tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25605832024-02-22T00:41:45.237-08:00MythvilleAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.comBlogger355125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-49041960532671756272018-12-26T11:38:00.000-08:002018-12-26T11:38:01.097-08:00Scammerland (for P.T. Barnum)This call is a response<br />
to our concern<br />
over the expiring warranty<br />
on your lifespan<br />
<br />
The following is based<br />
on falsified events,<br />
only the names<br />
and locations are factual<br />
<br />
What we share is one big lie,<br />
the revolution on Youtube,<br />
in pixilated smoke,<br />
mirrors of deceit<br />
<br />
Such pretenses<br />
are the leading export<br />
of a continent fashioned<br />
out of genocidal nothingness<br />
<br />
The bigger the fiddle<br />
the better the misanthrope,<br />
the longer the street urchin<br />
sleeps at the bus stop bench<br />
<br />
With evidence in layers<br />
of the disinformation kind,<br />
let me tell you the tale<br />
and let your snake unwind<br />
<br />
A nation built on hypocrisy<br />
willing to believe<br />
the moon is just a bulb of hope<br />
made permanent in parking lot light<br />
<br />
Cynical leaders, confidence men,<br />
apprentices out of the obscuring clouds,<br />
pictures of food on grocery shelves,<br />
churches bound in black books of delusion<br />
<br />
Brown is the only color<br />
white isn't white<br />
and buckets of blood<br />
water down our action words<br />
<br />
Oh say can you see<br />
the sedentary stacks<br />
of trash, inanimate<br />
and animate in gory glory<br />
<br />
God is a fume of tricky red shifts<br />
and blues, sung from the deep<br />
a solar storm. a meteor hour,<br />
inducing the sleep of Dorothies<br />
<br />
History is bunk, sayeth Henry Ford,<br />
and your automobile museum<br />
attracts the burning deer<br />
in your mud-covered headlights<br />
<br />
Notoriety is the self-serving flame<br />
on the conspicuous boulevard,<br />
knees aching from fanciful dreams,<br />
eyes blighted by car part stores<br />
<br />
If you could lend P.T. Barnum's eyes<br />
to the lion blinded by the optometrist,<br />
the movie might be more realistic,<br />
and each note, a saxophone solo shining<br />
<br />
This call is a robot voice<br />
reminder about the hoax<br />
on your lapsed liberty<br />
that is forever unrealAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-7890084002840578912018-12-20T10:45:00.002-08:002018-12-20T11:48:06.689-08:00Information Disease (for Vladimir Putin)<span style="font-size: large;">After seeing the morning light</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">through three motel room windows</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">the dog came out, trained by a member</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">of the Select Committee to Keep Me</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">From Doing Anything But Writing Poetry,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">and in that morning blight, the red and yellow haze</span><span style="font-size: large;">, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">degenerated all of mankind</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">into a dumbed down Cromagnon electric </span><span style="font-size: large;">gun, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">that, blossoming into Cambridge Analytica,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">into access to too much information, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">imagined itself into a slick of lies,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And just as fast, although less permanent,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">in the corner of my eye, the painful strain of the deep,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">caught up with conversation with the Russian ambassador, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">who sent a secret heiress donation for the Grand Old Party</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">and the NRA's unpleasant grip on the dominion of sin quaked, rattled, rolled </span><span style="font-size: large;">and water vapor seeped up, toward the surface,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">from underground and flowers, and idiocy was born,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">it had a face and a name and an opaque plan to rule,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">and then, booming louder, we all got younger, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">and the wind softened and the internet sent sex sighs</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">into the fog, thus metastasizing its own enemy: truth</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-34835797703377869892018-12-11T07:48:00.005-08:002018-12-11T07:48:57.052-08:00Bermuda Triangulated (for Robert Anton Wilson)For those about<br />
to wake up<br />
for their next<br />
tropical depression:<br />
I blow a kiss<br />
and an antidote<br />
loaded with Vitamin D<br />
<br />
For my brothers<br />
and sisters,<br />
weak, picked on,<br />
flipped on their backs<br />
like doomed sea turtles<br />
for the past twenty years:<br />
I push a little blue button<br />
issuing a satellite beep<br />
causing instant pain relief<br />
<br />
For a phony Noah's Ark<br />
full of pixilated African animals<br />
diving deep into twin lakes,<br />
moving slow or fast,<br />
enjoined at their hips:<br />
I call up a might cloud,<br />
concealing a thunderbird<br />
<br />
For illegal immigrants<br />
(as well as half-human aliens)<br />
hiding like Apaches<br />
in the motel rooms<br />
of America: I send<br />
a silent warning,<br />
a three-hour head start,<br />
initiating a two-year<br />
launch sequence before<br />
the power all goes off<br />
<br />
For dangerous rip currents<br />
building something together<br />
in cascades of waves,<br />
the top one silent, deadly:<br />
a unified nomenclature,<br />
be you rogue waves,<br />
sneeker waves,<br />
baddass high tides,<br />
a roiling, boiling<br />
but quite sexed up<br />
good egg project<br />
shaping smoother shores<br />
so we can all learn<br />
just a little bit more<br />
under mostly cloudy skies<br />
<br />
For all of the supposedly poisonous<br />
under toads, intelligent horny toadies,<br />
a tinted glass manufactured<br />
by mere mortal men,<br />
to hide behind<br />
and therefore<br />
to evolve anew<br />
and grow<br />
<br />
For all of the rest<br />
of you angel hatchlings<br />
in your fleshy husks:<br />
for each, a single ticket<br />
to ride, to sink and then fly,<br />
riding high up in wood coffins,<br />
rising up to the sea's surface,<br />
like the meek in the Hopi bible<br />
swimming with the shoreAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-74841103390773484342018-12-08T10:53:00.000-08:002018-12-11T07:44:32.738-08:00My Morning MooFog rolls me out, then back in<br />
dropped down the drain,<br />
my brain, civically insane<br />
<br />
Tide rolls in, then out<br />
Listened to "Tainted Love,"<br />
wondered what it was about<br />
<br />
Amber alert<br />
revolver<br />
burnt toast on a rack<br />
<br />
Tangiers, tiger,<br />
stoned and stunted,<br />
pacing the gated isle<br />
<br />
Don't connect<br />
to the music of regret,<br />
not much hope for that yet<br />
<br />
My eyes shine this way,<br />
got dark at that,<br />
some authority issues here<br />
<br />
The marshmallow sky<br />
seen only through a window,<br />
to lie would be unwise<br />
<br />
She is pretty over there,<br />
in her green smock,<br />
never meeting my mouth<br />
<br />
Wish I could<br />
go to sleep<br />
touching her summer hairAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-58410758947836714202018-12-08T10:49:00.003-08:002018-12-08T10:49:41.521-08:00Ode to the HomelessTrying to kick the cigs<br />
but the patch led to paranoia<br />
as the watcher of my sleep<br />
snoozed secretly as his cell phone<br />
slipped from sad to sick,<br />
every regret slipping into the dark<br />
of my toss and turn,<br />
rationally revealed<br />
as the merely impossible existence<br />
of mountains to be climbed<br />
as the lady in leopard pajamas,<br />
waiting for the transition light to change,<br />
for the Latifa queen who left<br />
telephonic computers<br />
in the motel room<br />
of her only friend<br />
for the easy free electricity recharge,<br />
moving on for another bus ride<br />
to the Greyhound bus station<br />
and the big bellied man with no shirt<br />
sunned himself atop the highway overpass bridge<br />
and a cluster of birds sang sweet warm winter songs<br />
as the rising tide of crypto currency sank their boats,<br />
the rising tide lifting some,<br />
but all others drowned<br />
and left behind in the tide<br />
<br />
Boy oh boy, my boys and girls,<br />
boredom is the devil to keep at bay,<br />
and overstimulation rocked the nation<br />
stunned into checkmate, mates,<br />
and I gave my brown spotted black<br />
Depot Bay pirate T-shirt,<br />
stating, "The seas will be our empire,"<br />
was given away to the lost Navajo<br />
two days into sobriety<br />
Boxed in illusion. Illusion boxed.<br />
the citadel of concrete cracked<br />
in harsh Southwestern light<br />
filtered by the dust<br />
of dinosaur remains<br />
Got the psychiatrist on the line<br />
as the eavesdroppers listened in<br />
as they honed in for thought crimes<br />
of me giving all my clothes away<br />
and the arrogance<br />
of the Brahman innkeeper<br />
spun dry the mourning morning<br />
Daylong you can her the la de da<br />
of motorists passing buy<br />
in the moving tombs<br />
of wheels and metal and chrome<br />
Horseman, pass on by,<br />
since the walking dead<br />
refuse to meet our eyesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-81146347643058937612018-12-08T10:45:00.003-08:002018-12-08T10:45:36.576-08:00Before the WallWinning fame through fine language,<br />
clever as a fool outside the castle walls,<br />
somewhere between windswept Winslow<br />
and grey Purgatory and dapper Dante's hell,<br />
I watched the petrified forest sink and melt,<br />
the sun sank and the sea turned back,<br />
then returned as a tsunami,<br />
swallowing the entire cities<br />
of Periander, Segeum and Cleophon,<br />
leaving to float the caskets and tomb flowers<br />
<br />
We spoke in epithets, cursed spells in cursive,<br />
ran from the lion, speaking in tongues, no verses<br />
for Eve or Adam, up a tree, down a canyon,<br />
hiding behind browned and heat-burdened leaves,<br />
making a special dinner for the snake,<br />
jumping Jake Satan, who was not so bad,<br />
once you got to know him,<br />
his cup running over the brim,<br />
and we, forced to be deaf,<br />
suffered in the silence<br />
of the One True Lord!<br />
<br />
Before the rhinoceros was made white,<br />
before Eden was made less recognizable,<br />
before the first stones were cracked and stacked,<br />
before the animals lost their voice,<br />
of the first drum, the musical tones,<br />
before the first sunset was made diffuse by dust,<br />
and the double-hearted angels<br />
made portals for rights of passage,<br />
I walked lonely and isolated,<br />
down rows of bright tulips and roses<br />
<br />
Fortified against the relapse,<br />
leaning toward resistence,<br />
nontheless surrendered, rested,<br />
before the precautionary comfort<br />
of the pill yet to be inventedAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-41550863275565458782018-12-08T10:40:00.000-08:002018-12-08T10:40:09.263-08:00Thy Father's NeedsIn the secret agent shades<br />along the dirty boulevard,<br />the disquieted boys try<br />to hunt down new divas<br />with energies circling,<br />tryin' not to rust<br /><br />As the shadows get longer<br />no longer rough<br />is no longer enough<br />and the divine fems<br />keep in their corners<br />reportin' on their formers<br /><br />Thy father's needs<br />Thy father's needs<br />Thy father's needs<br />cause the earth<br />to bleed<br /><br />Who is left or right<br />of the center<br />keep untying hearts<br />and poisoned darts<br />together feelin'<div>
funny about the weather</div>
<div>
<br />And the Overlord plays<br />his fiddle to bards split<br />right down the middle<br />letting the dust of fast<br />polarities just plain settle<br /><br /><br />Thy father's needs<br />Thy father's needs<br />Thy father's needs<br />just suck the rust<br />off the gristy griddle</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There's a guy here<br />waitin' for the gals<br />to complete their<br />conversations<br />dreamin' of their<br />own truths to private<br />Cherokee nations,<br />Cherokee people<br />as wedding bells ring<br />and a divided nation<br />fails to swing or sing<br />on either wing</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Thy father's needs<br />Thy father's needs<br />Thy father's needs<br />boilin' up corn seeds<br />to cut all those Joans<br />of Arc but deep<br /><br />Don't you feel<br />O so incomplete<br />due to thy Father's needs<br /></div>
<div>
Thy father's needs<br />Thy Father's needs<br />dryin' corn seeds<br />O so incomplete<br />to his dirty deeds<br />his dirty deeds<br />crossed up<br />cotton seeds<br /><br />Ozo incomplete<br />Ozo incomplete<br />Ozo incomplete<br />to thy father's needs<br />thy father's needs<br />cut down those weeds<br />let it all just bleed<br />for Thy father's needs<br /></div>
<div>
Thy Father's needs<br />Thy father's needs<br />the whole damn earth<br />plain gone to seed</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-44769495459592695352018-05-11T13:19:00.000-07:002018-05-11T13:19:49.667-07:00Daydream While Standing in Line at Starbucks BluesThe trouble<br />
with complaining<br />
about overpopulation<br />
is the failure to admit<br />
your own existence<br />
is part of the problem<br />
<br />
We who are so intimately<br />
attuned to the primacy of words<br />
may be falsely misled<br />
by the callousness of those<br />
who are not, since they are<br />
distracted by the looming<br />
or evading orb of dark before them,<br />
and, lacking more time, are merely<br />
enforcing their seasons of regret<br />
upon us; see and being, darkness,<br />
no light, except for the kind<br />
that appears with heavy, closed,<br />
lidded eyes, searching for the one<br />
true source of the sun, finding none<br />
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Oh, sorry, didn't want cream,</div>
<div>
and I don't need to suck on a straw</div>
<div>
for that</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-89612201846753011882018-05-11T13:18:00.000-07:002018-05-11T13:18:12.736-07:00Dinner Time at the DelugeShe looks out the window<br />
while doing the dishes<br />
Through curtains purchased at Walmart<br />
Through a window during the shifting seasons<br />
of spring and fall she can look across the great corn fields<br />
of southeast Iowa and view the funnel clouds<br />
moving in from the west<br />
Through to creatures great and small,<br />
as well as straight toward a field,<br />
across the wide driveway,<br />
covered in dented, smashed-in, rusting,<br />
demolition derby vehicles,<br />
without tires, up in blocks, or, on their sides,<br />
the prized possessions of the experienced, the unafraid<br />
Gear head men<br />
with minds for growing maize and working the system,<br />
Martian farmers and their silos that moan<br />
and wail on into the day and night,<br />
their great insect-like machines<br />
mulching and churning and harvesting the land,<br />
From any direction is nothing but cornfields for fifty miles<br />
And up that driveway, a kind of truck stop for the locals,<br />
since she makes breakfast<br />
for banana bunches of the good ol boys every day<br />
She's still got her figure, you know. In fact, she's pretty fine.<br />
With long brown farm girl hair a bit shreddy<br />
from ceaseless moving<br />
for a couple of decades now,<br />
since the kids were born.<br />
Just as the hammer<br />
is pounding red steak chops,<br />
tenderizing it.<br />
There she is, looking out that window,<br />
noticing a raven on top of the little house on the prairie,<br />
Okay, Okay, it's just a barnominium:<br />
She'll never get the word<br />
that her neighbor's daughter died<br />
in the opiod epidemic<br />
after a bitter cold night<br />
walking the street<br />
in West Virginia<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-70453326577336910712018-05-11T13:16:00.000-07:002018-05-11T13:16:07.038-07:00Death of a NewspapermanDream of dying at the desk,<br />
after a couple of decades<br />
of walking out for a cig<br />
as the main form<br />
of exercise<br />
<br />
Dream of winning the Pulitzer<br />
due to the accident of history<br />
of being at the wrong place<br />
at the right time<br />
<br />
Death of Ben Bradley<br />
hard boiled but suave,<br />
better as Jason Robards<br />
than Tom Hanks,<br />
long in the tooth<br />
for the truth,<br />
yelling from the elevator,<br />
"Get it right!"<br />
<br />
Dead while typing a word,<br />
head dropping on the keyboard,<br />
responding to a thank you note,<br />
that rare thud of recognition<br />
<br />
Fired up by Lou Grant<br />
and the Pentagon Papers,<br />
the thought of making a difference<br />
in need of nicotine, ink stained<br />
into delusion by the deadline<br />
<br />
Born to be the private I<br />
in the public eye,<br />
slouching into the grocery store<br />
for a freeze-dried pizza,<br />
pressured by money mad spouses<br />
to go into public relations<br />
<br />
The spinning around of coworkers,<br />
moved on to puzzle piece places,<br />
chasing the fantasy, used like fuel,<br />
used like verbs carefully considered,<br />
spit out nouns sticking on the concrete<br />
<br />
Friend of cops and criminals,<br />
a lifetime of naked fearlessness,<br />
with an ear to the ground<br />
worried into a cadaver<br />
over concerns it rang real<br />
<br />
Channeled into a narrow closet,<br />
in the White House briefing room<br />
listening to a huckabilly<br />
yawl denunciations and falsehoods,<br />
mostly for cable teevee<br />
<br />
The reporter died here<br />
in the desert of the destitute,<br />
during the electronic swarm<br />
of hive bees and mad bloggers<br />
<br />
Woodstein and Orwell and Animal<br />
and Sally Field and rushing<br />
to the office for the single fact<br />
that makes it all worthwhile<br />
<br />
Ghosted into a low groaning hum<br />
like a coal miner or puppeteer,<br />
the obituary was quite kind,<br />
the mundane tick of the clock<br />
is what he survivedAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-41724808611426997272018-05-07T12:00:00.002-07:002018-05-07T12:00:48.502-07:00Guess I Missed the Political Shows (For Chuck Todd)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhst4w3lwlwsMx-tGg7QlnmRhtPy_Q2qyOc7crUIFy-8YXJFqnNtJHgVBoR2snzmuEKJTrAfdSmKNOsJbclfMDZ5bvkA30L4hDY0R99CA-mk0gfYC_Guwdoq7AWakDUxTBbZSlm/s1600/fOpZWKgTLooyRvk-1600x900-noPad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="262" data-original-width="349" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhst4w3lwlwsMx-tGg7QlnmRhtPy_Q2qyOc7crUIFy-8YXJFqnNtJHgVBoR2snzmuEKJTrAfdSmKNOsJbclfMDZ5bvkA30L4hDY0R99CA-mk0gfYC_Guwdoq7AWakDUxTBbZSlm/s400/fOpZWKgTLooyRvk-1600x900-noPad.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sick morning birds in the Sonoran Sunrise</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">during the Sunday dawning season of the tweets</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in anticipation of the endless end of the world</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">that begins tomorrow consistently amplified</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by the bats and thirsty ants disturbed by daily radar,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by the Green Belt ducks by the pool sipping on chlorine</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Back East the ice is softened, the ground is soaked,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as the talking heads put on their pancake batter,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">try to memorize talking points on single sheets,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">pouring sugar and syrup</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">down blue and red breasted throats</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">while the birds of this southwestern city</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">chirp in the symphony of monkeys</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">falling from the sky</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and mating season</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is thrown off the rails</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the human quake</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Morning now and they are loud</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">coast to coast, harmonizing, slow roasted,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the cacophony of disconcertment</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the polar shift of wind</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">sucks the sweat of all labors</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">into the air and drops it down from a cloud</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">on the Kansan plain, shredding a trailer park</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as the insurance agents turn off their phones</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and wounded sailors sigh at the sound of basketball</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The canopy of trees we seldom look up to see</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The aviary of green leaves, thick trunks,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">grown around the walls, despite the apartment complexities,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as suburban Thoreau picks on orange from a front yard,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">wondering how long it takes the peel to decompose</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">if dropped for the next sixty years of ever cracking sidewalk</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And the tweet goes on as the coffee dreams us awake</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And the eyeliner girls doze in weekend hangovers</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And the casino lights have all gone cold</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And the lonely lost shepherds chase their scattered sheep</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And the personal items, lost lighters, broken bracelets</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">are discovered by the sunrise, as the day's new wheels</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">grind the leftovers into a glittering of everlasting dust</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">They are on now, the clattering news champions</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but the coo of the white owl in the trees,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the panic in the swirling electronic hive,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is a found then lost in a transcendent moment of rest</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Soon enough we wonder how will we fill our day,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">will our shopping carts be filled in the land of plenty,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with plastic bottles destined to float in the sea</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">on an island the size of Texas, but now, just now,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the dot of love is connecting to the eternal line,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the spring is working overtime</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The rumor is the raspberry has no soul</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The rumor is mankind only knows heaven</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Yet precarious life up and down the food chain</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">knows nothing more than the dome of God</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">fading blue to whitewash, then back into stars,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and that is more than enough from the beginning</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to the end of the next night, when the chorus of conceit</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">blows on smoking wings to pat down the dumpster fire</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">we like to call Monday, as the highway roar rises</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">stirring the dirt into the dumb light</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>~ Scottsdale, Arizona</i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-37483363714351029222018-05-05T08:26:00.000-07:002018-05-05T08:26:50.678-07:00Please Write Us a Greed PoemSuds in the spotty water<br />
painting the sea with pee<br />
Moby Dick chunking out the air drain<br />
Melville stolen blubber beast into fiction<br />
then oil was discovered underground<br />
Whale ships became museums, so did we<br />
<br />
Dissolve the fat in smoothie drinks<br />
the sugar is the antidote the past<br />
the dream is the screenplay<br />
but what the fuck is the third act<br />
Can't write the word "penis" but there it is<br />
the womb always runs toward the money<br />
<br />
Can't fault the soccer mommy<br />
for escaping into the security state<br />
Her secret is back there, at the pawn shop,<br />
in rows of red, white and blue guitars<br />
Living on the edge of Brit TV detective<br />
amusements upon the intimacy of strangulation<br />
<br />
Poor Laws re-enacted, the "Lion King" redacted<br />
The guns of London and the industrial revolution<br />
She cradles us in liberty as the lathe cuts and runs<br />
Genocide fences for the hunt, the machine hums,<br />
trickling up the U.S. Stock exchange, tisk tisking<br />
the rising crime rate on the smart phone, ringing<br />
<br />
Revolution, evolution, auto-tuned into resistance<br />
Who would ever risk losing the anti-tax clicks<br />
when somewhere in the dark, baby kicks,<br />
behind the wooden door without a nob<br />
Teilhard de Chardin is knocking from the Noosphere<br />
in the white blanks enveloping what we call poetryAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-26941327079115841152018-05-01T16:34:00.000-07:002018-05-01T16:34:07.584-07:00The Eponymous Economist (for Paul Ryan)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjYmokQhQPmL0uNFJJjney6QuWT2U5aSIBPKtCmOykzf7VYDurI-OxqAfIYPFgu1neQmslzydo6DbH4dETtMZMMWg1uWp4PuIVwwWW6HOcoJZ1Jcdc4MhFFoCm4n3JKx5O0Qyk/s1600/th+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="169" data-original-width="225" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjYmokQhQPmL0uNFJJjney6QuWT2U5aSIBPKtCmOykzf7VYDurI-OxqAfIYPFgu1neQmslzydo6DbH4dETtMZMMWg1uWp4PuIVwwWW6HOcoJZ1Jcdc4MhFFoCm4n3JKx5O0Qyk/s400/th+%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Might as well call it a day</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as in punt</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">run to the sidelines</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Got a place to hide</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">eat the cheese</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There's always the Packers</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The horse has left the barn</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">None of the mavericky said nay</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Why should I?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Marx was right</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but his followers had guns</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Engels is left but Stalin blocked the sun</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">They are clapping at the end of the day</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">at the American stock exchange</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">because a stately mansion</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the remote Rocky mountains</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">sold for millions and billions</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of barrels of red ink</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Currents of rust</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">rivulets of plastic</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a trickle down economics</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">runs to the ocean</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but sinks in the sand</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the Rio Grande</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Deregulation is a vial</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the Book of Revelations</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Only thing you need</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">are fewer words</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to resonate the dumbing down</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The lord laughs with the rich</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">which is why it's okay</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For the esteemed Senator from Oklahoma</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to look away from the homeless man</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">sleeping by the stairs at Washington Square</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as the limousine passed on by</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Look away</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Look away</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The land of cotton</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Look away</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">No land left to give away</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Property is theft is superior violence</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We can get fries with that</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but your going to have to pay</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">out of pocket for your heart attack</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Don't answer the phone</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It's only a robo call</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Gipper is clutching a mean memo</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">from David Stockman</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">who reinvented</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">English Poor Laws</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">So Tiny Tim</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">can't get ruby red slippers</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Pawning his crutches will pay for a forced drug test</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The player piano has gone out of tune</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Money is a green cloud</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">passing over the head</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of Milton Friedman</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">paid in cash by artificial intelligence</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">beaming a bribe passed</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">beneath an Italian mob marble table</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">passing through the sky</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a digital sea of endless greed</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Who the fuck is Dickens?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Ayn and Benito and Adolf</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">retrofit the classics</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for planet tipped over</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by a zillion brain dead end jobs</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">building a white yacht</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for Noah at the nosh</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">roasting endangered species</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">instead of a safety net</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for the looming flood</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of Koch addict funds</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When it all comes crashing</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I told you so</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">will be a good</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">presidential</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">campaign</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">slogan</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-50441854813388296262018-04-13T17:36:00.000-07:002018-04-13T17:36:15.044-07:00The Report from New Oblivia (Verde Valley Blues)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuvxcwt8Db4KBJnQDRmqy4uPe3hbwp6fvPiDBqU5XBey8SGcyOlsHnS8c1S_RFCoflP1zGZOWtHhkeosgMgYyFDhyeyY0p34AY7F3TRs7uuRDt2eLcTsf2TWzp9wOZNFgO87aS/s1600/cottonwood-az.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="800" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuvxcwt8Db4KBJnQDRmqy4uPe3hbwp6fvPiDBqU5XBey8SGcyOlsHnS8c1S_RFCoflP1zGZOWtHhkeosgMgYyFDhyeyY0p34AY7F3TRs7uuRDt2eLcTsf2TWzp9wOZNFgO87aS/s400/cottonwood-az.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
On the fringes of Cottonwood, Arizona,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
along the dusty steppes </div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of the car part end of town,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the red and black winged wasp</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
charges into its three-door bunker</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
pulling out chunks of red dirt</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
made of iron old as God</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as grasses dry in cutting wind</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and ants go one-quarter across</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the cracked sidewalk, that mad world,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
our mutual hallucinated nation,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
hunting hard for fresh water,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
finding none, needing more,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
scattering wild at the country store,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and the black hawk call down</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
from the north reels from burning</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
scents of summer breezes</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
hurled from solar salts</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
from down south, the Baja,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the whistle through the window</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
indicates the Wednesday Mad Hatter</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is going to wonder from behind insulated</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
chain stores with diminishing returns:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Maybe, today, tax forms will arrive</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in time to beat the trucks</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
loading for a flood</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-81200429705503145492018-03-11T15:22:00.000-07:002018-03-11T15:22:53.870-07:00Too Many Horses (Why I Don't Drive)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge6H8QkvziZSB6o5BdWEgj_0HUzdu9BbPkPGKbyS8tlPNfV0CyY9aymQzG3zIKwAavfLjaERoII5BS94APgh7SWN4JW3nfK1Uf7Cbrc08daKqfl7h1IH-W04GTReLuuyUascOe/s1600/co2-in-the-sky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="590" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge6H8QkvziZSB6o5BdWEgj_0HUzdu9BbPkPGKbyS8tlPNfV0CyY9aymQzG3zIKwAavfLjaERoII5BS94APgh7SWN4JW3nfK1Uf7Cbrc08daKqfl7h1IH-W04GTReLuuyUascOe/s400/co2-in-the-sky.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Automobiles owned,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
driven and reacted to,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
starting with the one</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that ran over my dog,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but not limited to,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
includes this mortal list</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of mechanical turmoil:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
One 1965 Ford Mustang,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
which my dad owned</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as a shiny Great Society driver.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We put ice in the air conditioner</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and it melted into cold air</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
from Texas to Arizona.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
One green Oldsmobile stationwagon,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
my mom's, which we drove from Dallas</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to the far west corner of Wyoming</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
right at the dawning of the Age of Aquarius</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
into the denouement of a late 70s green bomb,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a handover in high school. Mark Hirte,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
my so-called neighborhood friend,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
put dog shit on my windshield once,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but I forgave him after he died</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in a restaurant robbery.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I pass by all apparently random,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
thoughtless acts. Not my job</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to write people up for transitional,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
indiscretions.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
One highly efficient blue Toyota Corolla,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
four-door, another hand me down,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
which I drove to college in Arizona,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
then to a grisly death toward a U2 show,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
where the real streets have no name,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
then got married, went off the edge</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of the financial world. Oblivion bound,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
oh, the vast emptiness I have found.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
One hitchhike out of that desert,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
home in somebody else's white truck,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the wind in our hair, grit in our teeth.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In other people's cars I get careless and free.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Though, at times, my century makes me</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
go for the brake on the passenger's side.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Hard to trust when your are co-commuting</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
on the drag strip of fools.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
One series of turnover cars, gas guzzlers,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
four-door, family friendly, snow weary,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
lacerated dents over one wheel well,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
chains coming apart in a storm,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the motor a drum of pain on the paint.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
One red Nissan truck, a mighty steel stead,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
drove me from shifty Phoenix to New England,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
out of danger I, the rising Phoenix, out of danger,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
into trouble, into a world of need.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
One silver Datsun, sporty, or so I believed,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
kept me well until the ghost in the machine,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the Kachina spirit of my dead mother,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
blew a motor for lack of oil. Death to husk,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
no oil to very little soil. Sold it for one-hundred</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
single dollar bills.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
All the high-end hijinks</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of Porches and Jags,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
all rented to deceive me, so I bought</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a Volkswagon Rabbit, with plates</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that rang, "Live free or die!" May oui!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Part of my mapped-out plan for eternity.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Bought it for two hundred dollars</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as an act of rebellion against</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the smog-belching stink.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
One Taurus, circa '94,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
forty miles one way to work,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a lifetime to get back,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the stereo blasting a skin</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to shield me from the world,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
until the day that I,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a red bull in a colonial china shop,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
got too many horses spinning</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in my head.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Oh, the little hobbit hole</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
expectations of me.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
One two-thousand dollar Honda Civic,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
belching smoke because, truthfully,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I know nothing about engines,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
only the high-beam up ahead.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Now I have to fix it. That's my responsibility.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The heart burns fuel, and it's expensive,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the engine wears down with each little decision,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
each bump, each turn, cracking the crankcase,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
chipping the paint around the chrome,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the crunch of each microbe</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
cracking the windshield</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in a terrifying roar</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
only mites can hear,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the mirror getting dull,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
dislodged, dangerously so.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Then the door handle breaks.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I mean, it's cheap stuff, this flesh,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The tires will eventually go flat, or worse,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and before you are there, here, or anywhere,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
this thing, this life is just a shell of scars,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
reminders of cautionary tales to tell.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-77885699428011688862018-03-11T15:11:00.003-07:002018-03-11T15:11:59.303-07:00An Official Statement from Rodrigo et Exciso Industries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga3YEF6u5DCJxLtgqB4JUNKTvEhzWj6yp02oI_3wGzEicNwvJGNPDyvq1E9NCIwpNyBOnWF1JRM5o3cB8Ogps5tA8VxjhFmIBxrj_iNACoXVfdkIICJ01g8OrFjaCKCEwJa4DL/s1600/Inquisition01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="260" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga3YEF6u5DCJxLtgqB4JUNKTvEhzWj6yp02oI_3wGzEicNwvJGNPDyvq1E9NCIwpNyBOnWF1JRM5o3cB8Ogps5tA8VxjhFmIBxrj_iNACoXVfdkIICJ01g8OrFjaCKCEwJa4DL/s400/Inquisition01.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
We most humbly apologize</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for the series of unfortunate events</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
leading to the catastrophic batch</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of pancake mix products</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
used to sanctify your</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
national rituals</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Although, for reasons</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
beyond our control,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as well as those we can,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
we cannot fully divulge, recite,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
enunciate or simply explain</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
those circumstances leading</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to the incidents in question,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
our hearts got out to the families</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of those who experienced</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
death or discomfort or both</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
from the clearly overzealous</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
applications of our potions, mixes</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and accessories</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We also thank your priesthood</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and supporting public officials</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for their patience and continued</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
business</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Those relationships mean everything</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to us because Rodrigo et Exciso Industries</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is, if nothing else, a people place</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We are proud the many denominations</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of your faith have chosen our pancake mix</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and asundry gifts and necessary toggles,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
brushes and rubs are so much a part</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of your holy houses</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Your worship means the world to us</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
As you can imagine</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
those behind the so-called</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
“pancake plot” have been</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
severely punished</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You can trust us on that score</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
While, certainly, the regrettable fallout</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
over the unfortunate event has been</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
trying for both of our nations,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
our methods against the miscreants</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
were for more painful, and, long-lasting</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
than those horrors felt, in the last hours</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
by their victims</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We at Rodrigo et Exciso Industries</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
remain supremely satisfied</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
with the high quality of our</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
pancake mixtures, creams</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and agents for fast relief</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Working closely now</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
with your priests and personages</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of high renown who have paid us,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
handsomely,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for your patronage,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
we have made great improvements</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to our mixtures, creams, fixtures,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
accessories and agents for fast belief,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as well as our security measures to ensure</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the purity of our products and applications:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The Make-a-Mix Spirit Cleanse causes</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
no more moaning excess, rapid heart rates,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
vomiting, heaves, sores</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and so any further anxiety</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is no longer necessary</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Which means our products</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
can be used in your rituals</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
without any more tumult</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
or torture than is</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
absolutely necessary</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
No more stigma</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
No more stain</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Blood is no longer</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
needed as a substitute</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for milk, whiskey, or water</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(depending on the denomination):</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A graft of skin will do</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And when it’s time</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to put your ass in the air</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to receive our golden spike,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
there will be plenty of time</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(and advanced notice)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for you to become mortal,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
wounded, of plaster and still</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-71172426922884505232018-03-09T09:54:00.000-08:002018-03-09T09:55:32.643-08:00Flat Earth Theory (A Round Table Discussion)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFon1sOJPezq8fNrrMxNA4MV6wCBVM_iY9OQlmCDjaRwwdbehYSXB90nq94IbqBRpNkqo4jZF-4T-MOBrQuDJV_DSgLH9IMNEYxVe2cCYbWm4_j8sxwgXr_QdZbFB-vEQjZFTF/s1600/th+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="154" data-original-width="318" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFon1sOJPezq8fNrrMxNA4MV6wCBVM_iY9OQlmCDjaRwwdbehYSXB90nq94IbqBRpNkqo4jZF-4T-MOBrQuDJV_DSgLH9IMNEYxVe2cCYbWm4_j8sxwgXr_QdZbFB-vEQjZFTF/s400/th+%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The fact is, the Earth is still. Stunned, in fact,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">there is no wind, another than the big fan,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">since your argument indicates nothing less</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">than the coming of another dark age</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">What can we ascertain of love?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A survival drive, a spark of a star</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">seeking a guarantee the light</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">will never die</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">What we don't know</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is everything surrounding</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the fractal of what we do</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I cannot upload</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">fifty thousand years</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of learning fire burns</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and water cools</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in a moment of you</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">closing your eyes</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">only to deny</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the sun of Osiris</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the magical gauze</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of the orb beyond the lid</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You are quite insistent</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but persistence is not proof,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">only the tyranny of celestial skys</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">where the glint of light off a leaf,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">relatively speaking</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is more profound than Saturn</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Hardly fits the pattern</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of even the sly screen</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">we peer into</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as our minds go</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">softer, glowing less,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the shrunken universe</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of the disembodied</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">voices of doubt</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-62795818741680928232018-03-03T10:22:00.003-08:002018-03-03T10:24:30.645-08:00Departures (Don't Wake the Landlord)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0eQQIIwAIArRMvS2vAkr3Jr5smylED0jbpkLiauI-eOFhxF7NEohbAVrPq-Ag_KRe_9HgzmAZmuAkTPsrphnqAoOY5pT12L8bARXZiPPZuFXG6f4RYMtf4lXKwYpQ2MAdKpIJ/s1600/Washington_iowa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1544" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0eQQIIwAIArRMvS2vAkr3Jr5smylED0jbpkLiauI-eOFhxF7NEohbAVrPq-Ag_KRe_9HgzmAZmuAkTPsrphnqAoOY5pT12L8bARXZiPPZuFXG6f4RYMtf4lXKwYpQ2MAdKpIJ/s400/Washington_iowa.jpg" width="385" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The first time the mining boss</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">had so choked us off, after the ranchers shot our dog,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">that we loaded up the truck and headed down the hill,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">racing into hell for safety</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">See no evil in listening to my desert noir</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Since I'm asking the Lord for safety</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the mercy of the miracle film score</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Another time she said</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I was possessed by the devil</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and we escaped the seaport town</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">racing to hell for safety, again,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">since your mind was gone</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and I had to lose everything</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to fill our days with broken glass</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the beads of trust</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">scattered in the sand by the sea</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Then there was that time</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">you pissed off the landlord</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Said you were leaving since</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">he couldn't keep the trains passing by</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">from shaking off the paints chips</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and plaster from the ceilings and dingy walls</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The sheriffs came from miles around</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">trying to figure out that money you'd found</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We tried to get out of town without a sound</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but the cat scittered up into the attic</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in that long forgotten plains Iowa town</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">So we had to return the very next day</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but where the cat had gone no one could say</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-9159025517819126692018-03-03T10:16:00.005-08:002018-03-03T10:16:40.487-08:00Churned by the Mill the Hunter Takes His Aim<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFLrjP7DgiAfaOIgQ7ynMNbE1rj3rAcvsbjq89wWpCVE1IgL9m9_EFdebVY1-Hws5TYhtOlPIZzJ7BPpbViFJ7DV5FiEWJJnqxlvQYRMlU2gq-HnbuG0kf5QY7YR-shHn1nhPu/s1600/800px-Pieter_Bruegel_d._%25C3%2584._007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="800" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFLrjP7DgiAfaOIgQ7ynMNbE1rj3rAcvsbjq89wWpCVE1IgL9m9_EFdebVY1-Hws5TYhtOlPIZzJ7BPpbViFJ7DV5FiEWJJnqxlvQYRMlU2gq-HnbuG0kf5QY7YR-shHn1nhPu/s400/800px-Pieter_Bruegel_d._%25C3%2584._007.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Pulling back on the bow</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">hidden from the self-imposed</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">exile from the world,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">ground to a halt</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the pillar and his salt,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">feet burning</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">from the endless day</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">at the wheel</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now comes a song</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">etched in the dirty air,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the invisible wall</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The typo for the point</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">about many brushes with death,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the mistakes to attest,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a thousand victories</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">over the orb,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a thousand losses,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and so he's even:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">One kiss to come</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to forget about her flesh,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">or I can lose myself</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the hourly astronomies,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I guess</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That an arrow finds its aim</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">once or two or three times</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in a man's life,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is the star we do annoint</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the refracted light</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of second sight</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-35604879700121240782018-03-03T10:08:00.000-08:002018-03-03T10:10:09.418-08:00Tornado Food Towns (The Prophecy)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjepVORMzskK31NBR_L_9sEwCid1T_hlEXrOgMMjnR4hupH-Q-kcL_ZkgihG-hFmjKyG9z9uQ-H45nZXt1cNxpcFJNQ4AVlego0fgkw8SP9SMug-V6YKR8vezuI-YJee8I0Af35/s1600/2013_05_31_51605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="1100" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjepVORMzskK31NBR_L_9sEwCid1T_hlEXrOgMMjnR4hupH-Q-kcL_ZkgihG-hFmjKyG9z9uQ-H45nZXt1cNxpcFJNQ4AVlego0fgkw8SP9SMug-V6YKR8vezuI-YJee8I0Af35/s400/2013_05_31_51605.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We navigated the great wide American plains</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">avoiding the chimerical swirl of the turbulence</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by taking the back roads and byways</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of the sky, running from the grief, you and I</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">With just enough gas to make it to</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">some cantaloupe country town</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to sleep in a dirty motel room</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as the sirens twisted on by</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">No we were not making good time,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">instead killing the moments</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and by the time we got to Sioux City,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">you tried to kick your way</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">through the U-Haul door</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the madness of the memories</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">you never could embrace</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The sky was red and green as my genetic memory</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">fed the agonized stress of the magical marble:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">So hell, I was swirling, too</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">thinking of Dorothy knocked silly</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by the door and the way</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">my grandfather's family</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">was annihilated in West Texas</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This fear of storms is just a test, I guess</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We ducked for the basement</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and hoped for the best</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-39573289990958164622018-03-03T09:49:00.002-08:002018-03-03T09:55:26.088-08:00The Dog Park (And Other Rules of Cyberspace)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd-qJ9g_pULi2KsOLvDMgYUvR0E_Vu-hcOZdnoi-S6Kd148OslP8YLiSYOpBmD7TUsbLmzahYpgkogTVOp0D80Wmi7MJ8IquCx9EK8sS5LYgTjRXg_56MnmDQ6rT-QrIyjOzvI/s1600/294559_101293506649523_1186758633_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="500" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd-qJ9g_pULi2KsOLvDMgYUvR0E_Vu-hcOZdnoi-S6Kd148OslP8YLiSYOpBmD7TUsbLmzahYpgkogTVOp0D80Wmi7MJ8IquCx9EK8sS5LYgTjRXg_56MnmDQ6rT-QrIyjOzvI/s400/294559_101293506649523_1186758633_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You hurl out the door</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">sniffing for rabbits,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for the Alice in Wonderland hole,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">dark in scent, stopping</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to make your mark</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in all of the usual places,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the parking lot covered</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in candy wrappers,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the broken foolery of people</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">who never knew any better,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">who when the black age broke</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">they hid from the spotlights</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of the tigers hunting</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for human flesh</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of code that is their law</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We'd get to the green embankment</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and there would be a pause</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and all I could think of was</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">getting to the ritual gate,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the tricky passage way,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the metal see-through bolt</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">we negotiated,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">each man and animal</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with their own interpretations</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with their own explications</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of the same light of the day</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and then I would set you loose</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and you would set me free</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and you would run away</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in that see-saw way of yours</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">while I sat on a bench,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">had a smoke and then a prayer</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Then would day the wagging whisperer</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">told me the multiplication tables were coming:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The organizers, the lawyers, the invisible watchers</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The orange cones appeared first,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">then yellow tape, spikes in the ground</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">mindless indicators, stunning our speech</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">into the silence, little hand held devices</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">saying you can walk here</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but you can't walk there</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but the shepherd</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">doesn't know how to read</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and angels will do what angels will do</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and this seemed funny to me</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and my sense of anarchy,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as I shook my head,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">laughing, mocking them,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">living in the dream</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the nagging feeling</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">my brothers and sisters</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">would never get me,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">delineated me, the vessel of</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">dualistic half empty</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as you crossed the lines,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">since dogs will do</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">what dogs will do</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There was some beef</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">about grass,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the fenced-in yard</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of social control,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and one day thinking</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">outside of the box,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">looking in,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">across the field the sprinklers</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">set the place on fire,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and all the beasts began to run and roar</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the guys with bald heads</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">leaned into one another,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">pushing for a fight,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">since the swirl of fangs</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">turned the blocked out space</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">into the wrestling cage:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Too many canine cannibals</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">scratching in their corners,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">unyielding into the waste</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of the iron-cut lawns,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the broken sprinkler heads,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the bashed in mesh of bent fences,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the spiritual need</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to break through the bough</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Nobody told the creek in the cave</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">it couldn't keep on running</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">or the wind to stream</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">through the mesh</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">or that amazing</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">radar nose of yours</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">giving it the sniff test</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-85985144417824174762018-01-16T08:30:00.001-08:002018-01-16T08:30:58.834-08:00Ruthless (for Babe Ruth)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnM2G-2itECCU52L9TeLw5EuPql6AQ5nuSAgu21yc1j0g6uJm_lPp4cIKB51IBo1dB_m4xacBZsGb8vNil2frAYMwEkUpb27MzXUVwFu2Lr5nl522H9FDScob6x4UuMH6ZjDTS/s1600/th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="221" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnM2G-2itECCU52L9TeLw5EuPql6AQ5nuSAgu21yc1j0g6uJm_lPp4cIKB51IBo1dB_m4xacBZsGb8vNil2frAYMwEkUpb27MzXUVwFu2Lr5nl522H9FDScob6x4UuMH6ZjDTS/s400/th.jpg" width="313" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Charismatic Babe Ruth runs hard and burns,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
going good on subatomic energy, good as gasoline,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the homer baby of Babylon, playing Baal</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in front of the unholy fences, no longer</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a young being bowing to the crowd at Fenway,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
during the later years as the unberman hero</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
at Yankee Stadium, which he built swinging</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
his bat like a hammer, a mirror to his time</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
when photos featured haggard stares</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a prima donna, manpower in his belly</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
raging in the rag time, taking in a plug,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
feeling his impatient behemoth beneficent guilt,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
his soul a razor, at war with gravity,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
thinking about walking unlimited miles</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to whiskey in the bars near Central Park,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
searching for the living among the dead:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
History comes in threes, a Roman Catholic thing,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as there are as many anti-christs</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as the uncountable stars in the sky ...</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
O great genie, over the fence man,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a poor boy but genes set right,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
his fine-tuned antenna to the natural world,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
his roaring twenty appetites scorching</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Victorian-styled city streets,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
humming New Orleans Dixieland rags ...</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
all on fire, unsatisfied, kicking the clay</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
out of his cleats,digging his pigeon toes</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
into the box, pointing toward</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
centerfield bleacher dandies</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Go ahead and ask me if it matters:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I provide power: Power! Built this damn house</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and they gave me everything but wanted I wanted,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to run the team, to be free to walk alone</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in the back alleys at night to speakeasies,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to get a big drink so I can forget</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that blond broad's name, to remember</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
who really loves me, though they all say</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
they do, but some future historian</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
may suppress my true memory</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in order to maintain my superman myth ...</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Good thing the common folk understand everything,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that it's no great feat: I just do what feels easy</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Duly warned, returning to the box, straining</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to keep from scratchin', spittin', and hell,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
even sweatin', and thy mind off drinkin'</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Next pitch, I hit it foul, but you won't</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
read about it here, kindly change all</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
strike counts to zero ...</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Did he command the universal flux</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
cavorting with whores along Congo Square?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Did he find his Elvis there?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Black holes subtract starlight,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
animal magnetism flirting, flicking,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
kissing bits with flash powder,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
avoiding the good Cardinals' cathedral,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
igniting the musty atmosphere,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
slouching toward home plate to be born,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
uttering God's inviolate immaculate</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
sense of a woman's softest parts,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
penetrating the thin veil masking</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
man made laws we believe, tentatively,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to exist: He had the heart of an anarchist</div>
<div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Taking Stock of Bonds</span></div>
<div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Ten warm-up pitches</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
ascend ten Dante-esque</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
levels up the screen</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
behind home plate</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and Barry Bonds</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
took a look</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and his mega-salary</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
was mistaken for humble</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and human; his life as pure ego</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
was at stake, make no mistake</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
He waved to manager Don Baylor</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in the opposition dugout</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in the sunny half-joke</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in spring training in the desert:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
hard to reason with the risk</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of certain beaning</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as limousine Barry</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
goes up to the plate, the pitch,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and Bonds does straight-into-the-air time</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and lands back down to do the earth dance,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
an element of fear enhanced, gets up</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and his earring shines from some light</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
beamed from far up in the sky</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
since, with nobody on, there are only</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
so many points a ball can be thrown</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
through the atmosphere as the next pitch</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
was down the middle of the strike zone</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
After Bonds had swung it landed near</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a western wear store west of Apache Junction:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So much for the element of surprise</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Later that day at the ballpark, frankly,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Barry Bonds almost trampled my son</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
trying to get his autograph</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and my kid said, What a jerk!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It made me so proud</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Practice</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
How many brain-dead</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
baseball diamond drills</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
do we need to run, rookie?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Do we need to purchase</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for you an insurance policy</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to protect you against</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the sorcery of blurring</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
curves, the chin music</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of mommy balls</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
coming in fast?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Spring training</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is the hope-forming time</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to scrunch scar tissue,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to test aches subtracted</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
from the totem death-dance</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of old brown city street snow,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of writer's block shaped</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
into three white bases,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to take into our nostrils</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the sweet fragrance of March</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And after the vets have tapped</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the buzzing fridge of free cokes,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
turning terminal pains</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
into mere dietary disease,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
we must line up trainer's tape</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to meet and meet together</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
at the left-field foul pole</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to intensify the muscle memories,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the heated up PFP, PFP, PFP ...</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the endless ritual</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of pitcher-to-first,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
pitcher taking the lob,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
spiking the bag</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This is how we practice</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
each thin temporal moment,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
experience to ascribe antidotes</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for thoughtlessness into decisions</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
because only repetition can influence</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
our grace before ownership's</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
remote octopus lens</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
so if we can make it to October,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
if we get lucky,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
maybe you'll thank me</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So don't be a loud-mouthed rook</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
wasted for higher purposes</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
beyond the reasoning of mere mortals</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Don't talk back to me!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Don't think to much!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It's bad for everyone concerned</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Don't carouse with wild women</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
sent to stand on your bases</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and don't talk money with me</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We pay you plenty</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and candy comes after</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Because I knew John McGraw</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Who fussed himself silly</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Made teammates enemies</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But they played great</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Despite his tyrannical self:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Gawd how I loved his glare,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
like Joe Torrie's blank stare;</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a poker face almost saying, man,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I loathe baseball, I wanna go home</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I heard stories about such skips:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
See, this pitcher, this catcher,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
they hate each other, so they throw</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
harder and harder to each other</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and surely at some point</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
there's got to be a limit,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a point where their palms</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
turn red, maybe even bleed</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
until all innings end, unforgiven</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
By the time they get back</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to the bench they are screaming</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
at each other so ol' skipper</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
comes over, spits, and says,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Okay boys, you go back</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
into your pretty clubhouse</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and have at it. May the worst</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
man win. I'll warm up Johnson</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and Mack, get the equipment on."</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So the two embattlers</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
go behind closed doors</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and end up killing each other</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The general manager calls</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
new recruits up from Triple-A</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to replace them both:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Everybody wins</div>
<div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">My Cup of Coffee in the Majors</span></div>
<div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A shadow passes on opening day</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as the umpire screens the views</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of new scores coming in,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
old scores settled long ago,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as the heartbeat of the homeland</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
counts the day's receipts</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
checking for signs of mischief,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as angry Aztec gods</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
make a point, hiring lawyers</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for copyright violation,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as spring birds bunt,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
turning snow into drops</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of sugary sweet wine,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as the ball comes down</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the third base line</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
with just enough gust</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to push the ball foul</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as ice cold beer sales</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
flow into the face</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of forever: O sure,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I had a cup in Euphoria</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but didn't stick for the Stixx</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and the banks were all closed</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
at sunset and I couldn't</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
get a grip and the previous</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
night's bright lights</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
could have been a trick</div>
<div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Sandman</span></div>
<div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Sing a dainty dirg</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for the New York Yankees,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but note the fact</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the sun arose the next day</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
are all the victories</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
stand, sure as yellow sunflowers</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in the fall, falling away ...</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Now that the best team</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
money can buy needs</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
first aid from the tip jar</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for the daily</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
emergency management</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
donut fund, the Bombers</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and the Joker</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
are on the run,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and the gangster managers</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of U.S. Banks are running</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
from pranks organized</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
by mischievous teenagers</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
running out of bullets</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
playing digital games,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the bragging rights</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
now a toss up into the air,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a toxic point-and-shoot affair</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of agents so say it ain't so</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the best team in baseball</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
needs to reload, since the Sandman</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
can no longer come in the Ninth</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to ice over the Show</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and those who gave a flying f ...</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
about football can stand</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and listen to make sharp yelps</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
about how I'm paying my own price</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
with wobbly knees, posts as painful</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as typhoons out of season</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as we ask a Navajo woman</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
draped in a royal blue</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Dallas Cowboys' number nine jersey</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in a defense against the sound and fury</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of the noise of the laundry room,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
focused on her cell phone like a weapon,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a fence against the outside world,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
which sends in scores and more</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as the rocking horse hick drones</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
on about how much his Saturday morning</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
hangover hurts over the radio,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and neither of us can see the country</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
crooner because today, sponsored</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Ford trucks, is the anniversary</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of the day I confessed to crimes</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I never committed, places I never</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
will see, to things I can't remember,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
forces I have no knowledge of, waves</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I can sense but not see, feel or hear</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
churning up the winds, the rains, the snows,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
falling from above, pushing up from below,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in patterns beyond my science,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
no longer local, just passing through,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
not on the ball, like Lucy removing</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the football to make me look like the fool</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
after your ice-cold Bud is just another</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
beer can on a giant empty parking lot</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
where gas-guzzling lads, ladies in cheerleader</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
uniforms are stripped, cloned and sent</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
on their way for a full day</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of prayer and fasting, knowing:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The sports godz have had their say</div>
<div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Flame Delhi</span></div>
<div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You made sweat dry in the strike zone</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
at great, zipping distances</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And the copper company in Harqua Hala</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Gave you a lifetime guarantee</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
If you loved baseball like life</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Back then</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The desperate diamond of cliche and stone</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Wasn't so hard on your clay feet</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
If you wore black-laced boots at the top</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of the mound</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The heat would leak out in the sunshine and fame</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Screamin' your name, ol' Flame</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You came to Arizona long before Prince Hal</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And his black-soaked bum friends</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
came to play ringers,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Cheatin' ore boys outta their nickel wages</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
They were cruel men, never shaved</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
They were thirsty renegades, restless;</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
With neither the guts nor style</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
For California</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But you were good, solid folk</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And when seven hits in three innings pitched</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Was all you could squeeze outta</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the shoulder at Comiskey</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You returned, the nine-point-zero hero</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of Harqua Hala</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Cashing in your guarantee</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The company re-armed you</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
with an engineering degree</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and you built boats boats in San Francisco Bay</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To keep the boys dry during the Great War</div>
<div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
Ballpark Receipts</div>
<div style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Read my memorandum</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
regarding the way echoes</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in spinning wheels across</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the desert of empty words</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
between the lines</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of the "National Anthem"</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
populate the aisles</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
at the ballpark</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
filled with people</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
lucky enough</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to afford to see you</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I was wondering</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
if I can get my quarter back</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
or at least a phone call</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in the bullpen</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to get back into the game</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
See the falling stars</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the dead lights of stars</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
falling off the diamond</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the millionaire stars</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
with big broad foreheads</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
stunned into silent speech</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
taking the fifth,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
announcing asterisks</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for records erased</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for their little lies</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the Jose Consecos twittering</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
their tweets in the long hall</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
near the dugout, ducking</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the limelight to get legal advice</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
where Will Clark once asked:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Can you imagine hearing that song </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
one-hundred-and sixty-two times</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a year?"</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In the press box the muffled</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
crowd sounds are a continent</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in sway, swinging left or right</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and a hard-boiled cynic sports writer</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
comments, "Just like the Branch Davidians</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
when you just felt as if something screwed</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
up is going to happen, you just know it."</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Barry Bonds' last home run ball</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is running, still flying around,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
on sale at America, up for auction</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as a foul ball strikes the plexiglass</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and more dead light falls off the diamond</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the entropy sponsored by Bud light</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Security has been tight</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
at the Ballpark in Arlington</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
since nine-one-one, as the FBI</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
shanks off a few foul tips,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and home base is buried in red dirt</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as the manager goes to speak</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to the pitcher, who has big ears</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
about everything from Hollywood</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to Homeland Security</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as the scoreboard's eternal</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
motor churns and churns and churns:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Braves two, Reds two, in the Fifth</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and the apocalyptic ghost of Ty Cobb</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
goes on an invisible walk</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to get his free suit</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
at five-hundred feet</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and it's beginning</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to look like rain</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Regarding this invoice</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
about the day I got lost</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in the dugout right</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
before the endgame began,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
or do I have to wait</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
for the eternal</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
seventh-inning hook?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
If Christy Mathiewson</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
refused to pitch on Sunday</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
why should I?</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-28534562204469842212018-01-12T13:35:00.002-08:002018-01-12T13:51:14.588-08:00Rio Grande Wind and Three More (from Ipswich at War)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbXLq6cw6E_hfgAcG4oh0SG9js5Bf_-fytqXFslwdetHCed6gwhlotIXk232QZcnhi9VqvYoOfXvbL3x1tU_l__qXbdy5zr-b5do6cEPNY5oBfBpCjO4UfbJt4It7_UQghoKR/s1600/riograndedelnortenationalmonumentblmjpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="960" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbXLq6cw6E_hfgAcG4oh0SG9js5Bf_-fytqXFslwdetHCed6gwhlotIXk232QZcnhi9VqvYoOfXvbL3x1tU_l__qXbdy5zr-b5do6cEPNY5oBfBpCjO4UfbJt4It7_UQghoKR/s400/riograndedelnortenationalmonumentblmjpg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Rio Grande Wind</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the Dallas airport,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’m on the way</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to greet my mother’s death.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Three accused priests</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by the pay telephone:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">One of them says</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the sky is falling,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The other two say,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“No, we are rushing</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">To meet the wind,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">moon, sun and stars</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">With a gravity</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We’ve come to call</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Forgiveness.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It was a horrible, horrible ride,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">God throwin’ stones</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the sky. Every passenger</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">had a tale to tell about the way</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the wings rang cell phones</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the fuselage buckled</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the Rio Grande wind.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Stuck at the terminal</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I had an “estresso”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and thanked the Lord;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the small things being</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">just small enough.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">DFDubya was a zoo</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with American animals,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Cold and huddled,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">dumped off like refugees</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the Rio Grande rain;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a hub of darkness,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as total darkness glows,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">when it covers flesh</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">close to the ground.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">So I floated around,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the lost and lonely</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">disembodied ranger,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Wild and terrified</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">at the fragile fullness</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of being me, exposed;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">pulling my coat over</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">my left shoulder,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">imagining how I must</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">seem to the gray-bearded</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">masters of Judaic lore.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Rio Grande wind</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">had never rolled a leaf</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">quite this far before.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That’s the thing</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">about airports:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">All of that anxiety</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and bad energy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">we have a life.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">you don’t want</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to leave or wave goodbye.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But death is a meal</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">on the jittery flight,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the Rio Grande wind</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Blowin’ ya, outta sight.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Do You Know Me?</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Night basement</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">alley sweats</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">meet on</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the fashionably iced</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">mountain resort street.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Our time together</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is the fate we keep</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Strolling circles</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">bone to bone,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the Maker is making</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">our Time together;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Time that bends</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with the wind.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We got silly with sin.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You played a game,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">puckered and stroked</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and waved me home</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You know where I live,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and lived with you I did.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My penny price</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">was a plastic flower,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and poetry …</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Enough!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Magic in a broken</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">bottle of vitamins.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Enough!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">William Blake</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">kissed and ran,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">ran and kissed.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Albion’s son took</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">safe harbor</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the box canyon's shadow</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of mountain and mist;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Lingering there in early</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">afternoon cold shade;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and in the darkness,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">howling at his phantom's</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">fire by electric streetlight.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">His mind got quiet</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">out there, somewhere.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">She saved a single</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">scrapple of soul,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">petting his dry skull</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as the river ran by.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He starved her,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">got sorry later,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and fell in love.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Creek water ran</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">through their veins</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and cleansed the salt</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">from his tear-duct dreams</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">They matched steps,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and in stepping claimed heights,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">then showered to be sanctified,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">then wined and dined, borrowing</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">on Telluride time ...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He wept and feared</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and feared what she wept.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He wrote up a list of his faults,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">or fell dead asleep trying:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Pride, shame, manic moods,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">moments of empty bliss.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">She pegged</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">her donkey</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to a target,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">sealed it</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with a kiss</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He was stunned</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by the beauty</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and purity of this.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Ulysses in Post-Industrial Hell</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And this day,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">this week of</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the hammer of the law ...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a traffic ticket</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for a miniscule complaint,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in which he,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a magnificent lost king,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">was in virtual compliance,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">now requires two different</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">court appearances</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to avoid paying the fine ...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A far-flung Capricorn goat</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">on a tethered telephone line</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Massachusetts is a liberal state,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">so there are many, many rules ...”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">sayeth Ulysses, observing</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the fallen coastal city</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">from a submarine periscope</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">within the wine-dark sea.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But then Poseidon's</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">sea-lash brewed again,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">agonizing Ulysses anew</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in his port of complaint:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Six dollars! For what?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Breathing the air in Concord</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">home of the First Shot</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Heard Round the World.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Paradise Lost, indeed!”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">With great care Ulysses</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">crawls the water-rim of earth,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">because the state will not let him be ...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Judgment cometh upon us all,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and we must all face Zeus alone,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Prometheus bound to wave-wet rock</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In shackles and taxes and pay</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and an unfortunate lack of shame.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He cries out to the shore,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Make your hand close,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and my hand will closer be.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He wished to see thy face</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by thy river, in hopes she</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">were still dwelling there,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">so that late at night</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">he would fall upon thee</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in care and kisses</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as seeds planted for evermore.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But he could ask not what</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">sick psychophants</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">dwell there, nor will you</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">lately, find he, for you see,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">wind in a bottle becomes</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a stale thing to breathe.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He slumbered off-shore</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Afraid but safe, humdrum and alone,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">safe from the doldrums of summer</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">or the Salem hangman’s scythe.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Make your hand close,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and my hand will closer be,”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">he still cries there,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">lashed by waves,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">chain-ganged along a highway,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">told to sit still in a chapel,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">an impertinent gull</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">eating dry scallions</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by a poisoned pretty sea.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">A Paranoid Plan for the Day</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">there is a Santa Claus.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When you see him,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">run as fast as you can.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You must trust me ‘cause</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">one such clown</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">killed my dad.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We will take the train.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It's cheaper. You can carry more things.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We don't need cars. They are dangerous,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">foul smoke chokers, Satan's practical jokers,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">unbreathing earth-eating unbeings.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">How can you be a free-blowing leaf</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">if you are munching the bark of the tree?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When our work is done here, we'll escape,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">perhaps the first part of the year. Before the bomb.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But I won't rush, or plan, till then we'll make our stand.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I'll just let the wind spirit make it so. Let the leaf blow.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In death, as in life,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">before winter, beneath a blanket,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">we will pretend we are dead.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">we must till the soil. Bury ourselves.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Let each morning's bright light</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">tell us what we need to know.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Let the darkness instruct us</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">like the devil to his foe.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You seem to be</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">knowing less all the time,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">sleeping more.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I'll bet you are sleeping,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but then, it's 2:30 a.m.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The muse has come to visit.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Wake up! Rise and wake up.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Get out of that house</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">before you become</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a complete cynic,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a non-romantic robotic being.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You are not saving your family</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by being Narcissus' siren</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">mirror to them now.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You write beautifully,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but that is a mere shadow</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the distortion machine.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I know. I cannot tell a lie</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">when I get inside.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the real world,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the truth is a snake</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">that must uncoil its tail.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I was at the fire mound</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">last night in Ipswich,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and a man told me</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">an interesting story there</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">while we both watched members</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of the Cape Anne Task Force</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">prepare for another raid.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He said the first secret agent of fire</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">left a Tyranosaur's claw in the rock,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and this geological imprint is known</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to the local churchgoers</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as "The Devil's Footprint."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Apparently, say the legends,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a great hoofed Satan</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">blew out of the fiery earth here,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">broke out through the ground,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">burning down the church.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The fire liar landed on the stone</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and his hot talons</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">melted a scrape</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">into the molten earth.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I told this crazy guy,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Hey, give the serpent a break.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It could have just been</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the spirit of fiery Orc,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of poetic imagination,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">fighting its way</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">through the logical</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">cold sphere of Urizen."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I told him: " these very churches,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">pointing to the other one across the street,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">were elements of those same cold waters</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">that dim the human spirit</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as a necessary and beneficial</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">element of earth-bound control.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Then, he told me something even stranger.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He said, as a janitor</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for that high-steepled church across the street,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">which we visited, well,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">there are five telephone lines</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the telephone tower, and catacombs</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of freemason-like layers</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the basement and downward,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to the center of the earth.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That once, MIBs, who came</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in unmarked black vans,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">came to the church</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">bearing metal suitcases.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That they refused</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to acknowledge</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">his humanity.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I told him: "Hey, do not fear</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">just because you've seen</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">something you do not understand.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">All sides, dark or light,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">are a part of the same unknowable plan</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to immenitsize the escaton,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">which is, translated,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to make ready and speedier</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the return of Christ.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That the church tower</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is simply an undercover facility,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">due to its great height,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for U.S. government surveillance.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That is, Echelon, for lack of a better term,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">on Great Neck, overlooking the bay."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He said people have seen</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a great satellite dish come out</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">from underneath the ground</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">on Great Neck,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Which shouldn't surprise anyone, anymore.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Except for you skeptics out there</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">who can only see the sun,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and not the sun behind the sun.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, you have all that you need.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">On the grey rock overlooking Ipswich,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the Devil’s footstep reveals the science</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of the October spirits,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">born when the black moon,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">vanished from the sky, holds her</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">wintry horn. Wake up, it's morn.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Jail Pace on a Sunday</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Wet snow falls in clumps</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">on a barbed wire fence;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Eyes through mesh,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a dream of democracies</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">crushing grim,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">grim in the throat,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">choking up, flowing out</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In discountenance.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Once a prisoner pushed</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">his Shakespearean heart</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">through an electric fence;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">His face turned to muck</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and blood, and crossed a sea</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to meet his hard-headed woman</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">at the palatial prance pace</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of love’s familial intolerance.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But the snow fell harder</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the twisty tin wire</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">became a shovel,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the shovel became a plow,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the plow became a motor,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the motor drove</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the car over the edge.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Just as Aaron Burr shot</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Alexander Hamilton</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">right above the heart,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the pendulum of law</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is a swinging limb</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of steel and foul weather.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The snow sticks upon</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">needle threads of green grass.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Middleton prison is summery</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">warm in January, even as cattle cars</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">are loaded with witches from Salem,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and even as shooting range guns sound off</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the distance and we trade</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">German Shepherd shouts,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for brief bouts of Gaelic ire</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to cause of lost love is punished.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Shout. Shout out for plainspoken truth!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Constitution is a cold and wet tissue</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the lavatory bowl of the discontented and damned,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and that carcass out there, over the fence,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">marring your view due to the barbed wire,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is a twinge of agony over the breeze,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">while Lefty here, taught to swing right,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">he paces out his misfortune across the floor.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunate in the choice his DNA made,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">unfortunate in the dice that fell the day he was born.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He’s sneezing up dustbunnies, phlem and TB,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">straining his eyes through his jail cell's glass</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to catch a glimpse of primal football on TV.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The newly unbearded Aaron Burr is in caves</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">somewhere, in Pakistan, Maui or Peru,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">flicking out a light, turning on a flashlight.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The preamble of love is a target on a sheet,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the sheet becomes a bullseye on a wall,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">while the guard dog sniffs, his master pouts,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the FDA nurse shouts, “Meds only! Meds Only,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If that doesn’t mean you, lock yourself down!”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Lefty leaves the big metal door open, to resist</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is to enhance sanity and salvation. The clamp</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">may disfigure his hands, yet he abstains, feigns sleep,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">waiting for the breathy dream of the whore</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to dream up sex, slithery and sleepy,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">shaking off the conspiratorial frame,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">from the other side of the door.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Quantum Quandary</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Great poetry is a failure</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Of perception</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Great perception</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Is a failure of poetry</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Great failure is the poetry</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Of perception</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Failed greatness is</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The perception of poetry</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-57571937913546745712018-01-11T09:35:00.000-08:002018-01-11T09:35:18.532-08:00Eleven Poems from a Town by the Sea at a Time of War<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8KbJn-XtY0RlnBwbbs6mgIbLG1lit7m0tHdM4KknDVANUspdFpb_v4Yjaj9zbYk0gSCenoc8Y9hsjId0-09peKPwVTXP1TysMIr4tkX2dweioDlXvnrQ63zhkyrCwqegVBgYT/s1600/Little_Neck_Cottages%252C_Ipswich%252C_MA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="681" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8KbJn-XtY0RlnBwbbs6mgIbLG1lit7m0tHdM4KknDVANUspdFpb_v4Yjaj9zbYk0gSCenoc8Y9hsjId0-09peKPwVTXP1TysMIr4tkX2dweioDlXvnrQ63zhkyrCwqegVBgYT/s400/Little_Neck_Cottages%252C_Ipswich%252C_MA.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Trouble With Laundry</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The trouble with laundry</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Is that I let you see my soil</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And you told me I never</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Learned to fold.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Now I fold in my own way</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
On a windy Sunday morning</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
After a short drive to see wave caps break:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I got home, turned off the car, and sighed,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
“I’m free.” No more technology.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Then I went down to my dank cold cellar,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Hauled a blue laundry bag over my shoulder</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And pulled taught its string. I skipped a peace</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Down the hill to the ’mat, remembering.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It isn’t easy being clean, this much I need to see.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Can’t even tie my own shoelaces. It’s a motherless thing.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But more than that, this ongoing entropy</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Is a shudder in the halt of who I will ever be.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I have to practice the art of being slow.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Around me now even the tossed churchgoer,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The hurried newspaper I never completely read,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Forgets to know.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And somewhere back</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In the long gone dung of my brain</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I recall a bum who called himself, “Change.”</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
He told me about what it takes to survive,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A laundry list better than at least three</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Commandments. The first was sleep,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A good night’s sleep, and a place to bathe,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A post office box, and you can always</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Stay warm in the library (which is why</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Many destitute men are so well read).</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But more than anything else,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A place to shower the baptismal self,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And a laundry, now boy, that’s the key.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I enter the rows of circles and machines</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And carefully pry my prickly dirty things apart.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This takes so much care, Oh God, the anguish;</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My shoes are untied again. My mother gone,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My father isolated in a city of noisome dream.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
All things I failed to learn, I’m really learning</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Laundry now. I crawl a pace, buying</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A little orange box of sandy blue and white soap.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My dirt is the cause of a loss of no small fortune.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Then I remember to take out the change</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
From my pockets, I’m richer than I think.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Small wrappers and pocket tumbled follies</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Spill into my hand. I’m just a beat up shirt</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and wreckage in the wrinkled land.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
What else, there’s this: The little shortcuts</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I learn from making mistakes. Not my mistakes,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So much, but the machine’s.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Not so much the machine’s mistake,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But a failure to meet the tumble dry</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
needs of man. Redemption goes on a spin</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and returns again as you fumble for buttons</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
at the bottom of the pan.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Then I wait. Then I wait some more.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Then I walk down the street, smoke,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Buy a fifty cent piano for my daughter’s</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
doll house. The wind up part still plays,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
“Memories of the Way We Were.”</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I wince but I do not weep.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My laundry is my dirt to keep.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Cat and Andrew’s Ring</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Your ground is weeping</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The humid air soaks</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Wrinkles into all my</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Categorization. I am</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The air, ever changing</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And it’s easy to see</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
How my inability</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To be ever present</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
On the earth</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Is enough to send</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You beneath the surface.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
He was a fair-faced man</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
With a smooth baby face</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And a soft tone of mouth</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
That would easily shatter</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But he could shatter none.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
They bought a wedding ring</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And experienced love</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Well before the mildew</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of everyday things</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Could wear the heat away</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
She would talk talk talk</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
About the little things</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I couldn’t see, or believe</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My wind heart hardened</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Into storm clouds</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Into a rain of gloomy</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Terror in a private sky.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Mostly I was jealous</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But realistic, knowing</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Love is a survival game</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Old as the dirt and sun</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And if for just a while</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I consider the trees</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
As I blow through in ill ease</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of temperature and pain</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Let me for just this once</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
See the majesty</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In the impermanent</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Pebbles, and in tenderness</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
For just this one day</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of weather, remain.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Ipswich In a Time of War</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Rebuilding a doll house</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Piece by piece</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Little wood beams</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Adjustable walls</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Suitable for child safety</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Out on the street</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Flags at half mast</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Raised after one official</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Week of mass mourning</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Cinematic violence</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Blowing a red leaf</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Through the dented car:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You know,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Our separation</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Is bigger than</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The both of us</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We are memory,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Clinging, clutching</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And a prayer</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Each stranger</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We meet have</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The same stones</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of shock</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Eye to eye</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Birth Canal</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Before I was born</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I was an anxious</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
young man.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A premature baby</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Crawling in a toxic</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Sea of sand.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Oh harsh light.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Oh mother. I left</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You for this?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The panic I feel,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The destruction</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that saves me,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Is older than I.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Now my birth</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Is wearing me out.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I leave the birth canal,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And looking back,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Am born again.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Which is why</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Creature comfort,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The soft, wet womb</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Is a fire that lights</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A furnace beneath</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My eternal arse.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Which is why</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My escape imprint</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Has been lifelong,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A pattern to understand,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Address and alter.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So I don’t gasp</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
For air in your</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Loving arms,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Or take the back door</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
out the burning fort.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Boston Harbor</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So I descend into the dark city</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Beneath the sea</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Singing and swimming</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Asking, to myself</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Why do I want to go</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Down there, the deep diver,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
saying, to the first fish I see,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
“Jeez, my wife says</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I gotta quite diving</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Or she’ll divorce me.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
God how I’ll miss her.”</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Then I return to the surface</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
All mangled from the currents</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And dodging sharks and seaweed,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Navigating by sun streams</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of electrical light through</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Green eddies and mysts of mirth</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
All wrecks down there,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Oh lord, I know. A lot of them.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And sunken treasure, too,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But not much worth taking.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A lot of it is heavier than whole</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
chains of rusted anchors.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My tanks of air get clanking</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Silly, all choked up and gasping.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Sanctuary</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Alone in a one-room sanctuary</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A girl wants to give me a TV</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And I resist</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I say no, I need to hear, well,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
More like filter through</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To find</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The voice</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of myself</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In my head</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Life in war sharpens senses</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And I am well prepared</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
All stocked up</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
On shock</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The city is a skin</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I embrace or feel</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Or shed, depending</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
On what time of day</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A leaf falls outside</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My window</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I take this</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as a good sign</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Everything amuses me</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And the ephemeral</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Clutter of my life</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Reminds the voice</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To remember</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
clearly</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Fire Mound</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Stand on this mound of stone.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Look around. Energy is fire,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And fire is everywhere.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You are afraid of fire.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Do not worry. A fire hydrant</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Stands nearby.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Controlling mechanisms</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Are everywhere. Public</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Safety is ubiquitous.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This quarry is holy land</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Overlooking the city center,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Once a great seaside harbor.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Mitigating factors include:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
One park sign full of don’ts;</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A church, an Odd Fellows hall.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We tolerate witches now.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
They, too, are needed:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Human spirit pushing up.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The fearful want to burn us both.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Hot and cold is the way. No matter.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We walk the stones, simmer down.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Your Moral Authority</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
O haughty hard one</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Why add to the troubles</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of the world?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Seems to me all vessels</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Draw from the same well.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Your pinched fundamentals</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Squeezed me out</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Like a pressurized pop bottle</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
At an impossible altitude.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And as you fret and threaten</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And beat me over the head</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
With a sequence of sequined</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Dreams, a Bible black.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Your lesson of God’s love</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
became a lesson to avoid,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
an institutionalized</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
classroom, a system,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a lie. Better to live</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
with plastic forks</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
than silvery knives.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Better to walk</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In the rain and woods</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
than put on a hood</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and cover my eyes.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
All winds blow</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
From the same</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Direction. This much</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I know, this much</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Is wise. Self-same for me,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Prophets and gunmen,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Cathedrals and wives.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Deirdre of the Sorrows</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Hello. You must be Deirdre.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Don’t be scared. I stole your name.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I’ve been looking at you.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Stunned me, really, yes,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I know, even without</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Your makeup on. All</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Tumbled red lock</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And breasts as in</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The promise of an</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Unfortunate evening</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
That never lets go.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Even without makeup,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Jesus, how they cheat us</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
With paint on the face</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And the faint memory</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of the afterglow. Deirdre,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You become a slick magazine,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
All shiny and glossy,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Tantalizingly so. But then</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I get inside and struggle,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Swimming upstream</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Like a salmon, working</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Toward a deadline</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
That never ends.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Cops and Lovers</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The first</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
casualty</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of love</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is war</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Irrational</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
bonding follows</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Whole families,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Neighborhood</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
policemen</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
embracing</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the big lie</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And when the truth</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is gone</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Nothing left</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but a cubby</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Little hole</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Where God</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
is the last safety net</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a security,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a delusion</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We need</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
like light</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in the darkness</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as love dies</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
with a whimper,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
when you really</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
need a bang</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Time Capsule</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My car is covered</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In autumnal leaves,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Stuck wet in the morning,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Wind-plastered, reds, yellows</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And faded brown bumper stickers.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My car is just me, being natural.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Your car has a tempermental sound,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A whine, just coming from the hood.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Runs hot, and oh how it purrs.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Another’s car is a time capsule</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
On the passenger side.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
These crates of care,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Being all that we are</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Or ever will be.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Coffee cups, papers, flyers, books</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We’ll never finish reading,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Crumbling crackerjacks,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
All the things we’d rustle around</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To fix in shame, because nobody</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Wants you to see their dirty car.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My car is clean, ‘cept for the ashes</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
That have gone out of control.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Leaves just blow through</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And I leave them there, amused.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My time capsule is tapes and little scraps</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of nature. Once, I just threw everything</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Into a pile because I was consciously</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Concealing myself. No more.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I just open the door. Let nature ride</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
On the passenger side.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
When the plague or atom bomb</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Or sun burns out, some future</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Archeologist will be able</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To read us this way. That is,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
If we are truthful</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To our car carpets.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/douglas-mcdaniel/ipswich-at-war/ebook/product-17575812.html">Previously published in Ipswich at War: Media Since 9/11, by Douglas McDaniel</a></span></i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560583.post-25212301412375312082017-12-28T09:26:00.001-08:002018-01-02T11:44:43.287-08:00Hello Apollo 13 (For Coyotes in Space)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7wYtmarj-h47MbmglT1a-OwT99Nn5G-CdsvqGOiZkMhBz9tTJ6_tfkGFAxlcfP6hrpa4kT6j-f4fZUxT7IzN-oQtk_L6hMsgPaKVHY9qbFAANN2iFyrqUApBQMOd0KeQi4pdm/s1600/736px-apollo13_-_sm_after_separation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="736" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7wYtmarj-h47MbmglT1a-OwT99Nn5G-CdsvqGOiZkMhBz9tTJ6_tfkGFAxlcfP6hrpa4kT6j-f4fZUxT7IzN-oQtk_L6hMsgPaKVHY9qbFAANN2iFyrqUApBQMOd0KeQi4pdm/s320/736px-apollo13_-_sm_after_separation.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Houston, you've got a problem.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You've got the horizontal covered</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but the vertical is all askew ...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Are we reading? Likely not.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Our capsule has gone cold</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">since the <a href="https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=pty&hsimp=yhs-pty_email&param2=81de6f52-2c7b-4e25-a354-301b36108862&param3=email_6.4~US~appfocus1&param4=googledisplay-googledisplay-v3~Chrome~David+Bowie&param1=20170716&p=David+Bowie&type=em_appfocus1_cr">Major</a> <a href="https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=pty&hsimp=yhs-pty_email&param2=81de6f52-2c7b-4e25-a354-301b36108862&param3=email_6.4~US~appfocus1&param4=googledisplay-googledisplay-v3~Chrome~apollo+13&param1=20170716&p=apollo+13&type=em_appfocus1_cr">kicked out</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the front door window</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and our view of your blue world</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is cracked and the light is scattered.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Could you please explain</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">what that stream of smoke is</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">from the coast of <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/02/us/california-thomas-fire-mudslide-threat/index.html">Southern California</a>?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Our instruments indicate the place</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is unsuitable for landing.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It comes down to this:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Why the hell did you send us out here</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">when you knew completely fully damn well</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">this great abyss isn't even friendly</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for penguins or polar bears?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We demand an answer</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">before we allow you</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to bring us back.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Nobody told the retrograde </span><span style="font-size: large;">of Mercury</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> it's no longer in force.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It appears your sphere</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is going off the golf course.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">These times demand a certain clarity</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and all we can hear on our horn is clatter,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as if the mind doesn't matter</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and gravity is up for debate</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the whole Earthbound sideshow</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is frozen over in hate.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">So please don't delay,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">our cabin is iced in, buried in snow,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and we'd all be better off</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">pointing our controls</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuWwWj3fRmc">heart of the sun*</a>,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as we hope for the trickle down,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the hydrating taste of icicles as they melt,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the warming hands of love</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in your polyester-made Chinese</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">beaver pelt.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Yes, I completely lifted this line from early period <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr0Jj5AIrOs">Pink Floyd</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwScv6nYS965Z-UXtgZhr_ksxBHVl52mO1ITPyCZDzOHvQNDtS3XViaWXl5Ti3uFbUe3TsR_r65rLqplp1v6rKuMOP0dt5Arta8EnrAiTW4NowGwsHcXAk1LgpulBZbO_v73kk/s1600/309337_179985305409791_933038750_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="329" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwScv6nYS965Z-UXtgZhr_ksxBHVl52mO1ITPyCZDzOHvQNDtS3XViaWXl5Ti3uFbUe3TsR_r65rLqplp1v6rKuMOP0dt5Arta8EnrAiTW4NowGwsHcXAk1LgpulBZbO_v73kk/s320/309337_179985305409791_933038750_n.jpg" width="309" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17709941464730435476noreply@blogger.com0