2.886 : 10/6/07 : Break Fast

How long will the fire flow

how long will the words last

how long will this go on

how long till I break fast

where will this train go next

following the damn tracks

armed with nothing but text

fighting only parallax

I haven’t got a blueprint

you can see there’s no plan

I can’t take the plain hint

succumb give up be a free man

seeing what cannot be unseen

no line not uncrossed before

still whatever I’m not clean

and I suspect I know what’s in store

one grim fantasy or another

yet another long goodbye

and as clichés go here’s the mother

I make book and don’t ask why

what

2.885 : 10/5/07 : À La Carte

Nobody’s offering à la carte

take it all or receive not one part

just want a little of Caesar’s stash

Filthy lucre baby I want cash

but they say you got to get the career

always obligations never in the clear

I could chase after the long or short con

be the opposite of a paragon

I could dust off my alchemical stills

close my eyes to the time I can’t do or that poison kills

I’ve got no stomach for crime or fraud

But I swear the next straight gig’s gonna kill me by God

So until providence hands down my little part

I guess I’ll try to piece it bit by bit à la carte

what

2.884 : 10/4/07 : Process of Elimination

While the world delivers one wretched

one liner after another

And I scamper under the lash

of invention’s mother

I get the sneaky feeling

that all of creation

is nothing but a product of

the process of elimination

Garbage in and look

at just what comes in and out

Where the sun don’t shine

guess that’s what I’m talking about

I guess that you could guess

I think it’s all masturbation

or at best another pile of elimination

what

2.883 : 10/3/07 : Nest of Eyes

I’m throwing firebombs

in the nest of eyes

sick of all the scrutiny

incensed by all the lies

Look at this you bastards

I am shaking every tree

until the real revelation

falls down on me

I said I’d turn my back on

all of you without goodbyes

And walk all resolutely

one time from the nest of eyes

but soon you found me

kicking dirt around the verges

lurking in the trenches

soon succumbing to my urges

what

2.882 : 10/2/07 : The Demiurge

What’s the matter with matter says I

Why do I get caught up in the game

You asked if I had considered I said yes I

thought a thousand times but it always came out the same

here I am again with the Demiurge

Fighting to determine the right approach

Here I am again on the cusp of a great purge

it seems there is no stage on which he doesn’t encroach

There’s no escaping I am part of it

Made of matter entropic and temporal

And that gets to the bleeding heart of it

Another day another oh God what’s this fresh hell

here I am again with the Demiurge

Battle of wits like a toothpick against a gun

I’m losing my faith in the martial surge

Maybe somebody’s born to fight him I ain’t the one

I don’t know who I’m really praying to

I accept these words may merely rattle in my skull

Nobody gets me I believe but I’m not saying you

Ought to buy what I buy ‘cause my dance card’s already full

And I may never shake the Demiurge

No I suppose it comes from being material

And one day I guess the whole thing will merge

And have to face the abstract alien Imperial

what

2.881 : 10/1/07 : The Bells Still

3,072 : 6 ?

The bells still hammering

in my skull money is yammering

and I find myself stammering

apologies to nobody

The plunge is harrowing

I can’t deny the options narrowing

this ain’t no tortoise shell or yarrow thing

oracles won’t make this less muddy

I clench my teeth wait till the bells still

How long can I still palm this hell’s pill

or cling to this slick infidel’s hill

before I just slide in the slop

Pretty sure it was me that rang it

Can’t recall why I would have dang it

If there’s to be blame well I’ll hang it

right round my own neck then just stop

what

2.880 : 9/30/07 : Just Play

I’m doing exactly what

I would be doing on my last day

on the last day

happy birthday

And still the future bears down

feeling up against it

but let’s just play

let’s just play

where else would I be

who else would I be with

And still I wonder

and still I worry

nothing’s as important

all the rest’s a myth

still I slack and

still I hurry

I’m doing exactly what

I would be doing on my last day

on the last day

Happy birthday

what

2.879 : 9/29/07 : Food Chain

Everything that stops will start again

It’s part of nature so take heart my friend

But everything that starts must stop

So eat drink and be merry

while you’re at the food chain’s top

They say we’re damaging the natural balance

Like an electron striving out of its valence

But if they’re right its evolution’s fuck up

There but for the grace of Darwin so buck up

But if it’s God then what the fuck man?

Was evil just a way to get unstuck then?

Some devil on my shoulder keeps insisting

You made up Lucifer just to keep things interesting

A real good theory is that nothing matters

The law of entropy says it all scatters

in the end till it’s drawn back into a tight hot point

creation nails you up to the universal joint

and blows its stack straight back again

ignore it, hold your breath & count to ten

what

2.878 : 9/28/07 : A Scythe

I dream a scythe to sweep through all

the meta, artifacts and thrall

It’s been too long it’s all the same

It’s still this still this still this game

If I could mix it up like a cocktail

and serve it glowing over ice

Would you consider this a derail

Would you think that it was nice?

It’s effortless enough so why do I complain

21st century born of an airplane

too much conflict shouting in my ear

I’ve had enough just get me out of here

If I made a bad gaffe would you forgive

remember where my heart was firmly staked

I got nothing left now and yet on I live

regardless how the premise is half-baked

what

2.877 : 9/27/07 : Cycle

I’m at the unholy mercy of the cycle

Going mano a mano with the angel Michael

Where the moving finger touches I collapse

blame it on conditioning; a faulty synapse

predictably down in the bowels of toil

alone without antagonist or a foil

no exposition there no chance at action

not much chance at all up against the faction

of rhetoricians and armchair pundits

how long ago did I exhaust the fun bits

these days I’m just in there to stay awake

and see what strange familiar form

the cycle will take

what

2.876 : 9/26/07 : Diving after Poison

That ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-aah you hear

is me diving after the poison pill

ten years too late, but anyway

The pit I thought was bottomless

the rushing of ephemeris

and too much information

too long, didn’t read where’s your grand creation

now?

Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah

to hell with Galileo

I’ll fall faster singing hey-oh!

Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah

And when I grasp it burning in my hand

I know that it will be enough

and I will understand

Ah-ah-ah-ah-aah!

And fly back to the light!

what

2.875 : 9/25/07 : Stoichiometry

I’m feeling like my life is

run by stoichiometry

hedged in on all sides by

unbreakable geometry

defined by mobility

money time credentials

feeling grim deficient

in all of the essentials

I push the numbers ‘round

to feel I’m keeping busy

trying to see something new

in them makes me dizzy

all things must be conserved

entropy paid its due

I don’t know how the hell

the extra push I need could get through

what

2.874 : 9/24/07 : This Dull Morass

The axis is bigger than I had suspected

thoughts I thought long-buried

are now resurrected

When the days I’d spoken of are come to pass

will there remain a dim light

in this dull morass

The lesson should have taken twenty years ago

the holy present is the only

thing we know

but I just went ahead and chased the will-o-wisp

and justified my error

like a solipsist

I can’t believe I let another week slide by

I can’t believe I still believe

I’m not that guy

But then I am surprised to still be climbing

still trying to carve the thoughts out

and still rhyming

I’m trying to believe that you are with me always

I’m trying to worry not but that’s a

hard sell these days

The lunatics are running everything down here

A little help my Lord from my lips

to your ear

what

2.873 : 9/23/07 : Those Villains

3,065 : 12 ?

The currency was tanking

and still all the wonks were wanking

over how to spin the platter

of a thousand things that did not matter

I was trying to get off

all the steam I failed to let off

it was building to an evil head

here’s what those villains said

we must fight the moral battle

here’s the fence that you must straddle

please ignore diminishing returns

also the fact that fire burns

we’re only watching out for you

too simple to know what to do

so please hold these thoughts a while

and hand your papers over with a smile

with key indexes eroding

so much improvised exploding

I was dreaming like a blackguard

sneaking one across the long yard

just one sweet culture bait job

dressed up hurried and cut rate job

roll my score up yeah and get out

what a freedom whoop I’d let out

till I came back to my senses

saw my stupid rose-hued lenses

felt the sickness still inside

an hour left I better hide

what

2.872 : 9/22/07 : Tiny Genesis

Wanting to start too big to begin at the end without earning

Wanting to claim each lost notion instrumentalize all their returning

Grasping for some past emotion or moment transient state of mind

And waiting and waiting for call revelation some augury ought to unwind

Tiny genesis will you be sufficient

I’m not forthright constant or efficient

But I put the lines down in the end

And that is enough for you my friend

Not knowing the point or the purpose of still after all persisting

I can’t tell if I’ve got high standards or merely a thing for resisting

And if it all comes to another uncertain and slim masterpiece

Will I call it a day at ten times the price will it feel any more like release

Tiny genesis will you be definitive

Every dangling participle, split infinitive

Will I lose all the points on mechanics

or just drop the ball when the ego panics

I fear false beginnings are just as pernicious as contrived endings

I guess that somewhere in the middle is hidden the essential bendings

I guess That I guess all too often and what can I say it’s my nature

but it’s been a long time and for a long time I’ve lost faith in the great cure

tiny genesis everything’s always beginning

and if you find me here slack jawed and grinning

for once it’s not just a chemical spoke

Maybe for just a blink I felt in on the joke

what

2.871 : 9/21/07 : Lie Back and Take It

Oh my beautiful country

no you were never half so pure

as the songs made out

but I think we’ve really

crossed the line now

I think we turned your inner demons out

lie back and take it

feel the liberty call me

a patriot

yell a little if you have to

after all its shocking

to be taken hard by idiots

I know I must be

at least half wrong

but I’m not sure that makes them

half right

I worried and vexed at

the puzzle

I kept on waking you up all night

Lie back and take it

your modesty’s not worth

a loss of our “way of life”

close your eyes

and think of yourself

while we fix you with a knife

what

2.870 : 9/20/07 : Half Lived

Statistics are not fairness, kindness, justice

no matter that they seem to be on your side

It’s true I might be at the very middle point of life

the river here does not seem too damn wide

half lived: is it the better or the worse half left

characteristic of the bass or treble clef

I am tired tired tired of the lash of fear

what’s the use when I know we’re all for out of here?

there’s no glass eyes or wooden legs left at the healing pool

and if I make excuses for it then I’m more the fool

so what’s left to me besides what boils down to blind chance

and even at the outliers the inevitable proceeds in its inexorable dance

feelings are not evidence tradition’s no excuse

and still I try to sort out my believing

knowing so few will understand and less will care so what’s the use

yet I cannot ignore this constant message I’m receiving

resist it as I might I know living’s only here and now

And God does not require my defense in this eternal moment does endow

my half life with the power to be complete

I guess I’ve got to be thankful I’m still on my feet

what

2.869 : 9/19/07 : I’m Not Sick

I heard the message:

I could not stand to listen to the speech

in awe of those who can both

do and teach

and sickened with myself

at how I whine and pout

I’m not sick: and I’ve got nothing to complain about

So much is given

and so much is taken

I can barely bear to contemplate

just what cannot be shaken

they came up with a weapon

that broadcasts pain

yet he’s the one who is going to die

what can we hope to gain

wondering how long I will

allow myself to fake it

this secret harbored in my breast

that I don’t think we’re gonna make it

after that I guess

it all just becomes a time scale

watching for our numbers up

our mean time

before

fail

what

2.868 : 9/18/07 : The Moment

If the moment ever came

it’s passed now

I’m faking gains

like Skilling and Fastow

I’m maybe not the sharpest

knife in the block

I’m dying for a moment

just to rest and take stock

Why am I hungry

why so sick and tired

how did I ever manage

to avoid getting fired

and now that I’m

the only boss I’ve got

there’s no one else to pin on

how I got in this spot

it’s been too long

that it’s all been a slog

trying to hunt with

this no-account dog

In time the moment

will come ‘round again

but what will I make of it

I won’t know till I begin

what

2.867 : 9/17/07 : Soul Bell

When did I first hear

the soul bell ringing

and when did I first

know its name

When did I first fear

it was a siren singing

and how long have I

danced around that game

I thought I’d find a gig

just ringing it all day long

I thought it would be

easy, automatic

I found it in movies

books and songs

but my own search

only came up static

there’s no soul bell

to be found in this mess

Such a typical

display of irony

I pray in my comfort

and I pray under duress

that somewhere out there

it’s still ringing for me

what

2.866 : 9/16/07 : Solution

3,058 : 5 ?

Another virus worm

twists into my breath

another dim day’s contest

comes to sudden death

doing later again

what I could have done sooner

another ballad cliché

another fly me to the mooner

I tear it off right there

declare that tale told

raise to mind the image

of a tower of gold

wrapped in a hologram

of Purest white

just a strange little scene

I never manage to write

there’s a girl with wings

and a magic machine

at the cusp of contemplation

it all seems so clean

but it all gets messy

in the execution

so till then give what I got

the song a day solution

what

2.865 : 9/15/07 : Drift, Escape

Looking for the drift, escape

stay sharp to get it down on tape

a little play of light and wit

kill an hour or two and split

the middle of some

business I don’t follow

the blare of justifying

ringing hollow

I plot to unleash my testimony

Woo Mr. Brilliant with the dog and pony

just like that the drift

reverie is shattered

always drawn by

everything that mattered

and what I can or can’t

is not the real point

rage or rest

a new day I’ll anoint

what

2.864 : 9/14/07 : Worm Turns

The worm turns hard again

and bites me on the ass

sorry to be crude

but you find me at a crude pass

was it something I ate

that argument we had

a decade and a half well

half the time it didn’t seem bad

I’m fed up with the worm

I am no fragile flower

the worm predates the wife and kid

the dull stint in the ivory tower

and these days things are better

more rarely my tripe burns

but in a way it makes it worse

whenever the worm turns

what

2.863 : 9/13/07 : Tide

I dreamed about

the man who wrote about

the place where you could

stand to see the place

where the tide

turned

I turned you out

ignored your raging shout

eyes shut I knocked on wood

and tipped my wet face

toward where outside

burned

the line's still there

I guess I still care

but I’ve never been

to see with my own eyes

whether they’re the right

kind

I give a hard stare

know that nothing’s fair

in the city of sin

all the name implies

pronounce the last insight

blind

what

2.862 : 9/12/07 : Waiting for a Mission

Waiting for a mission getting softer

Thinking I have picked the wrong oracle

Has it been five - ten - indeed twelve years

waiting for the wrong miracle

Do I have the stones to stand again

and claim some moment of transition

no I shall not no more of that con

I’ll be silent wait for my mission

what

2.861 : 9/11/07 : Bible Lessons

I’m trying to educate the youth

with my bible lessons

Raw and uncouth

just to get under the skins

of the pro unbelievers

in their brainbox bins

You could say I wasted

an hour on it

but I try like hell to

justify each little bit

a fan’s a fan

and I don’t got many

so ask for a little

I’ll give you plenty

what

2.860 : 9/10/07 : God Told Me

God told me to start a band
God told me to take the
knife in my hand
God told me to kill a son
I said I guess
I’m not the one
I saw the Presence
but I received no instruction
absent both
now I move
by spiritual induction
I claim no special insight
no grasp of the divine
it’s something like a practice
not belief
or anodyne

what

2.859 : 9/9/07 : Sweet Baby

I hear a whisper
a croon a call
Up the stairs around the corner
at the end of the hall
Come to bed
lay your head down
sweet baby
even if nothing’s
gonna turn out right
in the end
we had today
and we’ve got tonight
so she said
and I looked out at our town
sweet baby
a rough morning
from a crazy night
and all that I pushed hardest
turned out out of sight
So let it all unspool out of my head
and lost that frown
sweet baby

what

2.858 : 9/8/07 : Wedding Can

I dreamed this song up
in the Wedding Can
a perfect crucible to song
the make of a real man
on a farm that smelled so
God damned much like home
I beat the fucking cognitive
dissonance
to sea foam
This is real:
I am God damn here
I can’t take it with me
but I aim to be; clear
as the sun
on a morning
without cloud or haze
I’m the fucking narrator
the author of days
show me another
I’ll gladly bow
to my mother superior
my own private sacred cow:
I’ve overstayed my welcome
I fear I’ve tipped my hand
I’m an everyday adherent
of the Bible of the promised land
I sanctify this sad position
read by some wise glint
I’ll ride it like a comet
end up full of piss, and skint

what

2.857 : 9/7/07: Consideration

How much could be ameliorated
how much could be deferred
by just a little consideration
a considered thought
action
word
trying to hold a line against fury
satisfying crackle of rage
deep down I swear that I don’t want it
but this paragraph must run
to the bottom of its page
consideration
all is asked is a little
thought forbearance
it’s not a test puzzle or riddle
it’s not a capital or
information
just a pause
subjunctive clause
aside for consideration

what

2.856 : 9/6/07 : Ire

The ire is up I’m feeding it
On every bitch that doesn’t give a shit
I want it sharper hotter meaner
I want you taken to the cleaner
Straighten up your spine there’s no excuse
Kindly explain to me what’s your fucking use
mine is easy ain’t it cook and clean
I think you know exactly what I mean
the ire will burn then smoke and die
I hope you get the worst bit in your eye
I don’t feel sorry wrong or cruel
call it a weapon call it a tool

what

2.855 : 9/5/07 : Plainly

Plainly the system needs work
I try not to look like such a jerk
I try to stick a pin in some event
is there still room for me under your tent
I confess I’m just trying to fake it through
Somewhere along the line I lost my retinue
lost my crown and scepter now I’m some nobody
but if I were still king in your hands I’d still be putty
Plainly I’ve got a lot to live for each day
plainly I think I’ve got a lot to say
but at the crunch I just want to lay it to rest
another day another another test

what

2.854 : 9/4/07 : Love Is All

Why is it so hard
when love is all around
stuffing every channel
splashed on billboards all over town
maybe that’s the answer
media’s
devalued coin
rather keep my
motives pure
that motley throng
I will not join
hey maybe that’s
a dim excuse
maybe I refuse
to let my impulse loose
and dress it up as
scruples reservation
preserve the illusion
of my own
exalted station

what

2.853 : 9/3/07 : Keep it Simple

Regardless of
how I starkly protest
It seems again
I fail this test
not just to rectify
but stay on that
straight route
falling behind
yet once again
stumbling along with
my senseless pen
Again again I
think I’ll work it out
what I wouldn’t give
to keep it simple
love and stars
a smile a dimple
failing that why
won’t the bitch just let me quit
I know, I shouldn’t
blame the muse
still I swear I’d gladly recuse
myself if you’d just
show me some finer
end of it

what

2.852 : 9/2/07 : Slow Time

The wall’s just a metaphor
though certainly not for a door
it marks the changeover
back into slow time
I don’t believe we’ll make it to the asymptote
I don’t believe I’ll live to see that’s all she wrote
Still I might see the seed sown
of some strange new old fashioned future paradigm
such gorgeous lies we now concoct
and parables of worlds we rocked
I imagine we’ll pull together another run
up the slope of the great geometric
bio and nano on top of electric
on our slow way to be absorbed by the sun

what

2.851 : 9/1/07 : Previews (In the Near Future)

3,043 : 2 ?



In the near future
my unorthodox opinion
will become simply the recognized
assessment of the way of things
this business isn’t confidence
it’s sadly close to indifference
in some respects it’s easy
to see what tomorrow brings
but I’ll avoid detailing the previews
the coming attractions
they sound too sexy but
the won’t be like that at all
I rather expect we’ll quickly
accept and then scarcely notice
how we swiftly pile together
straight into the wall

what

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

2.819 : 7/31/07 : Five

I'll get weird with a little help from my friends

I’m kind of obsessed
with the number five
got it on each hand
rhymes with alive
the riddle spark
broken symmetry
and all the ways
I see it’s subtle mimicry
it’s probably a mistake
to treat numbers so
but in half a dozen
minus one lyrics I’ll go
deep down to the bottom
of this crazy thought
reporting whither which
if whether and ought

 what

2.818 : 7/30/07 : Minimum

what rhymes with sick tart?

3,009 : 7 ?



The minimum intake
to sustain the machine
the minimum allowance
to get rested and clean
live on the margins
but only for so long
already feeling the backlash
always something goes wrong
right action for an hour
but the demeanor is sour
and a piece or three are missing
that’s not destiny I’m kissing
always sidelong glances
always look never touch
always want to be perfect
but the cost’s just too much
I did the minimum effort
for so long I can’t recall
what anything finer
really felt like at all

what

2.817 : 7/29/07 : Excess

are you part of a crowd?  if so perhaps you should fund it

The inevitable outcome of excess
begs the question of the hair of the dog
begs the question of moderation
beggars can’t be choosers whines the little cog
the feeling comes and goes deep in my gut
flashing on the next great obstacle
you’ll see me coming a mile away
you’ll catch me in the tabernacle
hijacking the lesson of the man on the road
falling hard for human logic
striving for the mojo of the preacher man
and the rhyming patter hypnagogic
relegate my excess to a life gone past
slouching into the mantle of the bourgeoisie
show ‘em what I’m made of with a
magnet on my car
of the flag of the free
oh say can you see
unlike a confession work pays
just as well
even if it is under duress
Thank goodness cause I gotta
earn my daily bread
And a little extra for excess

what

Telling Secrets

Some occult inner signal tells me it's time to breach the surface and engage in a little random promotion of the Song of the Day.  Self-exposure frankly gives me the jibblies, but you've got to push your comfort zone in this life, right?

So I'm going to kick it off with a wild shot at the big casino and post a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" this morning.  Yes, this is me, should anyone actually require proof, which honestly seems pretty unlikely.  Would someone actually try to fake... this?

I'm lowering the price of of the far-from-unlistenable "Only the Very Greatest Hits" to 99 cents with the "pay what you like" option enabled for the more generously-inclined.



Finally, for the next month (through 8/29/13) I'll be adding a link to my modest "crowd funding" experiment to the daily song posts.  After that to slip below the surface of the fairly secret again, I don't doubt.

what

2.816 : 7/28/07 : Positive Outlook

I’m regretting my
“maintain positive outlook”
tattoo
it might end up counterproductive
it’s true
Considering that on
the other arm I got
“Life Sucks”
A little introspection
could have saved me
a few bucks
I wanted to write something
that would make a good
reminder
after all I’m
better now yeah after all
I’m kinder
I guess I need a
subtler approach
to make that book
until I work that out
I’ll have to fake
my positive outlook


what

2.815 : 7/27/07 : Simplistic

How we love the black and white
a simple evil to be vanquished
how I succumb like all the rest
so fail the test mission accomplished
does it start with books and movies
stories that we love the best
be snow white or witchy wicked
mutant spawn of moral incest
like to be more sophisticated
there’s a popular stance
see the value in the other
see our own failures and blown chance
this world loves simplicity
might make right or fight the power
nature’s laws permit it all
guns are not silenced by a flower
for a moment seems this order
pauses for a man to face a tank
but you know how that one turned
so think hard before you break rank

what

2.814 : 7/26/07 : Track

I’ll call this rut a track
and go round and round
every day a thousand cycles
every year a few inches
further down
Calmed by repetition
stupefied by lack of mission
go and grind that routine
further in the ground
I’m sure I’ve waited
till it’s too high to jump out
I like to fool myself
but I know what they talk about
nothing now to do or say
I’ll just stick to it one more day
and daydream someday
I’ll manage a rout

what

2.813 : 7/25/07 : Ire

Ire for no reason
just the season just the heat
just the horrible monotony
that hauls me grumbling
to my feet
I tried just about everything
that I could think
to change the scene
nothing helped just
left me feeling
irrationally mean
perfect world I seldom
even think of you
anymore these days
think of work and work
think about only what pays
and it’s scratching at
my comfort zone
it’s riling up my ire
surrounded by a thousand morons
pray to God
it’s trial by fire

what

2.812 : 7/24/07 : This is Your Brain

This is your brain on fucking crazy
throwing down every scrap I saved
this is my brain on losing patience
this is the brain that roared and raved
look at the brains of the sunken masses
rotting in sugar and teevee rays
look at the brains of the politicians
pray for the end of their numbered days
rock it or not this boat is sinking
shrinking deflating and taking water
these are the brains of conspirators
these are the brains of the lambs led to slaughter

what

2.811 : 7/23/07 : An Unexpected Development

the understated
sadness of trains
was an unexpected
development
in the mainframes
of the pop machine
and it was a clean
transition on the silver screen
if you blew it up as big
as your biggest wall
the forest would be lost
you couldn’t see a tree at all
and everything changed
and everything went strange
I would have thought
it would be something
I could rearrange
like a deck chair
on the Challenger
What next?
I fear our highest Causes
will be shattered
by mere specks


what

2.810 : 7/22/07 : Dilemma

3,001 : 22 ?



And trains again
and trains again
they follow me around
it’s too easy to fear
my death perhaps
shivers with the sound
throw me on the horns
I can’t take
all this grayscale anymore
that thing looks
just like a platform
that thing
looks just like a door

what

2.809 : 7/21/07 : Obey My Orders

Obey pay heed
I’ve got a good reason
if I’m faced with
another chewing out
I’ll wait a season
Obey my orders
I won’t be like them
the cave of my unfathomed
ocean bears a perfect gem
quick as I can you know I’ll
throw down my knuckle bones
no matter how many
they throw at me I’ll fight
I’ve got the stones
I see you suffer
and I know girl
how it seems
relinquish to me
though despite it
and I will
unleash your dreams



what

2.808 : 7/20/07 : Odd Coincidence

The standard explanation
of the cometary impact
bred the mother and
the father of all
theories of conspiracy
the final war
against the beings that
descended from
the heavens and began
to wipe us out without mercy
It seems an odd coincidence
that each and every one
of them who were left in that place
turned out to be a chosen one
and under every layer
of arcane flesh and
mecha detritus
The heart that beat
was still of the way of the gun

what

2.807 : 7/19/07 : Straight John

After everything I’ve relegated
everything I revelated
masquerading as a Straight John
Yeah no man I moved a ton
of oddly scripted scraps of rhyme
of thoughts from some scrapped paradigm
absolved of rhetoric and context
whoa this is your brain on text
observed and sung becomes a bliss
that circles and resolves like this
observe the center that does hold
the thing remains: the story told

what

2.806 : 7/18/07 : Truth Out

I’m thinking about
throwing my conscience over
What can it do anyway
about the web
or how he wove her
why not just reach out
with the widest open hand
why not let my mantra be
because I can
because I can
stamp the truth out
on a thousand Chinese
trinkets
and sell tickets man
guess I’m done?
don’t even think it
take one slow breath
and dive into the melee freak boat
I’ll fight until I’m
dog food
just to stamp all
this damn truth out

what

2.805 : 7/17/07 : Disastrous Lapse

What a disastrous lapse of
judgment we’ve been reeling through
and what an ill-deserved rep
you’ve gotten for dealing true
they say that you’ve not wavered
well that’s easy when
there’s nothing underneath
and so fortunate son
to you I here bequeath
My erstwhile love
for our glorious distraction
ladle on another
double helping of moral action
it’ll all end up in traction
paralyzed by fear again
when I begin
My disastrous lapse
of giving a shit
Should be just the thing
to insure I win

what

2.804 : 7/16/07 : Proximity

Too close to the center
And sensing the eccentric
Wobble in the orbit
and the consequence concentric
if I ever get a chance
to brace the bastard to his face
you better bet I’m gonna
chase the signal to its trace
I’ve got proximity
I’ve got extension
I’ve got a handle on
at least one dimension
I got answers
I’ve got a wicked taste
to repent in sumptuous leisure
what I set to work in haste

what

2.803 : 7/15/07 : Wreck a Beat

2,994 : 15 ?



Unpack the wax stack
get the Slacks on their feet
fire up the telemeter
and Wreck a beat
we got no standard
of conduct in this place
so you know we’re gonna
take it right up to your face
unpack the black feedback
and transmit fire
don’t mind the slow adopters
just hook up to the live wire
And wreck a beat
Yeah wreck a beat
Clap your hands wave your arms
and stomp your feet
And don’t you just
think it all turns out neat
horns strings and reeds
and a wrecked up beat

what

2.802 : 7/14/07 : Saving the Best for Last

Eat your desert first
be a rebel
in this coddled
post-modern fashion
We protest but don’t
expect to pay hell
can’t we hire someone
to storm the bastion
Yet it might be true
saving the best for last
might be a losing proposition
I say ignore the signs
forget the past
all planning’s really
Just a superstition

what

2.801 : 7/13/07 : Lapses

In all the lapses
my synapses fire blind
there’s no story
thrill or bore me
that explains away mind
and I’m determined
despite vermin
that infest the metaphysic
to relate to
what you hate too
but the discipline is sick

what

2.800 : 7/12/07 : Sight Unseen

I’ll buy that old Mustang
sight unseen
when that boat that I imagined
my magic sun machine
pulls into a harbor
real not thought
oh what a silly little
fantasy I’ve bought
tear down some big score
unique safe and legal
float like a butterfly
soar like an eagle
buy that old convertible
learn to restore it
how you like my pipe dreams
you know I’ve got more of it

what

2.799 : 7/11/07 : Tale Untold

He’ll spin that yarn
into a
retread of old
classics
baby you know
I cut my teeth on
rhymes old as
jurassic
park hop get it
grind the bench
molly on the runway
so many ways to
cancel that check
me I’ll take
the fun way

what

2.798 : 7/10/07 : Familiar

Not a thing’s familiar in
this moment it’s all new
and I am thinking of that
thing I’d like to say to you
I rang a score of random bells
just trying to stand out
but in the end I just had no
idea still what all the fuss was about
seems a lot of fear out there
of things said and of things thought
seems it all gets tuned out
as long as something gets bought
living without guarantees
is making me quite cagey
and nobody has a clue
what trifle might enrage me
It all just gets turned into
a rough and ready verse
to get me through another day
another reprieve from the curse

what

2.797 : 7/9/07 : Meet in the Middle

Not all that diverges
can meet in the middle
if there is no common ground
The adversary horn must sound
hear that noise
it’s the world’s smallest fiddle
that there’s no chance at peace
not on this watch not on this lease
yet still I’m going to try
while your rough beast slumps
while your candidate stumps
I’ll even try to hope
for a door that says enter
flashing for a middle man
doing what tiny bit he can

what