About B Gourley

Bernie Gourley is a writer living in Bangalore, India. His poetry collection, Poems of the Introverted Yogi is now available on Amazon. He teaches yoga, with a specialization in pranayama, and holds a RYT500 certification. For most of his adult life, he practiced martial arts, including: Kobudo, Muay Thai, Kalaripayattu, and Taiji. He is a world traveler, having visited more than 40 countries around the globe.

POEM: Dark City Sonnet

Posted on March 23, 2020 by B Gourley

any city you enter after dark
will not reveal itself until the morn
you’ll see it like a scrawny sheep unshorn
vague blankness punctuated by landmarks
you’ll see nothing in the darkness of parks
not junkies sprawled out in clothes, rank and torn
though you see neon twenty-four hour porn
you’ll know not the dogs by their noisy barks

light makes it more pretty and more ugly
you’ll see it pick itself up and brush off
like shame walkers concoct a makeshift coif
turning focus from the bloody and stubbly

to see a city at its worst and best
catch it when it’s wearing last night’s dress.

POEM: Tripless Trip

Posted on March 22, 2020 by B Gourley

In the outlands lives a shaman,
an unkempt medicine man of some renown.

He grinds some roots with a wooden pestle,
black and shiny on its business end.

His apprentice sits drumming —
soft and offbeat.
You listen deeply,
dead-eyed tranquil,
but can’t wear that wild rhythm
“like a bear skin,”
whatever that means.

The medicine will be bitter, but no matter.
It’s not for you.
Your cure will be sought on a tripless trip.

When the shaman re-inhabits
his sweat-soaked body,
he says only,

“Beware the Jackdaw!”

You say, “What’s that mean?”

He says, “That’s for you to know,
and for me… not to know.”

You say, “OK, what’s a jackdaw?”

With an intense wild-eyed stare,

he says,
“Google it.”

You say, “Seriously?”

Then he shrugs and he nods off.