Our Art ... my writings are song

Our art

My writings are song

whose melody will fade in time

words paling

to then disappear

vanished

from the collective memory.

My writings are sculpture

carved in stone

turned to sand

with the weight of years gone by

words scattered to the four winds

letters reverting to nothing.

If all this is true,

I’m not writing for permanence

nor personal gain,

what the hell I write for

except that it is

decreed by heaven.

As the sculptor carving the stone

or the composer and his music,

the painter and his chapel,

and the minstrel of old,

the purpose is not the end product,

but what this builds in me.

It’s not where I’m going

but what is built in me

through my chosen path.

And it’s not so much

the path I chose to follow,

but to have been chosen by it.

© Roberto Isaza

Nuestro arte

Nuestro arte

Mis escritos son canción

cuya melodía apagará el tiempo

sus palabras palidecen

para luego desaparecer,

desvanecidas

de la memoria colectiva.

Mis escritos son escultura

tallada en la piedra

convertida en arena

con el peso del pasar de los años

palabras esparcidas a los cuatro vientos

letras volviendo a la nada.

Si todo esto es cierto,

no escribo por permanencia

ni fama personal,

para que coños escribo

excepto que es

lo que el cielo manda.

Como el escultor tallando piedra

o el compositor y su música,

el pintor con su capilla

y el trovador de antaño,

el propósito no es la obra final

si no lo que ella construye en mí.

No es a donde llegaré

si no lo que en mi edifica

el camino escogido.

No es tanto mi elección

del camino que sigo

si no haber sido elegido por él.

© Roberto Isaza

My dad's birthday

Happy birthday, Maestro.
Today you would have been 76,
still young in these days.

It's been so long
since that day at the pier
you saw me off
to the land of my birth,
when you left
as soon as I boarded
the ship to today.

I turned around
so you wouldn't see the sadness
you turned away
so I wouldn't see yours.

We knew it was time
for a new destination
what we didn't know
was that we'd never see each other
in this life at least.

Today, your birthday
I'll smoke a drink in your name,
to your memory,
to your life,
to the greatness
of your love,
evincing the depth of your absence
the pain of your being here no more.

Bittersweet memories
of the time we spent together
working side by side
a beer, a rest
at your house of dreams
in the magical island
of San Andres

Of painting
and hugging
and kisses
on the forehead and cheek
of talks
and walks
and teaching me to ride the cycle.

your stories
on nights
I was scared of the lightning.
I loved you so much
yet I didn't know how then
how important
you'd been to my life
how much I love you
how much I miss you.

You are loved by many
missed by many more.
You touched so many lives
my only hope
to do as well.

Salud, Maestro.
The tears are all the feelings.
Happy birthday,
happy birthday
to YOU.
Thank you
for being here.
Walk in beauty.

Robby

Reflections on Descartes

Call it God if you will
call it everything,
nothing
only chance
that we know of
this world, here
today

no matter
what you do
you can’t deny
the beauty
of a rose.

Natural beauty
has no price
it is real.

The rest
is man made
artificial
... all your money
not another
minute buy...

we are dust
in the wind
and this
will also pass
9/06

all I can say
is that I share
this instance
of the reality we believe in
belong to
at the least
in my head
with you
in this first moment
you read these words
and on...
11/20/06

Real are these seats
of the Staten Island Ferry
taking me from
Staten Island
to Manhattan
and back.

Real are you
people
traveling back and forth
crossing our paths
for a moment
a whole life
to the cosmos
a nothing
to the end
of time
yet we’re here!

Rob
November 23, 2006

The Suspect

Everything I learned
is suspect
I know
all I feel
is true !

Rob
November 20, 2006

Frustrating Automated Response

I think we have all had our frustrating moments trying to contact a living person of a company with which we have had business of any kind. It may have been their automated phone service or e-mail.
Welcome to XXuXX's Automated service. We are very pleased that you are trying to contact us. Please listen carefully to our menu options, some may have changed since the last time you tried (snicker) to contact us. If you know the 15 digit extension you may enter that information now.
For English press 1 followed by the # key,
Para Espagnol presione el 2 seguido para la libra llave,
If you don't understand what I'm saying press 3 followed by the # key,
1... you have chosen English... ... ... ... ... ...
To access your account press 1 followed by the # key,
To make a payment over the phone press 2 followed by the # key,
To reach a customer service representative press 3 followed by the # key,
5#... you have chosen an invalid number ...

Welcome to XXuXX's Automated service. We are very pleased that you are trying to contact us. Please listen carefully to our menu options, some may have changed since the last time you tried (snicker) to contact us. If you know the 15 digit extension you may enter that information now.
For English press 1 followed by the # key,
Para Espagnol presione el 2 seguido por la libra llave,
If you don't understand what I'm saying press 3 followed by the # key,
1... you have chosen English... ... ... ... ... ...
To access your account press 1 followed by the # key,
To make a payment over the phone press 2 followed by the # key,
To reach a customer service representative press 3 followed by the # key,
1# ... Type in the 15 digit number of your account followed by the # key,
... Type in the last four digits of your Social security number followed by the # key ... ... Type in the last four digits of your phone number followed by the # key,
... ... ... we are sorry, the number you have given does not agree with our records, to contact a representative dial 0. ... 0 (muzak playing in the back-ground) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Your call is very important to us, all of our representatives are busy at the moment please continue to hold ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... all of our representatives are busy at the moment please continue to hold ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Costumer Service, this is Joanne, please hold ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ooo OOO 000 you have been automatically transferred to an automated voice-mail, please record your information and message at the tone. (Son-of-a-bleep!)


My guess is this will not be seen by human eyes if at all, but I can at least vent my frustration here. Automatic response (I guess I'll get another cheerful message: > Hello and thanks for writing to NextDayPC.com.) will be coming soon. Today, 11 07 06, I spent 3/4 of an hour hearing "phone jazz" and messages of how important my call was to "NextDayPC" but that all their representatives or cutomer servers or associates were busy with other customers (I guess as satisfied as me). Leave a message in their voice- mailbox. Yeah, right!
> We have forwarded your comments onto the appropriate
> department for review and response.
If it's anything like where I file my office's memos (in the circular file - aka trash-can)or cyber-trash-can I know the response will be coming soon.
I must have misunderstood > Please allow up to 8 business hours for a response.
If there are 2 business hours to a day, may I expect a response within the next 4 days?

--- "NextDayPC.com" wrote:

> Hello and thanks for writing to NextDayPC.com.
>
> We have forwarded your comments onto the appropriate
> department for review and response.
> Please allow up to 8 business hours for a response.
>
> By taking the time to write, you are helping us
> provide the best possible products and services.
>
> Should you have other inquiries feel free to write
> us back.
>
> Thanks for your interest!
>
> Customer Service
> http://www.nextdaypc.com
>
> phone:1718 xxx xxxx
>
> My PC started acting up. Every time I put in a disc
> it would reboot. Brought it to my local PC repair
> guy and was told that the memory was burned out. My
> pc was bought in february of 06 and still under
> warranty. How do I go about getting replacement for
> the memory? Thank you for your prompt response.
> Roberto Isaza.
>
>

ONE

One course
one world
mankind
must grow up
facing the reality
of life
once and for all.

Me must be
responsible
for and to
our future.

It’s the only way
we can reach
the next level
of our evolution
go to the other side...

One world
no more reason
for kingdoms
and dynasties
rulers
and followers
of haves
and have-nots.

The next step
in evolution
discard all sense
of property
nothing belongs
nothing is lost
to anyone
no one belongs
to anything
back to mother
back to ONE

if not ->

this step be halted
for a while
while we continue
playing
this game of
gimme, take me
lemme hoard
I want more!

Can’t get more?
Can’t get enough?
don’t have enough?
Tough sh*t
go out and find
it.



© Rob
October 26, 2006