2.850 : 8/31/07 : Prior

Prior to the great question
storming the final bastion
give me the best of the best
that is an evil fearsome test
surprising I am not thwarted
all the pages in the intros you shorted
I’m at zero waiting like all the rest
behold: the 7th continuum

what

2.849 : 8/30/07 : Sentient Sentinel

I placed a sentient sentinel
at the exit to
keep me honest
and all
that came to pass
was merely
sturm and drang tempest
forget all you have learned
forget all that is past
remember only ever
all that will last

what

2.848 : 8/29/07 : Visionary Late

Sure enough
I find myself
up late with
no back up
on the shelf
I have to deliver it raw
all the peril
all the whack I saw
now they worship him
call him an evangelist
I’m sure some nobody
who did all of the work
is pissed
visionary
visionary
I’ll find it with a dictionary
makes me question
the library
finding another
visionary

what

2.847 : 8/28/07 : The Tough Get Weird

The tough get weird when the bottom falls out
art is so far ahead of the urban spout
We all must fake it till society decides to make it
Call the brainstorm a pet rock
believe it baby this sound is pure cock
and I am wielding the stopcock
until the tough get tougher still
I’ll swallow the bitter pill
and accept:
through double catastrophes
I was inept

what

2.846 : 8/27/07 : The Start

I don’t want the start, I don’t want the start
I want to go straight to the heart
I want to be right in the thick of it
Nothing works that way
but pipe dream fantasies
for me these stumbling ellipsis
clumsy treatise without a speck of wit
and if there’s anything to the first stroke
I fear the document’s
the record of a not funny joke
notable perhaps as
the world’s longest running choke
I’ll dare to call it art
I’ll dare to leave it as the start

what

2.845 : 8/26/07 : Wretched Precedent

3,036 : 2 ?



The reality exceeded every wretched precedent
they said it couldn’t be be helped
they said there’d been an incident
but in their hearts they thought
it hadn’t been so bad
at least the people didn’t know
what to do about their being had
they said they’d smoke the devils out
of every wretched hole
and nobody could figure out
if they had ever really had a goal
3rd generation of
the best and the brightest
All that was left to protest was the
most ephemeral and lightest
and every day that column
looked a little more bent
As they prepared and served
another wretched precedent

what

2.844 : 8/25/07 : To The Bridge

I saw the planes I saw the flames
I saw them jumping we will never know their names
and I should be ashamed; It’s just images to me
and here they said it wouldn’t be televised
that patriotic swell, yeah, I know
played me like a cheap piano
and you know how the rest goes
lies and lies and lies and lies and
Welcome to the bridge to the twenty first century
Welcome to the 3rd world, America
Welcome to the bridge to the twenty first century
Welcome to the third world, America
3,000 murdered by Mohammedan assassins
Welcome to the 7th century, this must be what they mean by entropy
demand revenge to the 7th generation
their lives become mere rhetoric
their lives become pure politics
you should be ashamed if you fell for it
you should be ashamed if you fell for it
Welcome to the bridge to the 21st century
Welcome to the 3rd world America
welcome to the bridge to the 21st Century
welcome to the third world America
Welcome to the free world Iraq
Welcome to the free world Panama
Welcome to the free world Viet Nam
Welcome to the free world Grenada
Welcome to the third world America
Welcome to the third world America
 
what

2.843 : 8/24/07 : Acid Green

The cut the sore that
bears an evil eye
will drip its bile
acid green
all wicked words unsaid
all dirty looks
unseen
I want to turn my mood ring
around
as long as it’s
acid I won’t make a sound
I’m tired of burning
acid green

what

2.842 : 8/23/07 : Shift

With every shift it seems
nothing changes
infuriating sameness
same inconsequential
rearranges
give up on
transformation
increments
another day
the only shift
what matters
is decay
a record of the
slow depression
sinking in the endless rain
record of the
degradation
the fools’ nation
the luckless train
it has always been thus
just the memories
decay and drift
giving an impression
false recollection
of a shift

what

2.841 : 8/22/07 : Disintegration

if only

Rapid disintegration of the
Wealth of information
all decaying every moment
in my moment driven brain
Itself only phenomena
says Om mani mana mana
less nonsense would make no more sense
so why to effort why to pain
I’m looking for the pivoting
the act of search is riveting
but comes back to the same depressing nodes
if only something new would appear
only see one small thing clear
only break these enigma codes

what

2.840 : 8/21/07 : One and One

and rolling still...

One and one rolls down the hill
I’ll make you stronger if I don’t kill
your sense of purpose, possibility
I can at least insist I have no enmity
I put my shoulder to my beloved stone
reverse the trip I, one and one alone
many are with me in body, in mind
I expect no justice because she is blind
I don’t expect the call because it’s been too long
I don’t expect the world to pay attention to my song
the sum of my desire is one and one
life without guarantee of peace or fun
we’ll just keep rolling onto the next joint
praying to God the next one is the turning point

what

2.839 : 8/20/07 : Sides

The edge of the coin

The sides wield power
the sides make war
heated division is
their paramour
the sides make systems
to make them necessary
ask me if I’m sick of it
yes I am sick very
the sides hold their circuses
insist I be a fan
but I will not submit because
I’m not a partisan
the sides push the message
they’re the only act in town
hard to deny
facts on their side
and there’s a lot of it around

what

2.838 : 8/19/07 : In Foxholes

what all the love is for

3,029 : 12 ?



There are no therapists in foxholes
you gotta work your own kinks out
What you think comes from nothingness
or what morality’s about
there are no physicists in foxholes
because the numbers are too grim
a million p.s.i. of blown to fuck
Sir Isaac Newton’s battle hymn
there are no socialists in foxholes
there’s no society in war
so it’s damn funny that we love it so
guess that's what all the hate is for

what

2.837 : 8/18/07 : Oracle

tell your fortune

I have to take a quick jump
on the catch as catch can
because time is very fleeting
and I am only a man
I have to take my own chances
find my own way
because that oracle
has nothing to say
I see the patterns
and I revel in their purity
I cannot reproduce them
So alas I lack security
well you might ask
what sort of engine turns this crank
I don’t know I just wish
I could take it to the bank
and after 15 years
you think I would give up on it
the oracle and all its lies
and I don’t really give a shit
but I’m condemned to play the part
of someone who’s concerned
with auguries and sparrow flight
and all the crazy stuff I’ve learned


what

2.836 : 8/17/07 : In the Library of Babel

of course my library would have pentagonal rooms

The situation’s better than I thought
but it’s still the same deep rut track
responding to responding to the quandary
that goes every little inch right back
what if nothing’s new under the sun
The the whole thing’s just a lesson in futility
In the library of babel it’s all been done before
every possible thought rendered useless by ubiquity
Some say there’s hardly any chance it’s all real
and we’re all some hobbyist’s creation
I can’t for the life of me see that would matter
It’s all either God’s or physics’ imagination
But just maybe it’s the first time through
And none of this was ever thought like this before
maybe it’s all a one off unique irreplaceable
Maybe you get exactly one shot through
that door

what

2.835 : 8/16/07 : Mark that Spot

X marks

No matter what I put down to mark that spot
after the fact I can only give what I’ve got
and these days I’m back to feeling too little too late
after every tired idea and worn out phrase
when the wheel comes round to the end of days
I’m ashamed to confess I rise and rise to that bait
I’m ashamed to say I’m like anybody else
I’m shortsighted and dumber than I’ve any right
I’m a sucker for the trumpet and the bells
I’m addicted to a certain time of night
Despite twenty years of working for the man
I’ve got some crazy notion about just what I can
get away with if I could just get a break
snag that idea brilliant from the ether
Find that statue of the goddess and grab what’s beneath her
Just win that spree and grab whatever I can take
It seems crazy I forgot where my treasure’s at
It seems to justify a little intervention please
I’m afraid I’ll end up taking any measures
that
will get me to that spot digging on my knees


what

2.834 : 8/15/07 : Better

halfway to nowhere

What would make it better
rejecting fear and shame?
the key to not
fearing exposure
is to simply own your name
if the thing was longer
and it dwelled on life and truth
would it counteract
that summer lost
that late walk in Duluth
I should have kicked them out
told them to talk to him
I should have told my friend to help himself
although his prospects were so dim
I should have said
nice to see you again
and took another bus
it all would have been better
but I couldn’t crunch
the Calculus
And what am I doing wrong now
not tending the small
slacking off by small degrees
slowly slipping off the ball
I said I hoped it would get better
soon and now its been ten years
or almost
you can almost hear
the grinding of
the tiny gears

what

2.833 : 8/14/07 : Little Monster

way before gaga, naturally

Little monster
deep inside
ashamed but there’s
no way to hide
the aftermath
of its rampage
another little
mess on the page

what

2.832 : 8/13/07 : What Else Besides

rtfm

What else besides a manual
of fear and attrition
besides failure and regret
and intimations of lost vision
crumple up the lingering
and hurl it in the trash
I’m not the least bit better
regardless how I burn and slash
I didn’t try hard enough
I didn’t stick to my guns
I didn’t use my clichés enough
I missed the mark by tons
I surely didn’t measure up
by any scale but one
I hauled myself up day by day
and toiled beneath the sun
too late to think persistence
is enough to raise these beats
above the level of mere novelty
and failing asses in the seats
it’s all an exercise
and this another mediocre lap
but I’ll keep pulling on it
up until I feel the snap

what

2.831 : 8/12/07 : Wednesday

dies Mercurii

3,022 : 5 ?



Hail Odin father of war
to this day no one knows
though
what that sacrifice was for
One eye to the well
What did the answer say?
disbelief will
strip you bare by
Wednesday
give me a fortnight
and I’ll get to naught
work equals spin
you know that’s all I’ve got
Would not have guessed
I’d have so much to pay
I’ll gladly pay off Caesar
by next Wednesday

what

830 : 8/11/07 : The Endless Axis of Song

just ask the axis

I better multitask
rather apologize than ask
permission to just get along
another step on
the endless axis of song
I thought I’d ask that guy
if I should just give up
I thought I’d ask again
could I give back this cup
never expected recognition
or recompense
confess I never thought
that it would make so little sense

what

bold as love

"Summer's End" finds us at the end of another volume of A Song A Day: so long, volume 2.5: The Creative, a.k.a. maintain the firm correctness of the superior man.

Tomorrow will see the beginning of volume 2.6: The Axis.

A third of the way through the crowdfunding experiment.  Plenty of room left in that crowd...

what

2.829 : 8/10/07 : Summer’s End

The storms of summer come at last
the lightning flash the thunder blast
the rains that took so long to come
So let me illustrate this sum
the spider on the thread of silk
ascends his line like all his ilk
another day I’ll let him live
for what the storms had come to give
Lacking coherence, common theme
given the solitude of a dream
given the storms that rule us all
the violent whirl the rains that fall
And summed up in a slow dissolve
the earth and how all things revolve
I gave thanks for the storms and rain
and all the summer’s end contains

what

2.828 : 8/9/07 : Scatter

crumbs tossed on the water, so to speak...

Nothing comes and
nothing comes
but anyway
I’ll take my crumbs
I waited too long
maybe or
I waited just exactly
enough
for
another day
soon starts by some light
me still going
ready to fight
nothing came
it didn’t matter
throw it down
and watch it
scatter



what

2.827 : 8/8/07 : Fantasy World

no, get closer to my fantasy

If I eschew the fantasy world
hitch my wagon firmly to the mundane
will I be less disappointed next year
will I feel any less pain
When the end came to the
Wizard’s journey
I just remembered that tune
I could have written
the words to that one
a handy verbal harpoon
but nobody asked me
plus I was seven
another world of fantasy
like as if I could call up
those long ago friends
and play those old tunes
oh down by the sea
like to believe it’s all
based in something
Some truth seed hidden and curled
tightly in green leaves and bound
with a grass blade
Somewhere in my
fantasy world

what

2.826 : 8/7/07 : It Doesn’t Matter

action cuts both ways, forsooth.

It doesn’t matter if it don’t feel right
It doesn’t matter
if it kept you up all night
You make it happen
You say this is it
the rest is action
nothing else means spit
It doesn’t matter if
it all seems the same
it’s no accident at times
it seems a game
there will be stumbles
there will be hard falls
there will be chasms
and high high walls
Just one thing matters
that you’re here and now
hold onto that
until you take your final bow


what

2.825 : 8/6/07 : Old Horse

throw a poor dog a bone

I’m a mottled dog
laid out in the sun
poorly socialized
I’ll bark at anyone
I’m an old old horse
no I can’t carry you
it’s probably the time
to end up boiled for glue
I’m a lizard babe
I press into the cracks
prefer to stay out of
all your beaten tracks
yeah I’m an insect now
ignore me crawling by
such a cliché some day
I’ll be a butterfly

what

2.824 : 8/5/07 : New Beginning

I'm so bad at self-promotion I forgot to keep it up for 3 days

3,015 : 13 ?



New beginning don’t
get old on me so fast
I remember everything so
why must I relive the past
If I didn’t sign up for this
where should I complain
I’ll file something formal
in the darkest corner of my brain
new beginning
did I spoil it from the start
is it a failure of science
or of art
a little bit of column B
a little bit of A
how about
I scratch it out
and start again, again:
what do you say

what

2.823 : 8/4/07 : Heart Worm

now with extra solipsism!

I’ll worm my way into your heart
I said I would right from the start
and when I’m nestled deep within
I’ll turn and start to eat again
Said to my heart, worm let me be
I’ve got to find my symphony
my masterpiece my coup de grâce
whatever fits underneath that umbrella
the worm said don’t look at me friend
I said it to the lotus at another end
I couldn’t be in you if you weren’t in me
how can I make it clearer let me see
I only go where I belong
to the heart of the matter the heart of the song
don’t carry baggage or host regrets
and can’t be caught by hook or nets
Some think I am a metaphor
I tell you I am so much more
in time when you see my true face
you’ll be amazed to find your place
not in the museum or the hall of fame
not an also ran but right out of the game
you’d be amazed you’re not alone
So many couldn’t find a heart of stone
and though you’re more than a place for me
to dwell
What else you might be I can’t tell


what

2.822 : 8/3/07 : No Portals

a door that will close in 26 days

There are no doorways
to other worlds
no portals no wormholes
nowhere to run
nowhere to hide
no thought that consoles
If we cannot do better
someday it will
do us in
and I it seems am
still
Am still!
Unready to begin

what

2.821 : 8/2/07 : Time Worm

slipping into the future...

The time worm just keeps
drilling through the apple
the winter dust that glitters
the fall leaves that dapple
maybe everything’s virtual
composed of light
it is pretty to think so
but they say the math won’t
work out right...
another week of worms
all gnawing at the tapestry
another stab at meaning
that comes out as sophistry
What good is science
at the mercy of the paradigm
and now the worm is telling me
there’s really no
such thing as time

what

2.820 : 8/1/07 : Better Than it Was

It's Rome, Baby!

What an unfortunate illusion
to believe because
you bully through
some busy work
that anything is
better than it was
Your resolutions all
are shattered
and like as if
it ever mattered
there’s the hard alarm
and you reduced
to
trying to do less harm

what