Indigo Dreaming

Walaupun

Translation:

Even though tomorrow
the sun will shine in the blue sky,
the birds will sing,
the wind will continue to blow,
nothing is as beautiful as before.
I still miss you. ~~ JKB 2016

I Rise

I've been through hell, 
not nearly enough heaven. 
In spite of it all, I rise. 
I love, even if I do it alone. 
What is life without a bit of joy 
and a lot of sorrow?

JKB 2017~~

Eating Poetry

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.

There is no happiness like mine.

I have been eating poetry.

The librarian does not believe what she sees.

Her eyes are sad

and she walks with her hands in her dress.

The poems are gone.

The light is dim.

The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.

Their eyeballs roll,

their blond legs burn like brush.

The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.

She does not understand.

When I get on my knees and lick her hand,

she screams.

I am a new man.

I snarl at her and bark.

I romp with joy in the bookish dark.

Don’t go to Bali my friend.

Even if the whales whistle you the way,
even if the dolphins dance for you to stay,
even if the spirits possess you when you pray.

Even if the sun is king or the winds are fair,
or even if the sea currents take you there,
and even if you are charmed
by the gamelan music in the air.

Or the dancers of barong
and the outfits of sarong,
or the feasts of spice
and the paddies of rice,
or the volcanoes of light
and the temples of white.

Come what may in the end,
don’t go to Bali my friend.

Niko Tiliopoulos

Morning

Child, Child