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 partyto my own lifespectator of my existencemy river of wordsa streamoverflowing the banksof reasonas if eros alonewere reason enoughand i inhabit youyou mefor the short spanof eternitythose small hoursdestiny has providedReminiscences of youth:the nutmeg radianceof youthadorns the summer sandsforcing the amnesiaof aginginto remissionLove and its complications:the fire of my soulfaces my terrorscontrast and paradoxi look at myselfi look for youone to kiss, embrace, strokea splash of dazzling wash'my heart packs itself and contains itselfmy heart astonishes itselfwithout bar or barriermore vast than a memorywe trade vows we may not keepa time where the shadows dieonly instants prevailthe broken silencesshedding our perceived chainsyes my love we do not inhabit the airwe must separate as simplyas continents divide, waters disperseLanguage and sounds:i know the song of the nightthrough the tenor of your wordsthe sacred chant of rossignolsserenading a panorama of starsbeside me on the hillside garriguewe trade candies of conversationmuses and suppositionover the lyrics of each songShredding Personal Limitations:a window shattersglass ceiling mirrors southwardno longermosaic tiles of imaginationadjoined and mortaredstray impressions fastenedplumbed from the depthsmined from experiencea simple twisted phrasekeying a bolted memoryan unspoken phrasei bury my soulon the parchmentof posterityA View of One's Mortality:a man stares at the crossroad of his immortalitya man realizes his years are passinghe looks back at the mirror of his youthdistant and removed from the presentan intersection with no returnpoverty no longer stalks his doorwayhe is simply too far to take the return roadThe View of His Lover:settling slow and soft into an intimacysweet and sacredtangled words like our wrapped bodiesawaken my anticipationof dialogues in accordharmonies in synchyou cannot imaginemy silent soliloquiesshrouded in dreamsthe tenor of your voicesoft and slowas a graceful and welcomed caressAs the Days Pass Between Them:dark days night descententer the dense night bravely beautyas a darkness descends on another daylacking the lightness of youthinnocence separatedengulfed into the depthsof rest eternalGoodbyes:you are next to meas parallel wings on a soaring birdi carry a tear in my clenched handbecause goodbyes wear poorly on methere are few farewells in my existenceonly separationswhere the fissures and pausesremain grayrepairableMore views of time:by the flame of a thousand lit candlesi scan the horizon of timean eternal reminiscenceof the long grass of springtimelying in our shared sunshineyou crawl inside my beautiful memoriesmy cyclone of emotionsthe roots of desire planted upon my lipsThe eternal crossroads:rows of lightilluminatethe stranger withinmy vision blindedby the currencyof strangely traded wordscrossroads of timeblind a caged birdwho must extend wingsto flyAcknowledging conclusions:you may return to a placebut never a moment in timea young man oldan old man feeling youngit matters littletime will not ceasebut in your mindand you are laid to restin the grave with your memoriesboth young and oldVickers works are typically untitled and entirely in lower case. His themes are interwoven into soliloquy compositions and internalized realizations....