2.819 : 7/31/07 : Five

I'll get weird with a little help from my friends

I’m kind of obsessed
with the number five
got it on each hand
rhymes with alive
the riddle spark
broken symmetry
and all the ways
I see it’s subtle mimicry
it’s probably a mistake
to treat numbers so
but in half a dozen
minus one lyrics I’ll go
deep down to the bottom
of this crazy thought
reporting whither which
if whether and ought

 what

2.818 : 7/30/07 : Minimum

what rhymes with sick tart?

3,009 : 7 ?



The minimum intake
to sustain the machine
the minimum allowance
to get rested and clean
live on the margins
but only for so long
already feeling the backlash
always something goes wrong
right action for an hour
but the demeanor is sour
and a piece or three are missing
that’s not destiny I’m kissing
always sidelong glances
always look never touch
always want to be perfect
but the cost’s just too much
I did the minimum effort
for so long I can’t recall
what anything finer
really felt like at all

what

2.817 : 7/29/07 : Excess

are you part of a crowd?  if so perhaps you should fund it

The inevitable outcome of excess
begs the question of the hair of the dog
begs the question of moderation
beggars can’t be choosers whines the little cog
the feeling comes and goes deep in my gut
flashing on the next great obstacle
you’ll see me coming a mile away
you’ll catch me in the tabernacle
hijacking the lesson of the man on the road
falling hard for human logic
striving for the mojo of the preacher man
and the rhyming patter hypnagogic
relegate my excess to a life gone past
slouching into the mantle of the bourgeoisie
show ‘em what I’m made of with a
magnet on my car
of the flag of the free
oh say can you see
unlike a confession work pays
just as well
even if it is under duress
Thank goodness cause I gotta
earn my daily bread
And a little extra for excess

what

Telling Secrets

Some occult inner signal tells me it's time to breach the surface and engage in a little random promotion of the Song of the Day.  Self-exposure frankly gives me the jibblies, but you've got to push your comfort zone in this life, right?

So I'm going to kick it off with a wild shot at the big casino and post a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" this morning.  Yes, this is me, should anyone actually require proof, which honestly seems pretty unlikely.  Would someone actually try to fake... this?

I'm lowering the price of of the far-from-unlistenable "Only the Very Greatest Hits" to 99 cents with the "pay what you like" option enabled for the more generously-inclined.



Finally, for the next month (through 8/29/13) I'll be adding a link to my modest "crowd funding" experiment to the daily song posts.  After that to slip below the surface of the fairly secret again, I don't doubt.

what

2.816 : 7/28/07 : Positive Outlook

I’m regretting my
“maintain positive outlook”
tattoo
it might end up counterproductive
it’s true
Considering that on
the other arm I got
“Life Sucks”
A little introspection
could have saved me
a few bucks
I wanted to write something
that would make a good
reminder
after all I’m
better now yeah after all
I’m kinder
I guess I need a
subtler approach
to make that book
until I work that out
I’ll have to fake
my positive outlook


what

2.815 : 7/27/07 : Simplistic

How we love the black and white
a simple evil to be vanquished
how I succumb like all the rest
so fail the test mission accomplished
does it start with books and movies
stories that we love the best
be snow white or witchy wicked
mutant spawn of moral incest
like to be more sophisticated
there’s a popular stance
see the value in the other
see our own failures and blown chance
this world loves simplicity
might make right or fight the power
nature’s laws permit it all
guns are not silenced by a flower
for a moment seems this order
pauses for a man to face a tank
but you know how that one turned
so think hard before you break rank

what

2.814 : 7/26/07 : Track

I’ll call this rut a track
and go round and round
every day a thousand cycles
every year a few inches
further down
Calmed by repetition
stupefied by lack of mission
go and grind that routine
further in the ground
I’m sure I’ve waited
till it’s too high to jump out
I like to fool myself
but I know what they talk about
nothing now to do or say
I’ll just stick to it one more day
and daydream someday
I’ll manage a rout

what

2.813 : 7/25/07 : Ire

Ire for no reason
just the season just the heat
just the horrible monotony
that hauls me grumbling
to my feet
I tried just about everything
that I could think
to change the scene
nothing helped just
left me feeling
irrationally mean
perfect world I seldom
even think of you
anymore these days
think of work and work
think about only what pays
and it’s scratching at
my comfort zone
it’s riling up my ire
surrounded by a thousand morons
pray to God
it’s trial by fire

what

2.812 : 7/24/07 : This is Your Brain

This is your brain on fucking crazy
throwing down every scrap I saved
this is my brain on losing patience
this is the brain that roared and raved
look at the brains of the sunken masses
rotting in sugar and teevee rays
look at the brains of the politicians
pray for the end of their numbered days
rock it or not this boat is sinking
shrinking deflating and taking water
these are the brains of conspirators
these are the brains of the lambs led to slaughter

what

2.811 : 7/23/07 : An Unexpected Development

the understated
sadness of trains
was an unexpected
development
in the mainframes
of the pop machine
and it was a clean
transition on the silver screen
if you blew it up as big
as your biggest wall
the forest would be lost
you couldn’t see a tree at all
and everything changed
and everything went strange
I would have thought
it would be something
I could rearrange
like a deck chair
on the Challenger
What next?
I fear our highest Causes
will be shattered
by mere specks


what

2.810 : 7/22/07 : Dilemma

3,001 : 22 ?



And trains again
and trains again
they follow me around
it’s too easy to fear
my death perhaps
shivers with the sound
throw me on the horns
I can’t take
all this grayscale anymore
that thing looks
just like a platform
that thing
looks just like a door

what

2.809 : 7/21/07 : Obey My Orders

Obey pay heed
I’ve got a good reason
if I’m faced with
another chewing out
I’ll wait a season
Obey my orders
I won’t be like them
the cave of my unfathomed
ocean bears a perfect gem
quick as I can you know I’ll
throw down my knuckle bones
no matter how many
they throw at me I’ll fight
I’ve got the stones
I see you suffer
and I know girl
how it seems
relinquish to me
though despite it
and I will
unleash your dreams



what

2.808 : 7/20/07 : Odd Coincidence

The standard explanation
of the cometary impact
bred the mother and
the father of all
theories of conspiracy
the final war
against the beings that
descended from
the heavens and began
to wipe us out without mercy
It seems an odd coincidence
that each and every one
of them who were left in that place
turned out to be a chosen one
and under every layer
of arcane flesh and
mecha detritus
The heart that beat
was still of the way of the gun

what

2.807 : 7/19/07 : Straight John

After everything I’ve relegated
everything I revelated
masquerading as a Straight John
Yeah no man I moved a ton
of oddly scripted scraps of rhyme
of thoughts from some scrapped paradigm
absolved of rhetoric and context
whoa this is your brain on text
observed and sung becomes a bliss
that circles and resolves like this
observe the center that does hold
the thing remains: the story told

what

2.806 : 7/18/07 : Truth Out

I’m thinking about
throwing my conscience over
What can it do anyway
about the web
or how he wove her
why not just reach out
with the widest open hand
why not let my mantra be
because I can
because I can
stamp the truth out
on a thousand Chinese
trinkets
and sell tickets man
guess I’m done?
don’t even think it
take one slow breath
and dive into the melee freak boat
I’ll fight until I’m
dog food
just to stamp all
this damn truth out

what

2.805 : 7/17/07 : Disastrous Lapse

What a disastrous lapse of
judgment we’ve been reeling through
and what an ill-deserved rep
you’ve gotten for dealing true
they say that you’ve not wavered
well that’s easy when
there’s nothing underneath
and so fortunate son
to you I here bequeath
My erstwhile love
for our glorious distraction
ladle on another
double helping of moral action
it’ll all end up in traction
paralyzed by fear again
when I begin
My disastrous lapse
of giving a shit
Should be just the thing
to insure I win

what

2.804 : 7/16/07 : Proximity

Too close to the center
And sensing the eccentric
Wobble in the orbit
and the consequence concentric
if I ever get a chance
to brace the bastard to his face
you better bet I’m gonna
chase the signal to its trace
I’ve got proximity
I’ve got extension
I’ve got a handle on
at least one dimension
I got answers
I’ve got a wicked taste
to repent in sumptuous leisure
what I set to work in haste

what

2.803 : 7/15/07 : Wreck a Beat

2,994 : 15 ?



Unpack the wax stack
get the Slacks on their feet
fire up the telemeter
and Wreck a beat
we got no standard
of conduct in this place
so you know we’re gonna
take it right up to your face
unpack the black feedback
and transmit fire
don’t mind the slow adopters
just hook up to the live wire
And wreck a beat
Yeah wreck a beat
Clap your hands wave your arms
and stomp your feet
And don’t you just
think it all turns out neat
horns strings and reeds
and a wrecked up beat

what

2.802 : 7/14/07 : Saving the Best for Last

Eat your desert first
be a rebel
in this coddled
post-modern fashion
We protest but don’t
expect to pay hell
can’t we hire someone
to storm the bastion
Yet it might be true
saving the best for last
might be a losing proposition
I say ignore the signs
forget the past
all planning’s really
Just a superstition

what

2.801 : 7/13/07 : Lapses

In all the lapses
my synapses fire blind
there’s no story
thrill or bore me
that explains away mind
and I’m determined
despite vermin
that infest the metaphysic
to relate to
what you hate too
but the discipline is sick

what

2.800 : 7/12/07 : Sight Unseen

I’ll buy that old Mustang
sight unseen
when that boat that I imagined
my magic sun machine
pulls into a harbor
real not thought
oh what a silly little
fantasy I’ve bought
tear down some big score
unique safe and legal
float like a butterfly
soar like an eagle
buy that old convertible
learn to restore it
how you like my pipe dreams
you know I’ve got more of it

what

2.799 : 7/11/07 : Tale Untold

He’ll spin that yarn
into a
retread of old
classics
baby you know
I cut my teeth on
rhymes old as
jurassic
park hop get it
grind the bench
molly on the runway
so many ways to
cancel that check
me I’ll take
the fun way

what

2.798 : 7/10/07 : Familiar

Not a thing’s familiar in
this moment it’s all new
and I am thinking of that
thing I’d like to say to you
I rang a score of random bells
just trying to stand out
but in the end I just had no
idea still what all the fuss was about
seems a lot of fear out there
of things said and of things thought
seems it all gets tuned out
as long as something gets bought
living without guarantees
is making me quite cagey
and nobody has a clue
what trifle might enrage me
It all just gets turned into
a rough and ready verse
to get me through another day
another reprieve from the curse

what

2.797 : 7/9/07 : Meet in the Middle

Not all that diverges
can meet in the middle
if there is no common ground
The adversary horn must sound
hear that noise
it’s the world’s smallest fiddle
that there’s no chance at peace
not on this watch not on this lease
yet still I’m going to try
while your rough beast slumps
while your candidate stumps
I’ll even try to hope
for a door that says enter
flashing for a middle man
doing what tiny bit he can

what

2.796 : 7/8/07 : Distance

2,988 : 9 ?



Surely I have sung of distance
many times and many
times before what with
Descartes and all
extension
what with every
well-remembered door
that shut behind
a universe abandoned
Rocky said it was
the tragedy of life
I’m not so sure
but it’s a key too
slippery to get
my hand on
At the bottom of the cup
half empty and half full’s a
rich man’s game
That I can’t believe I’ll ever play
when I spoke of where
all distance loses meaning
was I gleaning just
how still and silent
I would see it this
day


what

2.795 : 7/7/07 : Glimmer

Glimmer of waking
conversations half heard
not knowing who is spoken to
not knowing every other word
a sign it’s time to leave
this cave of distraction
and deception
time to go where
there is the best of
all possible reception
allow me if you will
this one conceit
that I’m crossing the river
never more to be
the same
allow me to
reintroduce myself
but I will not pretend
that I’m new
to this game

what

2.794 : 7/6/07 : Turning Point

Every point
is the turning point
the universe expands
in all directions
the flashy part
of apotheosis
was the flaming hand
but the main event
was just a lot
of injections
time seems to flow
back and forth
from this moment
they tell me it is all
an illusion
personally I think
I’m there in every
inkling if
that doesn’t add too
much to the
Confusion

what

2.793 : 7/5/07 : Off Center

With a stutter of
images and sound
look at what our little
homegrown empire’s
brought around
So many doorways
I thought I could not enter
thanks for the memos
that arrived
from off center
barely remember
anything all that
specific
that came down from
all points East and
West of the Pacific
just one of many
gifts that broadened
my horizon
every sketch that
came alive for
me to put my
eyes on

what

2.792 : 7/4/07 : All Delete

30, 40, 50 thousand objects
by some definition
dragged into the bin
and rendered all but
invisible
it makes me think about
this scary nation of the
free and what we really
think we mean by
indivisible
In simple acts of housekeeping
just what did we
discard and fail to back up
or replace with something better
who has the time to read it all
who knows perhaps
the secret is there
hidden in some
plain on paper
letter

what

2.791 : 7/3/07 : Dependence

Dependence upon the chaos bell
addicted to its nearness
and it’s a mixed-up tale to tell
loathe to lose the strange
security of falling behind
it must be some bad level
of the juices in my mind
on fire to ditch dependence
and leap on this gospel train
get with the holy spirit
flush this habit down the drain
I racked up quite a debt
to Caesar gambling on that chase
but look up from that table
I’ve got on a different face

what

2.790 : 7/2/07 : Wreck the Wrack

2,982 : 3 ?



Wreck the wrack
the vestiges
the tower, the stack
invest and choose
to clear a way
the shuttered tangle
the stark array
gets a new angle
build the new
inspired foundation
shining fruit of ideation
on the plain
scraped clean and flat
erect this train
roll out like that

what

2.789 : 7/1/07 : Eradicate

Eradicate all traces of
weak rationalization
Draw every ounce of energy
around an act of grim creation
grasped within the inmost heart
this human lot is sour
I overturn the vinegar
and here declare my hour
a thousand and a thousand
pages turned like sand descending
however narrow the bottleneck
this timebound time is ending
now push until the stone surmounts
drink till all thirst is sated
all partial, all conditional
will be eradicated

what