2.1387 : 2/18/09 : CHEESE

This book of petty sorrows

requires more CHEESE

a sunset and a butterfly

if you please

I’ll ride off into that sunset

on my faithful mare

While I serenade you

run my fingers through your hair

Why can’t everything

just fucking be nice

I asked the Lord

I asked that bastard twice

I asked three times

but it was no charm

well bless my soul

I’ll move it to the Cheese Farm

I like butter, I like milk

I like things made of cotton and silk

I’m going to walk it if I

have to walk it on my knees

Because I’m pretty sure the moon by now

is made of CHEESE

what

2.1386 : 2/17/09 : Transition Protocol

Transition protocol

are you expecting to

get it now, get it all

you have not begun to go through

what

2.1385 : 2/16/09 : Gimmick

3,577 : 42 ?

The Gimmick is only good for one shot

pretty soon you’ve got to put up

whatever you’ve got

And it’s the nature of the beast to fail and fail

Oh man I’m getting carried out of this one in a pail

hey it’s not gimmick it’s just me and you

amazingly enough I’ve still got work to do

and a few tricks of the trade no that’s not the same

you gotta have a few tricks up your sleeve

to play the game

what

2.1384 : 2/15/09 : Failing Inspiration

Failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: failing inspiration there is nothing but persistence: fate may show you mercy if you lower your resistance

what

2.1383 : 2/14/09 : Laughing

I’ve got the equipment

but I’m not laughing

Finish this trash heap

while I’m paragraphing

So many things

I declare done right now

and hitch my desire

back up to my Gospel plow

what

2.1382 : 2/13/09 : Over

Nothing’s really ever over

so it appears

Not a dozen not a hundred

not a thousand years

not ends of days

of city states

no end of deadlines

or apocalypse dates

Though it all be drawn

into the swollen sun

yet still it will not yet be done

what

2.1381 : 2/12/09 : Authority

Never going to be

anyone’s authority

on anything

never a book

never a teevee show

trying to figure just

what I’ve got going for me

on this weird fling

just what’s my hook

maybe I’ll never know.

what

2.1380 : 2/11/09 : Catching

It must be a kind of virus

it must be catching

no matter what I do it comes to this

more desperate last minute scratching

Got no bootstraps, got no boots

got no strength in my arms

I’ve got a way of saying the wrong thing

and you are immune to my charms

I’ve got no real hope of real change

it’s always something too important to wait

We’ll get to that as soon as things settle

provided I don’t snap at the bait

but I’m not going to leave it lying

I am going to get up fierce and fine

and soldier through one more aftermath

and struggle up one more steep incline

what

2.1379 : 2/10/09 : Window or the Floor

If nothing gels if

it all just drags along

If I stay weak when

I want to be strong

What once was one

became two and three

It was easier to worry just about me

It all just turns out

the same every day

it all just turns out

not to matter anyway

self fulfilling prophecy

bad attitude

feel lucky: there’s a whole lot

longer list I could include

put the pedal to the metal

floor this bitch

pretend to be so spiritual

while I pray to become rich

I’m not tempted by

the window or the floor

and it must be fifteen years

since I really tried to find the door

what

2.1378 : 2/9/09 : One Bell Still

3,569 : 34 ?




Every good intention

transubstantiates to

alchemy

that’s the kind of days

I get born into

oh and

woe is me

I can’t fret about

just what might come

it doesn’t do a thing

and though the point

I’ve come to

makes me feel dumb

there’s one bell still left

to ring

what

2.1377 : 2/8/09 : Matter

Sooner or later

does it really matter

Another hopeful illusion

left to shatter

the human race

is a layer of slime

ignore the fancy structures left behind

that shit is well past its prime

and my mind is in

cloud cuckoo land

It doesn’t matter

Cause this one

is long out of my hand

but some stranger

that I never met

said I was the man

So I guess I’m going to

have to

make things matter

if I can

what

2.1376 : 2/7/09 : Unbind

Unbind unwind unwrap

the patient and

how the string doesn’t snap

before we land

back in the garden of the

lovely days

oh the sea oh the sand

oh my childish ways

If I could lift the weight

that presses on us

I just know that thing would change

no black, all plus

I’m such an optimist

it’s unjustifiable

Cheerfully predisposed by nature but

disappointment is reliable

And there’s nothing to be said

to buy me any scrap of real hope

I guess the sunshine always free unbound

at least allows me to cope

what

2.1375 : 2/6/09 : Good Sense

Simulated good sense and

don’t leave everything for last

everything else about this

evening stinks of the past

I don’t care about anything right now

Not even the momentary sad effort

so take a bow

what

2.1374 : 2/5/09 : Make A Plan

Make a god damned plan

make a god damned plan

There’s no more excuses

You stupid man

write a couple of lists

If part of you resists

Kick that dumb part in the junk

and just get on with it

It doesn’t matter what

just slam the lid on but

and the plan will surely go

haywire

but you gotta move before the door

is shut

what

2.1373 : 2/4/09 : Reed

When the reed had bent

as far as it could bend

when the moving finger writ

its message and hit send

I felt bruised but it

appeared it wasn't broken

and couldn't deny the

last word I'd heard spoken

what

2.1372 : 2/3/09 : Soldier

The dangers I endured

for example for transcendence

of a chemical variety

a temporary release from sanity

I’ve been a soldier in my way

You will reel and spit to hear me say

I took my chances for the sake

of one child soldier

and now that I am

so much older

I forgo the service

of the smuggler

in a so much simpler way

And all who were illuminated

agreed the that the question

was a trap, and baited

but me I just waited

like a soldier

like a dog told to stay

what

2.1371 : 2/2/09 : Suture

3,561 : 26 ?

How in the world can I still be expecting

after something like twenty years

spent in reflecting

Is there anything really left there

or just an image bound up in

steel strings and coarse hair

You could theorize that we hope because we must

just enough to kick us into low gear

shake off the rust

never enough to escape gravity

or shake the bitch up

a suture in time

and every rhyme it's going to stitch up

I crudely sew one disjointed season to another

pretend a whole is coalescing

fake it till you make it brother

this time I'm a quit while I'm ahead

uncharacteristic

but this stone's been thoroughly bled

what

2.1370 : 2/1/09 : Pushing

It's a fine analogy:

pull with all your might

against

your own pushing

while all the while

gravity presses you

firmly to the ground

and if you think it's fear

that keeps me

from pushing every

inch

of every button you've got

well it's not

neither lack of desire

or inner fire

in fact that sounds just fine to me

but my pushing spirit's

bound by courtesy

what

2.1369 : 1/31/09 : Crown

Stumble across the traces of

someone else’s good intentions

think I’ll skip a week if you don’t mind

apply for more extensions

I kept on expecting for

the hammer to come down

well when it was I guess I’ll

be the one to wear the dunce’s crown

I should learn to write a chorus

brush up on my stale guitar

never enough time or money

that cliché won’t get me far

but if I had to guess

I’d bet on this one not ending as much

with four fifths of the journey left to slog

I hope I haven’t lost my touch

what

2.1368 : 1/30/09 : Just What I Want

Why do I lie to myself

when it just doesn’t matter

When there is no hope at all

no illusions to shatter

Listen to this if you doubt:

There’s not even absence of hope

it doesn’t come in this equation

it’s wholly outside this thing’s scope

maybe you’re not pretending

it’s simple as pie

So easy, ignore me

I’m that kind of guy

and it’s just what I want

Fly low without lights

not a blip on your radar

still free in my long nights

what

2.1367 : 1/29/09 : Sadness and Pride

Three quarter sweep

the last hour keeps

me glued to the screen

try to figure what you mean

I’ve let too much slide

pushed by sadness and pride

Should let the small stuff go

I still sweat it though

another day I didn’t

start that little thing

another day rushing

to write a song I well

may never sing

And I don’t even value my pride anymore

and the sadness looks so very much like a door

and I prattle along

and I call it a song

and the last quarter sweeps

for the rest

its own council keeps

what

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