Exoxoh

Preface

Hello,

This is a collection of messages with no known meaning.
A crate of thoughts without a home.
A reflection on things in life that are confusing.
Some shot of hope for the glum.

A dose of the semi-conscious that I’m still parsing.
A message of darkness and its brightening.
The roots of things yet to come.
And a thread of relation for someone.

Exoxoh,

Trevor

Seasonal

Coasting on this midnight breeze
A gently burning air
Away the light to darkness fell
From wherever it might hail
The wind wound up and whisked away
All my tepid thoughts
  But soon enough light would dawn
    Again
On this glossy permafrost

The trees stuck out and I will say
There’s beauty in both
The quelling hush of winter
And the humming haze of spring

Forbidden

Some things in life are just uncertain
They stand in shadows
Or behind a curtain

Some things in life you are forbidden
Maybe those things change
Maybe they stay hidden

Some things in life you just have to take!
Try it most gently
Or something else may break

Life is a web of things that can’t cope
With sudden changes
But there may still be hope

Just live your life one leap at a time
You’ll go where you can
With each careful climb

Row

Row
Don’t pull any punches
Ride it out and see tomorrow

Row
Wave as you pass your foes
Watch them frown and watch them follow

Row
Strike it on your anvil
Nobody has this weapon, dear

Fly
The water falls away
You’ve got your wings, now let them steer

Why, Simon

Why, Simon
You’ve betrayed me and all I’ve done
I’ve tried to help
If discord is what you want
  Simon
If discord is what you want
You’ll have it all your life

Why, Simon
You’ve wasted yet another chance
To be your own
To stand tall and stable
  Simon
To stand tall and stable
You’ll have to change some things

Why, Simon
It’s not too late to follow through
To make things right
Sometimes we all fall
  Simon
Sometimes we all fall
And that is only human

What Sensibility

You saved my life
Not once, but twice
Well isn't that nice, I thought
  As I pondered another way to go

Out to Sea

Push yourself out to sea
Some fish will bite
Some will flee

Lift your weary head
Some fish may bite
Some blood shed

Every day has a dawn
But dusk will come
Curtains drawn

And every night might fall
When sunrise comes
If at all

Bitter Winds

  Sea breeze that cuts the foam
   Feeble ships that take you home
    Storms could waste you, that’s for sure
Come the bitter winds

  So you think you can swim?
   Prospects fade, now they’re all dim
    Time may save you, maybe not
Come the bitter winds

  Sink coldly into dark
   Hear the desperate warning lark
    They might find you, sinews taut
Come the bitter winds

  The sea that knows you well
   Every wave another swell
    You’ll be left there, never found
Come the bitter winds

This Life

This life
Whether or not you chose it
Whether or not you love it
It is yours

Well now
Are you getting all you need?
Are you drafting your own deed?
Get to it

I say
Fuck those others, you know who
You can do much more for you
Live it well

So then
Tell them off or let them in
Settle down in your own skin
Easy does it

Every Flock

You have seen birds fly since you were born
  So, every flock might look the same
Now every flower might smell alike
  With springtime, after the big bloom
And with all the things you don’t notice
  Well, nothing seems to ever change

If this reminds you of all the days
  That you forget the sky is blue

I can cast a line for you to hold
  It’s something I think you should know
So that this old life is new again
  Just as it was when you were born

I’ll fashion a way for you to see
  The beauty that you now ignore
And for every flock that you forgot
  I’ll help you to remember it
And with every fall, I’ll pull you through
  For as long as I can manage
And of all your friends, find those most true
  I promise you they won’t let go

Exoxoh

I’d just like to say one more thing, dear
It’s been on my mind for a while
It’s about you, and all of your fears
I hope you’ll listen, just the same

Sometimes you go for what you want most
But all the world, it pushes back
And it just kills you and all your strength
And things seem like they’re such a waste

If this life seems pale, you’re not alone
So here’s something to help you out
To find your way back, and live again
And see the things that make life glow

If this life seems cold, then cling to warmth!
I promise you the world will know
That you’re worth much more than these troubles
And I’ll be here for all the pain

Virga

Can you carry me away
Calmly, and cool
Still aloft and still on the move
Where it’s not too warm
And where the frost has no bite

Where there’s a quiet rush of mist all around
Not drenching but just enough
To settle like drops of dew

And where the wind reaches out
Like a gentle push of power
Jolting just enough to invigorate
And yet calm enough to nap

Radio Sky

No, not even the clouds can glide without support
Neither can the feather nor the floret
  Even the breeze which carries them needs convection
  Just as the tides which need the moon
But maybe they all go along without worry
Carefree and unaware of this world and its ways
  So perhaps they are weightless of burden
  And careless of time and other things comorbid

Even the sounds of nature and all its music
May find themselves unheard or unappreciated
  Just as all the symphonies of the Mariana Trench
  Might never land on a weary diver’s ears
Still, all the universe cries out into space
In friendliness, or brazen anger, or plain curiosity
  And here it arrives just outside our perception
  Yet to be discovered in the radio sky

Rings

I have dropped a leaf or two
In these years; well, quite a few
And my branches have grown askew

I’ve been growing taut and keen
Giving shade, and casting green
Descendent from Paleocene

Tell me now, what do you think
Harvest me? Felled in a blink
For soaking in your thoughts of ink

You could craft me into wood
As for me? I think you should
Though I don’t really think you would

But if you do, promise me
Count my rings? My final plea
To prove wood doesn’t make the tree

Tonight's Sunrise

A sun setting
A hurriedly fettered seaside wedding
The chosen path we walk along

The beach rocks weathering away
A slow dissolve that might dissuade
Some vine that tries the cliff

A nocturne hour
Of stars that launch away
And so night blooms in its own procession

The darkness between each humming dawn
A night fallen by the rising sun
And soon enough the next will come

As It Did Happen

Sometimes you just don’t know
You just don’t know what will happen
Well, that’s all the time, really

So why was I so surprised
So surprised when you came around
And around you came to me

I wasn’t saving a seat for you
And yet, here you sat
Here you sat just the same

Hypnagog

All the things I've never seen
And all the things I've left between
The spaces that we'll never need
I'm captive to this staple scene

And when I wake the channel's tuned
To some foreign, far-off afternoon
Designed a life turned upside down
In a world I've never found

Should I wake or should I dream
In a rift I'm caught between
I'm spun around within a space
A race to break out of this place

Should I sleep or should I dream
Living blind to this thing
Learning not to listen well
Above or down I cannot tell

The sky wears upon its face
A willow with a broken grace
Uprooted from the stable ground
Like all around, turned upside down

And here I am awake too soon
Lying, whispering to the moon
In my dreams there is no sound
A world I should have never found

If I should dream I must return
All the things I'll never learn
And all the things I've never seen

All Right, Good Night

Where have I landed, I’m not quite sure, but I am stranded
      I can’t see and things aren’t so clear
  Let me gather my thoughts a moment
    I’ll get my bearings soon
The transmission’s not so good, I fear
      I hope you get this, dear
  Where are you, anyway?
    You’re not here

And I wake up
      The ground's not firm
  When I wake up
    I'll be swimming home
But don't worry
      I’m sleeping now
  All right
    Good
Night

Postface

Exoxoh
“Preface (to Exoxoh)” was written May 6, 2016. “Seasonal” was written April 11, 2016. “Forbidden” was written March 11, 2016 and completed April 26, 2016. “Row” was written March 9, 2016 and completed May 8, 2016. “Why, Simon” was written April 11, 2016 and completed April 18, 2016. “What Sensibility” was written April 8, 2016 and completed April 11, 2016. “Out to Sea” was written April 5, 2016. “Bitter Winds” was written March 11, 2016 and completed April 19, 2016. “This Life” was written March 11, 2016. “Every Flock” was written March 11, 2016 and completed May 8, 2016. “Exoxoh” was written April 26, 2016 and completed May 12, 2016. “Virga” was written May 6, 2016. This piece was originally titled “Tendrils of Rain.” “Radio Sky” was written April 28, 2016. This piece borrows its title from an unpublished work by this author. This piece was originally titled “Careless and Weightless.” “Rings” was written April 7, 2016 and completed May 8, 2016. “Tonight’s Sunrise” was written April 19, 2016 and completed May 6, 2016. “As It Did Happen” was written May 10, 2016. “Hypnagog” was written May 3, 2009. This piece was originally titled “Untitled Poem 1.” “All Right, Good Night” was written March 13, 2014 and completed April 8, 2016. This piece is dedicated to the family and friends of the passengers of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Eighteen poems were shelved, maybe destined for another day.