I had to leave -
     [or was it "flee"?]

I felt entrapped by the drywall office halls
     [unable to breathe]
The sanitized artwork hanging in the pale florescent haze 
     reminded me what art should not be - 
          [what life should not be]

I hate the straight lines in man-made buildings
     that make everything feel so...concrete,
          [so unbending]
But I love the trees with their curvy lines that say,
     "reality can bend -
          come bend with us."

So that's why I am here - 
     [to answer the trees]

• Author: Caleb Madrigal
• Date written: 3/17/2015

This picture by Melissa Vincent was part of the inspiration for this poem:

Too much detail in art is profanity - a vulgar attempt to sum up that which is beyond finite expression.

The best art is more like a laser beam than a flood light - it doesn't hit everyone, but those it hits, it burns.

Over the last several years, I've been writing down words (or sets of words) which I consider to be particularly beautiful.

Here is my list:

• Camp Lejeune
• Long Boat Key
• Devil May Cry
• Effervescent
• Cellar Door
• Paramore
• Nevermore
• Evermore
• Cognac
• vis-à-vis
• Commandeer

Art begets art
Hate begets hate
Love begets love
Grace begets grace.

Before we depart
We do place
A lasting mark
On others' fate.

• Author: Caleb Madrigal
• Date written: 3/18/2014
• Inspiration: I've found that taking in good art makes me want to write.
• Note: This isn't so much a poem as a truth put into a rhythmic format. It's a bit too "teachy" to be real poetry, in my opinion. Real poetry should not try to teach directly, but rather, should convey feelings (which may indirectly teach something).

Analogies are to functions as facts are to variables - facts are data which the mind can reference, but analogies change the way the mind works.

Whenever possible, I try to explain things with analogies.

Gray
I feel gray
Cannot stay
In this daze.

Even pain - 
Let it rain!
Anything… 
but this haze.

I need light
Or even night.
These gray skies
Glaze my eyes.

Stimulation!
Exhumation! 
Must awaken
To elation.

• Author: Caleb Madrigal
• Date written: 3/17/2014
• Inspiration: I was in a gray mood today, and when I looked outside and saw the gray skies, I thought, “the weather matches my mood… or does my mood match the weather?” I didn’t feel like staying in this gray mood.

Carried along 
On the words of a song,
We let ourselves go
In the waves as they roll.

This ebb and flow
Entraps our souls.
Enraptured so,
As our feelings grow.

And into this torrent,
Reason forfeit,
Our hearts implore us
To join the chorus.

• Author: Caleb Madrigal
• Date written: 3/10/2014
• Inspiration: Music is universal. We enjoy it; we cannot help ourselves. And we want to join with it.

Stay away! Stay away!
Keep away from the bay!
You know that at night,
Will in come the tide,
Sweeping out the mind
That is near the seaside.

And into this sky
You'll sink and you'll fly,
Fish floating by,
Enchanting your eyes,
No more to rise
From the deep ocean skies.

• Author: Caleb Madrigal
• Date written: 3/10/2014
• Inspiration: Sometimes, when I need to get work done, I have to stay away from things which will get me into an artistic, or I'll be swept up in it for hours.

I think Ali Jardine was going for the same idea in this beautiful picture:

Oft on cold and starry nights,
He raises arms, and the battle fights.
And storms the castle of my mind,
Removing from the throne my logical side.

And having the ship commandeered,
Into the stormy winds he steers,
And brings us into crashing waves -
Deep oceans are within his gaze.

And rejoicing on the captain's deck,
Tiring of appointments to respect,
He does not care if we should wreck
But only in beauty does he invest.

Careless and wild - this side of mine.
Roaring through life, not glancing behind
"Behold! the sails are filled with wind!
Onward towards the moon again!"

• Author: Caleb Madrigal
• Date written: 3/10/2014
• Inspiration: What it feels like when my right-brain takes control. Often, starry nights and moonlight provoke me.

The stars as they shine
Will begin to divide
And in the sky
The Morning’s alive
Which never will die,
And then we ride
To eternal life
And to find our time
Was not lived a lie,
And to meet His smile
And to see His face
To bask in His grace
And to in love, embrace.

• Author: Caleb Madrigal
• Date written: 3/9/2014
• Inspiration: Riding on a bus, looking at the beautiful sky, and thinking about meeting God.

Life is beautiful
I feel it inside
But how can I express
The inner mind?
I suppose I can try
Let’s take a ride…

Heart overflowing
No need to hide
Love is a real thing
And there’s a spiritual side.

There is magic
Hidden from our eyes
Yet felt with the soul
That romantic flow.

And to this goal
I continue to stroll
Seeking that beacon
My spirit to strengthen.

• Author: Caleb Madrigal
• Date written: 3/9/2014
• Inspiration: Looking at the sunrise in Chicago over the lake, after a night casually dressed and deep in conversation.

What's my great fear?
I'll tell you; come near.
To lay down in death
with so much left.

Passion not spent -
Oh cowardly regret!
For fear of others?
The thousand deaths.

I'm afraid to die
With no twinkle in my eye
To pass meagerly by
Yet hidden inside.     

To walk through life
Not truly alive
And to pass in the night
With an unfelt "goodbye".

• Author: Caleb Madrigal
• Date written: 3/7/2014
• Inspiration: An explanation of why living from my heart is so important to me.

He views the world through an unfiltered mind -
No defenses built up, layers over time.
He sees it in all its shining brilliance
Experiencing fully the beautiful present.

• Author: Caleb Madrigal
• Date written: 3/4/2014
• Inspiration: Rafe (my son) - when I look at his eyes, it looks like he is just driniking everything in.

In the last week or so (starting Monday, March 3, 2014) I've been in a very poetic mood. It has been so interesting - it was light a light switch flipping on. I haven't been sitting down and trying to write poetry, they've just been coming to me. Often, as soon as one ends, another begins. It has been so pleasurable. I hope people enjoy them, but even if they don't, it has been so worth it to me!