2.554 : 11/8/06 : Enough

What will be enough
what could ever be enough
in this system in this mayhem
in this philosophy
money god theocracy
I tell myself a thousand
and I’m selling out
I tell myself a million
to go walkabout
will I ever really
stop thinking about
If I could marshal
my spirit
it could be a rout

what

2.553 : 11/7/06 : Poor Thanks

It seems a poor sort of thanks
a rush to catch up
shoved in sideways
shake dice in the cup
and toss anything
take whatever comes
vague promise tomorrow
will yield more than crumbs
will offer up more than
a moment aside
will offer the moon then
and offer the tide
Give thanks that are potent
give thanks that are well
and draw it all higher
well that’s what I tell

what

2.552 : 11/6/06 : Bucket

2,7423 : 70 ?



After the flood
buckets of mud
a growing galing tide
a pound of blood
before the dawn
stretch and yawn
try to shake the feeling
that I’m just a pawn
try to let go
let the wind blow
admit a thousand times
that I just don’t know
In time for the drought
a bucket of doubt
did I ever believe
I’d get it all worked out

what

2.551 : 11/5/06 : Try All

Try all possible
methods of inquiry
try all possible
attacks
the only thing between us and the void
is human industry
and there’s no way
to cover our tracks
how dull to try so little
politics and the church
how foolish when you need to chop
to only whittle
while you whistle in the dark
it all gets left in the lurch
try harder try
something different
make it new make it real
make it now
Otherwise it will all
pass with little incident
silent with a graceless
bow

what

2.550 : 11/4/06 : Or Deal

Should I try to go
the solo path
or deal with
the fury no hell hath
or deal with
the big machine
So many deals I made
sight unseen
I’m not a hermit by nature
though some might look askance
at my small assertion
that I’m trying to give
cooperation a chance
just wish I had a mentor
and a fellow on the march
to remind me of the
destination

what

2.549 : 11/3/06 : Pop

I never thought it would be
such an illusion
I never thought I’d be defined
by my confusion
I never thought it would
feel fit to pop
I never guessed it would be
So hard to stop
I can’t tell smart from dumb
any more
or come up with a decent reason
to get off the floor
I can’t decide if I should pop it
before things get worse
I can’t recall if it’s just bad luck
or a gypsy curse

what

2.548 : 11/2/06 : The Position

The position I staked
on the subject of jake:
One month nine days Free
not from today
don’t ask it’s crazy
I sacrificed all I had to art
and whatever spark
was left in my heart
gloves off teeth bared
anything not lost shared
I’ll hold my position
and spin until I’m dizzy
he isn’t such an easy
mark anymore is he?
And I assume
the position with a smile
feeling deep down
I have found
the miracle mile

what

2.547 : 11/1/06 : Efficiency

With the efficiency of
a cyanide shower
none of the evil
all of the power
I’ll slash slash through
the evidence of my disaster
stumble through the trials
like an august die-caster
It’s never really mattered
if it’s good or bad
when the yahoos figure that one out
they’ll know they been had
but when that shoe falls
I’ll be long gone
barefoot, hungry
still going strong
So don’t bother asking
what it’s for
I’ll just whip you up another
and tomorrow one more
maybe it's genius
or deficiency
but none can question
my efficiency

what

2.546 : 10/31/06 : Interstitial

Interstitial entry on the long way back
taking any opportunity to hack
elegant widgets
crazy kludges
anything to pass the time while it drudges
In between the stretch
and the break for working
pull another soft draft
off this fountain I’m jerking
they say all the magic
from here to Halloween
lives in the narrow places
that lie between
everything they call important
and the things that really hurt
between slaughtering the high hog
and losing your shirt

what

2.545 : 10/30/06 : Wrecker

I’m a wrecker
a dumb swinging ball
two one oh el bee ess
better watch where I fall
I can’t be a genius
can’t seem to get rich
so instead I am just
gonna up and
wreck this bitch
who cares if it’s good
who care’s if it’s complete
tomorrow and tomorrow
it’s all just a repeat
that dustbin of history
is hungry as hell
so I might as well
keep wrecking
till they ring that bell

what

2.544 :10/29/06 : Bone-Ache

2,735 : 62 ?



Bones ache like they’re
being powdered
if this pounding skull was
any louder it’d
Drive me senseless
I really thought it
would be simple
the briefest pause
the slightest dimple
Now look oops
ten years good bye
should I have held out
for a bigger piece
of the pie?
It’s just the bone-ache
talking
It’s just I’m so damn tired
it’s only that I hoped
it’s just the way I’m
wired
I’ll push past the ache once more
Still groping stupid for that door

what

2.543 : 10/28/06 : The Vig

This one’s the vig
excess fast
english on the dice
and how it all slips past
I’ve got this thing wrong
should slow down
the rolling
but I’m impatient
and I can’t stop
hearing that bell
tolling
A little action
just a margin
is all I ask
while I keep barging
into games
I’ve no place in
so far over my head
I can only spin
another wheel another reel
beg what I can’t borrow
the rest I’ll have to
steal

what

2.542 : 10/27/06 : In the Aftermath

In the aftermath
believe it or not
after the trial by ordeal
had beat the snot out of me
I had a notion
though I’d have rather had a plan
an inkling how I’d swing it all
finally outfox the man
the lead up had got
as bad as it’s gotten
and I know just how bad it is
I never have forgotten
and I’ll never forget this one
either while I live
it seems that in the aftermath
that’s all I’ve got to give
but really it’s quite simple
just a scribble on a scrap
and a notion to parlay it
right into a treasure map

what

2.541 : 10/26/06 : Screw Up

Another screw up
bollixed transmission
another match
don’t want
to betray our position
it seems we always gotta be
somewhere fighting
the romance
of the cluster bomb
is I admit inviting but
screw up your
courage your
indignation
screw up your
belligerence
we’re nothing if not patient
screw up; grab another form
and start the process over
while your still warm corpse
spins outraged between
pushing all that clover

what

2.540 : 10/25/06 : Horror Essence

Why does
that essence exist
why does it plague me
the horror the horror
what is says
and what it’s for
he was a
cynical cat all right
I could reel off
that sort of poetry all night
I tell myself
soon inspiration
the grace I imitated
crucial station
to station
I heard about it in a
book what irony
but it meant all the same
to me
I’m turning my back
on the horror essence
look at me
learning all my lessons

what

2.539 : 10/24/06 : Significance

I can’t tell you everything
that seems significant to me
and so it seems impossible
the information
ever shall be truly free
Sowed rot on rice
I ate its young
I found I saw
and spoke in tongue
no music could
release the wreck
or move the dial
one minute speck
and in that hole
I locate all the woe
and strife
but it balances each time
I contemplate
the knife

what

2.538 : 10/23/06 : Triptych

I pay special attention
to the latches
and the hinges
fool me twice a shame
to waste
a culling
and your cringes
I just wiped out
all of a bad week
a pause
a rush of
prostrate slack
Now I rally to my flag
and
wrench my banter back
on the left a hook
of solid gold
the right, illumed
the tale told
and right dead center
spread and pinned
the specimen
myself, I grinned

what

2.537 : 10/22/06 : Bridge

2,728 : 55 ?



I wait for the
perfected page
the sum of all
translations
soon knowing will not
matter
we’ll be left
with the cold equations
give me a bridge
a space of pause
a track across it
a set of laws
I don’t believe I
should ever need another
crazy to assert it so
but I have done
without my druthers
nothing but
what god had graced me
with, up top the ridge
I strode out on
the bridge


what

2.536 : 10/21/06 : Trilogy

I’m writing a trilogy
about
unicorns and
maidens from the sea
the stones, the rings,
the wands
the staves
I expect a
million dollars
and raves
I’ll throw in some skin
and some twist suspense
and demand not
half an hour’s
recompense
when it comes to that
the distribution gamble
I got a feeling
my big break
won’t be more than
preamble

what

2.535 : 10/20/06 : Sewn

What can I expect to reap
of what was sewn
So far I don’t
believe how much
has plain transformed
2 years, what’s grown
and honestly
what hasn’t
and what waits
and what’s in store
I probably sounded
ridiculous
up to my neck
and more more more

what

2.534 : 10/19/06 : Plan

I had some sort of plan
it did not pull through
I’m all lit up and
stoned to boot
then there’s you
laid out on your back
sawing up logs
hey hell so what
take the leash off the dogs
dedicate an hour
I could have wasted
to the spirit I declared
to the love I tasted
It’s a plan hey hey
it’s a calling
it’s an avocation no
idea what I’m stalling
I’m a man
always falling
caught below my station so
just planless ass I’m hauling
 
what

2.533 : 10/18/06 : Milk

With a firm grasp
and a quick pull down
oh baby yeah
milk that bone
what a sweet little hand
such a sweet soft demand
such a sweet little set
of skills to have grown
baby milk that bone
catch every drop
squat down on that bench
go go go and don’t stop
any step that was took
any bend any book
it’s just a mean
bait and switch
go and milk that bone bitch

what

2.532 : 10/17/06 : Solid One Love

One love solid one
run over
get a gun
rock solid, one love
bare knuckle no glove
righteous mother
left cross
left behind
no great loss
tussling on the
green grass
knock you cockeyed
on your ass
all branch
no dove
heavy solid
one love

what

2.531 : 10/16/06 : Soul Ache

Acts of contrition and faith
sat still and
accepted my place
Excuses worn as thin
as a wraith
and look at
the soul ache
On my face
It’s the real thing
my bitches
it’s a supernova star
I’m gettin’
too big for my britches
but wherever, whatever
there you are
like a tooth uprooted
like a stump that’s itching
Rock it back to the back of the arc
will you contemplate
or relate to this woo I’m pitching
I’m grabbing my heart,
smart, raging just like Tony Stark

what

2.530 : 10/15/06 : Dissected

2,721 : 48 ?



Particle transmit
solid code:
3-D transhelical
mother lode
once perfected:
the apparatus
dissected
or so I
in the hubris of
my planning
had projected
prior to the consult
contemplate the insult
on the flesh compliant
On one good word reliant
So I sighed and let it pass
another drop
in the half-full glass

what

2.529 : 10/14/06 : Partisans

I cursed both houses
from my parapet
fuck’s sake Mercutio
ain’t you dead yet
more fool I
caught up with means and ends
caught between you idiots
you partisans
So hard to concentrate
so many demands
so many opportunities
pass through my hands
so many many best laid plans
dripping from the mouths
of the partisans
No more no more let it lie
the message in my ear
the twinkle in my eye
find some niche
between para and trans
try to make my peace
with the partisans

what

2.528 : 10/13/06 : Work Faster

Work faster: night is coming down
work faster: night is coming
Oh my God oh my God
this disgraceful beat I’m drumming
work faster: dawn is pressing
work faster: dawn soon breaks
the light no ghostly shade
can tolerate
look how the firmament shakes
work faster because no one knows
how long they’ll have to work
before the fail safe blows
and the pent up pressure
envelops us in vapor
for sure the red tape
aftermath
will bury us in paper
but I’ll scrape the
barrel bottom
for one last disaster
set my sights
lock it
and just work faster

what

2.527 : 10/12/06 : Stealth Writer

Still stealth required
never been fired
good as but then
rules are rules
no: it never happened
stealth writer creep along
sneak in another song
between all the dull leaves
of necessity
with nothing up my sleeves
I say it’s ethical
I step up when
I feel the pull
I’ve got a ways
to battle back again
but to put it in perspective
I’m nothing if not reflective
it might be absurd
but that is no sin

what

2.526 : 10/11/06 : Scatter

Dense with vapors clouded view
wood spirit solid phase see oh two
sublimation saturation
felt, projection
I’ll leave the rest to your imagination
tracked across the chamber’s span
dense as iron unseen by man
known only by the trace it leaves
forged in hearts of dying suns
or so it’s said and he believes
watch them scatter
minute to minute
damn lucky we’ve got
an atmosphere now i’n’it
going on just all the time
detected or not
the instrument is crude
but we make do with what we’ve got

what

2.525 : 10/10/06 : Backwards Again

Getting it backwards again
cart before horse
the horse eats the hay
and it all goes
nowhere of course
and yet again
full of sterling intent
I throw my back into
straightening the column bent
the bend sinister
the gloria dei
do as I do please
and not as I say
I call it progress
albeit in reverse
It’s only slightly better
Still it could be worse

what

2.524 : 10/9/06 : Rack

Oh oh oh they’ve
limbered up the rack again
oh my joints
my wrists my ankles
and my skin
what do they expect
to get out of me
after all this time
it’s not as if I
haven’t copped
to every type of crime
Dr. Rhetoric
Said it was all
just a mistake
I only had to submit
and wait for the
cure to take
sorry for my obstinacy
to make you break my back
sorry for my preference
my allegiance to the wrack 
 
what

2.523 : 10/8/06 : Tiny Brother

2,714 : 41 ?



Somewhere between victim
and victory
Pardon my continuum
my one two three
still listening to lovely
but I’ve met my other
my little
mentor
my little tiny brother
Yet to make
a man of what I am
like every time I said
that I was ready
and began
what was to be
has been by now
and what’s to be
could sever
any vow
According to hypothesis
but I instead stand hard
on this

what

2.522 : 10/7/06 : Brutal Clarity

Brutal clarity
lay it out sock it up
throw out universals
all that
smack about the
half full cup
the cup that
runneth over
the cup you’re deep into
I used to love that
tumbler
heavy glass and cobalt blue
so dark and heavy
couldn’t call the thing
transparent
brutal clarity
that I recall
I smashed the hell out of it

what

2.521 : 10/6/06 : Paraphrase

The opposite of improvise
is paraphrase
try to convince the shrink
that it’s not just a phase
try to kill the vibe
that I’m a reprobate
You think you’ve got the answer
just how do you rate
hear tell that what he said
it’s all vanity
I felt he wrote it special
meant it just for me
the egocentric fallacy
I think it means something
what I feel and think of
what makes my brass bell ring
I wouldn’t dare presume
to carry that to you
to try to make it universal
even so I claim it true

what

2.520 : 10/5/06 : Beyond Stoked

I’m standing in the tender
stoking up the ancient boiler
racing over hills and courses
I’m on a bender
where there’s fighting I’m a spoiler
beyond stoked,
thirty three hundred horses
and the stove is blazing white
and the coal’s up to my hips
my gleaming shovel my shining dome
Eradicate regret and spite
hesitation slops and slips
stoke it up and bring it home

what

commentary on the acts

I believe this song was a response to Justin Timberlake's offer to "bring the sexy back".   I don't know that it aged so well, but there it is.  The virtue of the song of the day (sometimes if feels like the only one) is that there is forever something new to cover its quotidian sins.

In other news the tagging project is just a damn mess like nearly every amateur effort at epistemology.  I've decided to put a hard limit at 200 tags and if (when, if I'm being honest) I hit that I'm going to have to make some decisions.  As it is what I'm getting out of the frequency-weighted tag display is that because I use the language, imagery and intellectual gestalt of religion as a sort of multi-purpose tool for representational lyricism the "religion" tag is about as useful as, say, a "symbolism" tag for a blog about literary criticism.

what

2.519 : 10/4/06 : Take it With You

Get the hell out of my house
you son of a bitch
you son of a bitch
you son of a bitch
get the hell out of my house
you son of a bitch
and take the sexy with you
take it with you
when you go
don’t you look back
or dare to think you know
I’ll turn you into a pillar of salt
erect you as a cautionary
spectacle of thought
do turn you face away
and take your fucking posse too
get the hell out of my house
and take the sexy with you

what

2.518 : 10/3/06 : Long Division

The cracks go all the way
to the center of the sphere
to where the molten
gyroscopic magnet lurks
it’s not built to
run forever ain’t you heard?
Long dead you’ll be
long dead I’ll be
I’ll bet you any
amount of money
we won’t be back
by 2283
put your money down on
put your money down on
the long division
that drops all
the way to the center
of the sphere
it won’t spin forever
ain’t you heard
what you new here?


what

2.517 : 10/2/06 : Make Us Cry Again

All your challenges
to theodicy
are based on the assumption
that God is nice
I’ve had a choice
ever since I can remember
I hafta assume the time came
I agreed to pay the price
Go on, you omnipotent bastard
Go and make us cry again
We just keep coming
and coming
and coming
I guess that you might guess
just what tune it is I’m humming

what

2.516 : 10/1/06 : Approach

2,707 : 34 ?



A different approach
from the freak de jour
stories of atrocity
nobody’s poor
nobody’s ugly
all about power
wrap it up wrap it up
only got an hour
poison in the ears
poison in the eyes
somebody plays a body
some nobody dies
the odd detail to make you squirm
effect the danse macabre
another hour of prime time
another poison barb

what

2.515 : 9/30/06 : Darkness

Still vulnerable
Still susceptible to
still not immune
to the
fear of the darkness
allow it not
to interfere
from here to there
from there to here
however it presents
in starkness
contrast: finality
I roll through all
dynamically
for now
adept in darkness
I pass nonchalant
record the whole
dull musing
in the standard
blocky font

what

2.514 : 9/29/06 : Crawl

Crawl through the thicket
crawl through the mud
I’m at it again
You’d have thought I’d have
got it out of my blood
I’m on a crawl
A push through a recent fall
I’ve got to push
but the treasure
is to have it all
Do you believe it?
Are you convinced?
By these strange ciphers
all the words I minced?
If my virtual progress
has slowed to a crawl
my current state of flow
could make your mommy bawl

what

2.513 : 9/28/06 : In a Minute

In a minute you can decide
to commit acts of decision or deicide
everyday that passes
I polish my glasses
and nervously clear my throat
raise a meek hand
and gently demand
that I’m gonna hafta rock this boat
in a minute I shall declare
the answer to why this is neither here nor there
it’s not on any map
So you better cut the crap
and start working with your feet
I work for fifty cents a day
writing code or making hay
so you simply cannot compete

what

introducing volume two point four

Thus endeth volume three of the second song of the day project, entitled Persist.  Tomorrow we'll begin volume four: Not Another Bridge.

what

2.512 : 9/27/06 : Selling Water for its Weight in Gold

Selling water for its weight in gold
pretend its kosher
you cannot deny you’re cold
When you know how much we need it
here’s my warning
mind you heed it
A curse upon the business classes
another on the complacent masses
a curse on every artist who capitulates
Now watch my silver hammer
as it smashes through your altered states

what

2.511 : 9/26/06 : (Selling Water for its Weight in Gold) Overture

Wearing thin and getting old
clichés worn to the glow of fool’s gold
Good intentions heard that one before
A mirror meets a window meets a door
An overture of a sketch of a notion
Such a small bucket such a large ocean
forgotten all the movements I imagined
forgiven and forgiven and still I sinned
The story of the journey, the story of the bell
the story of the forest  and the story of the well
the story of the tale and how it was told
of the man who sold them water for its weight in gold
the rising action the parabola
the gripping climax and its dénouement
the people as they carried it six thousand years
revealing every mystery as it appeared
I’m weary of the argument inside my head
of silently refuting all the words he said
of biting on my tongue all the live long day
And so I say and so I say
I’m going to pass over this bitter cup
I’ve had enough I’m going to give it up
it will never be finished I’ll never be done
I will never understand
I’ll never be the one

what

2.510 : 9/25/06 : Second Aspect

In the second aspect of the second sight
sketching in the trenches
sorting out the wreck all night
the exhibition:
the purpose statement of the mission
dismantle and recreate
stuff your modern muse into a suit
and force them to administrate
The fundamental aspect
was the party of the first stroke
the koan of the painter was
a running joke
the brush moves the ink
the ink moves the brush
only the mind is truly moving
what a riddle
what a rush
the final aspect was
all empty; all full
none could understand it
though all could feel its pull
but in the second aspect
we all became mired
contemplating Buddha’s brood
and the illusions that they sired

what

2.509 : 9/24/06 : Jipped on Fries

2,700 : 27 ?



Burger Queen
Burger bitch
I’m on to your bait and switch
But I got
jipped on fries
I could not believe my eyes
As if it wasn’t
bad enough
you chose you bitch
to short change my stuff
jipped on fries
jipped on fries
a little part of your faith
in people dies
die, the light in my eyes
not only do I have to
work here
but I got jipped on fries

what

2.508 : 9/23/06 : Take No Jive

85, 85, 85
Take no jive, take no jive, take no jive
go to college, go to college, go to college
gain new knowledge, gain new knowledge, gain new knowledge

what

2.507 : 9/22/06 : Because Art is Good

Not for your own good
not as evidence of faith
not for father or son
or the holy wraith
but just for the answer
that must call your bluff
just because art is good
and good is enough
not to separate the truth
or the wheat from the chaff
not to put the eternal period
on the divine paragraph
but to let you know I’m with you
even when it all gets rough
just because art is good
and good is enough
because souls were made to ascend
because hearts were made to love
because the whole damn universe
fits the pattern hand in glove
just to generate more eternal stuff
I say art is good and good is enough

what

2.506 : 9/21/06 : Psycho Dynamic

Tigers is tigers
fear itself is plenty to fear
and the point to panic
and the Psycho Dynamic
is there’s nothing and nowhere
but now and here
instilled by a crisis
instigated by an error
the snowball rolled down the hill
the ever more bitter pill
bred a simulacrum of terror
virtual is real
all things visible, invisible
still recall that you beat it
when you chose not to feed it
and bowed to the self, indivisible

what

2.505 : 9/20/06 : Hammer of Dad

One eye clean
one eye mean
His eyes California gray-blue-sea-green
Hammer in hand
So much we’ll never understand
This nail’s head is where the strike shall land
What you could have had
you’d have to call him good not bad
But you are more than a stroke of the hammer of dad
Still the strike leaves its mark
this is no walk in the park
and the striking’s rhythm
leads both to and from the dark

what

2.504 : 9/19/06 : Make Your Own Souvenir

There’s no there there
no matter where you go you’ll end up here
make your own path;
do the math
make your own souvenir
I followed the sign
it said “go by train”
with the paradox shocks
riling up my brain
it was an ill fated journey
an unlooked for leap
and it gave birth to a splinter
that got buried deep

what

2.503 : 9/18/06 : Dragged Back to the Sea

Maybe it may
it may be
the whole of our ilk
is being dragged back to the sea
walkers crawlers
flyers too
oh mother are we
being carried back to you
loss of limbs
and growth of fins
no history could ever keep
track of it
yet it may be
yet it may be
it all is crumbling
back to it
What use are we
upon land
cause a lot of trouble
make a lot of noise and
I couldn’t be bothered
to worry about our fall
whether we’re being
dragged into the sea at all

what

2.502 : 9/17/06 : Determinist

2,693 : 20 ?



If it wasn’t all determined
from the very first
whatever that means
this stuff goes from bad to worst
if there’s such a thing as choice
if the future is not fixed
there must be something missing
in this science thing we’ve mixed
they’ll probably label me
an occultist
It seems the dim alternative
to being a determinist
I don’t believe at all
in the supernatural
I’m a big supporter
of the evident and factual
but I’ve tangled with the mystical
I’ve been stumped by the occult
I can’t deny a limit
where my reason must revolt
where what cannot be understood dwells
understanding must cease
till the mighty lathe of heaven
finally gives us all release

what

2.501 : 9/16/06 : Picture Books

I’ll sit on the floor and
read my picture books
so much to wonder at
to sit and look
the day will come
to leave almost all behind
today I won’t worry
about what tomorrow will find

what

2.500 : 9/15/06 : Archipelago

This is my Galápagos
I sailed to where what I wanted most
was to be found
along a chain
of discrete
parcels of cleansing pain
I don’t need a theory of
theodicy
I couldn’t do without
suffering on this odyssey
and each furthermost
point I go
along my archipelago
I know discovery is close
and trembling for my daily dose
I’ll scrawl a pronouncement on the wall
It’s not going to be like anything
you ever saw at all

what

2.499 : 9/14/06 : Three Strokes

The first stroke brilliant
unassailable
taken without fear or hesitation
with all force available
Draw back and press
the advantage
See how I have mastered this
propensity for rantage
simply by not asking
what it’s good for anymore
if the cup is overflowing
it must spill out on the floor
third stroke: final killing
the violence merely metaphor
the victim fully willing
No apologies for storming through the door
of course it’s far from perfect
next week there’ll be seven more

what

2.498 : 9/13/06 : The Ways

Conservation reclamation generation
the holy trinity
of sufficiency
what I keep and what I make
what I grow or trade or take
the ways are three
how much more simple can it be?
there is no scarcity
there is no lack
welcome to the heresy
that’s still holding us back
conservation
reclamation
generation
the triad of the wise
the cornucopia of wild surmise

what

2.497 : 9/12/06 : The Path of Three

Oh path oh path of three
will you not show yourself to me
Built on strength on discipline
And the whipcord of hunger
for the journey to begin
The path is long but the map is brief
I’ll let this versling stand as an aperitif
Sure it’s been said a million times before
but as always in this case
it seems less might be more

what

2.496 : 9/11/06 : Every Soul

I have no favorites I have no days
I have no paradigm to shift
Every soul commends itself to me
Every planet I strive to lift
Every day that passes by
another hundred fifty thousand die
And it seems insane to ask why
I’ve got no point I’ve got no politics
the timing is coincidental
I say a prayer for every soul
and try to keep from going mental
It’s really not a game to me
I try to learn I try to see
fortune so cruel and fate so free
I don’t want to lose me or mine
I’m scared of it as the next one
clear it matters, every last soul
germ or weather car or gun
I try to wrap my head around
though all must end up in the ground
so much harder than I make it sound

what

2.495 : 9/10/06 : At Least

2,686 : 13 ?



What is the least possible
this human race can do
they say we could destroy the earth
I wonder if it’s true
I know we’ve got the power sure
to rip matter asunder
I know we’ve got enough piled up
but really still I wonder
if we could get it organized
and really get together
to really do it properly
to turn it all to glass or whether
we’d make a half job of it
like we do with so much
seems like at least we could do
enough to make it moot as such

what

2.494 : 9/9/06 : Interruptus

Lyricus interruptus
thread lost again
clichés unpacked
all I’ve got now man
been a long day home slice
feel it’s no excuse
whatcha gonna do though
really what’s the use
someday it all shall be revealed
the false veneer of it unpeeled
at how I lapsed
and how I reeled
Make of it what you will
I make of it a bitter pill

what

2.493 : 9/8/06 : Monster of Ire

What a titanic waste
this monstrous tower of ire
ten thousand pricks to kick against
smoke that reveals no cleansing fire
did I harness strength, discipline
for this unseemly tide
am I a helpless leaf in it
taken for the cliché ride
Won’t waste more good ink on it
good feelings after bad
It’s just weak humanity
a moment that I had

what

2.492 : 9/7/06 : Human Kind

So: the fat Korean buddha
guitar player said
what kind are you?
the human kind
all I am all I do
now looks back
four times four
a hurricane of water
swear it feels like more
what kind am I
the human kind
in bone in blood in
sinew, muscle, mind
Be kind be kind
love thy bro
It might take a thousand years
or maybe more
but I still believe
we could make it shine
raise it to the level
of the human kind

what

2.491 : 9/6/06 : The Great Stream

In a dream only it was a great stream
in the world that was
it was a ditch man made
nevertheless it was
the water of childhood
Compare it to the first I knew
the great Pacific bone and sinew
Still recall the plunge the fall
So far away but hey it’s all good
Crossing the great stream
Leaving behind the sins of the father
balancing on the crooked beam
done it so many times why do I bother
Cast the coins cast the stalk
you know me baby I’m all talk
throw the turtle shell in the fire
You know me babe always
right under the wire
crossing the great stream
I’ll eat the blame leave my father’s
legacy pristine
crossing the great stream
How’s that for a message?
How’s that for a meme?

what

2.490 : 9/5/06 : Direct, Current

Direct, current
straight to the point
drive it in with all my force
it breaks off in the joint
warned to learn to follow through
I never learned
to pull my punch
so go ahead and make light
let’s see you laugh
when I eat your lunch
Someday it will all
be revealed
like some black vein of coal
will it still be so little known
and what will be my goal
but still today I only pray
to keep it current
be direct
learn to live without recognition
money fame support respect

what

2.489 : 9/4/06 : Hope Does Not Lie in the Future

There’s no there, there
eternally we ride the second hand
not one beat ahead of the game
and one beat behind
is pure fantasy land
hope does not live in the future
it is all and only here and now
You’ll find your hope or not as you will
Son of lepton daughter of Tao
Faith is an action
it’s not a state of mind
stepping out to the unknown
unpreconceived as to what you will find
what’s true has got nothing to do
with what’s inside my head
Faith’s my declaration of that
milksop crumb of daily bread
Love me baby do not listen to the bell
that tolls for me for you for him
I’ve damned that bad noise
Straight to hell
love is the greatest love is the greatest
lotus in the muddy pool
Hope does not live in the future
And for the present I’m faith’s fool

what

2.488 : 9/3/06 : The Future of 3 Part 3

2,680 : 7 ?



Dream big, dream bigger
Are you feeling me
feeling me
yo, hey
I figure that you
think you know what I
got to say
I was going to change it up anyway
See it all, see all the world
why not go all together
Only takes another
Way of thinking
and a keen eye for the weather
defying every augury
I knew him well he was a friend to me
And now he’s in the earth you see
And never will he know
This mighty legacy
But that is the future
as always it must be
Only remains a fragment
but we carry it
the future of 3

what

2.487 : 9/2/06 : The Future of 3 Part 2

Five year plan title
The future of:
3 pages mission
vision
goal there was
Had to admit
there was some
chuckling at the gall
said:
Work
hunger
discipline
& that was all

what

2.486 : 9/1/06 : The Future of 3 Part 1

From a flashpoint of sudden sullen anger
checked the spark he saw the danger
from that moment all evolved
first thought: best thought: problem solved

This is the piece for you my love
this is the innovation
this is the resolution of a better way
this is the visionary revelation

It sounded better on paper true
but the sincerity ran through and through
the deal was sealed with sweetness and a smile
Watch this space don’t touch that dial

All I ever wanted was to have a place
Never gave much thought to getting rich
Or saving face
All I really needed was to give Caesar’s Due
So I could get back to reality, me, he, you

The future of three in this moment
Awakening the dynamo that long was dormant
Simply was awaiting the final piece
puzzle no more now I shall be released

what

2.485 : 8/31/06 : The Future of the Past

Some believe they
understand the
things that went behind
no amount of
record keeping
stills the doubt in my mind
the future of the past
is surely to be
misremembered
before the corpse is cold
the old guard experts
have dismembered
and laid its chunks
in jars of chloroform
so neatly labeled
the future train
comes barreling
the whole affair is tabled
believing history is bunk
we are indeed doomed to repeat
God help us when some
new Orator
brings us to our feet

what

2.484 : 8/30/06 : Back and Forth

Experience runs backwards and forth
I’ll drive it West by North by North
The Past every distorted by memories’ lies
The future always dazzled by the sun in your eyes
Stranded in the now I must navigate both ways
Janus faced Odysseus steer blindly through the haze
stuff my ears with wax and lead and lash me to the wheel
deep down I want to hear their song to find out how I’ll feel
Poised thus in the center and revolving on a pin
I’m sure that you’ll agree I’m an uncommon specimen
I haven’t got an ounce of proof I’ll ever pull it off
but as long as I am standing do it better or don’t scoff
I spend far too much time up late pacing forth and back
Pondering the way forward this glacial slow attack
always say that day is over ready once again
nothing’s ever over nothing ever starts or ends
 
what

2.483 : 8/29/06 : Tribute

Is this tribute? Recognition
automatic product of cognition
am I asserting a sovereign right
all I know is I’m a raver
I can go all night
twelve thousand seven hundred eighty five days
that’s all: move on
And the band plays
Even so I have to mark the spot
take a moment to give thanks for what I’ve got
It only comes but once a year
look for me next time I’ll be here

what

2.482 : 8/28/06 : The History of the Ivory Tower

I hated it from the start
I hated it at the end
I’m so glad I don’t have to pretend
anymore
walked through that door
forever
The ivory tower
I thought somehow would be
my place of power
but something else is singing to me
I can see the eyes
the mind going if I only knew
he said you better get out now
well if I only knew
In fact I knew
but it was something that I could not do
It ended with a dream
There was a funeral of sorts I suppose
I remember corridors
horrible rooms
old flames, yes one of those
I took the best advice that
I could find
left the tower with what
was left of my mind

what

2.481 : 8/27/06 : Retract

2,672 : 24 ?



No one can retract
a statement anymore
cheap abundant memory
dragged with it the one way door
So I have no option
but to stand by what I say
I think I better watch it then
more closely from this day

what

2.480 : 8/26/06 : Swift As

Change up rearrange up
Swift as, swift as
Make it, if you have to, fake it
drift past, drift past
smooth as glass
raw as silk
clean as blood
and whole as milk
Swift as, swift as
Put up get a foot up
long as, long as
Glancing off a strange romancing
strong as, strong as
bold as death
dark as dawn
long as a heartbeat
good as gone
swift as, swift as
swift as, swift as

what

The problem with labels

A couple of forays worth into the application of labels (as Blogger refers to tags) and I decided I better move the cloud display further down the sidebar because it was clearly going to rapidly get out of hand.

The problem as always with labels is that there are so very many things, and the map that could supply every detail of the terrain would have to be as big as the territory.  So you end up with a handful of drastically recurring objects because they happen to be so broadly defined or general followed by a massive scrum of overly specific one-offs.  I guess time will tell.  It's less of an issue of course in a case like this where the labeling is pretty much just a parallel work of art.  When it is supposed to be functional these problems represent real obstacles.  In the real world of say biological taxonomy actual disputes over where lines are drawn, or whether a particular label represents over-specificity is a regular occurrence.  Classification is useful but on some level always artificial.

When you start to weight stuff new issues arise.  The meta tag I'm using here is a good example.  It's simple function is to label the non-song posts - the posts about the blog itself (not to be mistaken with the solipsism tag, which is used for when I refer to the song of the day project within the song itself, an occurrence I fear I will find to be all too common).  "Meta" posts are by a very great margin the minority on this blog, but because the tag is unambiguous and consistently applied it already carries a rather high weight in the tag cloud.  Somewhere out there there is a whole series based on Dante's Inferno - and it's horrible! Unreadable!  But for that sole exercise I expect the hell tag is always going to loom large in the cloud once I reread (ugh) and label that series.  Oh well, I guess it is what it is.  I can just be glad I don't have contextual advertisements in it anymore, the heavy weight of the hell and religion tags would probably attract an unsavory element.

I'm hoping getting to a more representative sample of the songs labeled will see legitimate common themes arising in the songs will play this down by and by - in many of the seemingly obscure labels I've come up with so far I'm anticipating motifs, themes and personal jargon I know will arise repeatedly as I continue through the lyrics.  The problems of redundancy and over-specificity are harder to know what to do with (at this point I'd invite certain of my compatriots to enjoy the opportunity to suggest the redundancy of having separate tags for religion, mythology, and superstition...)

So the evolving tag cloud is going to be an ongoing element of interest to me, at least...

what

2.479 : 8/25/06 : Discipline

Rise to rock the boat again
declare an agenda fueled by discipline
mark a mark as black as ink
it’s harder harder than you think
try to learn all the phenomena
try to craft the cure for the common blah
discipline without obedience
trying to get the master to smack me off the fence
trying to get as hard as iron
trying to prove this time it’s my turn
I rise to meet a challenge bold
to end the day another story told
trying to start the honest fire
drag you all into my quagmire
I could run for hours like this
can’t believe there’s much I’d miss
but even for the disciplined
the planet plowed its track and spinned
the time to rest must come at last
another day given to the past
save discipline for another day
another word another game to play

what

rereading project

I've decided to spend some of my time here and there rereading all the songs from the start and start adding labels so I can get all taggy and cloudy and stuff with my sidebar.  I may from time to time interject a little commentary on the process.  Follow along when you have a moment or two and add your own insights.  It's all leading up to the launch of Parliament and Empire (aka Secret Project), which proceeds albeit at glacial pace.

what

2.478 : 8/24/06 : Soul Trap

I’m dreaming about the soul trap
I was daydreaming about the mind tap
I was imagining all we needed was gold
I was watching myself getting old
I imagined an aquarium
That he’d survived the drag race
from the planetarium
How I used to want to be wild like him
only for me it was one after another
copycat stars
progressively more dim
The thousand faces of the soul trap
from the slate up to the
navi-holographic mind-map
Sorry guess that doesn’t exist yet
give me fifteen minutes on that missed bet
it’ll show up at the five and ten
yet another proof of my almighty pen

what

2.477 : 8/23/06 : The Gap Closed

The filthy cheating
serial
shows you the outcome
but does not tell
how it ever came about
we closed the gap
nothing else to say about it...

what

2.476 : 8/22/06 : At the Gap

It turned out that we’d only
dreamed about it
now to imagine we once
lived without it
yawning out
impassible
impossible
malignant and uncrossable
At the gap
and gaping baffled
longingly recall past
glasses, half full
bridgeless, earthbound
basically stumped
we shut our eyes
and screamed
and jumped

what

2.475 : 8/21/06 : Backwards is Earth

Technology is slipping
at an exponential pace
reverting back to sticks and stones
and dim dawn of the human race
soon again to be simian
swinging from a tree
devolving over untold years
the calendar is over see
no one knows the mechanism
everything’s reversible
backwards is earth
in this alternate
speculating versical
life disappears into the soup
that ever gathers heat
The moon gets knocked back into it
So silent and discrete
and all is drawn into the sun
which flickers to a near event
in graveyard of another star
this siren message heaven sent

what

2.474 : 8/20/06 : The Birth of Pleasure (The Seven Labors of Psyche 7)

2,665 : 17 ?



And nine months after
this immortal cup you give me
When he wiped the sleep away
after choosing to forgive me
As if wanting to see his face
was really such a crime
But let that one pass by
and so again
after nine month’s time
After War’s wife left her grudge
to dance at our affair
and Zephyr came one more time
to spirit us from there
I shuddered in my last labor
one elemental morn
And in an endless timeless
moment
Our
Pleasure was born

what

2.473 : 8/19/06 : Buying Beauty in Hell (The Seven Labors of Psyche 6)

Consigned to visit hell to bring a goddess beauty
Counseled by a tower doing double duty
Sent below bewitched and fasting
hoping this payment will be lasting
Avoiding the error of Persephone
Only to fall prey to covetous epiphany
You’d think these Greeks would learn
To stay out of the magic boxes
Particularly on the far side
of the shore where Charon’s dock is
I opened it true but the beauty was not there
Only something dark and swirling
Causing me to stare
And felt a soulless something
Staring back from the trackless deep
And fell into and fell into
and fell into a dreamless sleep

what

2.472 : 8/18/06 : The Waters of Styx (The Seven Labors of Psyche 5)

The waters of Lethe make you forget
The waters of Lourdes heal the faithful
But the waters of Styx and Cocytus
Can destroy you if you are not careful
The gap where the deep fall descends
surmountable to no man
plummets to the trackless depth
deep within a fearsome chasm
And Psyche plunges into despair
so see the task impossible
and bitterly decried the fate
that set her to the path implausible
but the great eagle came to her
carried on the crafty Zephyr
another friend unlooked for
on the wings of chance and weather
old Aphrodite gnashed her teeth
at all her plans unravelling
but set her mind and so contrived
poor Psyche’s cruelest traveling

what

progress report

Been a while since the last graphical assessment.  I'm on the 15th notebook of series two and currently the backlog transcribing is close to wrapping up number 5.  "And miles to go before I sleep".  Until I close the gap it's all just sitting there, being a discreet collection of unique and basically irreplaceable objects in space, which worries me but it gets done when it gets done: transcription occurs on my dime, naturally.

When it's time to transcribe today's song I always tediously end up searching 2-15 and then have to wait a minute for the Mac to figure out that I'm not asking it to do a calculation for me but actually looking for a word processing file.  Open there at the top of the stack is its physical avatar that now usually just slightly predates its multiply-backed-up digital ascension.  According to current statistics a song occupies on average a little under 2K of memory.  Comparable to the amount of RAM in the Apollo Guidance Computer, or so I am led to believe through extremely cursory research.  I could cut this down a lot if I just saved them as plain text, which would be just fine as there is no formatting in the transcription.  And so it goes.  Push On, Andromachene.

(all fifteen are visible in the stack if you count carefully)

what

2.471 : 8/17/06 : Gathering Wool (The Seven Labors of Psyche 4)

Without magic new or old
what’s gotten might be spun to gold
Heed the warning of the overgod
All before who sought to tame
these sheep are slowly
turning into sod
Thus turned aside from the obvious approach
contemplating how their territory to broach
Simply wait until they’re asleep
and thus gather the
castoffs of these
slumbering golden sheep
gods don’t need gold no, neither wool
It’s obvious by now
She’s playing poor Psyche
for a fool
but as a whole world rushes to her defense
she just might make it
gathering wool
left snagged
on that barb wire fence

what

2.470 : 8/16/06 : Dividing Grain (The Seven Labors of Psyche 3)

It’s all an allegory don’t you know
dividing grain
how this thing started, yo
And if I’ve mentioned
Ceres Demeter before
You know it’s just that everything’s
Connected
what was called myth
I just call a story
I was just joking when I
said it was an allegory
yet I see a lot
I must admit
in a mixed bag of grain
by an ant dissected

what

2.469 : 8/15/06 : Unmasking the Serpent (The Seven Labors of Psyche 2)

Jealousy and envy are sisters:
Man that lamp oil leaves behind blisters
They’ve been saying that you married a snake
with a child on the way is that a chance you
wanna take?

You must admit it was a strange arrangement
And natural curiosity that
led to our estrangement
If you seemed too good to be true
If I just couldn’t resist the chance
to take a look at you

If you’d only followed rules
you’d agreed to
If you’d only believed I could need you
Did you make a mistake
or did you love me on purpose
Do we try to make amends
or let these mortal ends usurp us?

what

468 : 8/14/06 : Leaving Home (The Seven Labors of Psyche 1)

2,659 : 11 ?



Destined for no mortal lover dressed in mourning shroud
Set upon a mountaintop, wreathed in icy cloud
Waiting for the west wind to ensnare enchant set free
victim of goddess jealousy: this is what home means to me
Same bed same window waking
to same light same plate fast breaking
Same dress same shift same chair
same needlework same combs in same hair
everyday and everyday and all and always waiting
finally carried away the west wind my breath baiting
leaving home

what

2.467 : 8/13/06 : Guess What I Did

While others ignored I wrote a song
While some abhorred I wrote a song
While a few scoffed I wrote a song
It pissed me off but I wrote a song
while my heart broke I wrote a song
I worked and spoke while I wrote a song
I love you kid this won’t take long
guess what I did I wrote a song
Because the sun rose I wrote a song
Obsessive I suppose I wrote a song
Spirit’s willing and the flesh grows strong
And stale or fresh I’ll write a song
Day by day I wrote a song
The toll I pay is to write a song
And when ten thousand days are gone
God help me I pray
I’ll probably write a song

what

2.466 : 8/12/06 : Bootstrap 9

Work my way to pulling up on
bootstrap nine
no smoke no smoke no fire I’m
feelin fine
Make a list and check it
ten thousand times
if it reads it rhymes
next stop bootstrap nine
am I going to get a break
at last today
the best laid plans so often
gang aft agley
But it’s always now or never
So I’m forging ahead
I’m alive not dead
So lace it up on bootstrap nine

what

excuse our mess

Because the Jonathan Hamlow Media Empire listens to its fanbase it very recently became clear that it was time to undertake a mess I've been avoiding for a long time, namely converting all of my legacy blogs to Blogger's new* template paradigms.  I've been avoiding it because it's going to initially strip out much of the template customization I've created for the blogs, which I will have to manually restore.  On the other hand, it should make it much easier to add new features to the blogs and to generally improve my ability to publish and share.  So please excuse the mess, as they say, while things get wonky for a while, and keep an eye on things - you might even let me know what you think about the changes as they occur.

*new-ish; I've been avoiding this for a LONG time...

2.465 : 8/11/06 : Ahead

Though grievously
behind on sleep
I’m gonna get ahead
of the curve so steep
so deadly easy
to fall behind
Pray to God this quick hello
will ease my mind
wanted so badly
to skip the recursion
maybe it’ll come through
in some other version
meanwhile I just must accept
the outcome of the evening
the hours I kept
meanwhile must leave
well enough alone
make one last tour of interland
and finally hang up the throne

what

In the gripping ongoing tale of lyrical transcription

Behind the near-daily stream of lyrics that a couple dozen people* apparently view on average each day is a monumental work of transcription - I have to date written over 3,500 songs in the course of these projects, of which over 1,800 remain to be transcribed - the halfway point of this project being (as the math geniuses among you have already deduced) a ways off yet.

Throughout the blogging of the first project, for the most part I barely kept up with the posting and indeed running out of transcribed songs (and the will to transcribe them) held up the posting many times, sometimes for weeks or months.  Eventually I acquired a discipline about it, something you'd think I'd kind of have a method for at this point.  And so I've slowly but surely been getting ahead.  At the moment I have a stockpile of three hundred and some transcribed songs for the posting.  At some point in the future I'd like to actually attain parity - get caught up and then just transcribe them as I write them.

I recently decided to start closing the gap from both sides.  I started a new notebook not too long ago (June 16 to be precise) and decided that from here on out I was going to transcribe all the new songs, so I caught up from June 16 and now I'm current.  Meanwhile the older songs slowly bridge the gap - the most recent addition was from 6/22/07, so I guess it's a 5 year gap, which remains daunting, but I guess that's the song of the day in a nutshell - taking a daunting number and fucking it up a little bit one day at a time.

It's interesting though - when I finally got on track transcribing the first project the songs were all 10 years old.  It had been a real active ten years in my life (changed jobs 3 times, got married, bought a house, had a kid) and in many ways the songs were quite remote, almost artifacts.  Often I wondered where did this come from?  Since there was a long hiatus between the projects in real life, the currency of what I was transcribing took a sharp jump when I moved into that project, and the more my transcribing gets ahead of the daily composing and posting schedule the closer to the now I get.  Now I'm also transcribing stuff I wrote yesterday, if not five minutes ago.  Will it change how I feel about it?  Will I even look at any of the new stuff until half a dozen years from now when I finally post it?

*I suspect that in fact I have considerably less regular readers than that.  I've been looking at my traffic lately and there are more than a couple anomalies suggesting that things may be getting gamed in some number of obscure ways.  For starts there are implausible numbers of visitors from outside the United States.  Like, Germany has supposedly generated almost half of recent pageviews.  That seems unlikely.  If not, yo Deutschland up in hizzy!  Give me a shout out in the comments my Germans, ich bin ein Berliner!  But seriously no, right?  But what in the hell angle can there be in visiting random blog pages?  Put on your tinfoil hat with me for a minute and I'll tell you one thing I've been noticing - more than a few times I've seen little traffic spikes originating from sites that just don't make any sense and when I go there it's some awful advertisement, like the real awful kind where a video autostarts telling you about seduction tactics and if you try to close the window it runs some Javascript bullshit on you that's all like "naw man you don't really wanna leave this solid gold get laid advice for reals?" and you have to click "like for reals dawg I'm out" to close the page and after you've done it you feel like you should maybe wash your clicker finger.

I'll just lay it out straight I think people have figured out that pathetic bloggers sit and troll around their sad little BS traffic statistics and have figured out how to make their shitty sites show up in your stats.  If anyone has an explanation for this that makes me seem like less of an asshole I'm way up to hear about it though.

what

2.464 : 8/10/06 : No Option to Repent

If there’s no option to repent
time time time
whether mortgage or a rent
you’re stuck behind the paradigm
transcend the limitation of
three hours badly needed
but can never be gotten back
or a brief flash of good sense heeded

what

2.463 : 8/9/06 : Old Hat

Make the decision
immediate
Not going to go back
or pass the hat
Something better
now or never
If she wants I’ll let her
if I see the lever
I’ll find a place to stick it
I’ll find a place to stand
I’ll find a rock to build on
in the midst of all this sinking sand
make the division
immediate
no more old tricks, dog
no more old hat

what

2.462 : 8/8/06 : New Mind Blown

Seeing those kids raving
doesn’t get me craving
anymore
the patch shrinks to a postage stamp
and I refuse to mount the ramp
backwards, eyes closed
anymore
I couldn’t tell you if it would last
too much history blown past
but I’m living living it today
new mind blown all from within
I might even be ready to begin
See what I do
no matter what I say

what