2.1369 : 1/31/09 : Crown

Stumble across the traces of

someone else’s good intentions

think I’ll skip a week if you don’t mind

apply for more extensions

I kept on expecting for

the hammer to come down

well when it was I guess I’ll

be the one to wear the dunce’s crown

I should learn to write a chorus

brush up on my stale guitar

never enough time or money

that cliché won’t get me far

but if I had to guess

I’d bet on this one not ending as much

with four fifths of the journey left to slog

I hope I haven’t lost my touch

what

2.1368 : 1/30/09 : Just What I Want

Why do I lie to myself

when it just doesn’t matter

When there is no hope at all

no illusions to shatter

Listen to this if you doubt:

There’s not even absence of hope

it doesn’t come in this equation

it’s wholly outside this thing’s scope

maybe you’re not pretending

it’s simple as pie

So easy, ignore me

I’m that kind of guy

and it’s just what I want

Fly low without lights

not a blip on your radar

still free in my long nights

what

2.1367 : 1/29/09 : Sadness and Pride

Three quarter sweep

the last hour keeps

me glued to the screen

try to figure what you mean

I’ve let too much slide

pushed by sadness and pride

Should let the small stuff go

I still sweat it though

another day I didn’t

start that little thing

another day rushing

to write a song I well

may never sing

And I don’t even value my pride anymore

and the sadness looks so very much like a door

and I prattle along

and I call it a song

and the last quarter sweeps

for the rest

its own council keeps

what

2.1366 : 1/28/09 : Skewed

The image perverse

skewed through art

the end of an era

that got taken apart

whatever you may call it

transcendent, obscene

its time is all expired

and I wipe the slate clean

what

2.1365 : 1/27/09 : Pretty Weird Stuff

You’ll hear some

pretty weird stuff

before we’re through

don’t flinch

don’t worry I’ll

make it up to you

Isn’t it pretty

to think it woulda worked out if

hey it’s just a joke, pretty

so don’t get so stiff

what

2.1364 : 1/26/09 : Legend

3,555 : 20 ?

If I really meant it

I’d turn off the TV

throw the cat off the couch

abandon my family

Go out on the road

night without end

If I really meant

to be a legend

Even if I believed

I wouldn’t give up a thing

there isn’t anywhere

that I can’t sing

I don’t need to be crazy

I don’t need to be known

I don’t need to know the disposition

of a single seed I’ve sown

they say legend in his own mind

what’s wrong with that

soon enough all lie alike

wear poor Yorick’s hat

the devil cannot tempt me

to that cross in the road

and I’m not afraid at all

to watch this dream explode

what

2.1363 : 1/25/09 : Razor

Almost as bad as ever

I said so many times

never again,

my love,

never again my love

and who am I fooling

oh what am I doing

I could stop stop stop

right there

I’ve got no explanation

beyond this demonstration

let me hone this razor on the strop

because I care

and we can divide

anything

except what really matters

and if I seem to be holding

You too tightly in these arms

I’m just afraid of

what happens if it shatters

what

nobody said it would be easy

So concludes a song a day volume 2.8: Record (II). And since I'm running behind on the posting we'll just proceed immediately to volume 2.9: Unabridged.

what

2.1362 : 1/24/09 : Suffering

If this is what it takes

I guess that I am

successful

like it or not the job is done

nobody said it would be easy

or enriching

or enlightening

or fast or sweet or fun

and in the scope of human

suffering

I pack a sorry little travail

I guess I haven’t got a prayer

the race won’t

devastate me

but oh well

I am still on your trail 

what

2.1361 : 1/23/09 : No Dice

I had a notion to do

something different

but oh sorry baby

no dice

sad enough it appears

I can get in up to my ears

even without heartache

even without vice

And if the pearl of great price

doesn’t seem to be

on the market

and if in addition I’m poor

well I have to ask sir

with just a little bitter

in my voice

just what the hell

all that run around

was for

what

2.1360 : 1/22/09 : Dumb

Like a dumb man

like the dumb man I am

waste what I don’t have

get stuck in a jam

but I know the way out

hold your nose and dive

so sorry shit ain’t butter

but you’ll be alive

what

2.1359 : 1/21/09 : No Bridge

I can’t escape

across the river

because there is no bridge

worst scenario is me

run down by hounds

along the ridge

I think I’ll slip the noose

just one more time

expect me on your doorstep

set to deliver the prime

what

2.1358 : 1/20/09 : Hot Iron Ball

Is everybody carrying

this hot iron ball

the human condition

but is that all?

I’ll run a long time

with it stuck in my throat

trying to ignore you sitting

next to me in this boat

what

2.1357 : 1/19/09 : Loose Change

3,548 : 13 ?

I’d rather sort through the

loose change than try to

hump that mountaintop again

whatever you saw up there

wasn’t there for me

and I am tired

I’d rather sift through

year-old paperwork

with porn on the tube

what a jerk

than try to reach some conclusion

than try to get inspired

and what I’d

really rather do

I think I’ll keep a

secret from you

keep it all business

I’ll be so obscure

in a year or two I’m sure

Even I’ll have forgotten

what I hid in code

and I’m looking forward

eagerly

to losing that load

what

2.1356 : 1/18/09 : Heart Strings

And so on

and so forth

I make up

I go forth

I don’t think

I want to sing

that angry song

I was thinking

somebody’s pulling

on the strings on my heart

somebody’s

calling me out

for prior art

but I never claimed

to be original

just persistent

and

occasionally hopeful

what

2.1355 : 1/17/09 : Wise Up

I better get my wise up

take a minute to size up

just how to get through this jam

end up less stuck than I am

what

2.1354 : 1/16/09 : Moment Never Comes

Maybe you all made a terrible mistake

couldn’t wait

impatient said I’ll

take that one

now spill out the remainder

waiting for the

moment

the moment never comes

maybe I’m no better

maybe I’m worse

than fake free verse

maybe I belong

in the swill here

with all you bums

what

2.1353 : 1/15/09 : Mere Anarchy

It seems like just a free-for-all

as the pages close in

on the end of some chapter

as we all pull the pin

on our fire extinguishers

afraid it’s way too late

Oh we wanted to keep dancing

On the thin edge of fate

While it keeps burning

destructive but bright

and I just couldn’t help myself

from shrieking out more light

I know I’ll write a book about it

tell everyone how they’re doing it wrong

I’m sure you’ll all wake up at last

I’m sure you’ll follow right along

what

2.1352 : 1/14/09 : Off the Hook

Feeling off the hook and so

it seems I am a fish who

has escaped the momentary fate

of becoming a dish

Oh if I swam a little faster

If I dove a little deeper

Might my pearl of very great price

be the season’s big hit sleeper

If your mother is a fish

If the Catcher’s in the rye

well I am no Southern enigma

no New England recluse guy

Still I should surely try

to swim upstream

while I seem to be free

because so help me I can

see the son

is still fishing for me

what

2.1351 : 1/13/09 : Return Flight

Book my return flight

on the royal road

hope I’m still one step ahead

of dreams that may implode

subjected to the pressures

of depression

states of war

and let this prayer of

thanksgiving

test just what it might

be good for

what

2.1350 : 1/12/09 : No Turn Unstoned

There was a time

we would enter

no turn unstoned

the dullness of the

edge on that rough

rock we honed

but things are

different now in

so many ways

and still and still

I write and write

this book of days

And I’ll take this

turn unclouded

and unmarked

with the slightest nod

to the old days

back to which it harked

what

2.1349 : 1/11/09 : Righteous

Every righteous moment

as defined by what?

I wonder

If you thought how we

would judge it

as all worlds are torn asunder

an excuse for moving so slow

If the moment comes

then I’ll go

I am upright, stern

and pious

say it briefly

firmly

righteous

what

2.1348 : 1/10/09 : Synecdoche

Synecdoche the class the key

you think that words mean

anything to me

these days a way or ways

to entertain

distract the brain

or anything that

pushes pain

back to the background

back underground

back to your notes

speeches cast votes

manifestos

for the party

for the set

synecdoche

what

2.1347 : 1/9/09 : Slightly

things get ever so

slightly better

but there’s dark clouds

all over out there

maybe I’ll find time

to send a letter

but tonight I

just can’t care

what

2.1346 : 1/8/09 : Grace

A little grace granted

in consideration

of duress and disorder

in the face of fascination

What is not to be

what must not be fed

and though I live to walk the line

with that I’m going to bed

what

2.1345 : 1/7/09 : Transition

I really need to craft that

super transition

audio nightmare

superposition

to draw the firm line

between dark and light

and rise above my plight

to make it come out right

and maybe finally start

going to sleep at night

I guess I’m worried that

it just won’t work

and if I try to sell it like

snake oil I’ll be twice the jerk

what a joke

just pretend I don’t need it

or stay up

night after night

to feed it

what

2.1344 : 1/6/09 : The One

I know I’m not the one

despite the conversations

in my head

that you hint dimly at

and speculate about

in poems I read

I should pull my head out

of this absurd

funhouse mirror distraction

I don’t have the time

and there’s nothing to book

On that action

Even if I were the one

which I know I’m not

I know I’m not

It wouldn’t mean a thing

or stack up to the real

I’ve got

but I let it

tease my mind

a little new a little twist

When I’m not there

anymore

I’m sure I won’t

really be missed

what

2.1343 : 1/5/09 : Falling Behind

3,534 : 62 ?

Falling behind on sleep

on pages

Oh I’ll never catch up

on all the books

and all the ages

past, God knows

what I’m doomed to repeat

I can’t catch up

on all the history

I’m dragging my feet

trying to put off the ascent

to a realm that never satisfies

early or late

it’s all the same

behind closed eyes

what

2.1342 : 1/4/09 : Thinking Ahead

Thinking ahead

planning on living in

the moment later

say you don’t think

I’m doing it right, oh

why you got to have to

go and be a hater

being mindful or

drifting into space

Say it makes a difference

always end up in the same place

I want something strange

and different to happen instead

don’t know how to bring it about

don’t know how to think ahead

In observation

the man said

chance favors the prepared mind

but my third eye’s all clouded

I’m prognosticating blind

what

2.1341 : 1/3/09 : Put Off

Put off put off

everything gets put off

moment to moment

connecting dots

of time less time

no starting no endpoint

mere succession

for both haves and have nots

So

why do I worry

why do I struggle

why do I try to walk

in a straight line

what’s up with your

minding your own business

problem

I am surely

minding mine

what

2.1340 : 1/2/09 : Spirit

The spirit is willing

but the flesh wants a nap

what the hell anyway

it’s all ending up on the scrap

heap of history

turns to archaeology

turns to geology

by and by

and I want to cry

if nothing I say

makes it through

what

2.1339 : 1/1/09 : As Fast As Light

As fast as light

rush past the stumbling

vertigo of time

you’ve been tumbling

though it wasn’t so bad

you lived

and for a few long past

regrets, forgive

forgive me for all my sins

O lord

And teach me to be new

Apart from promises

and calendars

wake up my heart and

draw me through

what

2.1338 : 12/31/08 : Fin

Amid all the observation

we neglected to attend

that the siècle would really fin

the millennium would end

and the bastards kicked us

right into the center of the fray

with steep descents and sudden fire

one gorgeous autumn day

now the decade, closing fast

and me soon to be forty

and for all the clichés it’s bad for real

and despite our bold political sortie

I’ve got the fear of the

turn of the century

I’ve got the millennial blues

I’ve got a bad feeling

I don’t know who you are

but I’m destined to walk

a mile in your shoes

what

2.1337 : 12/30/08 : Sharky’s Machine

Any more distractions and I’ll

lose the thread completely

who’d believe I’d take this tangle

and unravel it so neatly

but that’s just what I am fixing

to get rolling once the wheels are

on this machine oh Sharky

I know just what her appeals are

but that’s not even about

the wheel that’s driving this affair

but when I know the heading and

just who or what occupies the the chair

I’m pointing with my toes at the dateline

cross over into some other

lovely little secret plan

just between

me, the machine

and my brother

what