2.515 : 9/30/06 : Darkness

Still vulnerable
Still susceptible to
still not immune
to the
fear of the darkness
allow it not
to interfere
from here to there
from there to here
however it presents
in starkness
contrast: finality
I roll through all
dynamically
for now
adept in darkness
I pass nonchalant
record the whole
dull musing
in the standard
blocky font

what

2.514 : 9/29/06 : Crawl

Crawl through the thicket
crawl through the mud
I’m at it again
You’d have thought I’d have
got it out of my blood
I’m on a crawl
A push through a recent fall
I’ve got to push
but the treasure
is to have it all
Do you believe it?
Are you convinced?
By these strange ciphers
all the words I minced?
If my virtual progress
has slowed to a crawl
my current state of flow
could make your mommy bawl

what

2.513 : 9/28/06 : In a Minute

In a minute you can decide
to commit acts of decision or deicide
everyday that passes
I polish my glasses
and nervously clear my throat
raise a meek hand
and gently demand
that I’m gonna hafta rock this boat
in a minute I shall declare
the answer to why this is neither here nor there
it’s not on any map
So you better cut the crap
and start working with your feet
I work for fifty cents a day
writing code or making hay
so you simply cannot compete

what

introducing volume two point four

Thus endeth volume three of the second song of the day project, entitled Persist.  Tomorrow we'll begin volume four: Not Another Bridge.

what

2.512 : 9/27/06 : Selling Water for its Weight in Gold

Selling water for its weight in gold
pretend its kosher
you cannot deny you’re cold
When you know how much we need it
here’s my warning
mind you heed it
A curse upon the business classes
another on the complacent masses
a curse on every artist who capitulates
Now watch my silver hammer
as it smashes through your altered states

what

2.511 : 9/26/06 : (Selling Water for its Weight in Gold) Overture

Wearing thin and getting old
clichés worn to the glow of fool’s gold
Good intentions heard that one before
A mirror meets a window meets a door
An overture of a sketch of a notion
Such a small bucket such a large ocean
forgotten all the movements I imagined
forgiven and forgiven and still I sinned
The story of the journey, the story of the bell
the story of the forest  and the story of the well
the story of the tale and how it was told
of the man who sold them water for its weight in gold
the rising action the parabola
the gripping climax and its dénouement
the people as they carried it six thousand years
revealing every mystery as it appeared
I’m weary of the argument inside my head
of silently refuting all the words he said
of biting on my tongue all the live long day
And so I say and so I say
I’m going to pass over this bitter cup
I’ve had enough I’m going to give it up
it will never be finished I’ll never be done
I will never understand
I’ll never be the one

what

2.510 : 9/25/06 : Second Aspect

In the second aspect of the second sight
sketching in the trenches
sorting out the wreck all night
the exhibition:
the purpose statement of the mission
dismantle and recreate
stuff your modern muse into a suit
and force them to administrate
The fundamental aspect
was the party of the first stroke
the koan of the painter was
a running joke
the brush moves the ink
the ink moves the brush
only the mind is truly moving
what a riddle
what a rush
the final aspect was
all empty; all full
none could understand it
though all could feel its pull
but in the second aspect
we all became mired
contemplating Buddha’s brood
and the illusions that they sired

what

2.509 : 9/24/06 : Jipped on Fries

2,700 : 27 ?



Burger Queen
Burger bitch
I’m on to your bait and switch
But I got
jipped on fries
I could not believe my eyes
As if it wasn’t
bad enough
you chose you bitch
to short change my stuff
jipped on fries
jipped on fries
a little part of your faith
in people dies
die, the light in my eyes
not only do I have to
work here
but I got jipped on fries

what

2.508 : 9/23/06 : Take No Jive

85, 85, 85
Take no jive, take no jive, take no jive
go to college, go to college, go to college
gain new knowledge, gain new knowledge, gain new knowledge

what

2.507 : 9/22/06 : Because Art is Good

Not for your own good
not as evidence of faith
not for father or son
or the holy wraith
but just for the answer
that must call your bluff
just because art is good
and good is enough
not to separate the truth
or the wheat from the chaff
not to put the eternal period
on the divine paragraph
but to let you know I’m with you
even when it all gets rough
just because art is good
and good is enough
because souls were made to ascend
because hearts were made to love
because the whole damn universe
fits the pattern hand in glove
just to generate more eternal stuff
I say art is good and good is enough

what

2.506 : 9/21/06 : Psycho Dynamic

Tigers is tigers
fear itself is plenty to fear
and the point to panic
and the Psycho Dynamic
is there’s nothing and nowhere
but now and here
instilled by a crisis
instigated by an error
the snowball rolled down the hill
the ever more bitter pill
bred a simulacrum of terror
virtual is real
all things visible, invisible
still recall that you beat it
when you chose not to feed it
and bowed to the self, indivisible

what

2.505 : 9/20/06 : Hammer of Dad

One eye clean
one eye mean
His eyes California gray-blue-sea-green
Hammer in hand
So much we’ll never understand
This nail’s head is where the strike shall land
What you could have had
you’d have to call him good not bad
But you are more than a stroke of the hammer of dad
Still the strike leaves its mark
this is no walk in the park
and the striking’s rhythm
leads both to and from the dark

what

2.504 : 9/19/06 : Make Your Own Souvenir

There’s no there there
no matter where you go you’ll end up here
make your own path;
do the math
make your own souvenir
I followed the sign
it said “go by train”
with the paradox shocks
riling up my brain
it was an ill fated journey
an unlooked for leap
and it gave birth to a splinter
that got buried deep

what

2.503 : 9/18/06 : Dragged Back to the Sea

Maybe it may
it may be
the whole of our ilk
is being dragged back to the sea
walkers crawlers
flyers too
oh mother are we
being carried back to you
loss of limbs
and growth of fins
no history could ever keep
track of it
yet it may be
yet it may be
it all is crumbling
back to it
What use are we
upon land
cause a lot of trouble
make a lot of noise and
I couldn’t be bothered
to worry about our fall
whether we’re being
dragged into the sea at all

what

2.502 : 9/17/06 : Determinist

2,693 : 20 ?



If it wasn’t all determined
from the very first
whatever that means
this stuff goes from bad to worst
if there’s such a thing as choice
if the future is not fixed
there must be something missing
in this science thing we’ve mixed
they’ll probably label me
an occultist
It seems the dim alternative
to being a determinist
I don’t believe at all
in the supernatural
I’m a big supporter
of the evident and factual
but I’ve tangled with the mystical
I’ve been stumped by the occult
I can’t deny a limit
where my reason must revolt
where what cannot be understood dwells
understanding must cease
till the mighty lathe of heaven
finally gives us all release

what

2.501 : 9/16/06 : Picture Books

I’ll sit on the floor and
read my picture books
so much to wonder at
to sit and look
the day will come
to leave almost all behind
today I won’t worry
about what tomorrow will find

what

2.500 : 9/15/06 : Archipelago

This is my Galápagos
I sailed to where what I wanted most
was to be found
along a chain
of discrete
parcels of cleansing pain
I don’t need a theory of
theodicy
I couldn’t do without
suffering on this odyssey
and each furthermost
point I go
along my archipelago
I know discovery is close
and trembling for my daily dose
I’ll scrawl a pronouncement on the wall
It’s not going to be like anything
you ever saw at all

what

2.499 : 9/14/06 : Three Strokes

The first stroke brilliant
unassailable
taken without fear or hesitation
with all force available
Draw back and press
the advantage
See how I have mastered this
propensity for rantage
simply by not asking
what it’s good for anymore
if the cup is overflowing
it must spill out on the floor
third stroke: final killing
the violence merely metaphor
the victim fully willing
No apologies for storming through the door
of course it’s far from perfect
next week there’ll be seven more

what

2.498 : 9/13/06 : The Ways

Conservation reclamation generation
the holy trinity
of sufficiency
what I keep and what I make
what I grow or trade or take
the ways are three
how much more simple can it be?
there is no scarcity
there is no lack
welcome to the heresy
that’s still holding us back
conservation
reclamation
generation
the triad of the wise
the cornucopia of wild surmise

what

2.497 : 9/12/06 : The Path of Three

Oh path oh path of three
will you not show yourself to me
Built on strength on discipline
And the whipcord of hunger
for the journey to begin
The path is long but the map is brief
I’ll let this versling stand as an aperitif
Sure it’s been said a million times before
but as always in this case
it seems less might be more

what

2.496 : 9/11/06 : Every Soul

I have no favorites I have no days
I have no paradigm to shift
Every soul commends itself to me
Every planet I strive to lift
Every day that passes by
another hundred fifty thousand die
And it seems insane to ask why
I’ve got no point I’ve got no politics
the timing is coincidental
I say a prayer for every soul
and try to keep from going mental
It’s really not a game to me
I try to learn I try to see
fortune so cruel and fate so free
I don’t want to lose me or mine
I’m scared of it as the next one
clear it matters, every last soul
germ or weather car or gun
I try to wrap my head around
though all must end up in the ground
so much harder than I make it sound

what

2.495 : 9/10/06 : At Least

2,686 : 13 ?



What is the least possible
this human race can do
they say we could destroy the earth
I wonder if it’s true
I know we’ve got the power sure
to rip matter asunder
I know we’ve got enough piled up
but really still I wonder
if we could get it organized
and really get together
to really do it properly
to turn it all to glass or whether
we’d make a half job of it
like we do with so much
seems like at least we could do
enough to make it moot as such

what

2.494 : 9/9/06 : Interruptus

Lyricus interruptus
thread lost again
clichés unpacked
all I’ve got now man
been a long day home slice
feel it’s no excuse
whatcha gonna do though
really what’s the use
someday it all shall be revealed
the false veneer of it unpeeled
at how I lapsed
and how I reeled
Make of it what you will
I make of it a bitter pill

what

2.493 : 9/8/06 : Monster of Ire

What a titanic waste
this monstrous tower of ire
ten thousand pricks to kick against
smoke that reveals no cleansing fire
did I harness strength, discipline
for this unseemly tide
am I a helpless leaf in it
taken for the cliché ride
Won’t waste more good ink on it
good feelings after bad
It’s just weak humanity
a moment that I had

what

2.492 : 9/7/06 : Human Kind

So: the fat Korean buddha
guitar player said
what kind are you?
the human kind
all I am all I do
now looks back
four times four
a hurricane of water
swear it feels like more
what kind am I
the human kind
in bone in blood in
sinew, muscle, mind
Be kind be kind
love thy bro
It might take a thousand years
or maybe more
but I still believe
we could make it shine
raise it to the level
of the human kind

what

2.491 : 9/6/06 : The Great Stream

In a dream only it was a great stream
in the world that was
it was a ditch man made
nevertheless it was
the water of childhood
Compare it to the first I knew
the great Pacific bone and sinew
Still recall the plunge the fall
So far away but hey it’s all good
Crossing the great stream
Leaving behind the sins of the father
balancing on the crooked beam
done it so many times why do I bother
Cast the coins cast the stalk
you know me baby I’m all talk
throw the turtle shell in the fire
You know me babe always
right under the wire
crossing the great stream
I’ll eat the blame leave my father’s
legacy pristine
crossing the great stream
How’s that for a message?
How’s that for a meme?

what

2.490 : 9/5/06 : Direct, Current

Direct, current
straight to the point
drive it in with all my force
it breaks off in the joint
warned to learn to follow through
I never learned
to pull my punch
so go ahead and make light
let’s see you laugh
when I eat your lunch
Someday it will all
be revealed
like some black vein of coal
will it still be so little known
and what will be my goal
but still today I only pray
to keep it current
be direct
learn to live without recognition
money fame support respect

what

2.489 : 9/4/06 : Hope Does Not Lie in the Future

There’s no there, there
eternally we ride the second hand
not one beat ahead of the game
and one beat behind
is pure fantasy land
hope does not live in the future
it is all and only here and now
You’ll find your hope or not as you will
Son of lepton daughter of Tao
Faith is an action
it’s not a state of mind
stepping out to the unknown
unpreconceived as to what you will find
what’s true has got nothing to do
with what’s inside my head
Faith’s my declaration of that
milksop crumb of daily bread
Love me baby do not listen to the bell
that tolls for me for you for him
I’ve damned that bad noise
Straight to hell
love is the greatest love is the greatest
lotus in the muddy pool
Hope does not live in the future
And for the present I’m faith’s fool

what

2.488 : 9/3/06 : The Future of 3 Part 3

2,680 : 7 ?



Dream big, dream bigger
Are you feeling me
feeling me
yo, hey
I figure that you
think you know what I
got to say
I was going to change it up anyway
See it all, see all the world
why not go all together
Only takes another
Way of thinking
and a keen eye for the weather
defying every augury
I knew him well he was a friend to me
And now he’s in the earth you see
And never will he know
This mighty legacy
But that is the future
as always it must be
Only remains a fragment
but we carry it
the future of 3

what

2.487 : 9/2/06 : The Future of 3 Part 2

Five year plan title
The future of:
3 pages mission
vision
goal there was
Had to admit
there was some
chuckling at the gall
said:
Work
hunger
discipline
& that was all

what

2.486 : 9/1/06 : The Future of 3 Part 1

From a flashpoint of sudden sullen anger
checked the spark he saw the danger
from that moment all evolved
first thought: best thought: problem solved

This is the piece for you my love
this is the innovation
this is the resolution of a better way
this is the visionary revelation

It sounded better on paper true
but the sincerity ran through and through
the deal was sealed with sweetness and a smile
Watch this space don’t touch that dial

All I ever wanted was to have a place
Never gave much thought to getting rich
Or saving face
All I really needed was to give Caesar’s Due
So I could get back to reality, me, he, you

The future of three in this moment
Awakening the dynamo that long was dormant
Simply was awaiting the final piece
puzzle no more now I shall be released

what