Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Three


Saturday, May 4, 2013

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Kinds of Paths

Kinds of Paths

We all are born unknowing
We all have many questions
All look for answers, and strive through our lives
As best we can
Humans are pretty dumb creatures sometimes
And so try as we might
We've only come up with two ways
For finding our way across the land

There are those who follow trails blazed for them
Then there's individuals who strike out by themselves
Making their own paths across the sand
Followers always find a hero
Like Jesus, Mohammad, or Buddha
They listen to his words very carefully
And try to follow his lead as best they can
Individuals follow only themselves
Are very stubborn, question everything
And listen to only to advice of their choosing
Whenever, and from wherever it happens to land

I've known lots of individuals and followers alike
Individuals faults are many and varied
Followers almost always only have two
They always have too much faith in what some other guy once said
And they always believe their hero was something more than just a man
Individuals doubt practically everything but their own right to choose
Followers sometimes resent it if you doubt their hero
And always doubt most, their ability to decide what to do

Often no love is lost
Between those who take different kinds of paths
Followers think irreverence is improper
While individuals find devotion irritating
Better that each should treat the other
Like fans of a different baseball team
Because the only real difference between them
Is what they aim their doubt at
And how many different kinds of advice they listen to

Now, I've always been my own kind of man
And if you were to ask me,
I would just have to say:
Strive always to be an individual
Summon the faith that you can find your own path
Follow only yourself
Find wise words wherever you can
And if ever we should meet
With a grin and a shake of the hand
I'll say “You know, I think your leader is quite an individual
He is a wise, wise man”

If you insist on following a blazer of paths
I suggest you follow my good friend, Prophet Hank
Hank is Gods brothers second cousin twice removed
Right next to Jesus and Buddha
He's got a seat at Gods dinner table
And when it's time for desert, he always gets first dibs
On Gods special peach-schnapps pie

He's got Gods word all written down
On platinum plates
Inscribed with a silver pen
He's got a nine point plan
That will turn you into an uber-man
Follow it faithfully
And pretty soon you'll feel pure bliss
All Tuesday morning and every Friday afternoon
To top it all off, I've personally seen him
Wave around incense
Right up there with the best of them

Dewey Dirks

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Heaven and Earth

Heaven and Earth

Some say heaven is high above us
and hell lies far below.
Some say that life for most is hell in a hand basket
but that for a few it’s pure bliss.
Some say earth is the land of labor
where day by day we all break our backs.

But you know, life is a long, long walk
with more than one place to go
and more than one place to stop.
What you get back
has a lot to do with what you put in.
And what we think we see
can be a tricky thing
because life is inside of you
and outside at the same time.

Life is trouble for each of us
some of the time
but little bits of heaven
touch us all every day
in the smiles of strangers
in the touch of your lover
in the eyes of a child
in jokes from a friend
in the purr of your cat
in the wag of a dogs tail
where the love you give out
is the love you get back.

Now, those bits of heaven
that you have every day
can carry you through a lifetime
like a river flowing out to the sea.
But don’t hold on too tightly
as the moments pass by.
Love and happiness
enjoyed for a moment then released
return to visit
more than once each day.
The roads we take
can be a hard, winding ride.
We all know
what this old world can do.
If you loose your way
just hold a newborn babe in your hands.

Little bits of life
spread all around five minutes at a time
grow into eighty years of good memories
like a great field of cool green grass
stretching out across the long years behind.

Dewey Dirks

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Art of Life

I'd like to invite everyone to visit my new page on Facebook, "Art of Life --Live Love Learn"  Click the like button if you enjoy what the page has to offer.  Here is the link:
Art of Life --Live, Love, Learn

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Love Unity and Magic

I'm happy to announce the web journal “Love Unity and Magic” has published one of my poems. Be sure to drop by there and take a look at all their fine posts. Here is the link: http://www.loveunitymagic.com/fiction#.UW6Zg8r4FRc

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Gunrunner Novel For FREE

 
ATTENTION EVERYONE :) For the next few days I'm offering my book "Gunrunner" for FREE as a promotion. So, make sure to drop by Amazon.com and download the complete book for FREE....(Offer ends 04-07-13) Here is the Link:

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Atomic Pub #6

I'm pleased to announce one of my poems has been featured over at Atomic Pub Issue #6.  Drop on by there to see all their fine poetry, art and essays. They also have a good newsfeed, so be sure to check that out as well.

Atomic Pub Issue #6

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Sapphire Dragon

The Sapphire Dragon

Of muses the ancients
knew only nine
while wise Shakespeare
knew of a tenth
though truth be known
there are many more
but most remain hidden
from the minds of men
Here now comes the tale
of the old and wise
Sapphire Dragon
a muse of great heart
and kindness to all mankind

Now, dragons come and go
There are dragons wise
and dragons foolish
but it's said
the most foolish dragon
is still wiser than most men
There are dragons in the air,
and on the ground,
and dragons beneath the sea
Dragons made of flesh and bone
dragons of ice and fire
dragons of water
dragons of brown earth and stone
dragons of light
and dragons made out of nothing at all
Some dragons are always up to mayhem
Some dragons
don't concern themselves
with man at all
still others are very kind and help men
these we call muses and memes


Many thousands long years ago
in a time now lost to our memories
man was like every other creature
on our planet
we could feel
the divine heartbeat of life
and we could hear the great song
all the universe sings as one

Then a terrible illness befell our species
and man alone among life on earth
became deaf to the grand music
that surrounds us all
Soon too we lost our ability
to talk to other animals
and feel in our mortal hearts and minds
the song of our own eternal souls

Blind to the flow of life
men began to fear and hunt dragons
and like other creatures when they are sick,
we started the bad habit of destroying
our own homes in the forests and savannas
and bringing much mayhem
to the land and creatures around us

A great council was called
among the wisest dragons
to see what could done
to cure humans of our strange illness
and restore us to harmony with all life
It was resolved among the council
to teach man new ways of living,
new ways of thinking,
new ways to look upon the world
in the hope that by our increasing
our knowledge man would once again
also discover true wisdom

Over many thousands of years
the great dragon muses
slowly taught men
writing, and mathematics,
science and philosophy,
to live in villages and cities,
to sow crops, create great art and music
and to form governments and religions


A very wise and ancient
dragon made of brilliant blue light
known simply as the Sapphire Dragon,
was given the task of teaching
man to hear once again
the great song of life

Dragons all know the secret of shape shifting
so, in 570 BC disguised as a beggar
the Sapphire Dragon went to China
where the Zhou Dynasty then ruled
He searched many years
for the most intelligent
human he could find
After much trouble and many adventures
he picked a young boy named Li Dan.

After revealing his true form
to his new student
and with young Li Dan upon his back,
the great Sapphire Dragon flew
to the Greek city states and again
searched for several years
teaching Li Dan all the while
the ways of the flow of life
After much time and many more adventures
he settled upon a young boy of wealth
from the city of Ephesus
named Heraclitus. 

Now with two students,
the Sapphire Dragon
and his young companions
retired to deep in the Ural mountains
where he taught them diligently
until they each were in their twenties
then he returned both of them
to their native lands
where they each taught
men of ancient wisdom
just as great Sapphire Dragon
had taught them. 

Li Dan came to be known as Lao Tzu
meaning 'old master'
After a lifetime of teaching
Lao Tzu, now a master librarian
in the imperial archives,
grew tired to the ways of men
and prepared to retire to the wilderness
in the west of China
As he was leaving the imperial city
a young guard at the gates named Yin Hse
recognized him and begged Lao Tzu
that he go with him as his student
After much time passed
now old and near death,
Lao Tzu gave Yin Hse a book
that summed up his wisdom
called the “Tao Te Ching” meaning
“The Way and The Virtue”
wherein he taught of the flow of life
which he called “Tao”meaning “The Way”

Meanwhile, in Asia Minor Heraclitus
also became a great and wise teacher
relating to his students
of the way of life
which in his tongue
he called “Logos” meaning “Formula”
He taught that Logos permeates all things
and steers the course of all existence
In his later years, like his old friend
Li Dan, Heraclitus grew weary
of the stubborn ways of men
and came to be known
as the weeping philosopher 

Much of what Heraclitus taught
has been lost to the sands of time
but Lao Tzu's book has weathered the years
and can still be found
upon the bookshelves of men
where it is considered to be
among the greatest books
ever written.

Dewey Dirks