5 Haiku

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

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

--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

Everything’s good ... everything’s fine
Because I know ... it’s the end of your time
I got trapped ... in your 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 slip and slide ... around my brain
You think you’re so clever ... but I know you’re insane

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

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

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

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

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

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



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