"If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise." -William Blake

Like Thomas Merton wrote, "In a world of tension and breakdown, it is necessary for there to be those who seek to integrate their inner lives not by avoiding anguish and running away from problems, but by facing them in their naked reality and in their ordinariness." Sacred clowns are the epitome of such integration.

Heyokas, for example, remind their people that Wakan tanka, the great mystery, is beyond good and evil; that its primordial nature doesn't correspond to human platitudes of right and wrong. Heyokas act as mirrors, reflecting the mysterious dualities of the cosmos back onto their people. They walk the Red Road, following in the bloody footprints left behind by their Heyoka fore-brothers.

They go forward, to that place where emptiness is full, and fullness empty. "As a representative of Thunderbird and Trickster," writes Steve Mizrach, "the heyoka reminds his people that the primordial energy of nature is beyond good and evil. It doesn't correspond to human categories of right and wrong.

i say hi
you say low
i say profane
you say sacred
i say inane
you say profound
i say nay
you say yay
i say fuck you
you say christ bless you
i say go to your grave
you say rise to heaven
i say blow it out your ass
you say i love you more than seven
i say eat shit
you say i bought you 3 dozen roses
red
yellow and white

so a choice has to be made
who's first
who's left
whose thirst
remains in vain
to be saved
when the trumpet sounds
and god's chariots
in the clouds
turns out
to be
space ships
a gown
lies flawless
in your mind
time to decide
where you reside
and whose side
you are on
dark or light

so i am a monster
it is what i do best
i am no lover
i am in disgust
this aint real
this has no appeal
fuck the rhymes
lying most of the time
you want deeper
fuck the deep
it cannot keep
me
from rising
like the kraken
lip smackin
good

watchin it flow
spectators in trees
a face
in each leaf
all
reminding me
of you
the moisture
of the dew
in his vein
superfluous moisture
nothing
is the same

i am holy
i am divine
i am wealthy
simply sublime
i am more
than i think
i think
i am
i am
i think
i am a veritable
horn of plenty
from which all bounty
flows

do you feel
like a jagged
edge
cutting through
new terrain
or a smooth
surface
on a different plane
what is your purpose

to know love
is to not know love
to know beauty
one must know ugly
to know intimacy
one must know isolation
in the midst of relationships
to know hatred
one must look directly
into its' eyes deeply

spirit be with me
spirit fill me
spirit is me
filling the back
of its wing
thats how well
i know you

like a massive
genetic constipation
i feel moved to say
the following
i am somewhere between
the middle and the outermost layer
next to the grand intestine

communion with
the holy spirit
is necessary
we press next to ya
insights
into belief
systems
we offer these
re telling
of myths from long
ago

a vine
like a thread
goes out
in red
through an eye
of a needle
im the one
playing a fiddle
turning the spindle
dont dwindle
or dawdle
snap the pin in place
learn to coddle
paint your face
with haste
and grace
state your case

take up the slack
attack the lack
mono polarity indeed
a dire need
to come together
like weeds
needing loving
or removing
which is still
loving

radiance comes forth
from a spiritual
center in my head
stare at the center
and enter
my bed
chamber
orchestra
where i am
playing
a suite
with my close friends
and family

egg cream
to carry my
stream
into your dream
of me
i am silky
and sweet
mr complete
i feel like
a well
grooved
seat
to sit in

having a conversation
with silence
which tie
looks best
ever notice
insects
especially ants
frenetic
but moving
with a purpose
porpoises
of the pavement

"seeping into
everything
taking all
to the ball
the core
of her
being
seeing
this
repeat
through
her heart"

Comment from an enthusiastic reader of Brain's poems: All Brian's pieces are meditative and contemplative. His works speak to all these human experiences..be they of Love...of Despair...of Bliss.... He weaves the Tapestry of Life..deftly interlacing poetic yarns upon a philosophical loom...and all this is done so effortlessly"

north wind
married
south wind
west and east
prepared a feast
of friends
my brothers
the stars
my sisters
the moons
my father
the sun

"we grow up in
lost horizons
new divisions
old incisions
based on false
assumptions
split us in two
we cannot be one
divided
by mathematical equations
unconventional methods
need new calculations"

"we dare
to make you care
swirling motions
of uninterrupted
voices
tones for bones
willows whispering
wealthy
wonders
to those in despair"

"i am the one with no end
and at the same time
no beginning
to end
or begin
i am baking in the oven
and being eaten at the table"

"increased awareness
like fruit shining
in the mid day sun
juices flow
forming their skins
a symbiotic relationship
which nurtures
the newness
of dewness
in a stew's nest
i brews best"

if you've been wronged, by Brian
if you have been wronged
by some one
love them
even more
if their words
their tongue
has cut you
deeply
kiss them
even
more

Introducing to the front site these wonderfully thought-provoking poems by Brian, with the recommendation to take them in slowly and let them sink in:

ive seen too much
oppression
you'd think
it would've
taught us
a lesson