Posts (page 2)
Lead us, Lord, down some path
that ain't so slow so strewn
with rocks, some path
to show us what we're doin'.
from my bones my brain
the saint I am and ain't
may be born from pride and pain.
that will seep into my head and hands
to sooth my soul
some oil that might make me friends.
hear my plea my prayer
I have been in sin
so long I'm lost I swear.
for living by my need for
featherbed and heavy breathing
some day may I be freed?
her my strength all my muscle
when she lights my bright candle
must we hide beneath the bushel?
Unhappy, no, this face is always
telling stories like it is carefree
dying leaves and falling branches
cannot break this old enchantment
we are happy.
Stuck, no, more like the habit of
looking for a trick behind the magic
like breaking up with someone again
like setting sick on the first day of spring
we are not stuck.
Melancholy, no, my mood is simply
sad I tell you it is perfectly normal
bad and good are perfectly relative
relative depending on elevation
and we are high.
Depressed, no, it is only smashed
pumpkin heads after Halloween
they smiled that evil toothy grin
and it reminded me of where I have been
reminded me of you.
Ears transfixed by the all
by the almost sensible
same words seem to work
to speak of death and birth
dawn dusk spring fall
messy and miraculous.
Fuss my budget dear Lord of the Economy
Fuss my budget dear Lord of the ups and downs.
Eyes forced open by the bare
by the barefoot life
by embrace of strife
learning how by letting
go intead of staring
down the lizard brain.
High lies low fibs God of the Hot Rocks
High lies low fibs God of the status quo.
There are so many things to miss
to misunderstand
I cannot you cannot
get to them all
so let's miss and kiss
and understand it next week.
Peek past the curtain oh Master of Uncertainty
Peek past the curtain oh Mistress Maybe.
Flag in the ground
bank on the corner
line us up
play the hymns.
Lordy lordy mama mama
talking 'bout the same old.
Home for now
picture on the mantle
nine guitars
quiet as dentures.
Lordy lordy mama mama
talking 'bout a mortgage.
House of bending
moistened and stretched
beams along the lines of
swearing and reckoning.
Lordy lordy mama mama
talking 'bout taxes.
Comes the frazzle
from the quiescent
tropics that should've
broke down but busted loose.
Lordy lordy mama mama
talking 'bout juice.
Safe embedded
with ladders and helmets
readiness leaves
behind speed.
Lordy lordy mama mama
talking trauma.
Got no ticket
race to the station
knees shake bleary
from patience.
Lordy lordy mama mama
talking 'bout
On bus and plane
strangers show
teeth and wrinkles
awfully close.
Lordy lordy mama mama
On the way to work
tuck our faces
under elbows
go back a few hours.
Lordy lordy mama mama
talking
Old and young
rubbernecking
golf clubs twisted
all over the freeway.
Lordy lordy mama mama
talking 'bout haywire.
Out of the tunnel
traffic haze
map unfolded
not the old country.
Lordy lordy mama mama
talking 'bout
What you gonna do
to not get tired
stand up tall
get yourself fired.
Lordy lordy mama mama
talking 'bout
If our song
is arranged again
with all those horns
I will write a new one.
Lordy lordy mama mama
talking 'bout
Dreaming of being
together is better
than oneness
without life.
Lordy lordy mama mama
talking 'bout
Which will not be a part of the mainstream debate in a society where we MAKE more people sick than we heal?
close all McDonalds and all Dunkin Donuts.
throw all computerized game systems into the recycle bin.
take all the money made by doctors and give it all to ten times as many nurses.
get people to take a walk every day.
instead of spending so much money on people AFTER they have cancer, clean up the world that creates it.
instead of controling drug prices, stop giving drugs to everybody for everything.
help workers fight back against the bosses who are screwing them and ruining their health.
more sports in reality and less sports on tv.
no high heels.
and finally, let's all move to Tahiti.
Alone we
alone we wake and sleep early and late
alone we clean off and break our plates
alone we straighten out our born-bent toes
alone we counterpoint and superimpose.
Alone we
alone we sing songs of falsehoods
alone we capsize our childhoods
alone we can hear the neighbors but they can't hear us
alone we squeeze our eyes as shut as tomorrow.
Alone we do not contend
with distance but use musing
on the very edge of the bridge
uncrossed as yet.
Alone we do not mingle
we tingle not nor spend
idyllic moments meant or intended
to change anything.
Alone we
alone we strap on our dirty backpacks
alone we brave the snapping branches
alone we set sights on the unseen
alone we hike until nothing is green.
Alone we
alone we look up in a forgetting direction
alone we jot down jaguar spots of experience
alone we put them in a bag and rattle them all
we pick out five each to construct our constellation.
A big old marsh with a train running through it
an artisan who cannot say what he's doing.
This is love
well anyway
this is our love
well for now anyway.
A big old owl that nobody sees taking off
a photograph shot but never developed.
This is love
well anyway
this is our love
well for now anyway.
I woke from a dream you and I were strange
elk-like creatures afraid of change.
This is love
well anyway
this is our love
well for now anyway.
I thought of a song and then botched the recalling
it came out beautiful but somewhat lopsided.
This is love
well anyway
this is our love
well for now anyway.
A big old hurricane coming our way on Sunday
we all want to be afraid of it, don't we?
This is love
well anyway
this is our love
well for now anyway.
[A]
Coming into the atmosphere
headed for you somewhere below
cometed and burning up
tailed and descending like a flare
far above anywhere.
[B]
Far above anywhere
pheremones disappear
true to the aperture
no breeze is possible
without exhaling
so so ...
[A]
Noise like a herd of buffalo toads
past the desgner stars and clouds
long re-entry cold as nightly
lonely thrashing heat shield sparks
far above light or dark.
[B]
Far above anywhere
senses cannot trust the air
there and not there like me
no peace is probable
without exhaling
so so ...
=========
[A]
6/8
Cm // Bb/A // Ab6 // EbMa7 //
BMa7 // C6 // F#6(xi) // G#Ma7 //
7/8
G#Ma7 ////// D#m6 ////// GMa7 ////// ///////
[B]
4/4
Am7 / G#Ma7 /
CMa7 / B /
Am7 / G#Ma7 /
CMa7 / B /
Am7 / G#Ma7 /
G7 / F#Ma7 /
6/8
F13 ///// //////
20 August 2009
Cedar Street in West Barnstable
How many half lives
were missed adding up
to missing
several in the desert
the one or two east-ish
and others
the spartan the graveyard
the half-spoken infants
and others
still missing?
Down the long driveway
turning onto the road
easy
so you don't get hit
side-swiped or head-on
or failed
by a tree timbered
or squashed by a bug's
revenge
unleashed.
Trying to clarify
we get petrified
stating
the first few words of
too too long a sentence
or drawing
a still life still
sitting on the easel
redrawn
too clearly.
Permutations
if you can pull them off
are fun
starting out and then they
go up and down like elevators
the buttons
playfully renumbered
the previous and the next
playfully
unmasked.
Change in weather
hot to cold demands
the logic
of socks and jackets
keeping warm the brain
left out
where it could have been
subjected to change
or stepped on
by cold cold logic.
At the head of the trail from road to wood
cover thumping off and away from
here is a guarantee for you all of you
left alone the nature of nature is to forget
you left.
Here is a guarantee for you you
brother oh sister oh mio
the same road taken again but
in the other direction will not get
you back.
Prevention is the cure but you didn't know
what all that pitter patter was adding up to
did you all of you mothers and fathers
speechless under trash shuffled through
you left.
Music that we didn't even listen to kissing
comes back out of a machine and dazzles me
into admitting that I pay about as much attention as
deliberation scattered on a pizza of wanting
you back.
The only two people in the katydid universe
jabber out loud like they owned the place
borrowing like the earth wiped out all debt
burning any books about any respect
left behind.
Here is a guarantee for you you
brother oh sister oh mio
the same road taken again but
in the other direction will not get
you back.
At the head of the trail from road to wood
cover thumping off and away from
here is a guarantee for you all of you
left alone the nature of nature is to forget
you left.
