Dunce

In the corner,
one 12-watt bulb, one wire,
one glass.
Slide.
Saunter.
Misstep.

Your life is the dunce cap upon my head.

Go on to the next room if you rather.
I've something to say:
    Dogs dig holes and discover.
    You dig holes to die.

Am I lost?
Words are images, paintings speak to us, what we taste is what we smell, so,
What the fuck is going on?!

Constant itching of flesh and desire.

You wear a hat to cover your greasy smile.
I'm in a dunce cap and I'll be here a while.

Widening Night

The land is separating and the valleys deepen;
desire remains frantic
as desolation sits idle.
   Brenda keeps busy folding
   Daniel raises the lanterns.
Night turns in; and the land is separating.

The music turns until the needle is removed;
the mind becomes oblivion
and Tomorrow is suddenly Yesterday;
   Today forgotten,
   Brenda folding.
Night turns in and the land is separating.

Daniel lowers the lanterns at Le Fin;
light towers rotate like a record waiting
for someone to remove the needle;
   Day broke.
   Sun lingers.
Night turns in; valleys deepen.

Card tables, towels, and t-shirts folded.
Candles, incandescence,
and the moon are raised;
   Daniel turns in for the night.
   Brenda replaces the needle.
Oblivion mind, Night turns on; light towers beckon.

Desire shattered like a record, desolation is a needle;
the void widens and Night
turns into oblivion.
   Brenda, busy folding;
   Daniels lanterns are low.
The land separating, valleys deepen.

Train Ride

She's seen in glancing moonlight through trees; in flashing tunnel lights through train windows, you catch a glance of her jawline in light blue light, her lips, flush in purple, pouting, disappear. She looks straight; her eyes are wisdom. You want to know what she thinks, looking forward, blinking slow, breathing, her nostrils flare with her breath, hands in her lap, knees together, feet together, under her seat; you want to know what she's thinking, but truly, you're afraid to know.

One Way Cafe

There's one way, and
TV ads
TV shows
TV news
Radio news
Print news
Finger prints
Pointing fingers
Shouting voices
Weak voices
Strong voices
Convincing speeches
Arguing speakers
Tlking puppets
Powdered faces
Pretty figures
Striding models
Super models
Super stars
Sports stars
Movie stars
Starry eyes
Diamonds
Pearls
Bracelettes
Rings
Necklaces
Suits
Vests
Shoes
Slacks
Businesses
Accounts
Accountants
Stocks
Brokers
Bankers
Singers
Guitars
Talent
Fame
Money
Women
Love
Hate
nor Creed will lead you.
It is outside everything you see everyday.

Dead Battery

(2008)

Dead Battery

My house broke down.

I'm no more warm than
the damp sidewalk outside
or the dropping rain.

As the windows frost,
the oil thickens,
and I shiver.

By myself by 8 o'clock, I sit
behind the wheel of Adventure,
         stalled.

By Himself

It is evening. The hopeful man at the bar by himself wonders that those two stars near the moon are planets, and moving; laughs when two friends with a newly acquired rose hold it between her teeth and he shows her how to tango, and he has never tangoed before. The man smiles when he notices a couple talking in inaudible tones allowing others to only guess that they are happy, she smiling at him, and all is noticeably lighthearted; raises his eyebrows at the couple on the far side, she in his lap noticing nobody, tongues tasting tonsils. He drinks; waits for friends, an invitation from a stranger, the moon and its cohorts to disappear. It is evening and the hopeful man is at the bar by himself.

The Blacks

I've never seen a man as helpful as a hobo
in his bright orange beanie cap;
his fading teeth flashed through his sun parched lips
as he smiled.
See I'd almost been hit by an oncoming tram
and as everyone stood at the crosswalk,
they watched me go and held their breath,
but this hobo shouted
Nein!

I glanced up to see the tram,
bells ringing in my eyes.
I jumped quickly to the other side
and once it passed,
among the suits and slacks,
that beanie cap
and that bright chapped smile.

I never seen a man as giving as a hobo
in his tattered coat
and his sleeping bag on his back;
his crusty knees pointing through
the holes in his jeans.

I'd been walking around aimlessly,
lost as a sheep on his own.
Mickey came up and asked
if I needed help to where I wanted to go

I said I just gotta get outta this loop, man.
I'm stuck here, trying to get free.
He took me up the road
and we sat on a bench together.
Looking at the buildings he said to me,

They just don't care about what they build anymore.
He said these buildings have been here
for four hundred years.
Then he told me a joke,
handed me his scarf,
said It's gonna be cold tonight,
then he was gone.

I've never seen anyone as lonesome as a drunk man
who shouts at what I do wrong.
He says you don't know what your doing,
shoves me out of his way
and stumbles on.

All alone in this world with only beer steins to cry in,
whiskey flasks tucked in his coat lining;
paper bags he leaves on the sidewalk,
I pick em up behind 'im, then we talk.

He tells me Man, I served my country
and this is the thanks I get.
My family's all left me.
I'm like an empty pack of cigarettes.
Then he asks me for one,
I roll it for him,
he says Thanks, I got a lighter;
and I roll one for myself.

I've never seen anyone as happy as a hobo
with his cares and worries all in check.
He says Sure I got problems,
but not as many as you might expect.

He showed me where he was staying, under the bridge
down the street,
where a creek trickled by
and was lined with trees.
He said Now aint this paradise,
shared some of his food.
He told me what he strongest believed:

I can get by on just a little bread,
water ain't too hard to find,
but what I can't stand
is the constant demand
when I got apartments, utilities, and phones to pay for.

He said No, it's not a glamorous life I lead,
but I'll tell you it's more romantic than anything.
In a forest all my own,
outside of town,
no one bringing me down,
and when I'm run out,
I can leave it all behind
because I know the next place has just as much for me to find.

Yes some of the most inspiring people are hobos.
They tell you the truth
cause they got nothing to lose;
and they look ahead of their feet
to see where they're going;
and rest under the stars above them glowing.
They bathe in the rain,
blow in with the wind,
and before you know they're alive, they're gone again;

and they never worry if they'll be remembered.

The Great Baptism

Rain will fall hard and long. The heir will become the disinherited and the orphans will finally be bathed. The drunks will refresh, grab wrists, and buoy. The quarrelsome shall bury their pride or drown in the waters. Beggars will float in their tattered regalia, lifted to the heavens by the raised palms of waves while the cloaks and capes of the ships' captains are tugged by gales and ripped like their ships' sails and banners and the ships themselves will splinter and the captains will sink. The seamen will grab planks and float to the heights of Glory. Righteousness prefers the weak and humble, cares not for title, not for merit; embraces the meek, casts out the cruel.

This Land

I been lotsa places
learned a lotta songs
learned what's right
learned what's wrong
I seen a lotta men
met a lotta women
adults and children
all kinds a good folks

A good man once said
This is everyone's land
Yours and mine too.
But seems clear to me
getting run from place to place
that the boots come up
and run me off
more than welcome mats come out
    Cant do that here
    Private Property   
    Need a Permit

This land is yers,
if you buy it.
Then you can make yer own rules

If I had money, tell ya what I'd do
I'd buy a big plot a land, and share it with you.
let you run all around,
lay on your back, look at the clouds
makin friends with everyone,
under the sun, on our land.

Seems our biggest problem these days
is nobody wants to share
Nobody wants to share what they got
Not the burden of the wars we fought
Nobody wants to share the debt
Seems all anyone wants to share is an argument.

If a country is the people who make it,
we're not gonna make it long.
Seems we oughta change somethin.
Don't ask me what.
Maybe next election's politicians can tell you what we need.
They gotten it so right so far.

Trash 23

I have things to say. I have thoughts on my mind. I've lost the reason to share them.
I'm not defeated, because I still know how to believe things for myself.
I don't need to convince everyone. Amend that. I cannot convince anyone.
A person will decide or not to believe any certain thing. Even my religion. After all, to not believe a religion has been left to God.
Are people the quarters in a coin machine waiting for one more quarter to push them over the edge?
Of course, you put the quarter in, you win the jackpot. They're left in your pocket.
At any rate, what a person believes is destined. That's why I don't want to try to convince anyone.

Of course that's not true. I have quite an ego and it wants everyone to agree!