausted of watching the common Republican hiss
Return of the fighter jet and grandfather’s revolver
How have I become the number one problem solver?
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.09.10.10:23:55@130BklynNYC
Starbucks Whore & Folgers Pimp
I will not hide
Declare the truth from deep inside
Broadcast my desire
The hills of Athens are on fire
I want to cup your perfect breast
From my palm to my mouth
Ideas simply suggest
So, remove your quill from your given
Install wishes to your lady’s driven
Touch your soft skin to mine
Let words intertwine
Round honey stare
Your skin sensitive and bare
From hourly champagne
To your splint with her in the rain
This is the break, the part, the area when you become a whore
From corner to corner, you always want more
Bring up the coffee to your rose lips
My caffeinated tongue shall trace the outline of your hips
But who am I? But just a Folgers Pimp
My beating heart has a continuous limp
Alone in my world of compositions
With coffee, we’ll have multiple positions!
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.08.30.19:51:33@130BklynNYC
Different
I woke up this morning,
And things were different.
I stayed in bed
To analyze these differences.
I started to speak languages foreign to my own tongue of American English.
I spoke Mandarin and Korean, German and Hebrew, French and Italian.
I spoke Polish and Spanish, Arabic and Swahili, Russian and Swedish.
I spoke Hindi and Danish, Polish and Japanese, Persian and Greek.
I spoke Lithuanian and Thai, Turkish and Portuguese, Catalan and Tonkawa.
To name a few.
I no longer had hair. Anywhere.
The hair on my arms was gone.
The hair under my arm pits.
The hair on my knuckles was gone, the hair on my toes was gone.
The hair on my legs, the hair on the back of my neck.
The hair on my head was gone.
My facial hair, my eyebrows, my eyelashes.
All my hair was gone.
The hair on my chest and the hair between my scrotum and anus.
I was smooth all over. Not a trace of hair. No evidence of its existence.
My hair was gone, I am bare.
Lying still
Thinking about these changes
These differences
I hear a sound upstairs.
A loud thump, a small bang, a coordinated rumble.
I don’t get out of my bed to investigate.
I stay still.
Different.
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.08.26.20:49:52@130BklynNYC
List of 10: Women I had sex with
1. Kate
2. Bonnie
3. Jocelyn
4. Luciana
5. Mindy
6. Ruth
7. Nancy
8. Hannah
9. Charlotte
10. Eve
Note: Names have been changed to protect the identity of those mentioned
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.08.16.22:46:00@130BklynNYC
Bought & Sold
I’ve bought
And I’ve sold
I’ve purchased
And I’ve had an all-day sale
I’ve paid too much
And made too little
I’ve taken
And I’ve given
I’ve traded
And I’ve bartered
I’ve borrowed, stolen,
And donated
I’ve done even exchanges,
Profited and debited
I’ve made bids
And I’ve been auctioned
I’ve been made
And I’ve just paid
I’ve bought
And I’ve sold
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.08.14.15:31:00@2550BronxNYC
Second Time
In the emptiness of it all
A string quartet plays melodies
Similar to the ones that of my grandfather hummed me to sleep
I break open
Pour the coffee, skip the milk, add the sugar
Silently sipping, now lukewarm after a few minutes wait
It was raining on that December day
I was brought by ambulance to the hospital
Given injections in my legs
Still, I lay
Still, I have become
No fear, or regrets
No embarrassments, no chartered waters
Like I said, no reasons, no more
I stand tall
With my fleshy weapon strong at my side
My eyes focused on the target
Rage in my heart — no sympathy
In my shade I cannot hide
In the sun, I will fade, and surely die
With no more options
No more running, making, inhaling
Without freedom
Without eight hours fight
Without her love
Only a small instance
Of left over scraps
Of left over disease
I beg you to forgive me
For what I am about to achieve
My achievement,
Museum quality
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.08.12.21:08:31@130BklynNYC
Nowhere Exodus
Slowly, slight tilt of the head
Slowly, wooden door ajar
Something isn’t right
I’m trying to love you
I’m trying with everything I’ve got
Still, not enough
Slowly, let go of the thread
Slowly, healing my scar
Something isn’t right
I’m trying to listen
I’m trying to hear the words you speak
Still, not heard
Slowly, rising out of bed
Slowly, following the North Star
Something isn’t right
I’m trying to confront
I’m trying with all my ability
Still, never moving
Slowly, beyond the coast I tread
Slowly, waters rise above my head
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.08.08.02:32:53@130BklynNYC
Reluctant Heart
I.
Bellowing deep below the earth’s crust
Carnivores and whores
Of all nations, creed and blood
They form in lines
So far as the fifth eye can see
Lining up, center straight
With teeth that scrape side’s post
They scratch, they etch
Leave their name, leave their mark
Private sales, one week at a time
Entering the common man’s lift
To be hidden in cloaks of emperor’s past
Institution’s possession
Difference only by technique and wealth
Each labeled in a jar on a shelf
II.
Be forth
Forbidden path, road unlike the former trinity
Passage of light now seen by known
On the length of moon’s night
A sparrow’s song silenced
Thorns removed from their keeper’s position
Even thy enemies venerate her
Revealing innocent vulnerability
All mend their exhausted time frames
Exchanged in torridness
Captured at dawn’s rise
Now fertile with unexpected seed
Embark on your odyssey
Take the howling winds ahead
Question nothing but the sea’s roar
III.
Voyage hesitant of momentum
Calming calls abandoned, echoed against walls
Secrets confessed in the widow’s room
Opening to the great abyss
Void now filled with pillars of salt
Stolen and still
Sinking to the bottom, the deep
Voiceless creatures howl
All is quiet, vacant and unheard
Uncertain of compass’ direction
Opposing outcome destined
Confined to one’s vault of desolation
Witness deceased aging with disease
Not a fatal thrust of a stone dagger can please
Enduring a grand death, brought to thy knees
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.08.01.14:15:09@130BklynNYC
Zero
No options, no picks
No choices, no delicacies
Zero to have
Zero to hold
Nothing, never, no, nope negative, zilch, not here, gone now, absent
Why ask?
Delivery
Take In, Take Out, Cook In, Cook Out
Refresh, Reheat, Retake, Return
Balanced, no
Cooked, no
Frozen, no
Nothing, yes
Zero
Zero options
No choices, no picks, no delicacies
Strike, on
No alternatives, no splendid verdict, no decision
No preparation, no quick skills, no mouth watering
Headache, on
Coffee, on
Coffee, piss
Coffee, smell
Zero, on
Zero options
Zero eats
Coffee, on
© 2009 David Greg Harth
2009.07.31.17:42:19@130BklynNYC
išėjęs
Warriors roar
Engage at the line
Attacking opposites
Competing for tyranny
Bludgeoned carcasses thrown
Blood soaked soil enriched
Barren fields left unattended
Common battle is extinct
Wounds heal no more
Pumping chambers vacant constant
With a sword of many
Reflection becomes absent
Known as an unfilled void
Only with scriptures from the land
Return as a heavenly secret from the serpent’s tongue
Gather and mourn the defeated
Conflict has ended
Soldier departed
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.07.23.11:13:14@130BklynNYC
Elbows In My Knees
These bones
These bones
These over ground fixtures
structures
punctures
out of print junctures
Complicated architecture
Swam that archipelago
My name is Michelangelo
Wife is an archer
Protest marcher
Molesting preacher
Heroic teacher
These bones
These bones
These problem solvers
hand held revolvers
soul survivors
deep sea divers
Spread solvents
Innocent adolescents
Censored advertisements
Identity notarized
America terrorized
Keeping on my eyes
I’ve been dehumanized
These bones
These bones
These left overs
push overs
under covers
community lovers
Liquid dykes
Mathematical hikes
Mystery nights
Silent secret protected
I was the last to be selected
Mirage reflected
With no fault, erected
These bones
These bones
These dark clothes
dirty hoes
friend and foes
eagle’s nest, street crows
Obscene gestures
Earned tenures
Digging caterpillars
Nuclear rockets in the sky
Earth’s shadow – magnify
Innocent claiming “Oh My!”
Standing tall, do or die
These bones
These bones
These mighty bones!
© 2009 David Greg Harth
09.07.15.10:42:28@130BklynNYC