2.1366 : 1/28/09 : Skewed

The image perverse

skewed through art

the end of an era

that got taken apart

whatever you may call it

transcendent, obscene

its time is all expired

and I wipe the slate clean

what

2.1365 : 1/27/09 : Pretty Weird Stuff

You’ll hear some

pretty weird stuff

before we’re through

don’t flinch

don’t worry I’ll

make it up to you

Isn’t it pretty

to think it woulda worked out if

hey it’s just a joke, pretty

so don’t get so stiff

what

2.1364 : 1/26/09 : Legend

3,555 : 20 ?

If I really meant it

I’d turn off the TV

throw the cat off the couch

abandon my family

Go out on the road

night without end

If I really meant

to be a legend

Even if I believed

I wouldn’t give up a thing

there isn’t anywhere

that I can’t sing

I don’t need to be crazy

I don’t need to be known

I don’t need to know the disposition

of a single seed I’ve sown

they say legend in his own mind

what’s wrong with that

soon enough all lie alike

wear poor Yorick’s hat

the devil cannot tempt me

to that cross in the road

and I’m not afraid at all

to watch this dream explode

what

2.1363 : 1/25/09 : Razor

Almost as bad as ever

I said so many times

never again,

my love,

never again my love

and who am I fooling

oh what am I doing

I could stop stop stop

right there

I’ve got no explanation

beyond this demonstration

let me hone this razor on the strop

because I care

and we can divide

anything

except what really matters

and if I seem to be holding

You too tightly in these arms

I’m just afraid of

what happens if it shatters

what

nobody said it would be easy

So concludes a song a day volume 2.8: Record (II). And since I'm running behind on the posting we'll just proceed immediately to volume 2.9: Unabridged.

what

2.1362 : 1/24/09 : Suffering

If this is what it takes

I guess that I am

successful

like it or not the job is done

nobody said it would be easy

or enriching

or enlightening

or fast or sweet or fun

and in the scope of human

suffering

I pack a sorry little travail

I guess I haven’t got a prayer

the race won’t

devastate me

but oh well

I am still on your trail 

what

2.1361 : 1/23/09 : No Dice

I had a notion to do

something different

but oh sorry baby

no dice

sad enough it appears

I can get in up to my ears

even without heartache

even without vice

And if the pearl of great price

doesn’t seem to be

on the market

and if in addition I’m poor

well I have to ask sir

with just a little bitter

in my voice

just what the hell

all that run around

was for

what

2.1360 : 1/22/09 : Dumb

Like a dumb man

like the dumb man I am

waste what I don’t have

get stuck in a jam

but I know the way out

hold your nose and dive

so sorry shit ain’t butter

but you’ll be alive

what

2.1359 : 1/21/09 : No Bridge

I can’t escape

across the river

because there is no bridge

worst scenario is me

run down by hounds

along the ridge

I think I’ll slip the noose

just one more time

expect me on your doorstep

set to deliver the prime

what

2.1358 : 1/20/09 : Hot Iron Ball

Is everybody carrying

this hot iron ball

the human condition

but is that all?

I’ll run a long time

with it stuck in my throat

trying to ignore you sitting

next to me in this boat

what

2.1357 : 1/19/09 : Loose Change

3,548 : 13 ?

I’d rather sort through the

loose change than try to

hump that mountaintop again

whatever you saw up there

wasn’t there for me

and I am tired

I’d rather sift through

year-old paperwork

with porn on the tube

what a jerk

than try to reach some conclusion

than try to get inspired

and what I’d

really rather do

I think I’ll keep a

secret from you

keep it all business

I’ll be so obscure

in a year or two I’m sure

Even I’ll have forgotten

what I hid in code

and I’m looking forward

eagerly

to losing that load

what

2.1356 : 1/18/09 : Heart Strings

And so on

and so forth

I make up

I go forth

I don’t think

I want to sing

that angry song

I was thinking

somebody’s pulling

on the strings on my heart

somebody’s

calling me out

for prior art

but I never claimed

to be original

just persistent

and

occasionally hopeful

what

2.1355 : 1/17/09 : Wise Up

I better get my wise up

take a minute to size up

just how to get through this jam

end up less stuck than I am

what

2.1354 : 1/16/09 : Moment Never Comes

Maybe you all made a terrible mistake

couldn’t wait

impatient said I’ll

take that one

now spill out the remainder

waiting for the

moment

the moment never comes

maybe I’m no better

maybe I’m worse

than fake free verse

maybe I belong

in the swill here

with all you bums

what

2.1353 : 1/15/09 : Mere Anarchy

It seems like just a free-for-all

as the pages close in

on the end of some chapter

as we all pull the pin

on our fire extinguishers

afraid it’s way too late

Oh we wanted to keep dancing

On the thin edge of fate

While it keeps burning

destructive but bright

and I just couldn’t help myself

from shrieking out more light

I know I’ll write a book about it

tell everyone how they’re doing it wrong

I’m sure you’ll all wake up at last

I’m sure you’ll follow right along

what

2.1352 : 1/14/09 : Off the Hook

Feeling off the hook and so

it seems I am a fish who

has escaped the momentary fate

of becoming a dish

Oh if I swam a little faster

If I dove a little deeper

Might my pearl of very great price

be the season’s big hit sleeper

If your mother is a fish

If the Catcher’s in the rye

well I am no Southern enigma

no New England recluse guy

Still I should surely try

to swim upstream

while I seem to be free

because so help me I can

see the son

is still fishing for me

what

2.1351 : 1/13/09 : Return Flight

Book my return flight

on the royal road

hope I’m still one step ahead

of dreams that may implode

subjected to the pressures

of depression

states of war

and let this prayer of

thanksgiving

test just what it might

be good for

what

2.1350 : 1/12/09 : No Turn Unstoned

There was a time

we would enter

no turn unstoned

the dullness of the

edge on that rough

rock we honed

but things are

different now in

so many ways

and still and still

I write and write

this book of days

And I’ll take this

turn unclouded

and unmarked

with the slightest nod

to the old days

back to which it harked

what

2.1349 : 1/11/09 : Righteous

Every righteous moment

as defined by what?

I wonder

If you thought how we

would judge it

as all worlds are torn asunder

an excuse for moving so slow

If the moment comes

then I’ll go

I am upright, stern

and pious

say it briefly

firmly

righteous

what

2.1348 : 1/10/09 : Synecdoche

Synecdoche the class the key

you think that words mean

anything to me

these days a way or ways

to entertain

distract the brain

or anything that

pushes pain

back to the background

back underground

back to your notes

speeches cast votes

manifestos

for the party

for the set

synecdoche

what

2.1347 : 1/9/09 : Slightly

things get ever so

slightly better

but there’s dark clouds

all over out there

maybe I’ll find time

to send a letter

but tonight I

just can’t care

what

2.1346 : 1/8/09 : Grace

A little grace granted

in consideration

of duress and disorder

in the face of fascination

What is not to be

what must not be fed

and though I live to walk the line

with that I’m going to bed

what

2.1345 : 1/7/09 : Transition

I really need to craft that

super transition

audio nightmare

superposition

to draw the firm line

between dark and light

and rise above my plight

to make it come out right

and maybe finally start

going to sleep at night

I guess I’m worried that

it just won’t work

and if I try to sell it like

snake oil I’ll be twice the jerk

what a joke

just pretend I don’t need it

or stay up

night after night

to feed it

what

2.1344 : 1/6/09 : The One

I know I’m not the one

despite the conversations

in my head

that you hint dimly at

and speculate about

in poems I read

I should pull my head out

of this absurd

funhouse mirror distraction

I don’t have the time

and there’s nothing to book

On that action

Even if I were the one

which I know I’m not

I know I’m not

It wouldn’t mean a thing

or stack up to the real

I’ve got

but I let it

tease my mind

a little new a little twist

When I’m not there

anymore

I’m sure I won’t

really be missed

what

2.1343 : 1/5/09 : Falling Behind

3,534 : 62 ?

Falling behind on sleep

on pages

Oh I’ll never catch up

on all the books

and all the ages

past, God knows

what I’m doomed to repeat

I can’t catch up

on all the history

I’m dragging my feet

trying to put off the ascent

to a realm that never satisfies

early or late

it’s all the same

behind closed eyes

what

2.1342 : 1/4/09 : Thinking Ahead

Thinking ahead

planning on living in

the moment later

say you don’t think

I’m doing it right, oh

why you got to have to

go and be a hater

being mindful or

drifting into space

Say it makes a difference

always end up in the same place

I want something strange

and different to happen instead

don’t know how to bring it about

don’t know how to think ahead

In observation

the man said

chance favors the prepared mind

but my third eye’s all clouded

I’m prognosticating blind

what

2.1341 : 1/3/09 : Put Off

Put off put off

everything gets put off

moment to moment

connecting dots

of time less time

no starting no endpoint

mere succession

for both haves and have nots

So

why do I worry

why do I struggle

why do I try to walk

in a straight line

what’s up with your

minding your own business

problem

I am surely

minding mine

what

2.1340 : 1/2/09 : Spirit

The spirit is willing

but the flesh wants a nap

what the hell anyway

it’s all ending up on the scrap

heap of history

turns to archaeology

turns to geology

by and by

and I want to cry

if nothing I say

makes it through

what

2.1339 : 1/1/09 : As Fast As Light

As fast as light

rush past the stumbling

vertigo of time

you’ve been tumbling

though it wasn’t so bad

you lived

and for a few long past

regrets, forgive

forgive me for all my sins

O lord

And teach me to be new

Apart from promises

and calendars

wake up my heart and

draw me through

what

2.1338 : 12/31/08 : Fin

Amid all the observation

we neglected to attend

that the siècle would really fin

the millennium would end

and the bastards kicked us

right into the center of the fray

with steep descents and sudden fire

one gorgeous autumn day

now the decade, closing fast

and me soon to be forty

and for all the clichés it’s bad for real

and despite our bold political sortie

I’ve got the fear of the

turn of the century

I’ve got the millennial blues

I’ve got a bad feeling

I don’t know who you are

but I’m destined to walk

a mile in your shoes

what

2.1337 : 12/30/08 : Sharky’s Machine

Any more distractions and I’ll

lose the thread completely

who’d believe I’d take this tangle

and unravel it so neatly

but that’s just what I am fixing

to get rolling once the wheels are

on this machine oh Sharky

I know just what her appeals are

but that’s not even about

the wheel that’s driving this affair

but when I know the heading and

just who or what occupies the the chair

I’m pointing with my toes at the dateline

cross over into some other

lovely little secret plan

just between

me, the machine

and my brother

what

2.1336 : 12/29/08 : Resolution

3,526 : 54 ?

I know better than to call it

a resolution

it’s a cliché good intentions

are no solution

and I know that nothing’s

really going anywhere

just what did you mean by

teach us to care and not to care

still maybe I can

keep the ball in the air a little while

if not an answer

maybe comfort and spirit with a smile

Resolve to resolve to

do something differently

If I can’t supply solutions

I can at least come up with some sympathy

what

2.1335 : 12/28/08 : Lord of Song

Why have you forsaken me

oh Lord of Song?

And if it comes to this

Why did you let me go so long?

If another thousand days go

and I’m still no farther

Will I do it all again again

Dear Lord why do I bother

In another thousand days

they’ll be ramping the B.S. up again

the fixers and kingmakers

and their unoriginal sin

Oh great Lord of Song

despite my sacrifices

will you leave me behind again

all tangled in my own devices?

what

2.1334 : 12/27/08 : Jugs

If the jugs of water

were converted to wine

before you; you would find

another reason to call my big divine

agenda something of

a backwards throwback retrograde

something decent people long

ago dispensed with amongst trade

and rapidly diffusing cultures

into one eclectic slop

and I am not a king or minion

I am not a crook or cop

I’ve stacked my jugs up

only water in them oh if

They turned to wine I’d be in

trouble couldn’t afford the tariff

There’s nothing but now and stories

nothing then nothing to come

don’t think it’s just a way of speaking

there’s madness in my idiom

what

2.1333 : 12/26/08 : Paces

Measure a thousand paces

measure a thousand more

I still haven’t seen a thing

that looks a bit like a damn door

and the schemes all sound the same

and any differences sound forced

and I plod through my old paces

worried I’ll end up divorced

from all the things that I thought mattered

twenty years ago and more

when twenty years seemed an illusion

and every turn held twenty doors

So if it seems to you my pacing

and my timing are awry

please excuse me while I turn away

protesting something’s in my eye

the Powers I believed in

have abandoned me it seems

and I’m left with nothing but a

vague impression from my dreams

of some dim outline of solution

something with a book and key

nothing you could really go on

waking up so much still me

what

2.1332 : 12/25/08 : Earthtone Pastels

I’d love to stop dreaming

dreams they die too hard

and they pile up every morning

spilling out into the yard

and I thought you were a genius

and I thought I’d make the grade

and I thought for all those hours

we would somehow then get paid

so it fell apart to nothing

with a whimper true to tell

and the tapes are slowly fading

even friendship went to hell

I still listen to the music

like the old earthtone pastels

once I heard the holy future

now I hear the warning bells

what

2.1331 : 12/24/08 : Atrocity

The various limbs

and systems torn out

So many clichés

atrocity never gets worn out

decapitation, exsanguination

fast cancers radiation

Order takes a bleak vacation

they are buying and selling

death even as we speak

not to mention those who love it

need its dark caress to speak

just for grim pragmatic power

push the shit around the board

get the right to redraw the map

get my filthy hands on the hoard

what

2.1329 : 12/22/08 : Nail in the Coffin

What’s the deal with

nails in coffins

like it’s not over

long before that

If you want to see a thing

Come to a bad end

well put a nail right

through my hat

what

2.1328 : 12/21/08 : Shred

I’d never practice my guitar

So I can’t shred

hell I can’t even pretend

so I spout words instead

yeah so it won’t get me the girl

hey but I got mine

another answer down the tubes

to what the hell is my line 

what

2.1327 : 12/20/08 : Flog

I churn through days and pages

like a car on winter roads

point and hope that something sticks

pray that nothing else explodes

if there’s no material to speak of

that hasn’t been done to death

put it on the threshing floor

flog it until its last breath

ride that hobby horse like thunder

smack that paddle ball like hate

It seems like reinventing the wheel

is my sad and lowly fate

what

2.1326 : 12/19/08 : And Scene

It’s easy to say

you just

want to get out

clean

well you won’t

and you can’t

so suck it up

dumbass

and, scene

what

2.1325 : 12/18/08 : Transition

Not time to plan

a three hour vacation

not in any

hideaway

not in my

imagination

there’s already a

million changes

that I can’t recall

So I don’t know why

I care about

the transition thing

at all

what

2.1324 : 12/17/08 : Original

I doubt I’ll ever think a thought

that’s not been thought before

at this point the version’s

probably at about two point four

not to speak of all the

prehistoric never written up

who knows what barely

articulated

philosophies they thought up

I could say nothing

if nothing I say is original

I doubt I can live up

as much as I give up

but I’ll try to keep it short pal

what