Mythville

U.S. Truth

Tennis shoes tied together,

pink as sin, high on a wire,

a signal for the Tricky Dick boys

building prisons for prophets,

profits for polarities,

warehouses for secret cocaine

futures, hemp rope for hangings,

skull stems hammered on,

amped up for echoes

on the dark side of our

personal moons, rigid codes,

cancer loads, injustices on loan,

cowboys as cash cows for the state,

sharks driving spaceships on wheels,

for long thin men in red beanies

surfing the parking lots

in the pre-dawn shadows

with silver flashlights

poking their hungry noses

into snow-cold super trucks and cars,

breaking into the momentary

silence of your homes,

your minds, your memories,

your anguish and your regrets,

robbing the cold, bringing the heat,

the cops needing capital who will never leave

you alone, tapping your computers and phones,

crashing through the triple-bolted door

without even a false premise

to excuse unconstitutional thrones

of mislabelled power, big pharma towers,

out of pocket by the hour, side effects

diminishing mere disease, minutes of unease,

seconds for wishing, cell phones and dirty dishes,

inquisitional questions, shouting for answers,

stun-gunning you, with photo radar gone fishing,

fast as bad acid to put you on the floor:

Mi Madonna, mi amore ... Master lock and more:

Saint Peter, Saint Jesus, Saint Brahma,

Saint Paul, here are your chains

when you've done nothing at all

~

Job reports, private sectors:

Do you know who is zeroing in

on your pointy-headed vectors?

Optimistic in Boston, oil lagged

humorists no longer counted,

numberless in their lack of hope,

better suited for the task

of being chosen as common men,

women or the demiurge Pope

with three-fingers left

in the checking account,

traumatized, shocked,

in an emotional sock

after missing one

car payment, hung up on,

electronically challenged,

renting out their houses,

living in their parents'

living rooms ... Scared

in the so-called economic

boom, victims of the new genocide,

staying afloat in the telemarket,

smiling in defiance of the waves

still being felt in the cafeteria

of woes from the Bush administration,

driven by force, needing to rob banks

to see a movie: Might as well

daydream yourself up a trip

to Budha-happy Thailand, half-assed Hawaii,

or go on an economic mission to Dubai

to attend a conference on smoke detectors,

or follow the Byzantine route

to the nearest mountain to shout

back down onto the city, loud

economic defectors burdened by self-pity,

divided and conquered, with no bacon

in the meat locker,

beaten up and bothered,

drowning in an ark safety net

woven in wool, feeling like a fool

when knocked off the bar stool

by the sound of car doors

slammed beneath the snow-filtered sky

~

See the slap-happy weather man

giddy as the foggy beach bubbles

bobbing up from the sea,

telling you this is what happens

when the Earth shakes

like jello, from waves

generated by an angry sun

and autos often gunned

like weaponized engines

and coal-fire plant managers,

panting, choking and smoking,

always on the run

He beams, slick in breathless excitement,

donning his Columbia storm gear made in China:

This is what happens when the cyclone is on fire

This is what happens when ... he smiles again

safe and warm in some studio in hot-Lanta

We walked through a whiteout to get online last night,

took care of the tactics and logistics and uploads

of information to stay alive, God gave us groceries

and we laughed our way home ...

This what happens when bed bugs get into your bloomers

This is what what happens as science is dissed by boomers

This is what happens when the haboob blows on through

in desert lands assumed to not know that word is new

This is what happens as the pine cones, white hot in the flow

lava-red resources gone matter to smoke, black to white

as reservoirs air dumped from the sky, a helicopter high

This is what happens when the perfect storms

put a smile in the meteorologist's eye,

focused on the hocus pocus of ratings,

selling fear, channelized, a funnel of money,

a spectator sport

Can we watch the Weather Channel, honey?

This is what happens when storm kings, tornado chasers

are raised to the status of rock stars, voyeurs on video,

This is what happens when a tri-state tornado

last for four hours and a physician isn't sought

for immediate attention: Talk about the weather

with your doctor, then duck for cover

This is what happens when contrarian tunes

are set into permanent rotation, prone to the cold,

odd currents, coming off the Rockies, the Himalayas

and warm air rushes up from southern seas

This is what happens when both sides

are right and we turn left, hence,

the confusion over convection

and spinning over the counter,

clockwise, compulsive in the chase

Ask your doctor if it's cost effective

to go around, understanding climate change

to drive around pursuing a cyclone

This is what happens when we can't

remember tornadoes don't occur

year-round, caught on fire,

a swirling flame in the sky

We rushed down the stairs,

the morning clouds burning red,

Christmas green, dumb and mean,

the southwestern clouds coming,

complete, the prophecy,

the burning bush,

the finger of God

This is what happens

when your military dad

goes tisk, tisk

as we prayed

lying flat

as beetles

beneath a table,

embarassed

in the basement

~

New job available on Craigslist!

Title: Friend

Requirements: Reliable transportation;

female preferred but men

will be considered if applicant

is willing to have an immediate

sex change at his own expense.

Pay (none) not negotiable.

No phone calls please.

~

Talk radio is telling me

it's an enormous problem,

short term, long term,

in any terms: The moment?

Forget about it

The fast, harsh mouthpiece

for the American Enterprise Institute

sounds shrill, vicious, wolfie

in his roars and I imagine

compassionate conservatives

rooting for curbs against

further acts of sexual violence

toward the corporation domanatrix,

the congressmen perking off pages,

but my ear can only bend so far

and my dial in, so puny, my voice,

wanting to call for stripping naked,

and left on the street for seething

about the foul taste of stale bread,

can barely eek out the strength

to cut through the ice

Forget about it

~

You tell me at the morning bell

that life is just a living hell

I wake up thinking

isn't that swell

You tell me that until we divest ourselves of the cell phone chatter,

the gas, the pigs, the memories that don't matter,

the clouds will keep coming into our home,

and the nation, reduced to dividends,

won't leave us alone

My Cherios crunch to loud

you say, my breath is bad

now go away, my tongue is rough

as I run away to a safer

place where the sun isn't so gray

Tough love is a two way street

gotta get something better to eat

Tough love is a two way street

Gotta find a smile where can I find it

Tough love is a two way street

Starving me for your touch

well, I don't mind it

Tough love is a two way street

I roam

Coming home you are nice again

I say honey can I have some sin

then we do it all over again

Your agony babe is the sea I swim

Lovin' you is a double-edged sword

Not even Shakespeare man

could find the right words

Cause

Tough love is a two way street

gotta get something better to eat

Tough love is a two way street

Gotta find a smile where I can find it

Tough love is a two way street

Starving me for your touch

well, I don't mind it

Tough love is a two way street

I roam

Motor mouth, motor mouth

is a weird adjustment

I give you my crazy

I give you my judgment

My motor mouth, motor mouth

is my truth for tougher men

Motor mouth, motor mouth

shakes you brakes you as you run away

Tough love is the street I roam today

Late at night is make-up sex night

We do it again by you damned daylight

ain't no way outta this circle I find

aint no way to just be kind, Uncle Sam,

until we all unload this big bad jam

You pull in the shades to warn

me of fight, I'm Joan of Arc

love and death's eternal delight

Maybe some flowers would

be all right

Cause

Tough love is a two way street

Learn to live with a pocket of change

Tough love is a two way street

Gotta find a smile wherever you don't it

Tough love is a two way street

Hoping for your touch

is what keeps me going

Tough love is a two way street

I roam

Tough love, babe

Tough love tough love

tough love is the two-way street

we all, but just a few, roam