Joe Balaz


Unexpected Heaven

WEN I GET TO HEAVEN



Wen I get to heaven

if I get to heaven

dey going give me
wun pair of wings.


Wen I have dem attached

I going soon find myself
in front of wun towering podium

wheah wun seraph
wit wun lawyer’s necktie

will begin to present
all of my devilish deeds.


On each reference

wun baldheaded cherub
smoking wun cigar

going come up behind me
and pluck out wun feather.


No doubt
wen my session is ovah

I’ll find myself

stuck on some isolated cloud
wit aerial nubs

watching everyone else
fly around in evahlasting bliss.


To make mattahs worse

even my harp strings
will be broken.


Wit such anticipated
good fortune

I would probably
be bettah off in hell

shooting craps
foa wun glass of watah.



Time Chains

WITOUT EVAH REALLY OFFERING



Da notion
dat everyting happens foa wun reason

is simply reasoning

dat tings are gonna be
da way tings are gonna be.


No divine principle
is working any magic

just to keep your feet
moving forward each day.


Dats wat you say to yourself

wen you are confronted
wit new knowledge

dat estimates da age of da earth,
da age of da solar system,

and da age of da universe.


Old folk tales based on faith
no make sense

wen logic and intelligence
is ramping up new possibilities.


Still den

science knows dat someting
came from someting

but it no can tell you
wat dat someting is.


So lots of people
continue to look skyward

weadah it’s through wun telescope,

in da guidance
of wun religious text,

or in da mystic exploration
of some great beyond.


Any deep tinking human being
would go back and forth

bending da mind

to try and resolve
wat has no definitive resolution.


You simply
gaddah pick and choose

accepting wun path
but all da while wondering.


Wit religion in place,
science at da helm,

or mysticism
attempting to turn wun new rudder,

all of it tries to explain everyting

witout evah really offering
da unknown explanation.



HIDDEN KAONA



It’s not wun complex mystery
dat I stay giving you

so no worry.


No need analyze tings
down to da bone

like wun archeologist
working on grave sites.


By da way
wheah’s da sanctity in dat?


I know da ancient king
wuz fascinating

and you stay finding
all of dose wonderful artifacts

but you just digging up
wun long gone person

dat wuz put deah foa wun reason.


So much foa da respect
of da dead


On second taught dough
maybe wun supreme leader’s death

wuzn’t da best analogy foa me to use
in da creative sense

in wat I’m trying to say
and get to right now.


In my case I not deceased yet
and I guess I not going mind

if you check out
all da jewelry box words

dat I going leave behind.


Riches are riches
and treasure is treasure

defined by watevah.


It’s just dat capturing da author’s breath
and da shining rays of dreamland

resting dere on da page

would seem to be
someting dat wuz readily tangible

wit no need
of wun exploratory pick axe.


It’s all between your ears
to discover

and it’s subject
to instantaneous interpretation

so take it as is

and no make
wun big investigative hullabaloo

is wat I telling you.


Life built on fantasy
can have wun hidden kaona

even as reality
keeps coming through da lines.

(kaona                 Hidden meaning.)

Joe Balaz has created works in American English and Hawaiian Islands Pidgin (Hawai'i Creole English).

He presently lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and he is the author of Pidgin Eye
 
 
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