Wonderglow Static

WONDERGLOW STATIC

Wonderglow static
Alight in my brain
A crackling connection
`Twixt silly and sane
Am I to be pitied?
Protected?
Restricted?
By those supposed wise
I have thus been depicted;
With a precocious puppet
That romps in my skull
Now disquietingly sharp
Now perplexingly dull
I have both strode and stumbled
And faltered, and flown
Scattershot seed and humus for
Fears that have grown
Of a reprobate, sluggard,
Religious fanatic—
What comes from a head
Filled with wonderglow static?

Wonderglow static
As waves trough and crest;
To surf the potentials
Between worst and best
I hang ten and tingle
Taut into the spray
Is it in and around me
Or just in my way?
Strange variation
Or one heaven blessed—
Ever at peace
Although never at rest?
Seeking no leave to differ
Begs leave just to be
Were there one to be begged!
And are none to foresee
The spills and the dousings
(With warnings emphatic)
That befall those who surf
On the wonderglow static?


Wonderglow static
An unbridled force
Affrighting the fretful
Respecting no course;
An electroshock zombie
I shuffle through floors
Full of meaningless rooms
And anonymous doors
Murmuring babble
To strangers I know
Hilarious to friend
And pathetic to foe
Sick in the semblance
Of health on the face
Robust in remembrance
Of an untrodden place
Where I, no psychotic
Nor mystic, nor addict
Live dreams in the ether
Of wonderglow static

Wonderglow static
Let us impose a ban
(So the wise have proclaimed)
Let us remake the man!
And I, their own servant,
Leapt into their mold
And I, my own quisling,
I have cursed me tenfold
But wonderglow static
(Not easy to kill!)
Dreaded by some as hell’s glow
Is a flint-spark of will
Kindling warmth for pariahs
At the hearthside of truth
From whence re-emerges
That rejected youth
Who sought not to be safe
From things sad and traumatic,
But to hear what God whispers
Through the wonderglow static.


Merlin L. Taylor, Jr. 1995, 2006, 2015