2.2677 : 8/31/12 : 10,000

Not even enough
to be an expert
not spending an hour
did you expect it?
How typical
how typical of me
how thoughtless
how inimical to be
ten times ten thousand
spent on sleep
far from an expert
I broke your theory on the cheap
two three nine, four four oh
spent it all on
god who knows
and expert on fretting
and whining
grasping and seething
and fearing and pining
the next ten thousand
no doubt chasing the dollar
daydreaming 'bout the true quill
that I'll never collar

what

2.2676 : 8/30/12 : The Old River

God bless steam
running on the old river
that generation's gone
and the landing's just a sliver
of concrete on the highway
a tourist track
a thing to remember
the old smokestack
things don't span
generations anymore
ravenous change
wants more more more
Even the old river
is so greatly changed
is bottom dredged
its channels rearranged
and tomorrow well
Who can tell?
tale of a river's
too big for me to tell

what

2.2675 : 8/29/12 : Trying

What would trying even mean
here and now and in this place
nothing left in this day
no one else running this race
what else would be my hardest
just trying to make it to my bed
It seems I end up here on purpose
despite what I may have said
what am I trying for what's my line
What's between me and just feeling fine
I can't stop trying though it sounds nice
Stayed up too late tomorrow I'll have to try twice

what

2.2674 : 8/28/12 : Leading

Leading up to
ha ha ha
don't buy it anymore
it's not a story
and anticipation
is a bore
not our best effort
no one
is inspired
excuse me
I am frustrated
and tired

what

2.2673 : 8/27/12 : Virtual

Like some irony
virtual memory loss
From the imaginary
other thing in a long list
Of things I don't do anymore
list just keeps growing longer
hardly know what it's for

what

2.2672 : 8/26/12 : Ultrachrome

Why can I close my eyes
and see the kind of beauty
that I know I could bring forth
in my complex way up North
beauty frosted black
bead blasted dark effect
down in the basement of my home
I call this one the ultrachrome
Part art part mix and match
fire up my chromatograph
injections on the gas tap
good directions to the flame trap
but it's all dumb fantasy
world is not could you ever be
no time to wait around
necessity drives me to ground

what

2.2671 : 8/25/12 : Racer

I like your candy world
So bright such rapid motion
So many moving parts
A dash of peril in the potion
Racer why you gotta race
What's racing through your mind?
You work so hard out on the track
work equals zero for your kind
Racer racer spinning out
drifting the trackless track
I wish I had such serpentine moves
looked so smooth in white and red and black
I'm racing fifteen clocks
none thrilling none aglow
not sexy but we do what we must
go dear racer go

what

2.2670 : 8/24/12 : Cog

Cog is desperate for the weekend
to pay a dividend
cog is bothered by the words
of a former
imaginary friend
if yours was the spirit
of that age
I'll denounce with all my heart
before I write another page
while minutes pass
resolutions erode
to think that I once meant
to write it all in code
like a little cog
in my own enigma engine
but I'm working for the light now
as I drop my own
Stonehenge in

what

2.2669 : 8/23/12 : Misericord

You are a strange duality
twin meanings of misericord
a leaning ledge for tired monks
and then again the thinnest sword
I knew a one who called your name
but which he meant I'll never know
or probably who knows these days
nothing makes sense well even so
I'll keep my counsel and mouth shut
misericord misericord
I hope that I don't need you but

what

2.2668 : 8/22/12 : Waves

All the waves of
adversity I surfed
is it just me
or is this one worse?
all ideas that come from
and go nowhere
a sickness unto
something like despair
waves of fearfulness
waves of grief
no good news for two years
and still time steals like a thief
waves of longing
for the time machine
and did I only dream
those fields of green
I wish I could empty
this busted vessel
bang up the contents
with a mortar and pestle
chuck them to the
great great waves
find out just which
holy sailor saves
think about the waves
till I become something like them
lord you better watch for
your dikes when I strike them

what

2.2667 : 8/21/12 : Others

And to the others
Who sacrifice so much more
to this Art I can't commit to
to the non-revolving door
I'll salute you in the morning
I will pay you when I can
I will think of you when praying
to become a better man

what

2.2666 : 8/20/12 : Want to Believe

Hard may be impossible
to get around the prejudice
of what we want to believe
that there's freedom, there's justice
I'm one of the fortunate
one of the few
more than I've earned or deserve
but can't feel like that's true
I keep making the story up
make life make sense
and I guess if I didn't
Still a thousand years hence
world will be here, I won't
likely none will remember
me or my revelations
some weeks shy of September

what

2.2665 : 8/19/12 : Disordered

Can't even break out of the
disordered thinking
while every level of
the so-called order is shrinking
can't even break out of the
stress and ire
try to find the final scapegoat
to frame for the fire
Do you even care
about the world or any living thing
are you entertained while I try
to punch my way out of the ring
will the disorder
ever give way to
Sweet harmony
will I ever
break out of
this life of strangely charmed ennui

what

2.2664 : 8/18/12 : To Be Selfless

To be selfless
to live for others
to ask for the good thing
and not my druthers
I just want out of
the damn hole
give me marching orders
I'll supply the soul

what

2.2663 : 8/17/12 : Terrible Curse

If I show up at your office
unannounced: no appointment
You'll not be moved in the slightest
by my bitter disappointment
sure as hell it will not loosen
even one string on your purse
sure enough I say it was you only
Set on me the terrible curse
More than a quarter of my life
given to the book of days
You say I made it up myself
I say you have your ways
though time grows ever swifter
I can't see beyond the curse's scope
and I must, so I suppose
look elsewhere for my hope

what

2.2662 : 8/16/12 : The Hallowed Goal Shredder Theme Song

Nothing's really worked for twenty years
that whistling sound between my ears
tells me I'm done with trying to walk on coals
Screw inspiration let's start shredding goals!
Once written a goal may only be released
once it's wholly completed or thoroughly deceased
If you kill it it's done, you must chuck it down the spout
think twice you know you really want to work work it out
Once written write the success or failure state
Write the kill plan though it doesn't feel so great
think positive instead write a bold new heading
The where and the how to just get shredding
Break it down and get all stepwise
Now your pencils are sharp said the guy with the great eyes
So get scratching get it underway
gotta check it check check a box every day
Only allowed one page at a time
Oh we've all run afoul of that paradigm
if some parts are checked up you can recopy it all
or just power and shred through let nothing stall
Sublime and mundane must share every page
Stay honest take it all stage by stage
Stick with it check a box every day
Supply the will and you will find a way

what

2.2661 : 8/15/12 : Rope

So this is what
the end of the rope feels like
nowhere to run to
nowhere to bike
coming up now in 13 years
predictably
no savior appears
nothing for it
nothing for it but work
nothing for it but
try not to be a jerk
I'm sorry for snapping
for getting so low
and since the rope keeps running
I better go

what

2.2660 : 8/14/12 : Joke On Me

The joke on me
I never wanted the path
I never wanted the risk
I only wanted the reward
and here it is
all path
and I wouldn't blame you
if you died of being bored
too busy
bottoming out
to offer any
explanation or defense
I'll get every
inch of what I deserve
the proper punishment
for riding the fence
should persistence
be admired
a child repeating
a moronic verse
is there nothing in this
world to break the curse?

what

2.2659 : 8/13/12 : Song of Songs

Be careful when you wish for
a love as strong as death
Its nature is to haunt you
till you draw your final breath
be careful when you wish for
an interesting life
be careful when you wish for
an interesting wife
Your head turned backward
by a curve of a lip
and ass that makes you
fall right off your ego trip
be careful when you ask
to write the song of songs
You know the last who did
You know the list his name belongs
can't see those fingers and
not dream them holding you
beware the songs you write
for each one will come true

what

2.2658 : 8/12/12 : Pith

Treading water still and dead as the crypt
Sun hasn't moved since the world weird slipped
Out of the picture into the myth
how the hell am I supposed to
hack my way through the pith
I imagine shooting through a curling wave of now
but down here it's sewing up the ears of a sow
and this down in the mouth is such a stale bit
If it tastes pithy
it's because I pithed in it
hey that's my dad's joke he ain't around no more
In my mind's eye I see him slipping out the big side door
without a word no without a backwards glance
well he was never so attached
to this stupid dance
But I am here so I'll toe up to that line
hardly knowing which still having to call it mine
right now the center pith seems bitter not sweet
Guess it seems the recipe
Still must be incomplete

what

2.2657 : 8/11/12 : Little Vacuum

Call it a little vacation
not even going to make it rhyme
it's a sorry business
but them's the breaks
And if you don't like it
post a complaint
or wait a day

what

2.2656 : 8/10/12 : Them Nah War

How do I love thee
and is it enough
when the ways diverge
and the sea gets rough
don't listen to them
nah, war is unneeded
I think I repeated
in the dawn you'd receded
I don't really think
things are okay
don't know if I should
fake it again today
Did you ask them? Nah
war is all they know
and again I must insist:
don't ask, just show

what

2.2655 : 8/9/12 : New Normal

There's no new normal
there's never been normal
I didn't have time to
engrave nothing formal
but you're invited, hey
to the convocation
solve for normal-not
solve up this whole nation
should forget the dreams
no one wants saving here
all want to wade in hate
all want to wade in fear
calling new normal's just
a way of giving up
and now I've had enough
sorry it's so abrupt

what

2.2654 : 8/8/12 : Trilogy

No one's going to
line up for my trilogy
the hero only wanted
to escape and get free
you could fit it on the
jacket leave all pages blank
I'll have to think a while longer
about who I'd like to thank

what

2.2653 : 8/7/12 : Dust

Dust is too thick
and I just cant be tempted
I've got excuses
plus I lack incentive
sorry for all these
drive by flutters
Well I'd dance harder
if you were flashing the shutters
will the hard work ever pay off
maybe this is all there is
I best get after the dust
and attend to my biz

what

2.2652 : 8/6/12 : Blurb

How can I boil down
a blurb: a précis
So far and soon
Just being lazy
Not quite true that
the hammer fell hard there
and I was the only
Itinerant bard there

what

2.2651 : 8/5/12 : Curiosity

Do I still feel
curiosity
lately some days
I don't feel like
I've got the time
And I got mired in
philosophy
that ate at
that kid's
energy like
quicklime
I'm rooting for you
curiosity
So far off
in a place I'll never see
here's to imagination
and a gentle touch
and for your namesake within me
please provide a little crutch

what

2.2650 : 8/4/12 : Stair

Where does my stairway lie?
hey mystic rocker guy
the wind is silent, mute
there is no lyre, no flute
bad news goes on and on
can't keep it from my song
and just don't have the knack
although not quite a hack
it seems I can't ascend
where does my stairway end
a hundred floors below
nowhere but down to go

what

2.2649 : 8/3/12 : Copper Field

A plain of green
rust
otherworldly
I trust
the tincture
and its yield
down on
the copper field
the ghosts all
file past
let's make a
pile, fast
digging all the pennies
from the copper field
scratching every surface
of the unannealed

what

2.2648 : 8/2/12 : Oh Well

Oh well it's the answer
to everything
the charm that
didn't arrive
and the broken ring
back to zero
do you think I'm daunted?
you'd die of boredom
from the tales of squares
I've haunted
it throws me back to solipsism
but oh well
it breaks my light up
like a prism
but oh well
you can't be perfect
no one makes it every day
So I'll walk by my imperfections
Come what may

what

2.2647 : 8/1/12 : Scanning

I want to be settled
stop the scanning
triple decade
this smack is spanning
It's little teeny thing to ask
an inclination
a persistent task
I've got my continuity
but no one's buying
forgive me if I've had
about enough of trying
now I'm the boy who called
I'm going to quit
and no one in their right mind
will believe a word of it

what