E-Man

Dial-up, wireless, D-S-L

Need a vehicle to travel



Hibernate, never sleep


On-line, at the ready


System check, familiar beep,


Blinking light, now steady




In command, mouse in hand


Click and scroll, rock and roll



Shock me, shake me


Splash page wake me



Faster and faster


Feed me disaster



Cyber-freaks in chatrooms


Sportin’ digital costumes


Click a link, in the pink


Pornstars are humpin’


I-tunes are bumpin’


Robots and spam


Freezin’ my cam



Hardware, software, goin’ down fast


Upload, download, pixelated, crash!



Ain’t glithes the bitches?

- Peter Riordan

 June '09

Morning Royale

Southern California sunrise,

Beach awakening

Drifter checking the trash for something.

Surfers' already lined up, 

Bobbing outside the break

Fella' unpacks his guitar, 

Another arrives with a ukelele.

A mom and young daughter set up a checkerboard

On the near-by picnic table

Mom with her Starbucks

Now a banjo player arrives

The impromptu beach band begins to jam 

Above a young girls voice, "King me!"

Ashes & Transformation

 Painful truth
 
Shattered youth

Arriving on a comet

From a deep, cold orbit.

Vapor trail on the horizon.

Unfamiliar shore, all alone

Foggy vision through first thaw

Mouth agape, wondering in awe

Merely human, not divine

And so very far behind

Alienated, ashamed

Different, afraid

I learned the meaning of being outcast

When I realized I was one

Ethereal, ghost-like, but growing fast

With each obstacle overcome

Hearing only sound, echoes in the dark.

Yearning for music, ignition, a spark

First root cracks the diamond hard shell.

Darkness explodes, breaking the spell

Igniting me with solid proof
Nostrils flaring at the Truth

That pure, spectral ray, divining staff of energy

Destroying and birthing simultaneously

Ashes and transformation . . .

Just a Little Sting

Dark clouds join to conspire lies

Thought arrested under television skies

Speech slurred, truth blurred



Mutant generations spew in our waste


Species slough off the planets crust


Like so much dead skin



Swarm our way through the luscious fruit


Devour our way to the core

Surround sound, 3-D, Hi-def, zoom


Inject our daily dose of scag news


Cull our senses


Psychotic student gamers from cyberspace


Eclipsed only by the zombie puppet bombs


Sprout their Jihad rain


New definition of insane



Pain incubates memories


Spring drearily to life


Status systems check


Prognosis not so good



Put a bottle in front of me


Begin my lobotomy


Dull the senses, block the pain


Slide that blade into my brain


Give a lil’ twist make it safe again



No more smiles, no more frowns,


Just neutral ground, only neutral ground


- Peter Riordan
Sept. 2009

EZ Prey

So predatory, so perfect, so true,

Nature rewards the fit.

Vibrant, fierce, beautiful,

Nature descends,

talons outspread.

Finely focused.

Communal sense,

communal power.

No compromise,

Victory to the wild!



Piercing our protective veil of vanity

With harsh shrieks of survival.


Illusory, digital Utopia gone astray, adrift.

Rogue entity, out of orbit, morphed and mutated.

The outer are now the inner limits.



Truth is hard, sometimes near impossible.

Laser-like and immediate,

Easy prey, 

as the Great Raptor whooshes away.

- Peter Riordan

Oct, 2009

Suckling of the Wasteland

I crawl through a shattered dream.

A wriggling cripple,

I utter and blaspheme,

Searching for a nipple.



Shackled to my vanity,

Resistant to humility,

Me, first of all, self-centered realization,

Devouring all, blackholes of civilization,

Family, brother, sister father, motherhood.

Left embracing ashes, misunderstood.



Exiled, waning sanity, cold and alone.

Pulling dreams from reality, flesh from bone.



Hollow eyes accept any desperate orb,

No matter how maligned or askew.

An asphyxiated spirit any ghoul may absorb,

Becoming them, we, us, me and you.



Shock and awe, stay the course, back the surge,

A zombie puppet bomb I emerge.

I step into the unsuspecting mall,

I raise my hands, surrender to the call.

Ticket to paradise inside my vest,

Tonight, yes tonight, I finally rest!



- Peter Riordan

Jan. 2010

To Steven

We stumble, we fall

We learn, we grow


The pain and lessons of heart ache and love

Empty, except for the vultures in my skull

Who seem to think there's something left



Smashing of ego

Gnashing of teeth

The frenzy is over

Feeding is done.

Nothing left for the sweeper



In the vapor of what was

My freedom rings.



Where earth and water mix

like flesh and blood

All merging

Into a whole

a miracle

Creation.



Savoring that glimpse

in eternal embrace

Womb to tomb

Tomb to womb

Door to door

That inexplicable something

Always there

Dissipating like a long ago remembered kiss

Never quite gone!


- Peter Riordan

April 2010

Justice For . . .

I am not me.

You are not you.

We are not we.

All is all.

All is me.

All is you.

All is everyone.

All is everything

or

All is nothing!

Peter Riordan
Oct. 2010

Starkly Sunward

Irreverent of the nerve

to wake another day

Of the focused arrows

descending like rain

Irreverent of the lies

meant to waylay

Of spilled bloods'

deep red stain

Irreverent of the good and the bad 

Of what cannot stand the light of day

Of what we do and do not have 

Of the fate for whom we pray

This and everyday,

but never more irreverent 

than today.

- Peter Riordan

March 7, 2011 

SAVGAGES

Shadows follow where you and I go,

Turn them back to the wood.

Tipping garbage, threatening Fido,

Coyotes in the neighborhood.

Savage beasts at our doorstep.

Don't let them take one more step!

Trap 'em, cage 'em, kill 'em,

Save my kitty!

Shoot 'em, gut 'em, skin 'em,

Save our city!

What about the environment?

Call Homeland Security!

What about our retirement,

Our social security?

Loss of habitat?

Where's that at?

Savage beasts at our doorstep.

Don't let them take one more step!

_Peter Riordan

August 2004

Redemption for Dummies

Dinosaur clouds

Tarpit hauntings

Growing exponentially

by the century,

decade,

day.

Last stages loom.

We smoke on!

We love our wonderful,

yes, even beautiful machines.

We burn and combust.

We frack and drill,

Spoil and spill.

Chromium mutations,

Poison west, south, north, now east

We drill on.

Sucking the life blood

from out Her veins

Drain the equalizing oils

From out this Great Compass.

Directions spinning wildly

into Chaos,

from which we came.

Awaiting our redemption.

The endless dance of fire and ice,

To once again latch onto our axis,

Turn and grind,

Dance away our toxins.

Grind and pulverize.

Oh, Great Mortar and Pestle.

Fire and ice.

Make all new, 

again.

Mutantly Yours

Big city, rush hour

Crowded streets

Bobbing sea of blue-toothed heads

Rushing by one another

Emitting, receiving

Messages from air

March into long tunnels

and corridors

                   .._. / .._ / _._. / _._

Elvis and Me

Got the key, can't find the lock

Measuring ticks by some other clock

A step out of time

A verse without rhyme

A natural anomaly

Embedded inside of me

Alone, abandoned, adrift

Senseless in pain

Curled fetal on the floor

A lifetime of memories missed

Searching in vain

For points to even the score

Stone smashing heart

Eventually will bleed

Free the soul to start

The healing we all need

First root cracks the diamond-hard shell

Door swings open from out of space

Freeing truth from my soul's own cell

For the first time, face to face

With that oracle, divining staff of energy 

Destroying and birthing simultaneously

Drained and lifeless, now infused

With all I had before refused

Awakening near, no longer on deaf ears landing

The mantra is clear, "Peace, love and understanding!"

Wrinkles

Dribble from bee-stung lips

Spout plastic remembrances of what we were

Desperately cling

To mummified memories

Forever haunted

Nuke it!

Turn loose a hurricane!

Shake and quake it to rubble!

Dust settles

Into light and shadow

Space and time

Form and movement

Dimension

Cycles and circles

Imagination.

Embrace wrinkles.

Photosynthesis

Vibration of life

Nothing more

Silence.

Transcendental vehicle

My magic carpet

Your dandelion blown wishes

Explode in the sunlight

I smile.

Jihad by Proxy

rhetoric rules political sewage

politics rule rhetorical spewage

reckless fools 

war's tools

dismantled schools

poisoned pools

left to ferment

 youth's discontent

Psycho student gamers from cyberspace

Now appearing in their place

The zombie puppet bombs from beyond

Descend like locusts from our skies

Asphyxiated spirits with hollow eyes

that accept any desperate orb

no matter how maligned or askew

drained being any ghoul may absorb 

Becoming them, us, me and you

Sprouting their Jihad rain

New definition of insane

Sudden hammer blows

 The orbit slows 

Wallets growing lighter

Thieves fists clenched tighter

Life savings, pensions . . . Poof!

Our mortgages, our very roof.

As Wall Street wheeled and dealed

Bank vaults now locked and sealed

Should've invested in oil and war

and let that be a lesson 

Record profits and growing more

 "accomplished mission!" 

Lifting heavy lids open

Orwellian nightmare come true

Quickly closes them again

And soon they'll come for you 

It's coming

Times are changin

Elements are rearrangin

Who will be left to say

We were judged 

And that was Judgement Day?

Face down with Truth

Tripping over reality

Gutters of freedom

Washing us to the sea

              - Peter Riordan