California artist Marques Vickers' second poetic edition "Zen By Default" establishes a sustained interior dialogue between the poet and his ongoing life evolution living along the American Pacific Coast. His 300+ concise works address the ongoing themes of displacement and relocation and the challenge of cultivating and sustaining relationships in the midst of upheaval. Vickers examines his spectator role with regard to his own life: i am a third party to my own life spectator of my existence my river of words a stream overflowing the banks of reason as if eros alone were reason enough and i inhabit you you me for the short span of eternity those small hours destiny has provided Reminiscences of youth: the nutmeg radiance of youth adorns the summer sands forcing the amnesia of aging into remission Love and its complications: the fire of my soul faces my terrors contrast and paradox i look at myself i look for you one to kiss, embrace, stroke a splash of dazzling wash' my heart packs itself and contains itself my heart astonishes itself without bar or barrier more vast than a memory we trade vows we may not keep a time where the shadows die only instants prevail the broken silences shedding our perceived chains yes my love we do not inhabit the air we must separate as simply as continents divide, waters disperse Language and sounds: i know the song of the night through the tenor of your words the sacred chant of rossignols serenading a panorama of stars beside me on the hillside garrigue we trade candies of conversation muses and supposition over the lyrics of each song Shredding Personal Limitations: a window shatters glass ceiling mirrors southward no longer mosaic tiles of imagination adjoined and mortared stray impressions fastened plumbed from the depths mined from experience a simple twisted phrase keying a bolted memory an unspoken phrase i bury my soul on the parchment of posterity A View of One's Mortality: a man stares at the crossroad of his immortality a man realizes his years are passing he looks back at the mirror of his youth distant and removed from the present an intersection with no return poverty no longer stalks his doorway he is simply too far to take the return road The View of His Lover: settling slow and soft into an intimacy sweet and sacred tangled words like our wrapped bodies awaken my anticipation of dialogues in accord harmonies in synch you cannot imagine my silent soliloquies shrouded in dreams the tenor of your voice soft and slow as a graceful and welcomed caress As the Days Pass Between Them: dark days night descent enter the dense night bravely beauty as a darkness descends on another day lacking the lightness of youth innocence separated engulfed into the depths of rest eternal Goodbyes: you are next to me as parallel wings on a soaring bird i carry a tear in my clenched hand because goodbyes wear poorly on me there are few farewells in my existence only separations where the fissures and pauses remain gray repairable More views of time: by the flame of a thousand lit candles i scan the horizon of time an eternal reminiscence of the long grass of springtime lying in our shared sunshine you crawl inside my beautiful memories my cyclone of emotions the roots of desire planted upon my lips The eternal crossroads: rows of light illuminate the stranger within my vision blinded by the currency of strangely traded words crossroads of time blind a caged bird who must extend wings to fly Acknowledging conclusions: you may return to a place but never a moment in time a young man old an old man feeling young it matters little time will not cease but in your mind and you are laid to rest in the grave with your memories both young and old Vickers works are typically untitled and entirely in lower case. His themes are interwoven into soliloquy compositions and internalized realizations. The process of discovery is as relentless and ongoing as the travels he has opted to purs