Gig's Up

Unraveled in the rat race

Spilling all your sand

Through a hole in your soul that nobody knows

Is a hole in the whole damn plan

The whistles of the winners

Sour into moans

In a snap a collapse has ‘em trapped in the back

Of a wreck that is all their own

That gig’s not going to go down anymore

There’s a glitch in the matrix

There’s a crack in the sky

It’s a glimpse of the big game

And it’s showing what’s going on all the time

While we’re blind in our minds

So it all looks fine

Fingers point at fingers

Points pretend to point

At the source of the mess that’s blessed with its kiss

The men with the most gold coins

Bitter in the glitter

Of their mighty prize

They hide in the lie that they’re right and we’re fine

With the way they rob our lives

That gig’s not going to go down anymore

There’s a glitch in the matrix

There’s a crack in the sky

It’s a glimpse of the big game

And it’s showing what’s going on all the time

While we’re blind in our minds

So it all looks fine

We’ll make a revolution

But not with blood and guns

But some fun with the ones who are coming undone

From the grip of the goons with the guns

We’ll do some crazy dancing

We’ll sing some soulful songs

That fly to the height of a sky of a life

That burns through a world gone wrong

That gig’s not going to go down anymore

There’s a glitch in the matrix

There’s a crack in the sky

It’s a glimpse of the big game

And it’s showing what’s going on all the time

While we’re blind in our minds

So it all looks fine

But it’s all a lie

But it all looks fine

But it robs our lives

But it all looks fine

.

We Walk Among You

One Sunday I just had to go out walking

The streets of the city were bare

Of all the traffic that usually fills them

The sky was so calm and so gray

I wandered and soon I approached a tall man

Standing there on his own

His calm was the calm of the sky above him

His eyes were like two glowing stones

(And his smile said)

I’ll tell you something

You forgot you knew

We walk among you

And do what you do

You work and worry

And we work too

But where’s your worry

Gonna get you to?

You’re still gonna do what you do

Just then a big cloud of birds passed overhead

Gliding through the smooth air

I watched them until they faded far away

I turned and the man was not there

And an amazing grace came over me then

(It’s a good day to fly

‘Cause we’ve all gotta die

So kiss your ego goodbye

And take your place in the sky—

There’s no diff’rence between you me or them)

So I stood like the man before me

Breathing the calm of the sky

A gentleness started flowing through me

I know that it showed in my eyes

Then I decided to head back home again

The world felt lighter somehow

I know that some trouble had knocked me out here

But that didn’t bother me now

(It’s like they say to me)

I’ll tell you something

You forgot you knew

We walk among you

And do what you do

You work and worry

And we work too

But where’s your worry

Gonna get you to?

You’re still gonna do what you do

.

Dream Of Heem

His name was Heem

He had a dream

His back was off the wall

Outside the gleam

Of his dream

Heem felt mighty small

He’s not caught in a cast-out kingdom

Oh no not at all

He’ll tell you ‘bout it

If he’s gotta shout it

The trick is to start to crawl

Was that Heem

You thought you’d seen

Raving on the street?

Was that Heem

Who sang so sweet?

You threw coins at his feet

He’s not a dot in the midst of millions

Some cold old far star

A code of flashes

In passing fashions

You don’t know how close you are

(Did you hear?

Is it clear?

It’s all here)

Another scene

You seem to see

A glimpse of Heem again

A street a dream

A mirror’s gleam

Familiar as a friend

Don't get caught in the big distinctions

If it’s him or you

We take our places

And we find our faces

Any one for sure will do

.

Maybe Grace

I get in some kind of trouble ev’ry

Time I hang around a place

Ev’ry time I linger I fall

Into some bad way

You may say it’s my problem and that

Might not be so far from the truth

You may say its something I’m going through

I know that you

Know I’m out of place

You see the traces

In my face

I don’t like where I come from—oh no my

First thought was to run far away

Somewhere something could happen that I knew

Would not if I stayed

In the gleam of the cities I found

So much loneliness and no chance

Sometimes violence made so much sense

When you get trapped

Inside a nasty game

You get a sense of

Who’s to blame

(The ones who run the world

Want you to be small

Just to work for their worth

And that’s all)

An awful thing

Curses ev’ry place—

People who wear their

Boss’s face

This is not my homeland and I am

Another lonesome restless man

But borders blur and bound’ries blend and

Here I am again

Have you wanted to wander? Have you

Wondered if you lept where you’d land?

Have you ever dreamed of another chance?

I see a trace

Of me in your face

And in the end this

May be grace

.

The Soul of Poverty

All I have is spirit!

Which is ours and not my own!

.

Hungry Ghosts

In this city of echoes and shadows,

the glowing moan of hungry ghosts

grows to a glare and cries

We are lost behind our eyes!

Dazed with duties

in a devouring world

beneath a star obscured by lights

we become our devils,

wishing a wave would

wash away this mess,

this consequence reminding us

like a sky through wires

that we are here

to get it right

one last time.

.

Beyond Belief

She’s not
a thought

but one
humming beam

of a being,
beyond belief

and basic
as breathing,

clearly here,
a soul who knows

all soul is ours
and absolutely

entirely
enough



.

Music Industry

Fuck you, Goliath!
The devil’s just a metaphor
For everything you are.



.

Young Man

My mind crazed with magic
and desperate omens,

I ache and crave and seek
sex( a ride to the land of my bloom),

certain that a sudden perfect stroke
will set my whole life right,

my fate a fever, a dream
I wait to awaken

finally and forever,
each new clue

a possible key
to my impossible destiny.

The rest is death.
Diving at clues is all I know I can do.



.

Evidence

I am likely
empty parentheses

An electrified atom
whirling in eternity

Before I was born my face was sky
and sky is my destiny

Silence is my evidence
and wind and breath my soul



.

Sabotage

Mirrored by his shadow
he walks among us

with doctrines of passionate sabotage
in a black backpack

crammed with the blues
of a kid who missed

our list of party people
when we—I guess—blinked

(and now he thinks our party
stinks like a cigar stub

stuck in the smirk
of a plutocrat baron

pissing on a mess
dropped from a towering penthouse)—

so he plots our crash
and maps our fall

and waits—and what
an enemy we’ve made

by blinking,
and forgetting to call!



.

Music Lesson

Heaving up a hill
Soul gives birth to sunrise



.

It's Just The Devil, Dear

I’ve been having some trouble
Rolling on my way back home
This bus is full of some others
I would rather never know

Take for example that man there
Ranting at someone who’s not there
Can’t you feel the disaster
Every time his voice hits the air?

He’s gonna tell you
About the hell you
Know in moments yourself

And if you listen
Then you slip in
To that terrible spell

It’s just the devil, dear
It’s always here
It’s always near us all

And when you feel the fear
You can’t steer clear
You can’t steer clear at all

To shake myself from this shadow
I look away at someone else
My eyes land on a teenager
Looking like she’s lost from herself

Her eyes gleam like two tv screens
Her perfume I can taste on my tongue
Why does she wear so much make-up
When she’s so lovely and young?

And her dull drone
On her cell phone
Is a voice that isn’t her own

And if you listen
Then you slip in
To that terrible zone

It’s just the devil, dear
It’s always here
It’s always near us all

And when you feel the fear
You can’t steer clear
You can’t steer clear at all

Why is that young guy glaring?
How did that man get so fat?
God knows what flows through those headphones
On the kid beneath the velvet top hat!

I guess I need a vacation
I know it isn’t always so bad
It’s like I’m lost in a nightmare
And everywhere I turn is a trap

A spell’s upon us
On this one bus
All of us want to escape

But instead we
All get angry
And blame someone for our fate

It’s just the devil, dear
It’s always here
It’s always near us all

And when we don’t steer clear
Of the devil, dear
All of us fall



.

Music Through a Windy Street

Your face poised in the grace of bliss breathes
music through a windy street, scraps of old
leaves scratch the concrete, skidding
past your feet, air in your pants puffing
them wide while you walk toward a man
sleeping under a parking meter who is
when you reach him just a bag of trash.

Relieved, you breathe more freely,
and scattered stars of broken glass
flash like flakes of fire in
the black sea sky of the street
where skreeing hwonking tides
of cars roll by and faces
float along the sidewalk.

A cold burning dry ice shriek of
police sirens careens through the mazes
of shadows in the canyons between
buildings that gouge the sky
and hide the glow of our star
from scanty little trees like
withering arteries beneath them.

And he’s a tree, that man
with the horn on the corner,
bending in the breeze
as he breathes his slow soliloquy
through the gaps in the jagged geometry:
See? We all fall like leaves!
It’s not just me.

Would your heart burst if you didn’t
think your way out of this openness?
Birds barely bending their wings
let water-thick winds
lift them until they find
the next big wave to ride,
or don’t, and fly away.

You worry in a frayed tie and rusty collar.
You hurry in a daze of Promethean wine.
Too often you forget you are breathing.
The sky is an eye always open over the commotion blinking below,
and your thoughts are a hum behind your eyes.
Every one here is equally present.
The air is thick with souls.

.

Dot of Rain

A dot of rain
splashed on the glass
of an eye: watching
wet wheels hiss
through wet streets
streaked with light
tonight, mirrors of rivers
rushing through grates
over tunnels that lead
to the sea

.

Unbroken Highway

There’s weather over everything,
like a hovering pregnancy—

people’s faces punctuate
their own private climates

and if the weather’s bad inside you
that’s the blues—

wind hwooing through spaces
between buildings and trees

as traffic speeds
through an unbroken highway

.

Watching And Waiting

He’s got the blue cheese face of a miser
He’s got the soft white breast of a swan
He walks with thin swift feet on the jagged concrete
In the first rose blush of the dawn

He’s got his lock box stocked up for later
He’s got a serpent’s smile at night
He’s got jackpot dreams and a blizzard of schemes
He’ll unleash when the moment is right

He’s been sittin’ gettin’ bitter while the rest of ‘em play
But he’s gonna do something that’11 make you say
Hey! That guy is great!

He’s got his priceless bits of distinction
He’s in a club without any card
There’s a glint in his eye like a shivering sky
Before the rain starts coming down hard

He shakes like a tottering tower
He hums like and unsung tone
There’s a hiss in his voice that whispers of joys
That he left alone long ago

He’s been sittin’ gettin’ bitter while the rest of ‘em play
But he’s gonna do something that’11 make you say
Hey! That guy is great!

There was a time when he loved to go dancing
There was a time when he swam in a song
He was brave, he was glad, always gave what he had
To the chances that came along

But he got rocked by disappointment
‘Cause he could not have it all
He felt like a fool and he spit in the pool
And now he hides behind a high wall

He’s been sittin’ gettin’ bitter while the rest of ‘em play
But he’s gonna do something that’11 make you say
Hey! That guy is great!

.

Flotsam Hotel

I’m living in limbo
In the Flotsam Hotel
It’s after midnight
But I can’t keep still

These patterns of shadows
That crawl on my wall
The hiss of the water
Those steps in the hall

Those awful voices
In my head start to roar
They’re getting so loud
I can’t take any more

I’ve got to get out
I’ve got to get out the door

There’s a stink in the hallway
That’s crowded with ghosts
And shuddering murmurs
Behind every door

In a booth in the lobby
The night manager waits
With a thick plastic window
In front of his face

He surveils me
As I stare at my feet
And push my way through
The heavy steel gate

And then I’m out there
I’m out on the street

A wasteland of faces
In the desolate glare
A desperate current
Runs through the air

In all of those faces
The same hollow stare
A hunger for something
That just isn’t there

I duck in a corner store
To buy a cheap beer
From a youngster much
Too tough for his years

God! I’m thinking
I’ve got to get out of here!

Our business is finished
And I’m back on the street
I get trapped in the sites of
A drug-ravaged queen

Not a man or a woman
But a being in between
She croaks a proposal
That I can’t repeat

It’s hell to think how
Someone ends up like that
It’s as if she’s captured
In a permanent trap

And her soul escaped her
And she can’t get it back

The bosses of business
With cynical grins
Know somebody loses
When somebody wins

When you start losing
It feels like you fell
Straight through the floor of
The Flotsam Hotel

.

What To Do

I know! Let’s kill

the tv and see

what happens

The cold bright

image fades

with a fizzzz

A bomb-blast

of silence spreads

through the room

It’s hard

to look at

each other

Ghostly

noise grows

in my mind

Nerves

hum like

sizzling wires

Does anybody

know any

good jokes?

.

Gathering Evidence

We gather under flowers of fireworks,
beneath a big booming array.
BadaBAM! BadaBAM!
Who doesn't love a bouquet?

A silver chrysanthemum spreads overhead,
dissolves in a shower of sparks
and a sudden stuttering powdery
thup! thup! thup!

A hyacinth bursts in their wake,
red florettes spinning on their spots
in the smoky sky, exploding separately:
cap-blast claps applauding the audience.

We're here! And to honor the moment
a champagne daffodil fills the air,
a trumpet of sex, a jet of gold light
pouring froth from its sides with a galloping frap!

Each dollop a frap! that snaps in a splattering blast.
Rejoice! The event is any event.
We huddle in the darkness like thumbprints,
gathering evidence.



.

A Breath In The Rain

Six shapes

Almost motionless

In the misty air

(Not raining yet)

We wait

For a morning train

To take us elsewhere

It’s not what we want to do

But there’s not much else to really choose

Do you do it too?

Mornings

Weigh down on me

Like a final sky

(No air up there)

This place

Is home to trouble for

A million other lives

Every time I take a breath in the rain

I feel a shiver running through my veins

Here it comes

Birds burst

Just overhead

Like a sudden bloom

(And then they’re gone)

Good God!

That’s beautiful!

Did you see it too?

Into the sky they go

Maybe it’s not what they want to do

I don’t know

.

I Was Just the Air

Standing on a bus
with my life burning away

breathing
and I was just the air

my body was only
an aspect of air

the cloth upon my arms
also air

my thoughts were just
gusts in my skull

an awareness of breath
while breathing

as everyone breathed
clouds of air

in and out
inside and outside

a bus that coughed in the wind



.

After Work

The blurred wall
of another train
passes our passing train

A synthetic voice
announces our stops (and new
messages on someone’s phone)

A made-up face
gazes at
a magazine

A man with maps
of worry beneath his eyes
stares into spaces between faces

(Each of us eager to be elsewhere!)

A car adrift
on a different tide
floats beside us awhile

A man in paint-stained pants
wears a jacket
advertising a bank

The train’s steel wheels
scrape steel rails
like screaming skeletons

We all have plastic
identity tags
at our waists and necks

(This surge in the brain! This urge to relate!)

Outside shines
a twilit sky
of flaming foil



.

Victor Casino

Under the sky of a smile
I kept my options wild

So did she

We stared down on Las Vegas
From a jet at night

A forest of lights

A jackpot JING! JING!
Gleam of a prize

In the mirror of her eyes

Our YES!
Like a hiss

Of greasy success

Melting into a lava
Of unnavigable horror

In an air-conditioned room

A hateful glare
In the sudden sun

And I chose to run



.

Fancy Dancer

You’re such a fancy dancer
You’ve got such flash and class
Out on the floor

You never stoop to shake it
With someone starting out
That’s such a bore!

But don’t you remember
That you were once the one
Doing clumsy steps?

Now when the clumsy stumblers
Gain their gliding grace
You don’t dance with them

It’s not a joke
It’s not a joke
A whisper in the air
Is starting to grow

When the whisper grows
Through a cloud of smoke
It seems to say
What you’ve always known

Once upon a time
You saw dancers you admired
They were beautiful

You tried to get it right
You practiced every night
In your little room

Then one magic night
You hit your heaven’s high
In a big dance hall

The best dancers danced with you
You joined their special few
And you’d top them all!

It’s not a joke
It’s not a joke
A whisper in your mind
Is starting to grow

When the whisper grows
Through a cloud of smoke
It seems to say
What you’ve always known

Faces full of voices
A mirror in the sky
A teardrop
And a windy moan

The soul of someone singing
A plot behind a smile
Fierce glances
At another’s clothes

A thirst for something gentle
A thistle in a kiss
Insistence
On your difference

Dancers like an ocean
Music big as love
And laughter
With ev’rybody else

It’s not a joke
It’s not a joke
A whisper in the wind
Is starting to grow

When the whisper grows
Through a cloud of smoke
It seems to say
What you’ve always known

.

Let Go

The boss called me in his office
Told me to sit down
I sat and looked right at him
His eyes kept flashing around

He said “We’ve got to let you go
The firm is cutting back”
I can’t really remember
What he said after that

I did not knock him out
I did not jump and shout
I just walked on out

I called up my girl friend
Hoo-ooo-hoo-ooo-hoo!
But a man who’s got no job
Is not at all her type

She said “This just isn’t working
We’re on different paths
You do too much moody brooding
And I’m not into that!”

I did not beg and moan
I did not throw my phone
I just let her go

Collecting unemployment checks
Drinking cheap beer with friends
I just wrote a bunch of poems
It's gotta be my best batch yet

Sending out my resume
Only got a callback once
I can extend my benefits
For just a few more months

I only eat at home
I always sleep alone
I can’t pay off my loans
But I still got a phone
And I still write my poems
My mind is still my own



.

Little Angel Glow

He laughs through a strained face
like wind from an underground train.

“I just boast over the beats, me!
Mix in some funky blips and
talk street and—here’s the key—

stir in girls who coo
like whores in a limosine
parked beside a big church!

You get that little angel
glow in the chorus and ch-
CHING! you got a fantasy

that lets you get rich
off the poor!”

And he winces that grin again
through a face like a map
of a war.



.

Give It Away

You wake up under a thick
Fog of dream
You tell yourself it’s not as
Bad as it seems

You rub two dim eyes
You sigh and rise

A rather battered-looking
Face faces you
In the mirror that you’re
Staring into

It starts to scare you
What can you do?

Time to go and give it away

Out there faces flash their
Gazes at you
Mostly looking either
Battered or cruel

They start to scare you
What can you do?

Each money-maker makes his
Way through the maze
Doing duties that screw
Twists in his face

It’s not a secret
The deal is real

Everybody gives it away

In the maze you meet a
Man on the street
He stinks and jabbers through some
Black broken teeth

He starts to scare you
What can you do?

He’s what happens when you
Crack up and crash
Who was this man before he
Fell through the cracks?

He looks right at you
You see him too

You know you’ve got to give it away

(They say it’s all a game in the maze
And your place in the game is to play)

A guy at work is looking
Desperate and blue
He groans and curses in the
Cube next to you

It starts to scare you
What can you do?

If you ask him ‘bout the
Trouble he’s in
He’ll never only be a
Colleague again

You rub two dim eyes
You sigh and rise

Time to really give it away



.

Memories of a Journey

The twisted hog’s face of the rude old border guard
who looked through the bags in your car.

Driving through the night in the fog and the rain
while the others slept until someone woke and relieved you.

Arriving at the sea at sunset in a town of smiling strangers
who seemed to want nothing from you.

Sleeping like a baby—with hectic intricate world-worried dreams.

The BRAAWK! (ringing long pause) BRAAWK! of the birds
sailing over the roof when you woke.

The churn of the ferryboat through sun sea air
and islands like moon pyramids.

Swimming in a cool salt lake with big-eyed donkeys on the shore
beneath bleached stone hills full of olive trees.

Heavy dark home-made red wine strong as brandy at dusk.



.

A Cliff at the Edge of the World

Hoist up a sad-eyed smile
while the world
fogs the Earth with its fart
and it’s hard to be a tree

Green leaves shiver
in big grey winds
and little faces
shower down from the clouds

Silver
soul of an ocean
in a puddle of rain
on a cliff at the edge of the world



.

Loved So Terribly

I was born in a hot house
That blurred the glaring sun
I watched and I waited
For something to happen
Light burned through the cracks and
I knew I had to run

I ran through the desert
The sun burned my bare face
I was lonely and desperate
To find another place
Where passionate people
Opened their warm embrace

I made some good friends and
I got burned by some creeps
Those creeps raped a gentle
Simple kindness in me
I dreamed of revenge and
I sought it violently

I swallowed the darkness
The darkness swallowed me
I swallowed more darkness
More darkness swallowed me
I lost the bright star that
I loved so terribly



.

Snake In The Grass

Where’d you come from?
Are you running away?
Grab a chair, sit down,
You might as well stay
Maybe you’ve got
A lot to say
I don’t know

Are you leaving
Something awful behind?
Are you drifting?
Are you wandering blind?
Getting lost could be
A good way to find
Something else

This could be something
That isn’t the truth anymore

Yeah I’ll sit down
But there’s not much to tell
I’m not drifting—
I’m running like hell
And I’m here with you
‘Cause it happens to be
Where I fell

Almost everything
I see I hate
It’s like I’m born
Into a nightmare fate
And every move I make
Is always too late
To escape

A bunch of bastards
Have me trapped like a rat in a maze

No use confessing
These messes to you
I may have no clue
As to what I should do
But believe me, mister,
I ain’t looking to you
As some guru

So thank you, old man,
For being so kind
I really wonder
Just what you have in mind—
You prob’ly want to take
A bite out of me
From behind

Every damned thing
In this violent life has a price

(Everywhere I pass
There’s a snake in the grass
A snake in the grass
Won’t just let you pass)

I’m a lonely old man
That much is true
And a grass snake hisses
Through all that we do
And if you’re insisting
That this is your truth
Then it’s true

But do these monsters
That you hate so much
Have an absolute
Hold over us?
Are they more mighty
Than the wind or the touch
Of the sun?

Care to join me
In a good strong cup of black tea?

Maybe later
We can ease our feet in the sea



.

Warm Wide Orange Skies

A lazy
grey day
off

walk
by husks
of houses

like toothaches
rotten and
raw

gusts
of shopping
mall pop

from these
flash-by
cars

shrink
me to
a humming

beam that
can see
what

goes
on all
the time

(while we’re
blind in
our

minds)
walk with
me and

we soon
may see
human

silhouettes
dancing on
sand dunes

against warm
wide orange
skies



.

Impossible Space

Under a sky
like an eye

is an earth

upon whose turf
is a world

of men

within whose heads
are more

worlds

and within the world
of one head

is everything possible

for a being
dreaming a world

in a world
of dreaming beings

upon a spinning
stone

whose sky
almost hides

impossible
space



.

Before You Go

Who hated a happy hippy high?

Who couldn’t smile into the other guy’s eyes?

Who watched a wide-winged hawk glide on the wind?

Who knew no money man can dance like Freaky Johnny?

Who spat “That jive died with Christ!” at a friend who needed kindness?

Who flung crumbs at pigeons?

Who paid to gaze at caged lives?

Who saw a daisy lie down with lions and die?

Who worked for men with cigarette-butt eyes?

Who wondered Does grass mind being walked on?

Who smirked when he should have screamed?

Who wrote a bad short story called “Ice Coma”?

Who smelled his own stink in the rain?

Who despised being vicious and weak and one day suddenly stopped?

Who waited for his soul catch up with him?



Who raced to catch up with his soul?



.

Something's Coming

Hey hey
Whatcha gonna say
When you’ve lost your hope
And you’ve lost your way?

You’re here
Where you’ve always been
But there’s something here
That you’ve never seen

Faces
Flicker and glare
And you want to run
But you go nowhere

Who knew
The people you knew
As friends in the end
Were ghosts to you?

Something’s coming
A wind is blowing
And it’s blowing your mind

You stagger after
Shadow laughter
That just left you behind

Fever
Is in the air
And there’s money everywhere
And it makes you scared

You pray
That it’s alright
Say that it’s alright
Through the creeping night

What’s that
Rustling there?
You heard it you swear
There’s something out there!

Just stop
Tell yourself stop
Tell yourself stop
Forget that thought!

You hope this passes
As it flashes
Through the cracks in your mind

You want to wake up
Try to wake up
And just leave it behind

Hey hey
Whatcha gonna say
When you’ve lost your hope
And you’ve lost your way?

You pray
That it’s alright
Say that it’s alright
Through the creeping night

No no
No no no no
No no no no no
No no no no no

No no
No no no no
No no no no no
No no no no no



.

Where You're Going

A sudden violation
Of your expectation
Threw your situation
Into chaos and despair

You blinked away the warnings
That met you every morning
Now a hard day’s dawning
In the terrifying air

And there’s no definition
No chemical prescription
To convince you that it’s all just like
It was before you crashed

Stranded and abandoned
Better find yourself a friend
‘Cause there ain’t no one who’s not got lost
And had to start all over again

Is something nagging at you
Always staring at you
Creeping up to catch you
When you turn your back?

Have you heard a murmur
That could urge you further
Through a curve to turn you
Through this twisted wreck?

And there’s no light to guide you
No map to provide you
The route down the road ‘cause the road is your own
And your rolling all alone

But all your steps are echoes
Of the steps of all of those
Finding their feet on the tangling streets
That you meet when you keep on wand’ring down that road

Do choruses of noises
Full of broken voices
Cover over choices
That might melt them into moans?

In our random candor
Is there any chance for
A sudden subtle answer
To what we need to know?

And there’s no big club to love you
No sure star above you
To show where to go when you don’t know the hole
In your soul is a hole in the air

A tunnel through the terror
An arrow through the error
A pause in the noise that can point to a choice
That can get you where you’re going anywhere



.

The Big Casino

Redfaced
sweating

frantic to figure
what’s next

(and
how to react
to the reaction

of what’s
expected to be
next)

concocting
through voodoo
historical calculus

intricate
instant
elixirs

that fixed
the sagging
floor before

but crap
out now
BLOOOOP!

on the bourse
where balloon
faces cave

and cry at a sky
that is suddenly
a ceiling



.

Family Gathering

And together
we continued
losing ourselves

in the glow
of a television



.

Puddle of Rain

He’s tired

Black holes fill his eyes

All that’s left

Is an awareness

Of emptiness

A hollowed-out head holds

A puddle of rain



.

How To Go About It

Standing on a corner
With diddly dang to do
Watching all the women
Who I would love to—oo!

Each one is an actress
In the movies in my mind
And after they all pass me
I just watch them from behind

Then a dude strides by
With an angel by his side
And I know by his smile
And the grace and ease in his stride

He’s a winner! Hey!
There’s no way
That I could ever doubt it
Because the guy…knows how to go about it!

Struggle out of bed again
To get to work on time
Wait in the rain for a train that is late
And it comes and it crawls down the line

You look at all the faces
And the faces look away
Every one seems eager
To be finished with the day

But there’s a man up high
In an office in the sky
Who we all work for
Together down on the floor

He’s a winner! Hey!
There’s no way
That I could ever doubt it
Because the guy…knows how to go about it!

Worry work and wonder
Wish and work and worry more
Dreading what’s ahead
Regretting what’s been done before

Hollowed out and tired
In a tragic selfish mess
Living as if this just isn’t it yet
Life’s ahead or behind but it’s somewhere to get

But a man whose face
Holds a gentle open gaze
Is right here now
And glows in the ghostly crowd

He’s a winner! Hey!
There’s no way
That I could ever doubt it
Because the guy…knows how to go about it!



.

Stand Still

and feel
the hum
of Earth

flow through you

as waves
of wind
move seas



.

Spring

A woman
wielding her ripe
body

through a ripe world

of stares and sighs
and desperate
fantasies



.

Mirror Man

“Mirror Man : Mirror Me!”—Captain Beefheart

Streets wet with rain
—gleaming streets—

reflect streaks of light
from lamps overhead

I plap past puddles in sandals
and see myself—

One night
riding a bus

through an invisible world
I glanced at one of the windows

expecting to see myself
in the gleaming glass

and instead saw a still
grey woman gaze back

and accepted this
as me



.

It's Just A Ride

“Hey, don’t worry; don’t be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride.”—Bill Hicks

Doo wah diddy in Gitmo
Secret freaky scenes
Plots to jimmy the gizmo
Stone democracy

Hey! Ho! Hey-ho!

Cold hypnotic big bank vault
Missle billionaire
Black spectacular asphalt
Megatronic air

Hey! Ho! Hey-ho!

Insect glasses and sirens
Strict straight orange cones
Grey steel cages and silence
Lonesome hopeless moans

Hey! Ho! Hey-ho!

Snow blooms on a black tree branch
Moon big as a face
Slow belief in a high chance
Grace to light your days

Hey! Ho! Hey-ho!
It’s just a ride!



.

Playboy Rock

A hundred practiced gestures
Get you through the day
Your eyes are calm and steady
They don’t give you away
And when you’re feeling evil
You tell yourself you’re not

But before you strut and brag about the bag of tricks you’ve got
Catch yourself a whiff of this playboy rock!

You’re busy with your business
To try to tap the top
Your money makes more money
No signs say you should stop
Fleecing spending trendies—
Another bumper crop

But before you flap a flag about the prizes in your pot
Snatch yourself a glimpse of this playboy rock!

Sometimes nasty flashes
Visit you in bed
A raging mob of losers
Is hunting for your head
They’re just about to get you—
Then you wake in shock

But before you try to hide behind a heavy double lock
Give a little listen to this playboy rock!

You say you’re not a killer
Just a strategist
A step ahead of those fools
Nothing’s wrong with this
What about those scumbags
Who peddle drugs—my god!

But before you huff a list of all the ugly things you’re not
Slip into a bit of this playboy rock!



.