2.4257 : 12/28/16 : Prefer

Prefer not to

and since I'm

on my own nickel

I toss one off

to this wind

so fickle

what

2.4256 : 12/27/16 : To Clear the Air

To believe

to keep faith

that the better way

is knowable

that we could

get there

to trust

Someone's turning the lathe

by being smart

and voluble

I could do my piece

to clear the air

what

2.4255 : 12/26/16 : Smaller

Snap back from dumb dreams

now think smaller

please hold you're the

six billion eight first

caller in line

if you still need help

please give up

quicker

nobody changes anything

out out

brief flicker

If only I could just

be happy with that

if only but I'll

always be a

reaching cat

what

2.4254 : 12/25/16 : ALL

I want it all

so sue me

virtue

alse great wealth

to flow through me

long life

great health

up to the last minute

live to 140

big bed big house

die peaceful

asleep in it

and in between

hells yes

giant legacy

historic

majestic

set everybody free

what

2.4253 : 12/24/16 : Spirit

Kid's got the spirit

try not to hear it

like a grumpy old trout

ain't it what it's

supposed to be about?

get out the toys

the flashing lights

I'll get myself into

the spirit yet tonight

nothing bad happens

it's really all quite good

and if you haven't got

the spirit yet you

really should

and as I loop around

quite near it

I get very quiet:

then I hear it

what

2.4252 : 12/23/16 : One or Two

Got through

one or two

so many

more to come

and I'll forget

though I'm not dumb

the new

always rushes in

the blackbirds

and thrushes

win

what

2.4251 : 12/22/16 : Thread

It's by a thread

but this thread and me

go way back

many a day

when it feels the whole thing

has been all attack

the pinch

the twine

are old familiar friends

and it will be there

as I thread

new means and ends

what

2.4250 : 12/21/16 : Black Dog

Still me

and still tussling

with the black dog

still the day mask

still the thick fog

and I don't' want

to sing its song

so so long

so long

what

2.4249 : 12/20/16 : Dark Shots

Keep missing

these dark shots

prospect of the next day

gives me a hard case

of the Nots

but that's dead end

thoughts

I can ill afford

call it a bad job

and hope to

make restored

what

2.4248 : 12/19/16 : Presumed Retreat

I've got the fragility

fit only for contempt

never dare dodge

or claim a gram of flesh exempt

bear my symbolic stature

heaped with blame

mocked for the presumed retreat

but actually immune from shame

maybe even resemble it

too closely for comfort

want to sew a silk lining

on my obligatory hairshirt

no idea if I'm supposed to

read the book or not

Suppose in my presumed retreat

no matter what:

I'm a craven snot

what

2.4247 : 12/18/16 : Latest Blue

So I mounted a defense

against the latest

blue curve

whipped sidearm

at my head

and may I say

I little deserve

but that's never mattered

nor does it

this turn

all that matters

is to face it

and keep my

bearing stern

what

2.4246 : 12/17/16 : Never Good News

Too deep in the numbers

loosens up the screws

never a nice suprise

never good news

But these fugues

in the catacombs

are no cure at all

the sickness in these times

is running wall to wall

ready to bug out

ready to ditch

thinking just one time

let it go off without a hitch

what

2.4245 : 12/16/16 : THRONE

My throne of dominion

is strictly satrical

if ever it were heard of

it would be a miracle

can't be why I get up

though at times

it lets me down

and it's enough

if I still have

a few friends in this town

the spook police

will never try

to depose me

So there are a few

gifts still left in obscurity

and I get to hold court

on my own time

and leave it when

I like

Whatever bell may chime

what

2.4244 : 12/15/16 : Unite

better stand

better unite

because we're in

for a hell of a fight

and you that sit

at that high sumptuous table

you better watch out

for the willing and able

and you ones

kenneled for their attacks

you know you

better watch your backs

we will appear

at first light

and oh you'll hear of it

when we unite

what

2.4243 : 12/14/16 : No Fathoming

Stuck in the cracks again

the broken in betweens

Sometimes there seems a great

void from the last twelve

back to my teens

plenty of cracks in there

no fathoming

what fell through

somehow in all the wreck

it never came to me and you

maybe on the

flipside 'verse

they make a bright lattice

great and fair

shining a perfect light

on every seed that

we cast down there

what

2.4242 : 12/13/16 : Impossible

Plenty impossible

Seems to

contradict the theme

words I

laid down

like heavy cream

thick

and salubrious

in an age

turned venemous

like a light's

switch

praying for a

timely stitch

what

no more fight in my night

"Sack of Hammers" was the final song of Stalk II, volume 2.19 of Songs of Days.

Beginning tomorrow, volume 2.20, Anything is Possible

what

2.4241 : 12/12/16 : Sack of Hammers

Keep thinking I've painted

when I've only drawn a

picutre in my mind

maybe once inspiration

pretty well now

gnawed down to the rind

So these days

a sack of hammers

looking like a PhD

land of the free

Well kinda sorta

marginally

no more fight

in my night

So I'm dwindling

Someday I'll sift around

try to find the kindling

but here and now got to

Stop hammering at

this rock

yet unflawed

Unmoved

Such a crude harsh clock

what

2.4240 : 12/11/16 : Dash

Another dash

I've got no stomach for

but there's the end

and I can't quite

leave off my war

since for your

little talent

I brougth back

five thousand painted squares

just keep me on my legs

a couple score

and I'll bring you

five thousand more

and the measure of a man

When no damn body

cares

what

2.4239 : 12/10/16 : A Shot

Solve it all tomorrow

tonight take a shot

probably another miss

but I might come in hot

the epic poem

for another night

hold out for a different promise

hope's strand slender and sleight

what

2.4238 : 12/9/16 : A Lapse

Was gonna stand tall

but a lapse

Shot my steam

the little ups and downs

some days

make me want to scream

and just once

step into the same stream

but that's just

weakness

and a child's dream

what

2.4237 : 12/8/16 : Bank

I'd almost love

to wipe the memory bank

back about up to

just the last twenty

to be frank

blank all the kid stuff

first love

bullies brains

push and shove

get a pile of books

movies back the first time

and not drop a

day's rhyme

what

2.4236 : 12/7/16 : Come Through

Don't have to

always come through

Cop out fake it

chuck it break it

it'll grow back

always was so wack

still don't understand

what appears under my hand

what

2.4235 : 12/6/16 : Big Snow

We're all far too great

at staring down disaster

every life's one

and another after

after a while it all gets lost

a matter of scale

and so I think

this latest round may well fail

so science pulled the bacon out

again and again

but all the while it's

stoke the fire higher then

and I wish strange twisty

for a big snow

and if it isn't coming

well I just don't know

what

2.4234 : 12/5/16 : Finish

Ignore every finish line

the tale that makes me

pine and pine

no revolutions gonna strike

maybe next year

blank book

new bike

time passes slow

but years fall

like snow

wouldn't want to wish

things back

to long ago

but I'd go

For total recall

at the finish

maybe finally

scale that wall

what

2.4233 : 12/4/16 : Walls

Run into walls

each way I

turn my mind to

and that's on too

and what's to do

but grind through

one day ace

look ahead

it won't last

what you can get

because it's all gone fast

what

2.4232 : 12/3/16 : Posession

If I had posession

oh a thousand things

diamonds and baubles

sure all this

world's brass rings

I complicate

'tis my nature

can't escape the snare

of the nomenclature

but - oh:

If I had posession

be a new sheriff in town

make a name oh sure yeah

colorize

this big ugly brown

what

2.4231 : 12/2/16 : The Night Manager

Only civilization cares

I said it but it was a lie

because I care

and if you need someone

to manage your night

I might be passing by

the gremlin took my

meta mind

I had solid state back-up

take but a fire to mock me

entropy will always stack up

civilization

and I care

civilization

and I care

I won't get by

on the good old blank

stare

'cause next year

civilization

and I care

what

2.4230 : 12/1/16 : Tumble

Forget

going to tumble

right down

close eyes

to the ride

no renown 

no coin

no guide

and where I can't

tumble

I'll slide

what