Thomas Radwick : Crack In The Ceiling

Flashes 14

2012-02-12T07:48:00.000-08:00

What you
don’t love
is unsustainable

Obsessed with hungers
that can’t be
satisfied

The greed

that makes you
a liar

Possessed

by the opinions
of a space alien

A place where men

don’t name buildings
after themselves

Terrified

by a face
in the sky

Whisky: solace

that isn’t
solace

Don’t violate
your own
inviolability

When your mind is
blank you know
no fear

.

No Reason To Cry

2012-02-12T07:41:00.000-08:00

Recently I dreamed that I was in the bathroom of my home, preparing for the day, when suddenly I was struck by a sadness. In my mind I saw some faces of friends and familiar folk, and in these faces I also recognized a sadness. This sadness showed not so much in the expressions on these faces—it was more like an aura that came through them. Nor was the sadness of these individuals something specific and separate to each one—it was something shared, and yet unnamable, something without a certain source which was nevertheless certain. It felt essential.

Being filled with this sadness, I felt an impulse to cry. But this impulse was tinged with doubt. Then I heard within me what I once heard a radio evangelist describe as a "strong small voice," which told me not to cry. Crying would be an indulgence that would not relieve the situation, but would rather weaken me, and make me less able to assist others in bearing this sadness.

This made sense to me, and I decided not to cry.

.

You Say You Found A Way

2012-02-12T07:38:00.000-08:00

You say that you found a way
Do you know if it’s sane?
How can you say that you found your way
When you don’t know if it’s sane?

I've roamed like a hungry ghost

Who can’t see what he’s shown
I've roamed like a hungry ghost
Who won’t seen what he’s shown

Will we wander with souls so hopeful

That this time we’ll arrive
Somewhere better that we only
Just missed when we went blind
Staring into the sky?

I’ve seen such visions in my dreams

Are they as deep as they seem?
I’ve seen such visions in my dreams
Can they be what they seem?

(Down in dusky places

Seldom ever seen
A face becomes a trumpet and then
Screams)

It’s no use just to drown in your blues
If you do, you lose
If you choose just to drown in your blues
You lose what you knew

Will we wander with souls so hopeful

That this time we’ll arrive
Somewhere better that we only
Just missed when we went blind
Staring into the sky?

You say that you found a way...

9 Haiku

2012-01-14T08:02:00.000-08:00

Flash! A silver cross
on the rooftop of a church
in the grey noon sky

White fluorescent glare

and a high sad soaring voice—
train station singer

That man driving by

loves the idea of himself
smoking a cigar

My breathing and these
three crossed black wires in the sky—
all I know right now

“The word hibiscus
sounds like a snake that’s yawning”
she said while she stretched

Prisms of branches

crisscrossing in the canyon—
a silence supreme

Little flower face
gazes up shyly, blushing—
cold morning garden

Up from the subway—
a cloud of birds flickering
in a blooming sky

Bright antenna arm
on the rooftop of a house,
silver in the sun

dream poem by Bukowski

2012-01-14T07:49:00.000-08:00

I sit in a cashier’s booth at a gas station

watching money flow into me

and out of me

and the evening

sighs at me
through a screen

.

Ride The Rise

2012-01-14T07:40:00.000-08:00

That one got a glow that goes right through you
That one got a lively light
That one knows a hope that flows into you
Shining through two diamond eyes

That one got a tongue that sings like silver
That one got a voice so bright
That one knows this wicked world can kill you
But we got a mighty life

That one tricked the traps with maps of laughter
That one got a vibrant mind
That one saw the crap we scramble after
And he left it all behind

That one got a face that’s all our faces

That one smiles like a sky
That one got a soul that knows what grace is
Every time we breathe we fly

Ride the rise while it’s climbing so high

We got time ‘til the night
The world is scheming and we know it’s dreaming
Up a lie that’ll try to blind us every time

That one knows a man can change his story

That one wrote his own romance
That one quit a road that’s cold and lonely
Hatched himself another plan

That one don’t get sunk in funky places

That one does a lover’s dance
That one ain’t hung up in stunts and chases
But he got a gambler’s chance

Yeah he got gambler’s chance

.

8 Haiku

2011-12-04T06:30:00.000-08:00

Lonely gull singing
in a rosy morning sky
shared with an airplane

Watching fields of light

through a train window at night—
glimmering city

Ocean: big calm lake

gleaming white with full moon light
just before morning

Sunrise in the east,

fat raindrops patter the streets—
rainbow in the west

Thunder shakes the house—

or is the next-door neighbors’
garage door rising?

Laughter like rattling

skeletons from some workers
on a pre-dawn bus

Cranes like dinosaurs
against a wispy sky—
don’t look awake yet

From the beach house we

watch people watch the sunset—
brief blaze, then twilight

.

Politician

2011-12-04T06:22:00.000-08:00

—based on a song by Cream

Hey now baby

Get into my big black car
I want to show you
Just what my politics are

I support the left

But I’m leaning to the right
You know I’m gonna give in
Without much of a fight

I’m a politician

Hard to practice what I preach
But try to catch me baby—
You’ll find I’m hard to reach

I am your mayor

Your president
Your council member
I’m in your parliament

I am a pimp
(If you could see my hands!)
Just remember baby
Your dreams ain’t what I am

.

Climb The Sky

2011-12-04T06:16:00.000-08:00

A snake on the path
We’re silent and stare
Hawk circles the air

Child tiger god face

In a tree in the breeze

A breathing being

A life that climbs the sky

A smile you can smell

A crushed candy cane
A break in the game

Tense painted face

Totters on her high heels

Hair like a...hair like a...shield

A sweet nectar scent
A blur in the blooms
A bird like a bee

A sudden shimmer shivers

In the leaves of the trees

Breezes breathe

Breezes breathe

A life that climbs the sky

.

18 Haiku

2011-11-06T09:14:00.000-08:00

Crude roar in the sky—
on the street he shakes his fist
at the fighter jets

After last night’s rain—

tides of lighted cars and trucks
drifting on wet roads

A tanned grey-haired man

shouts That’s as fun as it gets!—
still wet from surfing

Brassy razzmatazz
blaring through the big ballroom—
can we dance to this?

Rosy island clouds

spread into dust in the dusk
over the ocean

Howling tunnel ride,
a warm cup between my thighs—
can’t drink on the train

This face in the sky

—slash of a mouth and two eyes—
it doesn’t judge me

I’m an apprentice—

I play a master’s song and
imitate him too

Cinema: flashing
antics of illusionists
pretending to live

Walking before dawn—

just over my head some wires
sizzle in the mist

Old guitarist shouts
I already forgot it!
when I play too fast

The hiss of the hose

as she waters her roses
in the soft twilight

Bits of broken glass

from car windows smashed by thieves—
stars strewn in the street

The warmth of the earth

under my feet as I watch
the cat nipping grass

We’re rolling slowly

through the tunnel—as dark here
as it is outside

*

Weed whacker buzzes
and flits around a man’s feet—
smell of gas and grass

Abandon yoga

and get swallowed by the world—
foolish destiny

A sliver of sun

slips slowly into the sea—
sunset becomes dusk

.

6 Train Ride Haiku

2011-10-15T07:08:00.000-07:00

Rumble under foot,
breath spreading through my belly—
standing on the train

Asleep on the train—

an upside-down umbrella
dangles from her hand

Speeding between stops,

blur of walls through the windows—
a train underground

On a train at dawn

we burst out of a tunnel—
mountains of blue clouds!

Clattering of rails

and some ripe basso gossip—
three men ride standing

Through the rear window

I watch where the train just was
rush away from me

.

Blown Down Blues

2011-10-15T07:03:00.000-07:00

Oh mama...I’m so sick and sad
Oh mama...things looks awful bad

All the famous faces

Look so mean and mad

Oh mama...everybody’s used

Oh mama...what we gonna do?

The bank went broke when the deal was done

Then all the houses of cards blew down
What’s the sense of pretending they’re still around?

Oh mama...where we gonna turn?

Oh mama...we keep getting burned

Dealers keep on dealing

Like we’ll never learn

Oh mama...will it ever end?

Oh mama...what’s around the bend?

A sudden rumble took another tumble

In a boom that just went bust
Is there anything left for us in the dust?

Oh mama!

5 Haiku

2011-09-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Fennel fields in bloom
along the old railroad tracks,
a scent of salt flats

Sunday in the park—

shrieking kids bounce in bright tents
under solemn trees

Millionaire landlord

drags an empty metal cart
that makes him happy

Dark-eyed little girl
shouting Rabbit! to a tree
in downtown rush hour

Stern men in crisp shirts

gulp wine at a loud cafe—
slow breeze through the palms

Flashes 13

2011-09-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

What if
that man
was your father?

Poor folk—

generally more generous
than the rich

Urban person

dreaming
at a magazine

Amazed

every time
I succeed

Much too

sunny for my
taste today

Your big

bullfrog boasting
bores me!

Sanity

requires
discipline

Life is great—

but the world
stinks!

9 Haiku

2011-08-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

A strand of dry grass
clings to the bronze guitar strings—
music in the trees

White mist on the cliffs—

a dog chases his keeper
jogging on the beach

Scent of peach nectar

brings a tiny whirling blur—
a bird like a bee

Curled snake on the path
stops us and makes us silent—
hawk squawks and circles

Palm over the pool—

child tiger god face swaying
in the breezy sky

A tense painted face

tottering on her high heels—
blonde hair like a shield

Two women, a man

pass me laughing on the street—
he’s holding a lamp!

Apricot twilight—

slender silver strand of moon
over mellow seas

Seagulls fight for food—

a big dead crab in the surf
that gets swept away

.

7 Haiku

2011-07-17T05:59:00.000-07:00

Misty morning beach—
a black boy in a blue hood
is walking backwards

Black crows and white gulls

stand on a white-streaked railing
and stare at the waves

Morning fishermen

ganged on a damp patch of sand—
shadows in the mist

An insistent bird

through the lush trees by the deck—
we sip black coffee

A lake of grey rocks—

copper pheasants and stone cats
gathered at its edge

Summer darkness falls—

fireflies rise over our heads
while we drink red wine

A mist in the east—

here a gang of hungry birds
stabbing at dry grass

.

A Crack In You, A Crack In Me

2011-07-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

God I know...that you don’t care
Where I go...or how I fare
If I go broke...in your nightmare
Down below...what a man can bear

You put a price...on human dreams
Your sole advice...is to build a scheme
Like a light...for souls to seek
Until one night...you’ve got them beat

Oh you’ve got a foe to meet

He’s coming to cheat you
Yeah you know he might beat you

And so all your secrets and fears
Just grow

When you get blue...you can see

A crack in you...a crack in me
A crack in that...reality
Which isn’t what...it seemed to be

Which isn't what...it seemed to be

.

Flashes 12

2011-07-17T05:50:00.000-07:00

We
don’t lift
our garage doors

Yet another

crack
in the rational world

Watching the wind

through a window
in the mirror

He drank
himself
off course

Times when

we want
nothing

Her smile

you could smell:
powdery candy

These houses make you
dream of what
other lives are like

May the Spirit of Summer

linger long
in the Land of Lakes!

Dark trees

sparkling
with fireflies

.

10 Haiku

2011-06-18T06:59:00.000-07:00

Bright orange poppies
exploding out of a crack
in the paving stones

I don’t stop the cat

from swatting at a big fly
razzing through the house

Warm late spring night—

against a lavender sky
shadow people pass

New lemon blossoms—

the cat rolling in the dirt,
its coat shinier

The sun’s reflection

in a puddle of water—
soft rain is falling

The cat’s eyes widen

when a fire truck screams by—
fading summer dusk

Little black birds poised

on strands of telephone wires
in a huge blue sky

Jade and caramel

pebbles shining on the beach—
my pockets are full

Blinding silver waves

crash and tumble toward the shore—
a surfer rides them

Reading old haiku

in the early summer dusk,
cat curled on my lap

This Can't Be Wrong

2011-06-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

Like a flash on the water
I know this can’t be wrong
I catch a glimpse of the order
Man it’s been so long

Oh I know this can’t be wrong

Birds abound in the bushes

Singing swirling songs
I stop my rushing and hustling
And linger on the lawn

Oh I know this can’t be wrong

I found a friend in a dream one time

After she’d been dead
And through a sky of a smile
This is what she said

Set your feet down

In this deep ground
Right where they belong

Set your feet down

In this deep ground
Get yourself back home

I fell in love with the laughter

Glowing in your eyes
Now I know what I’m after
This is paradise

Oh I know this can’t be wrong

Another Fate

2011-06-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

Hey there mister can’t you see
Something’s burning down in me
It gets so hot I’ve got to scream!
I know you know just what I mean

When you’re not at home you’ve got to

Roam that lonesome road

I was schooled and I was ruled

With phony maps and broken tools
But when I knew that I was fooled
I knew I had to make my move

You see something flash through a crack

And you can’t turn back

So many things that I was told

Just empty noises dead and cold
There’s so much more than what is shown
I’ve got to find it on my own

Flee this emptiness you hate
And find another fate

.

Last Shot

2011-05-28T06:56:00.000-07:00

Mister Rudy was full of booty

He had the best place around

When you were in there drinking

You would get to thinking

Rudy was the king of the town

His Miss Judy was a beauty

She could really shake it around

Shaped just like a cello

Man! she made fellow

Feel his devil tremble and growl

Those two people seemed

To have it all worked out

Mister Rocco wasn’t normal

He was better than the rest

So much stronger so much smarter

Better watch it partner!

Every test proved he was the best

He knew a player is a taker

Any man who pauses is lost

He was built for speed

And couldn’t bear to be

Anybody less than the boss

That club Rudy had

Always made him feel small

Rudy’s lady made Rocco crazy

He had to have her all to himself

But he felt like a loser

Judy wouldn’t choose him

When Rudy was the one with the wealth

He looked at Rudy and he knew he

Had to get the best of that man

He knew it was his duty

To take that beauty Judy

Steal her out of old Rudy’s his hands

He walked in the club

Gonna get her

Packing a big gun

Gonna get him

Saying praying to himself

This will be done

He put a bullet in Rudy’s belly

Killed the king to be with the queen

It felt just like a dream

But when Miss Judy screamed

He knew she’d never be with him

She would never be with him

Flashes 11

2011-05-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

A happy

bulge beneath

your belt

Obsessive collectors

in cafes

with laptops

That flag

in the boss’s

office

Her cynical

masculine voice

harsh from smoking

Marching formations

like a walking

word

A chorus

of disparate

voices in us

Soul damage

was his sense

of soul

Using eyes

as tools

of observation

Feel that

readiness

in your neck

Generosity:

our clear connection

with God

Get Off This Bus

2011-05-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

“It is right and it is just—because he must!”—Henry Miller

Everyone’s got it

Everyone’s got a reason

That we don’t know

But we know that they’ve got it

‘Cause everyone needs a reason

To keep on going

We think we don’t show it

But we’re glowing with it every moment

That we keep going

We go without knowing

Exactly when or where the road we’re on

Is gonna be done

But it’s gonna be done

I wait for a signal

I stand in line and wait my turn to get

A glimpse of a sign

I hint or a vision

A trigger I can figure that tells me

That the time is mine

To do what I’ve got to

And make a move that breaks through to

The next side of my life

The side that’s been hiding

And waiting for me to get it right

Now the time has arrived

It’s like the turning of the tides

When you know you got it right

This time

And you know you got it right

‘Cause you’re feeling so alive

And light

And the chime you feel inside

Is rhyming with the light

Outside

Outside and inside

There’s something I trust

Something that tells me I must

Get off of this bus

It’s right and it’s just

Because I know that I must

Get off of this bus

And watch it ride off in the dust

‘Cause I’ve had enough

I’ve had enough and I know

This world is a bluff

We The People

2011-04-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

Trade fifty years
Of vitality and industry
Advancing someone else’s wealth
In exchange for opportunities
To purchase some degree
Of comfort when we rest

.

5 Haiku

2011-04-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

Stunned in the spring night
staring at the twilit sky
rubbing my sore feet

Sunny spring morning—
deeply breathing cool sea air
on my bicycle

A wide-winged raven
hovering in gusty air—
early spring sunset

*

Traffic rushes past
and we stand beneath buildings
at twilight, smiling

A paused train at night—
two headlights spread cloudy beams
through the milky fog

.

Dead Cat In A Top Hat

2011-04-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

“Dead cat in a top hat
Thinks he’s an aristocrat
That’s crap”—The Doors

Rat man living out on the street
That man begging for something to eat
That man’s tossed like a scrap on a heap of dreams

Fat man stuffing himself with pills
That man can’t feel any thrills
That man’s hiding up in the hills to kill

Ripping through the city is the terrible sound
Of people being set up and down
And you feel the burning when they tell you
That your turn is now

Right now

I told a friend what’s in my head
He looked at me with eyes full of dread
Then he smiled—Amen brother! he said

Those fat bosses are lonely and mean
They can’t get down—you know what I mean
You and me man, at least got a chance to be happy

Dead cat in a top hat
Thinks he’s an aristocrat
That’s crap

Ask the rat man
About the fat man
Yeah ask the rat man

That’s crap

.

Can't Go Wrong

2011-03-26T07:39:00.001-07:00

I heard a voice so small and strong
It told me Man you won’t be here long
Come on—get out and get it on
When this is living in you man, you know you can’t go wrong

I saw some birds soar in the sky
I saw some clouds with faces flying by
It was like—everything was alive
Now when I look up I can find them every time

I passed a place and in the glass
I saw my face but it was another man’s
It made no difference
Whether I was him or if he is who I am

I know a voice so small and strong
It tells me Man you won’t be here long
Come on—get out and get it on
When this is living in you man, you know you can’t go wrong

.

On Finding Faces

2011-03-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

Finding faces in unusual places such as clouds, rocks, and vegetation is a favorite practice of mine.

Faces can be found not only in the natural world, but also in such artificial objects as a peeling wall or a rumpled heap of clothes.

These faces tend to be human, but can also be those of animals. Sometimes part of one face is also part of another. Frequently these faces appear to be engaged in an utterance. In my experience, these utterances have always been soundless.

Upon finding a face, one can gaze at it exclusively, or seek other faces near about. Upon looking away from a face, one can readily find it again. Cloud faces tend to distort more rapidly, making them harder to find again.

These faces are profoundly expressive. Each has a unique character and mood. A face that shares part of itself with another face is distinctly different from the face with which it is conjoined.

One can return to a place and find again a face previously found in rocks, certain artificial objects, and, to some extent, vegetation. One is more likely to find again a face in a tree’s bark, for example, than in the arrangement of its leaves.

Wind can animate some faces, especially those found in clouds and vegetation. A face found in the arrangement of a tree’s leaves, for example, can suddenly appear to be speaking—although soundlessly, in my experience.

Finding faces in unusual places is a form of meditation that can lead to cosmic speculation, and has no known value in the marketplace.

.

6 Haiku

2011-02-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

A melting world watched
through a window blurred with rain—
early morning train

Some black crows flap by
in the enormous blue sky
while white gulls circle

Caressing the cat
with my ear to her belly—
a purring cosmos

*

I’m too tired to move
under a vast dying sky—
early spring evening

Glow of two breaklights
smeared red on wet asphalt—
rainy winter night

Beneath a blue sky
with wide-winged gulls gliding by
and somewhere—sirens!

.

Border Boys

2011-02-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

Make way!
A cosmic voice says
Today
Makes absolute rays
We trace
A strange and shapely grace
We take
Our place in silences

Border boys are roaming
Gonna show what they have found
Gonna spread the message all around

You’ve gone
As though you had no choice
But you’ve grown
Sick of all the noise
You don’t
Rejoice in all their toys
You know
There’s poison in their ploys

Border boys are roaming
Gonna show what they have found
Gonna spread the message all around

(Borders blur and the bound’ries blend and then
The wind begins to bend
Into a hint of whisper
And it says...)

You run
From a constant hum
That comes
From wires strung among us
They pump
A jolt in the commotion
Can one
Ever come undone?

Border boys are roaming
Gonna show what they have found
Gonna spread the message all around

.

When The Wind Is Right

2011-02-26T08:32:00.000-08:00

I’m too tired to move myself
I’m thinking with a sigh
I lie beneath the twilight
While I eye a dying sky
And I don’t mind

Our passions are elapsing
As we pass into the night

This morning I was staring at
Some dewy blades of grass
I bent my head to block the sun
And then a dewdrop flashed
As dazzling as

A far-flung foreign star that fell
And landed in my lap

On the street I passed a man
Whose head was in his hands
He stumbled mumbling but I couldn’t
Make out what he said
And on he went

Something spinning in him had been
Twisting up his head

I asked a friend I work with
“What’s the title of our song?”
And through a rocky grin he said
“ ‘Be Strong and Play Along’—
You think I’m wrong?”

“It’s better that you get it quick
And don’t get strung along”

I’m guessing at the blessing
Of some rusty melody
I’m grabbing at the flashes
Of some ghostly poetry
What does it mean?

I think there’s something bigger
In the glimpses we see

Ever felt that you were held
In otherworldly hands?
As though your life were guided by
A slender silver strand?
Who understands

The undiscovered wonders
Of an undeluded man?

How can we get from under
Such an ugly lonely sham?
And discover all the wonders
Of an undeluded man?

Sometimes I think we might
When the wind is right

When the wind is right

.

Flashes 10

2011-02-26T08:25:00.000-08:00

Title
for a novel:
The Prince Of Poop Valley

“Poetry is not a careful thing—
poetry is lamb dust”
—Jack Kerouac

A clear spot
where the stress falls:
hunger

Try not to let
the greedheads
rape your heart of love

*

"Once you’ve said it—
say it again
(with different words)"

Depression:
opportunity
to be a hero

Feeling this
living music
flowing through you now

*

Death:
the means for being
born into one’s origin

I learn more from birds
than from words
of learned men

.

More And More

2011-02-26T08:23:00.000-08:00

Can’t conceive it
Can’t conceive it at all

Can’t believe it
Can’t believe it would fall
Not at all

We know it’s rotten and we’re
Throwing the whole lot away
Right away

Stars are gleaming
We can see them tonight

Like a blind man
Finding diamonds in his eyes
A big surprise

It’s awful humbling when you
Know you stumbled onto this
And almost missed

(Wasting days gazing through a crooked maze
And through the haze came a simple spoken phrase
And it said You’re not dead
So you’d better go ahead)

With such a hunger
Rumbling under the floor

It makes you wonder
What we were under before
That’s for sure

We started knocking and they
Started unlocking the doors
More and more

We started knocking and they
Started unlocking the doors
More and more
More and more
More and more

.

5 Haiku

2011-01-29T08:03:00.000-08:00

For Jack Kerouac:

While the dance hall rocked
a big old clock ticked and tocked
and nobody cared

This quiet night sky—
I’ve got nothing to bother
my mind with right now

Figures floating by
on an invisible path
in the evening fog

*

Two big eyes of light
glide by me in the darkness—
walking on the road

A flurry of snow—
cloud of white pigeons flutters
and swerves and is gone

.

Blues At The Bottom

2011-01-29T07:59:00.000-08:00

You gotta take up space
In a public place
Where you waste your days
What a fall from grace

Blues at the bottom
Man you really got ‘em now

First you took that loan
Then they took your home
‘Cause you lost your job
Man did you get robbed

Blues at the bottom
Man you really got ‘em
Man you really got ‘em now

There’s a ragged man
With his grimy hands
In a garbage bin
Now you live like him

Blues at the bottom
Man you really got ‘em now

And when you try to sleep
On the cold concrete
Under neon lights
It’s an awful night

Blues at the bottom
Man you really got ‘em
Man you really got ‘em now

(Stripped to your limit
With a vision of
What life might be like

If we were rid of
This big swindle of
Pricing life so high

Come and get a bit of heaven—
Your piece of the pie!
You can bet that we would never lie...)

There’s a big fat man
Who you worked for then
And he got fatter when
You lost you’re land

Yeah he’s getting rich
From this scam of his
But if you think like this
You’re a Socialist

Blues at the bottom
Man you really got ‘em
Man you really got ‘em now

.

Demon's Eye

2011-01-29T07:57:00.000-08:00

--based on a song by Deep Purple

I don’t mind ... what you say
I don’t listen ... to you anyway
I don’t care ... what you do
The spell just broke ... and we are through

Sly sly sly ... like a demon’s eye

I don’t want ... to be on your team
Since I quit ... I feel so free
I got trapped ... in your world-wide web
But I broke loose ... I slipped your thread

Sly sly sly ... like a demon’s eye

I can’t forget ... all the blood you spill
I still feel ... the love you kill
You rape and wreck ... you lie and blind
You poison joy ... and you ruin minds

Sly sly sly ... like a demon’s eye

You shoot your friend ... right in the face
You go to church ... but you’re out of grace
I know you’re sad ... but that’s too bad
You played for keeps ... and you’ve been had

Sly sly sly ... like a demon’s eye

.

Soon This Will Be Gone

2011-01-29T07:45:00.000-08:00

I’m all alone
In my little room
And I don’t know
What I’m gonna do

The world outside me
Howls and moans
I don’t want to go
I’ve got to though

And so I go
Out into the street
To buy a dose
To still the ghosts in me

A little whisky
A little beer
Could be just enough
To ease my fear

Soon this will be gone
Soon this will be gone

And then I roam
Through the glaring night
And I am shown
Some amazing sights

People hungry
For what’s not there
And they watch and wait
They stare and stare

I move along
Toward a corner store
And there’s a woman
Standing by the door

She leers at me
With insect eyes
Like the soul in her
Completely died

Soon this will be gone
Soon this will be gone

(Goodbye
I’ll fade into the sky
One night
When the time is right)

I buy my booze
Get back on the street
Head to my room
And the sirens scream

That cold burning
Icy shriek
Throws a shiver through
The soul in me

And then I’m home
In my little room
I drink my dose
And don’t know what to do

Somewhere out there
A few rich men
Know so many lose
So they can win

Soon this will be gone
Soon this will be gone

.

6 Haiku

2011-01-02T08:31:00.000-08:00

Red-lit word TRIBUNE
fenced around a building top—
north, east, south, and west

A wet black scarf left
on the rainy black asphalt—
like a flat drowned rat

In an orange vest,
a black man strolls home from work,
white hard hat in hand

*

Flapping burst of grey
swoops over wet black asphalt—
pigeons in the gloom

Wind-blown lake of rain—
each ripple jostles the gulls
that float like a fleet

Through a pavement crack
a tuft of yellow flowers
quivers in the breeze

.

(Everybody's) Here To Get Down

2011-01-02T08:27:00.000-08:00

The center is a snake pit
It’s easy to forget it
But watch out you don’t get hit
By a blow that breaks your spirit

There’s no way around it
Once you’ve finally found it
And you’ve really figured it out

There’s no doubt about it
Everybody’s here to get down

The boss of the equipment
Got his fingers on the switches
Gonna trick you with images
Twist you in his business

There’s no way around it
Once you’ve finally found it
And you’ve really figured it out

There’s no doubt about it
Everybody’s here to get down

(Some folks make a big show of blowing
But everybody’s being blown)

Another bitter figure
With his finger on the trigger
The pressure’s getting bigger
It’s finished in a flicker

There’s no way around it
Once you’ve finally found it
And you’ve really figured it out

There’s no doubt about it
Everybody’s here to get down

.

Flashes Nine

2011-01-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

Yes
I am
a dream

Maybe the best you can do
is to spread some good
cheer

God
is
consequence

*

High-hat lips
above the drum
of his jaw

A news of
exceptions
paints a false world

The mind
leaps
at disasters

*

Hating America
is just so
American

Doing the dishes
=
dealing with truth

Mirrored
by my shadow
in the sun

*

Title for a treatise:
On The Nature Of Capital,
Or, Every Man His Own Pimp

How easily
we forget
fundamental things

Our song:
be strong
and play along

.

Standing In The Shadow Of The Blues

2011-01-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

I said I’m good as dead
You’re a brooding fool she said
A blur of burning stars
Is turning in your head

I’ll stir ‘em though you, friend
Through every break and bend
Can you remember when
Adventure ever ended?

I’ve seen a lion getting down underground
I’ve seen Goliath sniffing round

Inventing and resenting and
Standing in the shadow of the blues

A man can stop the world
If he can stop and learn
Long lines of ancient ways
Remaining with the Earth

And when you’re standing still
Upon a stony hill
Your eyes and mind are kind
And silently fulfilled

I’ve seen a lion getting down underground
I’ve seen Goliath sniffing round

Inventing and resenting and
Pretending and offending and

Standing in the shadow of the blues

.

9 Haiku

2010-12-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

Dark fingers gripping
sunburst-colored coffee cup—
train to work at dawn

A burst of pigeons—
sudden wind in the crosswalk
when the light goes green

Foggy lamp-lit street—
silhouette of a dog leashed
to a man who coughs

*

Cafe at dusk:

Tiny neon script
glows in the shiny dark pond
inside my wineglass

Under a half moon—
I don’t want to fit words to
anything right now

Snake of light at night—
lamp-lit electrical wire
twists in rainy wind

*

Down in Baton Rouge
the wooden telephone poles
are shaped like crosses

Long line of light slides
slowly on the horizon—
huge cruise ship at night

Framed by the window
figures pass on the footpath
in the milky fog

.

Faces In The Sky

2010-12-12T08:56:00.000-08:00

I’m a busy guy
And my life is flying by
But I’d rather spend my time
Gazing at faces in the sky

I’m waiting for a wave to
Wash this world away
Or a roaring storm to
Blast us into space
Where we won’t be working
Just so we can pay

To stay another day
And we won’t have to worry no more

The madness of this business
Twists its way into my mind
It fogs my thoughts with poison
And has me groping blind

I’m waiting for a wave to
Wash this world away
Or a roaring storm to
Blast us into space
Where we won’t be working
Just so we can pay

To stay another day
And we won’t have to worry no more

(Men who sell tobacco
Look like cigarettes
Their faces are all mashed out
And so dead)

A huge and hazy halo
Hovers over the full moon
And the eyes of burning stars are calm
And stare down through the roof

Of a sky that shows no limit
But still holds us to this place
Where we’re spinning in a circle
Through the emptiness of space

Stars are not so far once
You fall through the floor
Of a world where we whirl
Round and round some more
Circle after circle
Through the endlessness

Until there comes a day
When we won’t have to worry no more

.

Antenna

2010-12-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

You’re an antenna in the blithering air
You’re getting messages there

Scrambled signals coming from everywhere
They’re getting lost in the blare

You’re getting tired and you’re head is a mess
Brittle metal in the storm and the stress
Your antenna’s getting banged up and bent
You’d better get out and untwist it again

Ever get the feeling that it’s all gonna work out right?

You hear it humming on a low frequency
Like a rumbling boom

A signal singing through the shivering breeze
It comes tumbling through you

You’re getting tired and you’re head is a mess
Brittle metal in the storm and the stress
Your antenna’s getting banged up and bent
You’d better get out and untwist it again

Ever get the feeling that it’s all gonna work out right?

.

Flashes Eight

2010-11-20T11:23:00.000-08:00

Those who’d steal
the music
from your soul

At work I’m a
paper-pushing
people person

“The shortest distance
between two points
—is a point!”

*

Suddenly
happy for
no reason at all

The world
looks terrible
when you’re broken down

A white-haired
pink-cheeked
old lady!

*

Sometimes friends
recommend works of art
to future versions of yourself

Those who run
the world
and those who live in it

Man
that doctor
is sick!

The best way to
disempower celebrities
is to ignore them

*

Christ!
The son of God
is Humanity

Almost always
people
are bluffing

Each day is a spell,
a chime
in a churning universe

.

Sister Sister

2010-11-20T11:21:00.000-08:00

Sister sister here comes the night
We can fight it with all of our might
We’ll still lose
Some things you can’t choose

Stars almost whisper from their places on high
The moon is shining like dazzling eye
A cool jewel
I’m a happy fool with you

I love this leaping lifting up my life
A single simple sigh
Both of us breathing here beneath the sky
It’s all right

If we’re kissing an our lives leap like light
We’ll know this moment like a shimmering chime
And we’ll fly
Riding on a rhyme

Sister sister this is our time
A glowing poem in an ocean of night
A design
Tying your life’s light to mine

I love this leaping lifting up my life
A single simple sigh
Both of us breathing here beneath the sky
It’s all right

Oh you know we’re both strangers in this world
Oh you know we’re both strangers in this world
Oh you know we’re both strangers in this world
But you know
Now it doesn’t seem so cold

.

Got To Go

2010-11-20T11:18:00.000-08:00

So many places I don’t want to be
So many faces I don’t want to see

I wish that I could be a spirit
Floating in the sky
Listening to the wind whisper advice

Wither in water and burn in the air
Cough in the fog like I'm murmuring prayers

Wishing I could be a spirit
Floating in the sky
Listening to the wind whisper advice

Oh you’d better know
Something’s gonna find you out
You know you’ve got to go
But you can’t find your way out

When you’re feeling low
You know there’s always further down
A gravity below
Tugging from the underground

We’ve heard it before and we’ll hear it again
We’ve all got to go but we’ll never know when

We will fill the air as spirits
Floating in the sky
Swimming in the winds of paradise

You have always known
Something’s gonna hunt you down
A gravity below
Tugging from the underground

All that you’ve been shown
Is all that you have come to doubt
You know you’ve got to go
But you know there’s no way out

.

15 Haiku

2010-10-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

Gang of five raccoons
looting neighborhood garbage
in the lamp-lit street

“The fans in the stands
of the team that just lost look
like peed-upon plants”

The cat steps outside
and scrutinizes the world
through its little nose

*

The complications
of these electrical wires
under empty skies

What haunts a house worse
than the heavy tick-tock of
a grandfather clock?

I bother a bug
so I can watch it scurry—
why not let it be?

*

Early evening train—
man staring blankly into
newspaper comics

Plotting and planning
amidst the calm ripe stillness
of a green garden

Dim subway platform—
sudden glint of a wristwatch
on a man who waits

*

Off work, on a train—
an entire car to myself
one sunny Friday

Crisp autumn evening—
warm sweet smell of soap floating
from a laundromat

Swimming like a smile
in autumn skies before dawn—
silver slash of moon

*

For Hazel Dickens:

After the party—
apartment full of phantoms
and leftover wine

Early autumn— I’m not
ready for dark heavy pants
yet, I tell myself

Get up. Work all day.
Go home. Eat and dance and play
guitar and sing! Then sleep.

.

Saint Ignominius

2010-10-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

Climb on this crowded bus
Ride to your job with us
We’re all aboard on this cruise

And on this morning’s trip
Stare into a comic strip
That shows what you forgot you knew

It’s true
Too true

It shows a clown made of clouds
Floating over busy crowds
That never bother looking above

At that jester there
Hanging in the silly air
A goofy dude adrift on a puff

Enough
To love

Wish it whispered through me
Night by night

My life is light
The world is fine
I’ve got time

I’ve got time

Saint Ignominius
Sketched a funny place for us
Fit us in his little cartoon

What’s he gonna do with us?
Hope he isn’t through with us
Bet we’ll never guess his next move

And who
Is who

But we’re in his comic strip
Our lives inhabit it
That’s what’s got us laughing right now

He peppered the plot with what
We want but haven’t got
Graced us with a place in the crowd

Without
A doubt

Wish it whispered through me
Night by night

My life is light
The world is fine
I’ve got time

I’ve got time

So climb on this crowded bus
Ride to your job with us
The joke isn’t only on you

Our clown is smiling down
Blessing all this battered ground
And he found a place in the news

His truth
Slipped through

.

Rain

2010-10-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

based on a song by Free

Rain is falling
Falling all around
I’m a thousand miles from home
Don’t know where I’m bound

I’m out here on the road
Just roaming on my own

The lights in the homes
Glow like gold

I’m cold and alone
And I don’t know a soul

And the rain is here
But soon as it clears
I’m gonna go

Rain is falling
Falling on this town
I’m standing still and listening
To that gentle sound

And I’m dreaming of a day
When I have found a place

Where I’m calm and I’m strong
And I know I belong

Until that day comes
I’ll be roaming on my own

Lonely and rough
Looking for love
But all I’ve got is rain

Rain is drumming
Drumming on the ground
I’m so tired of running
I’ve got to settle down

(Stuck in a moment when you wonder
What it is you’ve got to do
Whatever made you run and wander
Where’s it gonna lead you to?)

Rain is falling
Falling all around
I’m a thousand miles from home
Don’t know where I’m bound

.

Flashes Six

2010-09-25T07:15:00.000-07:00

Amazed
by the stillness
of an animal

Faces in the trees
and the rocks
and the sky

Despairing
because you can’t
set the world right

Drinking
dazes
me

*

My friends—
please forgive
my foolishness

Scars of tears
on an old
man’s face

His mind—
a lumpy
diamond

A life
like riding
waves

*

One of those days
when the sky
hurts your eyes

Flute:
epitome
of music

Two men with the same face
emptying
their dead father’s house

The holy
loneliness
of self-discipline

Worlds where
monkeys roam
the streets

.

Happened To Be Here

2010-09-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

Happened to be here
When the big board went berserk
All of us panicked
The old tricks wouldn’t work

Heaven was hidden
A ceiling stopped the sky
We were all ruined
We tried to run and hide

It burst in a flash
All of us crashed
What are you worth when the world you know is smashed?

Happened to be here
When a fever hit the air
We were all shaken
From our usual despair

Something was singing
In the center of our heads
Something forgotten
Was starting up again

This is our chance
Get up and dance
This is the moment we’ve been waiting for my friends

(You are here and so are we
Secretly we see)

Happened to be here
When history was made
It was all twisted
Into a different shape

What really happened
Didn’t make the news
We carry inside us
What we know is true

Stories from them
They’re all a sham
The world to them is not the world of men

.

The Whisper

2010-09-25T07:09:00.000-07:00

I’ve got a secret
And you do too
I’m gonna keep it
Hidden from you

I can imagine
The things you do
So you can keep it
Buried in you

Gotta keep this thing rolling along
Gotta keep this thing rolling along

We’re loud and shallow
But it gets out
Leaking from somewhere
Underground

We razzle dazzle
With all our might
We drown in shadows
Alone at night

Gotta keep this thing rolling along
Gotta keep this thing rolling along

(“Man it’s just...”
“I mean it’s like...”
“My own best essence...”
“Is a whisper...”)

Our laughing faces
Crack like masks
Against a question
We won’t ask

Under the bluster
Of all we say
There’s something humming
That won’t go away

Gotta keep this thing rolling along
Gotta keep this thing rolling along

.

Flashes Five

2010-08-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

Controlling your
breath : essence
of self-control

“If you want
to get anywhere
—use your legs!”

Metallic
boyish voices
of two corporation males

Their problem is
they believe
in the world

*

A gang of five raccoons
looting the neighborhood garbage cans
before dawn

Stand stone-still
by a tree
on a hill

Monks
in saffron robes
on your subway car

Groups
of ghosts
heading your way

Games
that tear holes
in yourself

*

A day
to crease
your face

To be away
from the world
a while

Notice
and adjust
yourself

To be
a proper instrument
of this

.

Cold Water Blues

2010-08-28T13:47:00.000-07:00

Cold water in the morning
Splash your face and face the day
Cold water in the morning...

Cold water in the morning
When you wash your face and hands
Gotta face the world again
And damn it’s bad

The groaning of a train
With a shriek of steel on steel
A moaning in the rain
That speaks just what you feel

A splash of cold water
Straight in the face
Crash in the hollow
Of the same empty place

But you try
And you know why
Your face before you were born
Might have been the sky

We hustle like apostles
Just to make a rich man more rich
We fight and we die in wars
For some son of a bitch

A splash of cold water
Straight in the face
Crash in the hollow
Of the same empty place

But you try
And you know why
Your face before you were born
Might have been the sky

Something shakes the silence
Just before you go to bed
Gotta dream away the world my friend
Or you’ll go mad

.

Brother We

2010-08-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

Brother we
Have got to go
They’re gonna get us brother if we don’t

Brother
They don’t love us
Oh no

O my brother
They’ll lock the door
O my brother
We’ve got to go
O my brother
They don’t love us
Oh no

Brother we
Are running low
We’ve gotta be as good as what we know

Brother
They don’t love us
Oh no

O my brother
They’ll lock the door
O my brother
We’ve got to go
O my brother
They don’t love us
Oh no

Brother we
See below
The glossy show that only bosses own

Brother
They don’t love us
Oh no

(If we take the shapes they give
They are gonna do us in
If we swill their medicines
They are gonna do us in )

Brother we
Are on a roll
We’re never gonna let ‘em get our glow

We're never gonna let ‘em get our glow

.

Honey Bee Blues

2010-08-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

Mary Mary sure looked good to me
She was a yellow flower and I was a honey bee
She knocked me so far out that I couldn’t see

Mary Mary lived high on the hill
She could be as sweet just as sure as her looks could kill
She could make me crazy for another thrill

As soon as it seemed
She wanted to be with me
I flew on a breeze
Of what she could be for me

A dream
A destiny
I could only see what I wanted to see

When we walked into bars people stopped and stared
Mary always chose the boldest clothes to wear
I but I didn’t really care I was glad to be there

When I met Mary man I swear I saw
An angel of a woman good god who had no flaws
I was too drunk with dreams to ever see her claws

As soon as it seemed
She wanted to be with me
I flew on a breeze
Of what she could be for me

A dream
A destiny
I could only see what I wanted to see

I could only see what I wanted to see

.

Flashes Four

2010-08-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

Tired of this world
and ready
for the next

Poverty:
the shadow
of the marketplace

“You can’t be
disappointed by
no miracles”

The history
of humanity
is a whisper

*

Economy:
this rigged game
we’re all trapped in

In the hills
a cloud
of chiming cowbells

“They blow
a lot of air
out of their faces”

All the best
action
is off the map

*

Handsome men
with big
noses

Conversations
that keep us
trapped in the world

“Everybody’s trying
to get to first base
and there is none”

Wine
like a swirling
kiss

.

Goodbye Goliath

2010-08-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Goliath
You block my view
You’re high and mighty
Clumsy and crude

Something tells me now
This is bad for you
If you don’t turn around
It will swallow you

Goodbye Goliath
Your breath is bad
Your eyes are tired
And you never laugh

(Goliath going down down down
Goliath going down)

Goodbye Goliath
You’ve got no friends
Just ties to liars
You can’t defend

Something tells me now
This is bad for you
If you don’t turn around
It will swallow you

There is a garden
Under your feet
There is a garden
Under your feet

.

Guiding Line

2010-08-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

Do you really dare
To ask that fat priest there?
He’s got his hands full

You want to tell your boss
You’re alone and lost
But it’s no good

All the folks you know
They’re playing out their roles
And they won’t budge

If you do something wild
You’ll end up at a trial
With an old judge

He’ll say there’s no
Place for this in the grid
Didn’t you know?
When you came into this
There was no hole to go
When you got lost from your soul

You don’t want to buy the hype
That you witness every night
On your flat screen

But it’s eating up your time
And it echoes in your mind
Like a bad dream

The murmur in your nerves
That mostly goes unheard
Is growing louder

You wish it wasn’t true
But you can’t find any proof
That let’s you doubt it

(Let me out!
Something’s shouting inside you
A faceless crowd
Watches all that you do
You dig deep down
Inside yourself for an arrow
To lead you out
Of this whirlpool...)

They say there’s no
Place for this in the grid
Didn’t you know?
When you came into this
There was no hole to go
When you got lost from your soul

Ever get the feeling that
The world has got you trapped
In a bad place?

With a bunch of little spies
Who are perpetrating lies
In a rat maze?

There are people on the street
Who can also see the cheat
They’re not blind yet

Buried in your mind
Is a kind of guiding line
That can find them

.

The Face Of Yes

2010-08-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

All the flash and dazzle that’s behind your face
Gives a glimpse of...what could it be?
The rumble and the clatter in that silent space
Speak of secrets deep in a dream

Your head’s hot humming soundless sound
Can’t be contained in a town
And maps can’t capture the face of Yes
All we can do is just...guess

God you know you’re so exposed
A soul in the glow of love
Knowing you’re going to go
Down that open road

A star up in the night is like your own life
It shows the glow of its history
It glimmers like the light that’s behind your eyes
A flashing glance of a mystery

The thoughts that flicker through your mind
They fall and they rise like a tide
Sometimes they seem like they’re not yours
As though they started before you were born

God you know you’re so exposed
A soul in the glow of love
Knowing you’re going to go
Down that open road

Doing what you want when you know it’s right
That’s happiness, that’s freedom, might,
Wisdom, love, power, grace,
The highest heights of the human race

Tap dat!

.

Flashes Three

2010-06-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

Edible mushrooms
with poisonous
twins

The forest
is full
of faces

“The fans in the stands
of the team that just lost
look like peed-upon plants”

For forty years
my feet were retarded—
shoes made them dumb

America
mistakes the marketplace
for the arena of dreams

*

The lust
that blinds you
to beauty

The birth
of birds
in nests

Can you grow a rose
from a broken branch?
Yes!

A bunch
of dopes posing
as heroes

Kept awake
by the bitter persuasion
of coffee

*

“If you’re so shy
you’ll just die
of hunger!”

Razzmatazz
Americans:
like leaky circuits

Zen:
another way
of saying Yes

“Oliver! It's Frank!
It’s only eleven!
God!"

Suddenly liking
all the people
on the train

*

The lantern eyes
in the swirling face
of a tiger cat

The sign on the front
of a rusty old bus
said SIMPLIFY

We live as if a disaster happened.
But it hasn’t touched us yet.
Not quite—right?

The Andrews Sisters
were the Yankee Dollar
they sang of

*

Driver
Remember
You’re rolling

Guitarist wisdom:
If you hit a bum note
—bend it!

Cynical thoughts:
let them breeze
through your mind

.

One Thing We All Know

2010-06-27T08:22:00.000-07:00

I woke up in the morning
In the fog of a dream
All those faces and voices
Were still buzzing in me

I could feel myself sliding
Back down into the pool
But then something inside me
Said “Get up right now you fool!”

You had better know
It’s gonna go fast
And it won’t last
So get going

I knew I must do my duty
I caught a train to my job
My pressed shirt and my necktie
Let ‘em know I’m no slob

Next to me sat a fat man
Talking into his phone
What he said was important
I could tell by his tone

He said We both know
It’s gonna go fast
And it won’t last
So let’s go

I imagined that fat man
Running down a dark street
He was ragged and sweaty
He had no shoes on his feet

He was stuffing his pockets
With coins that kept raining down
But they slipped through his pants and
Clattered back on the ground

He seemed to really know
It’s gonna go fast
And it won’t last
So it goes

My little fantasy cruelty
Touched a trigger in me
And as if it just happened
I remembered my dream

I was down in the country
There were fruits all around
Everybody was out there
Pulling all of them down

One thing we all know
It’s gonna go fast
And it won’t last
So we go

.

This Is Paradise

2010-06-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

I was boss of the office
With a huge view of the bay
A pretty girl brought me coffee
I didn’t bother learning her name

And I said Hey hey hey
I do believe I’ve got it made

A goddess stood on the sidewalk
The urge in me was ready to burst
I had no nerve to make small talk
It felt like I could drown in my thirst

And I said Hey hey hey
I can’t keep freezing at these gates

I went down to the devil
The first thing I felt was afraid
He had a face like a tunnel
And I knew I had made a mistake

And I said Hey hey hey
I sure do miss my better days

(I fell low enough to know
The pit where evil grows
That’s what my weakness showed me)

I met a man like a ragmop
But he had incredible eyes
And even though he did not talk
He made a point I recognized

He seemed to say Hey hey hey
There really is no better way

Open your tired eyes
This is paradise

.

Haven't Got A Name

2010-06-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

I was outside on a lunch break
In the financial part of town
The streets were shadowy canyons
Between the buildings all around

I was standing at a stop light
And across the street from me
A woman stood there gaping
With eyes like tv screens

She’d heard some shocking gossip
Through the cell phone at her ear
OH! MY! GOD! she kept repeating
Each word so fierce and clear

The light told us to cross the street
And as we passed I watched her face
Chanting OH! MY! GOD! and gawking
And my mind began to race

I haven’t got a name
For all we’re doing
But it seems insane
And so unreal
I haven’t got a name
For all we’re doing
I haven’t got a name

She’s an idiot! I told myself
An American idiot who wastes
Her free time watching other people
Pretending to live on tv!

And when she gets a tiny bit
Of liveliness in her own life
She hypes it into a huge flashing jackpot
To match the dazzle of her screen!

And then a breeze between buildings
Whispered into me
And something soothing in that wind
Almost seemed to speak

It told me I was foolish
To rant behind me eyes
And I should take the meanings I’d made
And toss them into the sky

I haven’t got a name
For all this beauty
But I feel as sane
As this is real
I haven’t got a name
For all this beauty
I haven’t got a name

.

Power

2010-06-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

Standing on the corner
With nothing to do
For hours

Staring while the clouds are
Making faces at you
Like flowers

If you stand still
You will be filled
With Power

Driving through the night when
There is no one in sight
You’re prowling

Feeling all your feelings
So incredibly bright
They’re howling

When your road is clear
You’re gonna steer
Toward Power

Breaker, breaker, Rocket Papa
This is Tarwater Catcaller
Howlin’ on your line, over!

Ten-four, Tarwater
You’re blockin’ Papa—
This best be good, over!

That’s a big ten-four, Papa
I have to honk my heavenly horn
Because I’ve got the Great Current
Flowing through me like a mighty sea
And I’m gliding down the line like flying, over!

Hey now! I do believe
You’re grazing grace, Tarwater
Amen and Godspeed to you—
And if you do see Smokey
Smoke ‘em for me, over!

That’s a big ten-four, Rocket Papa
This is Tarwater Catcaller
Howlin’ over and out!

Sitting in the silence
Just surrounded by air
Is Power

Breathing so your breath can slow
The noise in your head
Is Power

If you shut your mouth
Your belly with growl
With Power

.

Shadow Battle

2010-06-05T07:30:00.001-07:00

Do you see the moves we’re making
Out here on the street?
Do you see the shadows shaking
Underneath our feet?

Ev’ry shadow’s a trapdoor when we
Forget about our feet
Can you find me a map for where all
Forgotten footsteps lead?

I saw a shining face who
Sang inside a dream
I wrote a poem that strained to
Capture what it means

Like a smile invites you sometimes
To the other side
In a jungle of shadows somewhere
Something rumbling hides

A shadow battle
You battle shadows

I can’t pretend I understand them and
I can’t remember when

I can’t remember when

.

Flashes Two

2010-04-20T15:36:00.001-07:00

I love birds!
(he said with enormous eyes)
They fly!

The devil
whispers louder
when I drink

You are
always among
equals

Here
God
Is Totalitarian

That guy’s smile
is a strategy—
it lies

Leering
as if he were drinking
through his eyes

Generosity
comes
from the belly

The flight
of the shadow
of a bird

*

I don’t want
to press my
face in a book!

A tree
growing
in a dancing way

Shark-shaped
bath toys
that squeak when you squeeze them

In our eyes
the truth
of universes

*

Man
paused on the sidewalk
in a cloud of cigarette smoke

Give this a try:
God is looking
through your eyes

Fame and the national scene
have nothing to do
with what’s really going on

Forget it.
Go to sleep.
Nothing can be done right now.

That black garbage bin
with the trash-lifted lid
seems to be singing

Males
waking in the barracks
and scratching themselves

We cheered the sun
sinking
into the sea

“All I’ve got
is here and now—
and it’s too much!”

*

Men gather
around her
like bees

Botox can erase
all evidence of life
from your face!

Crowding our brains
with historical
noise and discouragement

The beach
not blocked
by walls and windows

*

Worlds built
on the assumption
of cars

Not the kind of man
who’d hide in a mansion
doing drugs

Unglamorous older
working woman
clutching a Betty Boop bag

*

I told her in a dream
I need to be less busy!
She told me You need to do everything!

One must feel
one’s death in such
rough coughing

Exercise—
otherwise
your heart will die in your chest

And on television
only advertisements
for toilet paper

Mountains jutting through
pools of clouds—
like islands

Groan of steel
in the distance:
train

Watching people
pretending to live
on tv

.

It Could Be Your Soul

2010-04-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

I was staring at the sky
From a bed of green grass down on Earth
And a glimmer caught my eye
A gliding white shimmering bird

It could be my soul that’s up there flying
Up in a great sea sky of blue
It could be my soul that’s up there flying
Over the roof of a world so blue

It could be my soul

(How do you know
What you know
How do you know
You do what you know?)

If you’re glaring at a guy
‘Cause your after something he’s got
Steer your stare up at the sky
And remember what you forgot

It could be your soul that’s up there flying
Up in a great sea sky of blue
It could be your soul that’s up there flying
Over the roof of a world so blue

It could be your soul

(How do you know
What you know?
How do you know
You do what you know?)

If you’re muddled in your troubles
Working for your worth in the world
You can recover what’s been smothered
And hover brother over the Earth

It could be your soul that’s up there flying
Up in a great sea sky of blue
It could be your soul that’s up there flying
Over the roof of a world so blue

It could be your soul

(How do you know
What you know?
How do you know
You do what you know?)

.

Just Over Your Head

2010-04-20T15:22:00.001-07:00

I’ve been filling your orders
And it’s been getting me down
I’m making dates with your daughters
I’m gonna show ‘em around

I’m gonna show ‘em around

We’re gonna drive to the border
Out on the far end of town
We’re gonna dive in the water
We’re gonna swim in the sound

We’re gonna swim in the sound

There’s a popular doctor
Who's dealing drugs you don’t need
They are all made to stop you
From being able to see

From being able to see

(Clouds in a clown’s mouth overhead
Just over your head
Whispers twisting through the wind
Just over your head)

There’s a glow in the twilight
Like a hole in the sky
There’s silence at midnight
Stars are shimmering eyes

Stars are shimmering eyes

.

See The Sky

2010-04-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

Wake
The sun is low and glows in both your eyes
You see the sky

Wait
And watch the glowing globe so slowly rise
It’s growing high

The sparkle of a star is a
Flashing little spark in your eyes

A star’s an eye

Breathe
These waves of wind that you can almost see
You drink the breeze

Speak
Release your laughing breath into the breeze
A deep relief

Your giggle makes a ripple in the
Swirling windy inconstancy

A wind’s a sea

Trace
The power lines that twine below the sky
They light the signs

Chase
The rails of trains you ride with men in ties
Your lives are twined

The top of the train rubs a
Wire and we hum down the line

Our lives are lines

.

You Can't Do That

2010-04-20T15:18:00.001-07:00

Son you’ve gone too far
You have smudged our star
We have raised the bar
Against what you are

For all we think you’ll do
We’re gonna punish you

Our aim is true

We have a plan
We are the man
You make a stand
We take your land

There’s nothing you can do
Once we’ve laid our hands on you

Our aim is true

We are not men
We are management
We will not bend
Until the end

Nothing that we do
Is ever done for you

Our aim is true

.

Recyclink!

2010-04-01T22:01:00.000-07:00

Machine makes metal

Needs metal it made

To make metal again

.

Above The Boulevard

2010-04-01T21:56:00.001-07:00

My pipe’s smoke makes the face of an angel
Drifting through my little room
A black hole splits the lips of this angel
And sweeps me up through the roof

So I float like a ghost
Who’s been shown where to go

There’s a sea of stars
Above the boulevard
Things are sharp and hard
On the boulevard
Always on your guard
On the boulevard
There’s a sea of stars
Above the boulevard

The hot gaze of a man who’s leering
Like he’s drinking you through his eyes
Shows a hole that’s as big and empty
And as black as a midnight sky

And you know you can float
Though that hole like a ghost

There’s a sea of stars
Above the boulevard
Things are sharp and hard
On the boulevard
Always on your guard
On the boulevard
There’s a sea of stars
Above the boulevard

The calm flash of a stranger’s smile
On a crowded noisy street
Throws the glow of an open blossom
Into your uncertainty

And you know you can float
In that glow so you go

There’s a sea of stars
Above the boulevard
Things are sharp and hard
On the boulevard
Always on your guard
On the boulevard
There’s a sea of stars
Above the boulevard

.

City Minister

2010-04-01T21:51:00.001-07:00

City minister!

I wake up in my big bed
Scratch my belly and get up and shave
Two dim eyes in the mirror
Appraise me from a twisted face

City minister!

My nerves are sizzling wires
Rumors hum behind my eyes
My heart starts its anxious stutter
Under my bright silk tie

City minister!

I’m meeting with the mayor
He hardly gives me any time
His hair is always perfect
His friends are so much richer than mine

City minister!

If he will endorse my
Plan for a casino uptown
The owners might finance my
Re-election bid a year from now

City minister!

(A project for the public
I’ll propose today
I’ll smile like a star and speak
As solemn as a saint

It isn’t in your interest
But it’s all that I can do
While I work for you)

City minister!

I haven’t bought a meal in
So long I don’t remember when
But I sure pay for sex boy
And tonight I’m gonna do it again

City minister!

It’s never how I want it
It never gets me what I need
All that matters is status
Once you finally reach your peak

City minister!

.

Shake Them Blues

2010-04-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

I had better remember
That fog can lift up its skirt
Sometimes some better weather
Throws a glow on the dirt

When I fell down
I almost drowned

I couldn’t see the sea
That was right in front of me
And something in me started to scream

Hey you!
You choose!
Shake loose!
Or lose!

Do your duty dude and shake them blues!

Once I complained to an angel
And when I stopped jabbering
She said You think you’re too busy
But you must do everything

‘Cause if you go too slow
Your soul goes broke

When you don’t use your life
Your life looses its light
And you go groping blind in the night

You fool!
You knew
What you
Should do!

Do your duty dude and shake them blues!

My friend’s grandfather told him
Boy you are what you do
And when you’re moving your body
Life is moving through you

When you stew and brood
You do no good

Your mind is dazed with lies
God’s looking through your eyes
Let go of all this “I ME MY”

It’s true
You choose
What you
Should do

Do your duty dude and shake them blues!

.

Goddamn Money

2010-01-31T09:30:00.000-08:00

“Goddamn money. It always makes you blue as hell.”—The Catcher in the Rye

I hustle down to the corner

And order me a coffee to go

The cashier’s smile is tired

Everybody knows what I know

She hands me back my change and then I drop my tip

A trickle of her wages just a drip drip drip

I wander down the counter in a stupid spell

Goddamn money make you blue as hell

This barista is strictly business

There’s somewhere else she’d rather be

She’s got an air of refinement

I wonder what she does when she’s free

Coffee-making lady serves a burning kiss

I dip dip dip deep down into this

My job is like a rock that’s a-rollin’ downhill

Goddamn money make you blue as hell

A dim grey man at a table

Tells a silent guy about better days

When he was boss of the office

Now he’s camping in cafes

(Once he had a dream that he shot

Somebody who was not to blame

His soul flew out of his body

While somebody screamed)

My glance meets the man’s at the table

His eyes shine right into mine

Without words he plainly tells me

Something you might say with a sigh

You give it all you got and still they get you for more

It’s so damn easy just to fall through the floor

It’s hittin’ me so clearly that I want to yell

Goddamn money make you blue as hell

Red Bow Tie

2010-01-31T09:25:00.000-08:00

Her red bow tie

Grabs your eye

My...what a treasure...chest

A delicious rush

A flood that must

Burst...before it lets you...rest

This little darling here

Has got to take me there

She’s got to AAH-AAH!

Her gleaming skin and hair

Just magnetize my stare

I’ve got to AAH-AAH!

‘Cause I’ve gotta GOTTA I’ve gotta

Oh I’ve gotta GOTTA I’ve gotta

Have!

The snake deceives

Makes you believe

She...is your kingdom...come

The snake’s made you

His slave and fool

You...who were sure you’d...won

She’s the foxy witch

That’s got to scratch my itch

She’s got to AAH-AAH!

I wish that I was rich

So I’d be sure to flick her switch

I’ve got to AAH-AAH!

‘Cause I’ve gotta GOTTA I’ve gotta

Oh I’ve gotta GOTTA I’ve gotta

Have!

That missing kiss

Of gentleness

Slips...from your lips and...sings

A song that you

Always knew

True...and as sweet as...spring

O angel! O angel!

O angel! O!

Ache Like An Indian

2010-01-31T09:21:00.001-08:00

I ache like an Indian sometimes

Thinking ‘bout the ways we fail

Carving a scar in our harvest

Pouring poison down our well

When we woke up in a war that’s for

Feeding some big monster’s thirst

We shook and shivered with a lust that must

Blind the sky and eat the Earth

(Down in dusky places

That mostly go unseen

A face becomes a trumpet and then

Screams)

Isn’t there an Indian in you

Weeping for a ruined way

To be true as a sunrise

A sky of life betrayed and slain

Can’t you feel that it’s here somewhere

Like shadows in the desert hills

Hear it hissing in the dice you toss

Groaning in your gambler’s thrills

(I know you know the notion

To give them all they’re owed

But all you have to give to them is

Soul)

Spirit laughter lingers after

Body loses life (HA HA HA!)

Souls among us soon become us

No thing ever dies (HA HA HA!)

Sweep Me Up

2010-01-31T09:17:00.000-08:00

I’m getting tired

Sometimes it’s sad

There is a wire

I’ve got to grab

It’ll tug me through me troubles

It’ll get me past

That crack that’s always smiling

In the broken sky

Sweep me up and let me loose

I’ll fly

A cloud of sea birds

Swims in the sky

A flock of surfers

Flies on the tide

I float in flowing motion

It’s quite a ride

The wind is thick as water

The water’s smooth as wind

Sweep me up let me begin

Again

Sweep me up in the breast

Of the sky when I die

And I’ll fly in the soul of the wind

When I see how the birds

Surf the waves in the air

My guess is heaven is this

That crack is always smiling

In the broken sky

Sweep me up and let me loose

I’ll fly

Gig's Up

2009-12-30T08:16:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-30T08:07:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-30T07:54:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-30T07:43:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

All I have is spirit!

Which is ours and not my own!

Hungry Ghosts

2009-12-30T07:36:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-03T08:40:00.001-08:00

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

.

Young Man

2009-12-03T08:37:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-01T08:08:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

Heaving up a hill
Soul gives birth to sunrise

.

It's Just The Devil, Dear

2009-11-01T08:04:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-11T17:26:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-11T17:24:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-11T17:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-11T17:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

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?