2.2615 : 6/30/12 : Hobby

This train of thought feels like a hobby horse
this chain of ought always feeling off course
this getting drawn into the culture war scrums
logs getting sawn and here I'm twiddling my thumbs
I don't need a hobby, I need a fucking job
show me where to lobby, what kind of bomb to lob
nobody is fit to save this race of utter fools
no one has the bravery, no one has the tools
no one has my answer I am hung out on my own
beating every chance out of the hobby horse I own
seems I need a sharp turn and a different track
snap the strings of my harp throw it on the
smouldering stack

what

2.2614 : 6/29/12 : Labor

The labor is not ending
no matter how sick
I am of defending
what seems self-evidently
necessary
Look have you ever
seen a deader canary?
That canary is deceased
it has expired
it fell for the last time
off its wire
it's an ex-canary
it's passed right on
it's kicked the bucket
the canary is gone
but that is not the labor
and I'm wasting air
ironically the very
thing we had to repair

what

2.2613 : 6/28/12 : Wilderness

Enough the world is not
ending quickly
I'm just a tourist in
this wilderness
I've heard so many
apocalypse projections
hard not to think that what
will happen next is anybody's guess
new times will not
be like old times
no one can imagine
what's yet to come
if it doesn't come right to the wasteland
I'll sit and listen as the crickets hum

what

2.2612 : 6/27/12 : Daylight

Hey friend now
are you burning daylight
don't you know it's
time to be chopping wood
do your scratching late or early
by the stray light
hey we'd turn a light on for
You if we could
wake up son
it's time for carrying water
daydreams were for
another age
for the few who were not
led to the slaughter
you better be sure
before you waste another page

what

2.2611 : 6/26/12 : Flashlight

Writing by flashlight
wondering how long the batteries would last
and where we'd go when it got cold at night
how we couldn't bear thinking of the past
how each thing would have to contract
how nothing could speed anything up
some claim there'll be no second act
because we went and drained the cup

what

2.2610 : 6/25/12 : The Other Way

The worm was s'posed to
turn the other way
that whirlwind
didn't have a thing to say
I'm so so mad
haven't I felt bad
enough to satisfy you
and if it's alright by you
Could this turn out to be
just a fluke in a day?
and I'll promise to look
Straight at the other way
when they come asking after why
I'll say whatever I think upon the sly

what

2.2609 : 6/24/12 : Of Pain

The mass of pain
at least delivered me
from the strain
of the common inanity
hope here's nothing
really wrong down there
more proof as if I needed it
despite it all I still care

what

2.2608 : 6/23/12 : Strip

Have to tear a strip in the real
Expose a deeper blue
Here's what it's telling you:
Though you are more than you feel
Though this turning inward has appeal
you must get noble fast
learn to crave a king's repast
to jump on the next revolution of the wheel

And the strip torn down the sky
murmurs why why why
does the fool still try
to entertain each passer by

Hammered a crank into the earth
when it hit stone I stopped
soon as the plumb line dropped
And ran it round for all I was worth
I wasn't laughing but I felt a little mirth
I'd made such a strange machine
generated not one bean
Yet every dawn revealed another birth

what

2.2607 : 6/22/12 : Therapy

Do I need therapy
or a bolt of lightning
this new hole you're tearin' me
is not exciting
I want to, oh transcend
is that so demanding
Sir I'm a gentle man
please be unhanding
the moment for the mark
the truth for a lark
the grim ontology
it permits topology
neither what I wanted or what I ought
nothing in my hand I brought
If the therapy takes oh
will I give it up?
Not while I dine no
not while I sup

what

2.2606 : 6/21/12 : Pound

If I can't tell if I'm
caught up in the rapids
or becalmed in flat water
how'm I ever gonna
get to be a happy otter
Is my head really turned
so thoroughly around
How can I even choose
what path I pound
So much low fruit
I know I know I know
so many obvious dead ends
yet off I go
pound the same drum
isn't this beat familiar
It ain't making you stronger
hence I'm feared it's gonna kill ya

what

2.2605 : 6/20/12 : Tooth

The point as it turned
was a tooth pulled from the head
the warmth
that rushed
from the pills it was fed
not a night for
putting it together
the answer still seemed
not when but whether

what

2.2604 : 6/19/12 : Turning Point

Even so there
has to be a turning point
and if it isn't
this:
Still there has to be
if there's
to ever be
a second chance
at what I still miss

what

2.2603 : 6/18/12 : Minutes

Making book on minutes
not impressive
after six or seven years
am I afraid to lie down
fear that poison
might get forced into my ears
it has to be enough
but that don't make it
anything like plenty
don't ask me
where it's headed
if you must go ask who sent me

what

2.2602 : 6/17/12 : Scorpion

It's my nature
said the scorpion
is it a thing more
with anyone
I've made changes
that were surprising
but can't say what
drives each day's arising
is it reversal or
revision I seek
just to be kinder
and less bleak
to be a scorpion
that will not sting
free from my nature
free from everything

what

2.2601 : 6/16/12 : The Call

The fear that nothing will change
the fear that everything will
the fantasy of realism
every bitter pill
the bigger blank page
the harder the block
for those about to sell out
salutations: here's your rock
no matter how I twist it
I can't get the words to fit
silence gnaws unrelenting
maybe how we got this pit
the fear that everything will stay the same
the fear that everything will fall
the fear I cannot stop waiting
the fear I'll never hear the call

what

wind the works and let it run

Song 2.2600 brought things to the end of volume 2.14, The Record (Inheritance 1): In Memory: Richard Hamlow April 18, 1939 - November 23, 2011.

And along we go to volume 2.15, Black Book A.K.A. "Wait for the Call"

what

2.2600 : 6/15/12 : Day 1

Can I come up with a better way
to deal with how it always
is day one
Just want to be settled
wind the works
and let it run
Guess I could stop
complaining
try to find the evergreen
but I'll admit
I'd rather be swept up
by something
I have never seen

what

2.2599 : 6/14/12 : Walk Backwards

I'm going to walk backwards
take it step by step
until I find the pivot
where I got on this bad rep
nothing is reversible
but you can trace the track
I'm grinning like a politician
At long last a plan of attack
attack my mediocrity
attack my hesitance
attack my all or nothing bullshit
never made a lot of sense
take this back and take that back
I'm a hypocrite so what
while you scratch your chin on that
I dust it with an uppercut
retreat before you can protest
past every regret
how far can I walk back to
haven't hit it yet

what

2.2598 : 6/13/12 : Preliminary

Not since the preliminary
experience
were the words created
alongside
the quest for sustenance
What shall we speak of
when I've given up
and sold right out
the day to day
the disappointment
why not
a lot of it about

what

2.2597 : 6/12/12 : Stations

Keep pulling in at
the same stations
the rush to wrap
the hurried creations
the hammer of fatigue
falls swiftly
another bolt
now ain't that nifty
so many angles
spring to mind
no coin left to spend
no station left to find

what

2.2596 : 6/11/12 : Portals

Suddenly thinking of
the poison I've let them
pour in
into these precious portals
strapped to either side
of my head
I'm tired as hell
with it
it's all
illusions for us
hapless mortals
but I plan to
sleep through it
in an uncertain
unmade bed

what

2.2595 : 6/10/12 : Zones

More experiments
in zones
nothing comes through
on the phones
and it should all be
farther on
but it's not
and so proceeds
this marathon

what

2.2594 : 6/09/12 : Last

Can't drop my
obsession with
the last word
all I ever
said
all I ever heard
there are ends
they spill out
everywhere
somewhere some
nobody will care
but a word
won't change
a lick of fate
so say
so long
and shut the gate

what

2.2593 : 6/08/12 : Orders

I've got my orders
and I guess I better
get down to
so clever how you put it
So it's no excuse I
don't know what to do
just as I am
the skeptics
missed the reference
but I didn't
and it's a road I guess
still got my
no and yes
and that's the whole lot
i'n'it

what

2.2592 : 6/07/12 : The Garden of Your Mind

I should feel inspired
but I just feel sad you're gone
not enough allies
and everyday
demand another song
and i do not feel special
I do not feel unique
I'd rather stand down
and let a better man speak
And in the garden
of your mind
the weeds of thoughts
dark and unkind
help me from beyond
to stand up to the reckoning
and to believe somehow
the garden of my mind
is still a growing thing

what

2.2591 : 6/06/12 : Insanity

The problem with your
definition of insanity
is the crazy can't take
logical advice you see
So if you think me mad
to plod the same old way again
well I never said
I thought I wasn't crazy friend

what

2.2590 : 6/05/12 : Food of the Gods

Stick it in
your horn and blow it
grasp the nettle
by the horns
and throw it
onto the bonfire
of the bell curve sods
little suspecting
I'm being fed the food of the gods
I know it looks like
I'm destinationless, lost
the bloom is faded
then killed by a hard frost
however potent
it cannot return death to living
the food of the gods
so next time I'll be more forgiving
I can't imagine
what tomorrow brings at all
I can't be bothered
to resist the mundane thrall
the irony is
I'll be shocked with all the rest
the Food of the Gods
such a simple
trick has put me to the test

what

2.2589 : 6/04/12 : Avalon, CA (Mt. Metaphor 58/58)

Apple Island
Song of the sword
all that apocrypha
hush don't say another word
can't you just be quiet
and appreciate
names don't mean so much
in these barely united states
Still we might as well
might as well live for today
So come and watch the sunset
from Avalon, C.A.
they took Arthur there
to speed his healing
here I can pretend
I'm going to break through that ceiling
you have to keep believing
When it feels like such a joke
no more refuge ever
in strong drink and smoke
but in Avalon
for one perfect afternoon
I could really believe again
that my real ship was coming soon

(An imaginary journey: complete)

what

2.2588 : 6/03/12 : At Sea (Mt. Metaphor 57/58)

Port of San Diego
Drive to Dana Point
leave the car
we're at the new joint
Catalina express
ticket, one way
I'll let the breath out
when I hear them say
we're at sea
cast anchor and
left land behind
at last I'm
loose on the tides
at last I'm free in my mind
and it's almost
at its very final hour
still hoping for
a little extra power

what

2.2587 : 6/02/12 : San Diego (Mt. Metaphor 56/58)

The first seat of memory
I should have a lot to say
but it's ll so long and far past gone
and I don't want to talk about it
anyway
Don't talk about anything
San Diego
that picture of
me on a swing
the man behind the camera
still all about that
So long San Diego
I tip my hat
I just want to
get to the end
even though it always leads
to another bend
and mistakes that feel
almost as old as this place
as old as all these lines
etched in my face
I never been back
and I won't come again
he car's open baby
get in

what

2.2586 : 6/01/12 : Del Mar (Mt. Metaphor 55/58)

The call me
Del Mar
Man of the sea
when I was three years old
the water made me
they say I
vanished for a minute
then straight up
arose
and hence
the path I chose

what