2.788 : 6/30/07 : Trivia

Sweating and cursing the trivia
screwing the spirit of
a motivating postcard
as if it makes a difference
as if it’s gonna
get me past the longest yard
I can’t stand stressing the eschaton
global warming peak oil the bomb
faced with what you cannot
know or control
what can I put up but
some grace and aplomb
am I navigating
some middle course
grim spectre of mediocrity
trying to come up
with some fresh hell
some better tale of
this boy in the city

what

2.787 : 6/29/07 : Walks

Bullshit walks but
walks are not bullshit
shoot for twice a day
little man makes
me just do it
I feel the subtle giddiness
of self-cannibalization
erase a little at a time
ritual self-ablation
if you don’t walk with me
Lord who will
if you don’t lift me up
I’ll just keep
sinking in the swill
this grim culture war
is sure grinding me down
and I got no
answer to it so
we’ll just keep
walking around

what

2.786 : 6/28/07 : Multiverse Navigator

Multiverse navigator
will you plot my course
Think I’ve got the strength to one
more time get on the horse
who am I fooling
I’ve a thousand
graceless pratfalls left in me
and not an ounce of will
to brave this
politicians’ deft spin sea
So you will get it plain
no matter
how pathetic I may look
better than to succumb
to always ever
dangling off the hook
of what if and why
and regret’s so subtle curse
the price of freedom
so by need I must
navigate this multiverse

what

2.785 : 6/27/07 : Aching

Aching for an oracle
aching for a dream
aching for someone
upright to pull this fucking beam
out of my poor eye socket
out of my aching head
just trying to get it
together
just enough to lie down
in this unmade bed
sometimes I ache for smoke
or a mirror to prove
that I’m awake
sometimes I ache to
sell out
there’s no offer there
to take
at least I’m not yet aching
for the next great
telephone
more of what I’m trying
to get away from
as it is these days
I’m never really alone

what

2.784 : 6/26/07 : Host

Am I the host or the parasite?
am I leaning toward the dark side
or seeing the light?
Am I spamming the server
or spreading enlightenment
is the whole thing greed
fueled by a sense of entitlement?
is a fad no better
than religious delusion?
did the Pokemon descend
with satanic collusion
While Rome gets good and burning
will I tie one on?
start another little enterprise?
Write another song?
I only wanted to pay Caesar’s due
Put a little by
and run away with you
forgive me if I’ve fallen
to the mindset of thieves
this den is thick as
hell with them
and I’m fighting
dry heaves

what

2.783 : 6/25/07 : Falling Apart

They say we’re living
twice as long as any
reasonable expectation
what with the brains
the information, you know
so if we’re
falling apart, well
buying snake oil
or the hard sell
wrecked by stress and toil
It doesn’t matter
if I’m tired
I got a job I can’t
be fired from
but when things blow
I got to go

what

2.782 : 6/24/07 : The Artist

Portrait of the artist as an
underachiever;
liability distracted
lapsed believer
gripped by indecision
heretic or apostate
some days a blockhead
orthodoxy sounds just great
portrait of the artist as
an almost ran
imagine all the pages
that don’t make the master plan
Logic on the sale of
human narrative or thought
convince me it’s much different
from whatever dream you bought
Am I the artist or just
his biographer
is there any lasting value
to these blinks I proffer
If I give it over
will I get another chance
time for a no longer young man
time to learn another dance

what

2.781 : 6/23/07 : The Fuse

There’s so much anger over
nothing every day
there’s so much more important
so much foolish in the way
Oh the time that swiftly passes
oh and how we choose to use
Who decides what sets us off
who is it who lights the fuse
we all think our anger’s righteous
different from the rest
we all look the same from above
failing the same test
the fuse is trimmed a little shorter
every year it seems
blame the weather blame our parents
blame our sullen failing dreams
I am standing up against
this trend of ire and rage
I am standing firm and free
I’m turning my own page
and when the call to join the hate
comes I will just refuse
my cup is running over
and I’m pouring it
down on the fuse

what

2.780 : 6/22/07 : Crash

If you accept it’s not all
crash revolution
what’s the incentive to
turn over a new leaf
and look the old style
snuck in just like a thief
I guess you must have faith in
slow revolution
the dance of real life
defies a simple story
too slow too many
and the logic all askew
makes sense from some angle
but not to me and you
the only common thread
is both tend to get gory

what

2.779 : 6/21/07: Summer of Love

Never will I stand on mediocrity
No matter that perfection’s lash cuts into me
No matter how these moments never ever come back
Or how I must stand to attack after attack
So if the shoe fits despite its lack of style
So what if I sacrifice the gift of guile
I’ll hold out for the shroud that fits like a glove
and declare today anyway my own Summer of Love
Nothing’s left of the old days but stories now
sorry, stories aren’t enough to tow my gospel plow
the day that I was born the crest was well receded
no matter how the hippie holdouts begged and pleaded
and I do not believe these days will come again
illusions that society’s not marked with sin
yet my summer is not simply some eternal trip
and there’s not a million tickets left for this ship
peace threatens peace beckons peace passes understanding
Open your eyes and see what I’m handing
you to hold a moment and pass along
not a riddle not a movement it’s just a song
So I will spool it out no matter what I suffer
I stand up to your acid tongue for my heart is a buffer
I stand until below is as above
in the shining apex of my Summer of Love


what

2.778 : 6/20/07 : What Indeed?

What will replace this
stale old taste
what indeed? what indeed?
what force of nature
could revise my nomenclature
in my time of need
if I just adjust
the inputs
tweak the flows the feed
what will rattle
off the belt
what indeed? what indeed?
like to think I’m
past gestation
after such a long affair
like to think I’d pull
my magic out of
something more solid than air
what indeed
is not an answer
just a comma at the pause
but it must serve
long as I refuse
to invoke the escape clause


what

2.777 : 6/19/07 : The End of the Universe

From the end of the universe
my life’s so much less
than an eye blink
a fraction of an eyelash
gone before there’s
time to think
so what persists and
what collapses
what remains beyond
my little valley
my rutted revision
my weak rendition of Walden Pond
I’m trying hard to end
a habit of coding
foolish proclamation inverse
I’m thinking hard about
being taciturn
stoic and terse
but at the end
of the universe
it will all just seem absurd
to anything that’s left
if anything’s left
to be heard


what

2.776 : 6/18/07 : On Deck

Who’s pacing on the deck
Waiting for their turn up
waiting for me to strike out
get a hit or walk or burn up
when was it me on deck
high school college next week
Once I thought I had it all dicked
how I cannot think or speak
what’s my next strange trip on deck
after scholar, clerk and housewife
two half truths don’t make a whole
all the halves that add up my life
swinging wild at ever pitch
or racking strikes just waiting
for perfection for perfection
how many moments ruined by hesitating
now I think I’m on deck again
do not know the count or inning
Wondering how I’ll play the game
if it’s down to that or winning

what

2.775 : 6/17/07 : Lightening

Lightening up
the enlightening cup
that I choked on anon
hey surprise it’s just gone
I don’t know what I am
not a dig or a slam
I don’t know what I like
so few hours on the mic
as the gray dawn grows bright
as I cry for more light
will the thing become clear?
be revealed, always near?
I felt I had prepared
in the dreams where they stared
at me naked, exposed
in the rules I imposed
but the moment stayed stalled
and the barbs they still galled
but I gathered the lot
and stood dead on the spot
made a fist, hawked and spat
ended it just like that

what

2.774 : 6/16/07 : The Fortnight

After a fortnight
seems nothing had changed
the cravings still rampant
the soul still estranged
I begged for an omen
a signal, a sign
I waited and waited
and scuffed at the line
after a fortnight
I knew in my heart
that I wouldn’t find
a superior start
but I chafed at restriction
I squirmed and I whined
at this cold and revengeful
dish on which I dined
one seven passed
in retreat and withdrawal
another just passed
slouched inert in the hall
and with one third seven
I’ll nail it in hard
there’s no word for it
Just a turn of the card
 
what

2.773 : 6/15/07 : Glutton

The glutton in me scoffs at rules
demands I stand all
hands to tools
and build its platform
build its plate
its stance to raise
its taste to sate
I fed it hate
I fed it lead
I filled its cup
I made its bed
the glutton laughed
and made a grab
for all my viscera
on the slab
but I demurred
held it all in
drew my own knife
and slew that sin

what

2.772 : 6/14/07 : Soul Attachment

My soul attachment
to the armor of my longing
my scratching and my scribing
my stretching and my yawning
I walk the paces off
what’s left of the foundation
dark lines of burned out stone
nothing else left but information
unfold the blueprint
raise the flag of past enchantment
burn those bridges to the ground
then in the name of harsh advancement
my soul attachment
has prefigured every move
as I went about this business
as I settled in my groove
I won’t sever the attachment
I will drag it all along
I will spread it all before you
in my crucible of song

what

2.771 : 6/13/07 : Compelled

Compelled to seize
any opportunity
regardless whether
the spirit is moving me
compelled to summon
perseverance, strength
but not compelled
to have to
go on at length

what

2.770 : 6/12/07 : Day 3

Day 3 when the worm turns
make it official
the tinder catches and burns
I’ve done my day sevens
elevens, my five
did a thousand and one
and this thing’s
still live
it’s time to forget about
setting a date
I’m storming a new paradigm
one up my
second rate
pumping juice into the valance
going to force the quantum
leap
well aware at any
moment
I could tumble
in a heap

what

2.769 : 6/11/07 : King of Today

Begin immediately
do without ado
declare myself king of today
and babe you know
my queen is you
there will be no more
backtrack and revise
no more endless nights
no more veiled lies
So I declare
myself king of today
head librarian of babel
count of the county
watcher of the way
it’s all rolling now
the future manifest
I will be perfect from
now on
a hundred plus on every test
It will come naturally
as well befits a king
I’ll raise my sword
and rush the hill
I will do everything

what

2.768 : 6/10/07 : Time Tunnel

2,959 : 6 ?



It turns out that it’s all about
time
mistaken for seasons mistaken
for reason and rhyme
the secret of how cause and
effect can work without it
is there are no causes and no effects
there’s no more doubt about it
Goodbye time tunnel thanks
for the metaphors
turns out stories were all we ever had
so the hero explores
the riddle of why it seems
always to move in one direction
is that it’s arbitrary, voluntary
and one day will come the insurrection

what

2.767 : 6/9/07 : Surge to Goal!

Ignore the past and
how the moment seems contrived
ignore the bloody outcome
of every other time I strived
to ignore the wails
from the moments that I stole
surge to goal surge to goal
surge to goal!
Defy augury and
flip the bird to fate
Defy my predilection to
just hate and hate and hate
I know my redeemer lives
and looks out for my soul
surge to goal surge to goal
surge to goal!
And in a day or two
when I declare my mission
I will see through every trap
like I had x-ray vision
I will feel the fire inside
and hear every bell toll
surge to goal surge to goal
surge to goal!

what

2.766 : 6/8/07 : Departure

From real to real
It’s all one day
Got the usual hell
and piper to pay
departure reveals
the call of home
the rock that batters
every crashing wave to foam
it takes so long
to cover the ground
and sometimes I cannot
ignore that sucking sound
of that which I
and nature abhor
left behind by the departure
held by such a flimsy door

what

2.765 : 6/7/07 : Ashes to the Sea

Will those ashes make it
to the sea
eventually eventually
from the Great Lake
down the mighty
Mississippi
Past the Gulf of Mexico
to the Atlantic finally
Ashes to the sea
Ashes to the sea
I will put those ashes to the sea

what

2.764 : 6/6/07 : Fugue State

One rise up
one go down
backwards and
upside down
one goes loop
off the track
no one notice
it came back
one goes north
one goes south
one gets muttered
from my mouth
but the fugue state
I described
was nothing to
the pulse I vibed

what

2.763 : 6/5/07 : Dust Bunnies

The dust bunnies gathered
in the corners for a hop
Under beds and in the closet corners
hiding from the mop
no matter how they got swept up
they always reappear
hopping back into their places
when they see the coast is clear
Once there was a boy
who didn’t clean his room for so long
the dust bunnies decided
they would write that boy a song
they gathered in his room
first a dozen then a hundred
and they started with the chorus
“that’s the proper thing” so one said
they sang doolie oolie oolie
dollie doxen dillie day
because when they’re feeling social
that’s what all the bunnies say
and they hopped and danced
and scampered
in that little fellow’s room
living out their happy frolic
until Mommy came with the broom

what

2.762 : 6/4/07 : Flame and Moth

I expect to see an
altogether
duller revolution
the books and their
solutions
such idealistic froth
Society is brainless
drawn and pulled
by tropic triggers
all our gadgets
and kajiggers
really it’s just flame and moth
How long have I written
of the end that
is no end
of the around the next bend
it’s always coming going coming
I bet you’d like to think
it’s just really
another metaphor
I hope to slam that door
with this monotonous
tune I’m humming

what

2.761 : 6/3/07 : Prior Goal

Catching up to the prior goal
now looking like more
gotten behind
I’ll send this flag right up the pole
if you want to understand it
fucking read my mind
who am I really angry with
nobody put a gun to
my stupid head
So I guess I know why this tastes like pith
because I know why I’m
lying in this stupid bed

what

2.760 : 6/2/07 : Wings

Faded shreds of
butterfly wings
shiver in holes
in the rocks
and you’d think
that in this place
a fellow could stop
counting clocks
the water comes
the water goes
erasing edges
by imperceptible intervals
I’m gloomy as the weather
projecting ahead
soon it will be memories
of lighthouses and waterfalls
I wonder if that butterfly
got lucky in the end
before he scattered on the wind
and lodged in some cold niche
I wonder if a lucky
number's out there for me
I feel like I’m entitled
but I know that life’s a bitch

what

2.759 : 6/1/07 : Arrival

Projected ahead two business days
a day out of the long goodbye
a week out of the three week haze
Predict after the fact and above my station
the secret is revealed
we’re on vacation!
we vow to see lighthouses and trains
and when it seems appropriate
Rock out our brains
right there on the foldout
to the sound of great lake waves
And I predict
that the verdict
will just be raves

what