2.973 : 1/1/08 : Rare

These day’s the early rising’s rare

but take my hand I’ll take you there

I scribed a map made just for you

from me your

friendly wandering jew

I’m dreaming of the isles of Greece

so happy with my

one bright piece

the first has not yet

come to pass

but it will be

just as first

will be last

what

2.972 : 12/31/07 : A Good Year

Another dead soldier

that’s not meant to be cute

hoping to ring in the new year

in my birthday suit

looking forward to finishing

the book I’m reading

looking forward to the new year

harvest that I’m seeding

I’d say this was a good year

nothing’s perfect, should it be?

so much done and seen and said

another thousand songs from me

drink piña coladas

when the bubbly taps

I call it joy and wonderment

the opposite of scraps

looking for another good year

refine my subtle arts

live large and make my mark sir

far more than the sum of my parts

what

2.971 : 12/30/07 : Behind the Curtain

A little whiskey in a glass

I can live without

gave up the brain pills

with little doubt

maybe meditation’s next

always prayer

they say the words go into ether

I feel You there

Not much of a plan

vague and uncertain

keep and open mind about

what’s behind the curtain

I’ve had some down years

lost sight of hope

had a few where all

I could do was cope

but I’ve got my boy

my lady as well

enough of a spark inside

to cast a spell

on the cusp of the end

of another year

close my eyes and wish

the teacher will appear

I’m no magician

I’m no diplomat

but here behind the curtain

I’m one upward moving cat

what

2.970 : 12/29/07 : Running

Run run to catch up

are you running with me?

full full overflow the cup

ten more lines and I’m free

I know I’ve got to change my tune

find a finer suite of stories

Every so often shoot the moon

relive a few lost glories

you might say I’ve turned my back on

my real honest voice

hold off the fade from blue to black on

the tide of every poor choice

but for now I just keep running

not forgetting for a moment

the prize for which I’m gunning

what

2.969 : 12/28/07 : In Advance

In advance of the beginning of the end

all the messages I tried to send

somehow I managed still to lose the plot

better luck next year it’s what I got

In advance of a few more lies

I fear your factotums, yes-men and spies

but I will be tireless and rise again

no stranger to failure no stranger to sin

All that matters is I keep the pace

hoping for a few words to get up in your face

probably never be famous and rich

but that sure won’t stop me ain’t that a bitch

what

2.968 : 12/27/07 : Placebo Effect

If you can just believe in it

If only you suspend your disbelief

this pill will set you all right

and steal away your troubles like a thief

make it red and yellow

make its flavor slightly bitter

capsule filled with hopeless hope

drop it with no babysitter

pity the placebo dependent on my faith

I don’t believe in anything tonight

I do my rituals and don’t really know why

I still believe I’ll know when things are right

what

2.967 : 12/26/07 : Depth

At a depth

tired cliché

new leaf

new day

but I can

escape this

not so bad

not quite bliss

what

2.966 : 12/25/07 : Day

Day of day the hour of hour

there’s a little something in me:

power

I should not be afraid of it

watch me while I scorn that fake tit

Day of day oh this true instant

if you’re skeptical just get bent

all I’m trying to do is get out from under

even in arcadia there’s a dark side

to wonder

should I be writing fucking jingles?

I’m gonna suck baby till it tingles

and call it a fine day’s work

even if I’m a bit of a jerk

what

2.966 : 12/25/07 : Day

Day of day the hour of hour

there’s a little something in me:

power

I should not be afraid of it

watch me while I scorn that fake tit

Day of day oh this true instant

if you’re skeptical just get bent

all I’m trying to do is get out from under

even in arcadia there’s a dark side

to wonder

should I be writing fucking jingles?

I’m gonna suck baby till it tingles

and call it a fine day’s work

even if I’m a bit of a jerk

what

2.965 : 12/24/07 : Miracle

Should I give up on the miracle?

Should I call the glass eternally half-full?

I’ve got no expectations but I can’t help but dream

Drinking whey and fantasizing cream

Like anybody ever really listened

All the shiny little tokens that glistened

Didn’t mean much to the tide of gray

but hell it was enough to keep the hounds at bay

I’ll strike the last stroke like a vector plotter

I won’t be making water wine or walking on water

My boring everyday miracle is simply that

I’ll pull another goddamn rabbit from this beat-up hat

what

2.964 : 12/23/07 : Another Penultimate

Another penultimate can that be right

Don’t I need to change one of their names

is this the Ultimate or is it the next time

will there be a next time more old sames

lucky number three hey why not call it

why not make a little mythology

we’ll figure out the even patch

walk the looping path of an inside-out tautology

nothing is anything go ahead and laugh

What I get for being corporeal and sentient

even if they upload me to the big computer

I doubt a single truth would be self-evident

what will come tomorrow I’m so excited

I’ll just believe it will be wonderful

You’ll hear about it baby believe me

in a day or so when I’ve got more pull

what

2.963 : 12/22/07 : Sweep In

Sweep in like

the wind snow

All change just

like wind blow

call it

revolution

call a

resolution

could I lay it

out in one day

Still work still eat

still rest still play

tick back

to simple

sweep into

the temple

All change just

like sunrise

oh hear ears

oh see eyes

what

2.962 : 12/21/07 : Triage 3

Am I screwing up my priorities

should I be resisting authority?

trying to triage 3 million options

with nothing but a few stories and conscience

I got to get down with a smaller picture

I’d give it all up but I’m such a fixture

I probably need to stop talking smack

however far I slide down I gotta crawl back

however you slice it

I just want to wrap it up

pray that tomorrow fills the last half of the cup

what

2.961 : 12/20/07 : Triage Too

I’ll forego the last rites

the triage too

I’ll call my own demise:

Someday, true

I’m hoping I don’t make

too much of the future

call me old fashioned

but I’ll skip the suture

of post-human corpus

on this tired old flesh

I’d rather bow out

while my act’s still fresh

but I’ll probably go

in rust and entropy

fall slowly apart

no doubt you won’t see me

what

2.960 : 12/19/07 : Triage One

Straight into triage one

casualty

communicating what a gap

remains for me

How many years it been?

seventeen

coming twenty and what

a strange trip between

a cliché of an age

I was born after

that thing you hear is not the

sound of children’s laughter

That thing you hear

is the big sound

I’m still chasing it

with all my running around

Hell will I ever

even get on time?

Hey nothing that I do

is a crime

and easily passed

so don’t bend my ear

If it’s not hallelujah

then I don’t want to hear

what

2.959 : 12/18/07 : Two Left

Two left feet

and a spare tire

maybe it’s a mag

hey does this inspire?

Guess I’m not gonna

be a rock star

where you at?

act shocked: wherever you are

struggle to push your

pen through “why”

end seems far away

as the sky

Maybe even scarier:

that it will likely come

imagine me:

complete, struck dumb

I might never write a word again

let the ink dry

in every pen

It might not even be close to news

now that’s the sort of foresight

that a guy could use

what

2.958 : 12/17/07 : Purge

Must entrap

encapsulate

this brief productive

altered state

One must presume

it’s always there

seems work like rust

carries on air

But just as much

exists distraction

opposite of God knows how many

equal reactions

It’s a good line but the

staff is strained

trying to keep a beat maintained

Why try entrap

this restless urge

to tame it with

a ruthless purge

what

2.957 : 12/16/07 : Cosmic

3,148 : 2 ?

It’s apparent that I’m

making this up isn’t it?

tell me how you tell when I’ve

slipped loose of the great cosmic tit

I hit the same dark switchbacks

I lose my same old way

And pretty soon

nobody’s hearing a word I say

And I say

no but I distribute

in greater diffusion

And I say no but

regard is but an illusion

and I say

it’s evident that I’m

making this up isn’t it?

How do you tell

through all the storms of bullshit

take that cosmic slop

and buy yourself a new disguise

I can’t say I’ve ever had

such a weak specimen before my eyes

and if you doubt it

wait for the other shoe

you may be surprised

to discover it fits you

what

2.956 : 12/15/07 : The Optimist

Maybe we’ll lick this death thing

and escape shuffling off the mortal coil

Maybe you won’t soon be

chemically preserved instead of fertilizing soil

maybe they’ll invent a safe

and consequence-less way of getting pissed

stop laughing:

I told you that I was an optimist

Maybe they’ll engineer

harm-free tobacco

Maybe I’ll tweak how to make

a million doing the slack-o

I’m betting I won’t have to

solve that free time problem soon

But what the hell

I oughta try to shoot the moon

Possible is endless

and the science does keep stacking

but I wonder really how much

we’ve got now we were once lacking

But what the hell every day

I eat enough and I get kissed

So pardon me I will

remain an optimist

what

2.955 : 12/14/07 : Vague

My vague ambiguous expression

projects the inner landscape

of uncertainty, depression

fuck you Schopenhauer

you’re dead and I’m alive

and I’ll take my muddy thoughts

And persist, and heedless strive

It’s nothing but a feeling

that I know that I should ditch

hey I could be somebody

come up with the next “life’s a bitch”

I’m dying for specifics

but I’m not ready to beg

until you break me down more

I guess it will have to stay vague

what

2.954 : 12/13/07 : Upon High Noon

Coming up on high noon

there will be no showdown

no drama or conflict

I’ll give you the low down

I will feed a little person

get him ready for a nap

put him down and sing songs to him

are you bored yet with this crap?

sure to me it's all consuming

you could call it satisfying

it strikes me dull in the telling

is that what I’m always defying?

But I’m right up here on high noon

there’s no more time for griping

I’ve got promises I’m keeping

Nothing much there that’s worth hyping

what

2.953 : 12/12/07 : What I Remember

What I remember about

Wednesday

nothing at all so

I’ve got nothing to say

I could come up with something

it would probably be true

just because the days

are so the same

So I won’t bore you

what I remember

if I checked my notes

might as well make up

something I think will float your boats

whatever I can deal with

as much as I can face

of this story that just

tells and tells and

tells me my place

what

2.952 : 12/11/07 : Bitter Material

The bitter material plane

tears me down

Pardon for my sighing

pardon for my frown

Maybe I’m just

trying to justify sliding

the insane expectation

of change I’ve been riding

I should be above

your mortal coil

knowing my air:

knowing my soil

I should be above

falling for trifles

the eternal footman

and the snickers he stifles

but the situation

doesn’t stop with dismay

I’ve got my night

I’ve got my day

toiling to cultivate

the bitter material

pardon for the cliffhanger:

the effort is serial

what

2.951 : 12/10/07 : Stimulus, Response

I am an insect

dreaming I’m a man

bet I’m in good company

part of a sprawling clan

wish I had new habits

wish I had new clues

wish this constant ferment

would stew something I could use

but I’m just an insect

locked in stimulus, response

the history I bury

hard lessons I ensconce

lost in my insect dreams

being human, making sense

while I crawl along my leaf

blind to all the evidence

what

2.950 : 12/9/07 : The Mark

3141 : 43 ?

Really how likely am I

to hit the mark this time

to stay the course

to find a new reason or rhyme

that one’s dyeing its hair now

buying fixed annuities

must’ve been new to me once

one of my many ingenuities

knowing mostly I’ve done worse

though I’ve done better too

Guess that’s about as good as any

to be the mark this thing is through

what

2.949 : 12/8/07 : Through

See how I can

rip through this

to waste another word

would be remiss

what

2.948 : 12/7/07 : Artifact

The data set’s assumed to be an artifact

The fallout of a programming assumption

Travel on the cosmic scale’s by tesseract

The return trigger’s the world’s resumption

Anytime I want I can revise the tale

And hold each iteration to eternity

The only benefit holographic memories entail

but you wouldn’t call attention to my infirmity

An artifact of eidetic recall

Realities all overlapping

Aftereffect of that old fabled fall

And the so modern backbeat I’m snapping

Parenthetically break the text down

I merely illustrate a curious turn of speech

And if you catch me in a study in brown

Well you guess I once again

exceeded my reach

what

2.947 : 12/6/07 : Relic

No relic’s gonna turn the tide

the tables are stacked

too heavy to slide

when the ship tips

when you feel that punch in the gut

I guess you’re probably gonna beat it,

eh what?

Not gonna cast any

more runes or bones

no yarrow stalks

and no holy stones

This one I can do purely

just by stealth

pry the lid off

this pot and share the wealth

what

2.946 : 12/5/07 : Are You Ready to See a Ten

On the scale of one to infinity

do you think you’ve seen an extreme

lately

I’ll run for now while

gettin’s good

I think I’d run for it

if I got the chance:

do you think you would?

I think we’ve laid about a

seven on you

So far

Think you’re ready

to see a ten

do you think you are?

Are you ready

have you made your peace

with God?

Are you ready to

See a Ten

the vision that

will spare no rod

what

2.945 : 12/4/07 : Priorities

I’m shifting my priorities

up punk so don’t

try to unload any junk here

it doesn’t matter here

and that’s the myth we

shatter here

shifting gears across

genres and universes

praised you with damn feints

Famed you with damn curses

no tracking back

and no corrections

no allowance for

revolt or insurrections

my perfect sedition

is my only priority

if I turn it up do you think

you could roll it with me

what

2.944 : 12/3/07 : You’re My Hero

3,135 : 37 ?

You’re my hero Mr. Fictional Everyman

theoretical idealized tale

I still want to be like those cookie cutter

hombres on whatever trail

I must be crazy to still be watching

the fairy tales of human value

wasting my time on projection

into a world that’s just not true

You’re my hero Mr. Overanalytic

postmodern neurotic head case

If you could just shut up a minute

we could wrap this up and get out of this place

It’s not so bad to love a story

those characters that resonate

I write what I can of our own tale

the rest I gotta leave up to fate

what

2.943 : 12/2/07 : Candid Opera

This candid opera I can’t believe

the way that everybody’s got an answer

but me

soon seven billion soon eight and ten

I don’t like to think about what

I might see

There’s no audience so who

are we performing to delight

We seem unconscious I’m

unconscious stumble onstage without

insight

I’d call it harmless fun it’s 

just one thing the tragedies

are real

I’d call it fair play but there’s just one game

and no court of appeal

and I never agreed to be

on stage I just got pushed into the light

now I’m singing for my supper

just like all the rest

here every night

what

2.942 : 12/1/07 : The Second Rate

The furious social climbing

among the second rate

Let me offer anything I’ve got up

to avoid that fate

rather stay mediocre

toiling in obscurity

no such thing as status

no such thing as security

I’ll never make a mark

among the mighty and great

I’d rather not be known

as anything among the second rate

I like to make believe

I’m in a class all my own

greater than the sum

of all I’ve done and all I’ve known

I’d like to never play the game

I haven’t done so badly

I’ll take my place among the second rate

and keep it gladly

what