Monday, December 29, 2014

2.1336 : 12/29/08 : Resolution

3,526 : 54 ?



I know better than to call it
a resolution
it’s a cliché good intentions
are no solution
and I know that nothing’s
really going anywhere
just what did you mean by
teach us to care and not to care
still maybe I can
keep the ball in the air a little while
if not an answer
maybe comfort and spirit with a smile
Resolve to resolve to
do something differently
If I can’t supply solutions
I can at least come up with some sympathy

what

Sunday, December 28, 2014

2.1335 : 12/28/08 : Lord of Song

Why have you forsaken me
oh Lord of Song?
And if it comes to this
Why did you let me go so long?
If another thousand days go
and I’m still no farther
Will I do it all again again
Dear Lord why do I bother
In another thousand days
they’ll be ramping the B.S. up again
the fixers and kingmakers
and their unoriginal sin
Oh great Lord of Song
despite my sacrifices
will you leave me behind again
all tangled in my own devices?

what

Saturday, December 27, 2014

2.1334 : 12/27/08 : Jugs

If the jugs of water
were converted to wine
before you; you would find
another reason to call my big divine
agenda something of
a backwards throwback retrograde
something decent people long
ago dispensed with amongst trade
and rapidly diffusing cultures
into one eclectic slop
and I am not a king or minion
I am not a crook or cop
I’ve stacked my jugs up
only water in them oh if
They turned to wine I’d be in
trouble couldn’t afford the tariff
There’s nothing but now and stories
nothing then nothing to come
don’t think it’s just a way of speaking
there’s madness in my idiom

what

2.1333 : 12/26/08 : Paces

Measure a thousand paces
measure a thousand more
I still haven’t seen a thing
that looks a bit like a damn door
and the schemes all sound the same
and any differences sound forced
and I plod through my old paces
worried I’ll end up divorced
from all the things that I thought mattered
twenty years ago and more
when twenty years seemed an illusion
and every turn held twenty doors
So if it seems to you my pacing
and my timing are awry
please excuse me while I turn away
protesting something’s in my eye
the Powers I believed in
have abandoned me it seems
and I’m left with nothing but a
vague impression from my dreams
of some dim outline of solution
something with a book and key
nothing you could really go on
waking up so much still me

what

2.1332 : 12/25/08 : Earthtone Pastels

I’d love to stop dreaming
dreams they die too hard
and they pile up every morning
spilling out into the yard
and I thought you were a genius
and I thought I’d make the grade
and I thought for all those hours
we would somehow then get paid
so it fell apart to nothing
with a whimper true to tell
and the tapes are slowly fading
even friendship went to hell
I still listen to the music
like the old earthtone pastels
once I heard the holy future
now I hear the warning bells

what

2.1331 : 12/24/08 : Atrocity

The various limbs
and systems torn out
So many clichés
atrocity never gets worn out
decapitation, exsanguination
fast cancers radiation
Order takes a bleak vacation
they are buying and selling
death even as we speak
not to mention those who love it
need its dark caress to speak
just for grim pragmatic power
push the shit around the board
get the right to redraw the map
get my filthy hands on the hoard

what

Monday, December 22, 2014

2.1329 : 12/22/08 : Nail in the Coffin

What’s the deal with
nails in coffins
like it’s not over
long before that
If you want to see a thing
Come to a bad end
well put a nail right
through my hat


what

Sunday, December 21, 2014

2.1328 : 12/21/08 : Shred

I’d never practice my guitar
So I can’t shred
hell I can’t even pretend
so I spout words instead
yeah so it won’t get me the girl
hey but I got mine
another answer down the tubes
to what the hell is my line 

what

Saturday, December 20, 2014

2.1327 : 12/20/08 : Flog

I churn through days and pages
like a car on winter roads
point and hope that something sticks
pray that nothing else explodes
if there’s no material to speak of
that hasn’t been done to death
put it on the threshing floor
flog it until its last breath
ride that hobby horse like thunder
smack that paddle ball like hate
It seems like reinventing the wheel
is my sad and lowly fate

what

2.1326 : 12/19/08 : And Scene

It’s easy to say
you just
want to get out
clean
well you won’t
and you can’t
so suck it up
dumbass
and, scene

what

2.1325 : 12/18/08 : Transition

Not time to plan
a three hour vacation
not in any
hideaway
not in my
imagination
there’s already a
million changes
that I can’t recall
So I don’t know why
I care about
the transition thing
at all

what

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

2.1324 : 12/17/08 : Original

I doubt I’ll ever think a thought
that’s not been thought before
at this point the version’s
probably at about two point four
not to speak of all the
prehistoric never written up
who knows what barely
articulated
philosophies they thought up
I could say nothing
if nothing I say is original
I doubt I can live up
as much as I give up
but I’ll try to keep it short pal

what

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

2.1323 : 12/16/08 : Notebook & Pen

Everybody’s got a crush on
everybody else
Everybody’s posting lies
and playing with themselves
And oh boy,
it’s just like high school again
and me with my little
notebook and pen
everybody’s flirting
and passing notes
pretending they don’t care
how anybody votes
and I write it all down now
just like then
keep it secret with my
little notebook and pen
You have to make so much up
as you go along
sooner or later
Something real bad goes wrong
And I just close my eyes
and count to ten
and pick up my pen and
my notebook, again

what

2.1322 : 12/15/08 : Estimate

at a rough estimate
I’m getting nowhere fast
I’m behind by any metric
and wow it’s a blast
I think I could just lighten up
and take it as it comes
and any other platitude
you throw me in my doldrums
sure I’ll start pumping iron
learn to speak French
I’ll shovel some more at you
if you can stand the stench
I estimate I’ll keep it up
at least a few more years
until I get some kind of call up
or the teacher appears

what

2.1321 : 12/14/08 : Domino

So tired of how
the natural fall
of things
doesn’t seem to go my way
the domino
you know
or how the
pendulum swings
predictable, pedestrian
every day
it’s easy to blame
entropy
well who knows
the math is
impossible
and who can say
what’s
really improvement
when time’s river
is uncrossable

what

2.1320 : 12/13/08 : Spoon

Once upon a time some guy
invented the spoon
now everybody takes it for granted
why bother discovering
a one man way to the moon
or conquer free energy single handed
who knows it was actually
probably a woman
and I am a sexist jerk
hell I didn’t mean it like that
and I’m only human
and really I’m just trying
to get out of work

what

2.1319 : 12/12/08 : Essay

Thinking about the essay
about the song about the essay
about how the point
can get away
from you lost in
the self-reference
knowing I’ve been down
this road before
and another year’s sure
to bring more
and I’ll hack it all out
day to day
and talk about it all
in some essay

what

2.1318 : 12/11/08 : Take That

Take that unexpected setback
Shout this is Songtown
and kick you in the cataract
lead my army
in another crazy charge
take that King Mammon
I’m living large
oh great I’ve hatched
another crazy plan
for about fifteen minutes
I’ll feel like the man
but I bet I’ll never be famous
not even that long
even so I hedged by bets
Well hey take that
you stupid song

what

2.1317 : 12/10/08 : Week Out

Another week out
and maybe I should seek out
a more robust
motivation
effort on effort hey
keeping up’s not my forte
I badly need
some innovation
One time I had a plan
There was a goal a band
now maybe I’m just filling space
there are worse things I guess
least it’s a compact mess
and the toll doesn’t show on my face

what

Tuesday, December 09, 2014

2.1316 : 12/9/08 : Czechoslovakian Thugocracy

3,506 : 35 ?



If you give me
three quarters of a million dollars
I will live in Prague
and take thirteen years
to finish my album
which I’ll mail to you
and for the money
I guess the description
may look vague
Well it’s a vale of tears
and my rule of thumb
is to work it till it’s blue

what

2.1315 : 12/8/08 : One-Eyed Man

Now I’m the pirate in
the kingdom of the blind
my eyepatch says fate’s
chosen me
but fate she is not kind
Sometimes I feel there’ll never be
a real release again
someday that make believe ship
will come in, I’ll get off then
until then I guess I’ll
have to get used to being king
in the kingdom of the blind
it may sound fine
but here’s the thing
the world is still out there
looking down on me and mine
and me being king means nothing
to the trolls down the incline

what

2.1314 : 12/7/08 : Convalescent

Such a little time afforded
to the convalescent
I could use a good rest cure
but I am just a peasant
I suppose I could resist more
leave the business piling
let the drifts come up to the door
scorn the weekly filing
but I carve my little niche out
for the moment for the moment
savor my small interval
Spent as the convalescent
I guess I’m thankful
I am basically sound in body
and the rest care in the alps
might be a little gaudy

what

2.1313 : 12/6/08 : A Thing Done

I guess I didn’t
get a thing done
that weekend
after all
but listen to waves
of course the train fun
not for me and
I guess we had a ball


what

Friday, December 05, 2014

2.1312 : 12/5/08 : Misery

Pitiful weakling
think of the poor widow’s son
lost at sea
how dare you call
your slight affliction
misery
say you’re a week behind
and more
Say that to those stuck
in the last century
you don’t yet know
the least touch
of misery
all will lose all
all come to the
same estate
it is the cause and end
of all misery
the wiping of the slate

what

2.1311 : 12/4/08 : Fans

Someday maybe I’ll
have fans
not likely with all my
crazy plans
I wish I could stop thinking
about the cosmic long shots
wish I could hold out
until that old door
rots
what would I do even
make a buck or two
What would I ever do
without my little him
or you
Don’t make me find out
you’re the only fans
I want
And may I never
cheapen it
with any crazy stunt

what

2.1310 : 12/3/08 : Rushing

Feel like rushing through
to get to what though
Whatever does it even matter
if it’s got flow
you put down rap and Cohen
I should be so lucky
there’s another thousand floors
beneath him in the tower
and if the center will not hold
where will I find the power
Isn’t it a lot like
every other thousand million times
holler if you think
these art transgressions should
be crimes
I’m rushing to a point
that’s arbitrary
as the day is long
call it the end of a song

what

2.1309 : 12/2/08 : Disorder

Clean and clean and wash and wash and
you’ve got more than your head
buried in the sand
Surely you must recognize
this thing is a disorder
the same old tangled circular thoughts
ragged at the border
form the picking and the prodding
hoping for some new wrinkle
all the crazy learned behaviors
repeat till the groove’s instinctual
the disorder whispers that insanity
is daring to change
And I’d listen but I know I’m
in the spooks’ wireless range
and my tinfoil sombrero
is full of holes
where I tried to pick off
all the bugs and burning coals

what

2.1308 : 12/1/08: The Point

Will the point be established
by the re-enumeration
will anyone be left
listening past the long vacation
done so many things
for so many wrong reasons
but hell with it I’m building my
bulkhead in its proper season
faced the fire, now it’s in me
burning for its only purpose
one more thing you’ll never fathom
if you only see the surface
I could call the point of turning
if the readiness is really all
now I’ll bring the fate winds with me
Past the golden gates of Fall

what

2.1307 : 11/30/08 : Dreams

I suffer hope in dreams
proof that someone up there
believes in me
cybercasted pagan runes maybe
deceiving me
that seems likely
whatever I keep looking for
it is not where I’m looking
But what else now
what else here
whatever must appear
in the books I’m cooking
I don’t think much about
the alternatives
but I know what tomorrow’s got
So I will daydream
about my night dreams
Some technique that will
enable me
to gobble up the lot

what