Wake up

March is on its way out the door and the chilly weather seems to be going with it. Of course, I've probably just damned my east coast brethren to another month of freakishly cold weather. Sorry.
I've been out of it lately. I guess its just the extra time to breath I have, thanks to the momentary break from that hardcore schedule. It definitely shows in what I've been writing lately - can't help but put it all on paper. Either way, fuck your worries people and onward we stride!
How's everyone else doing? Got something like 160 different people that have visited the page. Hopefully, a few are coming back. I'll try to keep you here. Todays piece:

Mr. Hatiko's Despair

He awakens
Glare of the morning sun
A blinding reminder that yesterday is no more
and today is just a yesterday waiting to expose its rosy cheeks
The Bronx bleeds its symphony through the cracks in his window frame
Subway cars and a forgotten Major fuse as they traverse the cigarette stained air
On a path to his ear
There’s no place like home
No place quite worthy of the lovely, hateful mess of feelings attached to it
Like this towering concrete prison
Its captives unlearned and over-experienced
Finding love for sale in the hands of children -
Children finding love in the loins of children -
Creating children in the loins of children.
And he is nothing more than a child
Wearing the mask of an adult and flexing his voice as one
His glare is that of a lone wolf in the forest of his mind
He finds he likes his time alone and he worries
If he can move beyond the blood and spit stained path
Carved by those before him,
Can he walk a golden road?
Will his legs carry him beyond his grungy walls of insecurity
To the oft visited dreamlands of his mind?
Or is this urban seer merely unfortunate enough to have been born with eyes
Fine focused enough to witness his own demise and see that
Today is just a yesterday waiting to show her gleaming browns
Will he let them raise him up or keep him down?

And Still My Emerald Heart Beats

Happy St. Patrick's Day, all! Yes, I am Irish -and Puerto Rican- and bleed green like the best of them. St. Patrick's day has always been a happy day for me. When I was younger, no matter her condition at the time, my mother would always make corn beef and cabbage ("More Yank than Irish" says a friend of mine) on Saint Patty's. I never did enjoy it, but there was something about having that one tradition in the otherwise tradition-less house --It was the only real 'holiday' we 'celebrated'. As I got older, it shifted to a reason to drink and be merry... simultaneously of course. I would gather my friends, be them Irish or not, and get absolutely wasted. Eventually, even that became old. Now I just get a smile on my face upon waking, don a green shirt, have a couple drinks and let my emerald heart beat.
So, in honor of this day, the next pint is on me! Enjoy the day, everyone, because its not only about the Irish -- it's about the underdog. It's about raising up past all that stands in your way, and lending a hand to someone who is having trouble with their own obstacles. A celebration of humanity and our bond with one another.

Enough preaching! You've got drinking to do!

Silencing the Banshee

When all the world raises
to meet me in war or just in jest
I do not fear a moment,
thank the Shamrock in my chest.
When all the darkness sets in
and light cannot be seen,
I know that all around me
I've got the mighty green.
When the ground twists and bulges
to block my steadfast stride,
I rise above on Emerald wings
and soar on Irish Pride.

Come and Take Them

Busy week for the ol' River Man. Saw Reno 911, The Number 23 and 300 (note: it has just dawned on me that they all have numbers involved in the titles somehow). For the most part, Reno was funny. Although, I found myself desiring some wit, instead of the relentless bombardment of stupidity that has dominated comedies as of late. 23 was great. The ending felt a bit forced - some connective tissue was definitely missing. Overall though it was an amazing movie, as well as another example of Jim Carey's abilities as a serious actor. If you haven't seen The Majestic or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you are seriously missing out... especially with the latter. 300 was incredible. This is a movie more driven by honor than The Last Samurai (running into a hail of bullets for your beliefs) or Braveheart (entering a suspected trap for the possibility of obtaining freedom). If you know the story of Thermopylae, then you can assume how it ends. Nevertheless, it makes you want to purge the world of fire arms and return warfare to it honorable beginnings -- face to face, sword to sword.
Enough with the movie critic role! I am (if I were to leave this very moment) an hour late for work. Tardiness is becoming more frequent; Perhaps my subconscious is aiming for my release from one of these positions. On the other hand, maybe I'm just damned lazy. Either way, onward with the verse.

Peccavi

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of poverty and disgrace
Silently simmering love in a tablespoon in my bedroom
Blanking out to the sweet sounds of Dylan.
God, forgive me
but I've lost my faith in you.
In me a muted fire burns its final log to ash and I tire
of trying to fit my technicolor mind
into the world of gray you've placed before me. Why try?
Death seeks out the joyous
So I've made it my mission to smile the widest
Still the reaper avoids me
Maybe he knows my plan
Maybe Lachesis has extended her rod and
Atropos has cast an idle eye to their garden flowers
in hopes my begrimed thread will rot itself away.
-Heartless wretches, the lot of the sentient world-
I refuse to be part of it
Found all the love I need in darkness and needle points
I have no need for the living
With their shamed looks and whispers
The judgment of one guilty man
cast from the lips of another
is nothing but a mockery of honor and sense.
Wanton behavior at best and
I won't have any of it.
Now if you will,
Please allow me to excuse myself
as a man of poverty and disgrace
Been around a long, long year
Sold my soul
and
Burnt my faith.

Long Winded Wont

Greetings all. Hopefully everyone is in good spirits. I'm drained. Another overworked bastard only managing to make ends meet. Same old story, different voice spitting it. However, I've set out to make more time for writing. I think I really need to write more these days. Ol' insanity is a sneaking back up on me. That's no good, my friends.
On the subject of writing, had a Tenacious D moment today. I know, I know, you're saying 'River Man, oh River man... whats a Tenacious D moment??" Well, TD is a band who performed the greatest song in the world, forgot it, and wrote a song about the whole experience. I thought the most amazing poem today. Just went free in the mind, and it was flowing like water. Made plans to write it down, but they didn't exactly work out. So, I sat down tonight to try something else, but that also died down. I have hope for the latter... if I complete it I'll throw it up here.
I can't lie... I'm terribly disappointed in this blog. I had such plans. Such hopes. I feel as if I have fallen horribly short. Perhaps my public display was premature. In fact, I have very little doubt it was. But, it is what it is, as that is all it can be. So onward we trek, towards my new goal of righteousness. Not the biblical sort though. The righteousness that arises when you visit a blog, read some of its content and say "Whoa. This is righteous." Others might use awesome, cool, amazing, kick ass, poppin', pimpin', fly, off the chain, off the hook, off the rack, dope, radical, unbelievable, indescribable, godly, super, superb, wonderful, mind-blowingly orgasmic, etc. I prefer righteous.
Anyway, onward with tonights piece. It seems unfinished. But, I almost don't mind. Almost.

Verbal Still Life

Ankles crossed
Mouth ajar
He sits in disbelief
It's happened again
That swirling mass of nothingness has
swallowed him whole
without the decency to chew
Used
Hand rests on paper
Pen tip just moments away
from an inky disaster
to be forgotten in the tired
corners of a book
against penguins.
Eyes burn, cause blinking is overrated
and underdone
Stomach rumbles, another cold dinner
sliding down.
What's the point?
All the worlds in black and white
and he's a pastel mess.
It's happened again
He's settled for nothing more than nothing he wants
and he can't find the exit.