2.1648 : 11/6/09 : Breaking Lord Midnight

I almost became the

one that I fought

and that irony was

palpable I thought

with barely moments

to set the thing right

I committed myself

to breaking Lord Midnight

My star didn’t ascend

my path wasn’t made plain

I was washed out and weakened

by sickness and rain

but I slogged anyway

to another high tower

to confront the great lord

of the witching hour

I said oh Lord Midnight

I have to break your spell

well he twirled his curling mustache

and said well well well

kid it’s not my magic

that keeps you in thrall

and you may break me but

it won’t solve your problems at all

that’s as may be

well you may be right

So I said to the retreating

back of Lord Midnight

I guess I better learn some

new songs and dances

with nothing left to break

I’m really taking my chances

what

2.1647 : 11/5/09 : Doing It Wrong

Not lists not systems no not

any sort of thing that can be written down

Shoulda been bold and stopped there

So sad now you’re guaranteed to end with a frown

I want a quick fix oh

but I’m doing it wrong

I’m doing it wrong

but I’ve been doing it so long

not a quota not an experience

you can’t pay to attend a seminar

you might as well watch teevee for two weeks

you might as well pass out in a bar

I want a quick fix oh

but I’m doing it wrong
I'm doing it wrong

but I’ve been doing it for so long

Go back and start all over

nothing new there nothing new there

figure out how much you can take

because you’re going to have to take all you can bear

I want a quick fix oh

but I’m doing it wrong

I’m doing it wrong

but I’ve been doing it so long

I want a quick fix but

I’m doing it wrong

I’m doing it wrong

but I’ve been doing it so

long

what

2.1646 : 11/4/09 : Crush

Something nasty

to get the juices flowing

Something rotten and wrong

a little crush

harmless imagined

nobody damaged

nobody the wiser for my rush

a little weaker

a little set back

locked up in this room

fetch me a rag

bleach in a bottle

fetch me a dust pan and broom

I can’t seem to be at midnight

the night’s evidence I flush

stretching the hour a little longer

avoiding all thoughts

of my crush

what

2.1645 : 11/3/09 : Elevating News

Don’t give me anything

but elevating news

I’ve had enough  of reason

had enough of blues

tell me a joke

something to warm my heart

it probably can’t fix this affliction

but it may be a start

send me pictures of cute animals

dressed up as people

I’m going to raise an LOL flag

up my steeple

I’ve hadn’t seen it myself

I would not believe it was true

Take a look at this high Master

grab your own celestial venue

once I’ve mastered optimism

I will hang out my own shingle

run my hands over the cards for you

till something starts to tingle

when you have my elevating news

all the great stuff you have in store

you’re going to be hooked instantly

you surely will be back for more

what

2.1644 : 11/2/09 : If You Hurry

Don’t compare yourself to the other one

don’t compare yourself to anyone

It isn’t worth a thing to worry

And it’s a place you can’t get to if you hurry

while you were making 15 it’s one through twenty

rust and weeds were fighting it out on the horn of plenty

now that you’re back don’t waste any more time

You’ve got a long while still left in you prime

There’s no harm in acting as if everything happens for a reason

it might just help you understand each change in season

no surprise they’re throwing roadblocks in your way

you best believe I will smash everyone today

I should have known well I was sick and I was tired

I will not hurry I’ll just push till your bid is retired

And get on with getting over the latest affliction

And you will hear me speak unhurried an

with perfect diction

what

2.1643 : 11/1/09 : Intercession

Failing belief in material intercession

It seems likely I’m saddled for the long haul

And it’s unseemly to complain about minor affliction

but it prefigures the reaper and his gory maul

but it prefigures the the horrifying world

no protection from pitiless chance

no intercession and a horrifying world

don’t expect praises, don’t expect to dance

I could be coughing away my life here

wouldn’t make any difference, I’d be in the same

boat with you

I don’t know it that’s a mark for or against you

I don’t know I can make any sense of what you do

And I reckon I’ll survive this one just like the rest

hell I used to do it sucking up smoke

but I’m leaving it up to you to come up with an argument

that the lack of intercession doesn’t make you act

kind of a joke

what

2..1642 : 10/31/09 : Wasteland

An inch long and a thousand legs what on earth drove you forth

From whatever crack you called home until tonight

And I towered over you a failed flawed and capricious god

And observed dispassionately your hapless plight

And I said it’s been a long hard road you’re on: you didn’t hear me

or maybe you did, but didn’t understand being you’re a brainless invertebrate

And these 35 feet I pace late at night are a wasteland to you

and if the cat doesn’t kill you and you get across, will it improve your state?

And I pulled up short three times so as not to tread on you

what a fool what a fool what a foolish dumb sentiment

as your clockwork ticks you across the wide wasteland

surely I could remove you from the world without detriment

the trouble with the time travel theory that time travel is bad

because treading on a single bug could change it all

is that it assumes that things as they are are ideal

or at least saving because who knows, the coward’s stall

But anyway I let you go to inch your way across

I hope you looking down on me will give me as good

And if you never look down and see the world beneath your feet

transformed into a wasteland; try it once because you should

what

2.1641 : 10/30/09 : Bulge

Push one thing down another swells up

battle of the bulge and the steady state

with one battle up comes another

no option but to choose not to participate

no different than the rest all soldiers no generals

no orders no instructions no maps

no radios no high command to call

just this dumb rolling ball fighting over the scraps

throw another book into the void screaming hole

Throw another handful of pocket change

spend another night listening to doom prophets

and another and another and another will be arranged

come sweet silence a little for a little while

war and chaos will roll over again

and to hope for any truce is a weakness I cannot indulge

what

2.1640 : 10/29/30 : Wire Again

Now the wire again

nobody left to impress

nothing but to fill a little time

I could hardly claim distress

Head is pounding like the surf

not even a bender to show for it

just routine disease again

scarcely the energy to go for it

for heaven’s sake stop any time

I’ve got such great excuses

they shame me in the daylight hours

but surely have their uses

I won’t work it out again

tonight the wire will jerk me back

I should be grateful for the chance

to stand off from grim attack

what

2.1639 : 10/28/09 : Litany

A litany of small regrets of health complaints

of money woes and and working gripes

You must be as sick of it as me

Measuring hours with coffee drinks bought with plastic swipes

No poet, no artist no singer at all

a shuffler in a little church choir

strictly small potatoes unremarkable

toiling blandly at the end of the wire

a litany of false humility and false heart

filled with sputtering short circuited pride

Been in the sand box a long time now

Since I fell out of the ride

I don’t believe in what I hope for

I don’t see anything when I look ahead

So I worry about my health and the government

try not to think too much about how I’ve made this bed

what

2.1638 : 10/27/09 : The Early Riser

Maybe there’s still a little edge

left for the early riser

It’s going to be just hard as hell

but I might yet surprise her

I don’t want to think about

all of the things I’ve signed on for

right now it’s a steep request

to get on my feet on the floor

I can say never never I

can say never again the last

Oh I’ve got so so many

memories like that all stretching past

and I am not impressed at all

that I am still persisting

It sure seems there is some simple

path upwards that I am still resisting

what

2.1637 : 10/26/09 : A.F.L.

A stands for another F is bombing

L a word that rhymes with pissed

I can’t believe I’m trying to get through this again

take my pad and pen it’s all in the wrist

Like I don’t know what I need anyway

It’s just that I tend to forget

And as I don’t see you searching over hill and dale

to track down your poor lost pet

I guess I’ll try to get organized

and do for myself once again

Maybe then you’ll help me out

I heard it worked that way from my friend Ben

And if a little piece paper doesn’t make me

change my ways well then I guess I lose

At least if it’s all written down

I’ll remember that I had to choose

what

2.1636 : 10/25/09 : All Perfume

What if I said yes to everything

yes and to you yes and yes to you too

unimaginable impossible some fool’s dream

It can never work yes all would turn from you

yes it is easy enough yes to imagine

your soft yes world would be all perfume

lI can barely navigate yes the world of no

if I said yes to everything howe could I presume

discernment is yes necessary yes

none can have it all can they

So I yes beg for a firmer no

pray to God to keep the beast at bay

but my mind’s yes eye yes just

doesn’t want to cooperate

and I see things yes I’d rather not

what is the point of a grasping state

of trying to hold on when nothing will do

want it all want it all you you you and you

I yes say yes no yes and yes

go yes on yes to my yes diminished day

there’s yes no way yes I can yes resolve

and that’s yes yes yes yes all I have to say

what

2.1635 : 10/24/09 : The Punches Roll You

4,192 : 7 ?

Sometimes the next thing you know

it all comes so fast

the next thing you know

your whole life is rolling past

You try to roll with it all

but you know it’s true

sometimes you roll with the punches

Sometimes the punches roll you

It doesn’t seem like you can get

a single minute of peace

it would be one thing if you were

chasing the golden fleece

But we’re just chasing the buck

and trying to hold on

and once you get rolling

next thing you know it’s gone

You try to roll with it all

but you know it’s true

Sometimes you roll with the punches

Sometimes the punches roll you

what

2.1634 : 10/23/09 : Only Game

I’m not proud so I play the

only game the only game in town

I will not disdain to play the only game

if that’s what claims renown

Play it badly play it well

with so much confusion who can tell

Still the game goes on and on and on

So hey today - ha! Yet another song

one day it may get old I may get exasperated

I hope to hell that purgatory is pro-rated

cause I’ve done a little time on this ball

and I don’t think I deserve a full sentence

at all

And that’s got nothing to do with why I stick around

no fears of dreams to come keep my feet on the ground

I play the game cause it’s there and I’m ready

better not blink my hands are so steady

another mile another fine rotation

broadcasting the signal from my secret station

that’s easy to find for anyone at all

if I keep playing the game

maybe someday the curtain will fall

what

2.1633 : 10/22/09 : Stupid Game

Sure as hell I got to get out

of that stupid game

big talkers and I’m far too old

to play it the same

You can call it sour grapes

or say I took my ball home

like that but I won’t

push that one through your dome

but should I blame you for being

young and arrogant

One day you’ll be old and wise like me

maybe give up the game maybe then you’ll see

the hard and polemic will never concur

there’s a place somewhere for those unsure

I’m in a minority I don’t claim to know

what the hell’s going on

or who runs the show

what

2.1632 : 10/21/09 : Head Game

What do you think of the

head game son

I been through it confused

why you find it fun

but you really

seem to though you need much help

so many questions

crazy little whelp

hell I’m tired

hell my teeth hurt

it beats meta-reference

but it won’t buy me a shirt

and neither will head games

or daydreams either

so I stumble along

badly in need of a breather

what

2.1631 : 10/20/09 Statistics

The statistics say packing heat will kill you

but you won’t change a thing boy will you

the statistics say I’m wasting my time

blathering about it while my jungle bells chime

and I’m a statistical creature nothing but

on the same bell curve again what the what

I’ve got correlation but I don’t get cause

and much as I hate to let the answer

slip through my paws

I better bow to the statistics and give up

the bar is so high and I’m failing so bad

to live up

what

2.1630 : 10/19/09 : Recreation

You know no one will write no one will call

no one will ask about the recreation

I’m getting used to it I hate to sound

like such a sorry shit

but truth be told this is my situation

I’m trying to build something new from scratch

and it’s a long haul and nobody is paying attention

at least as far as I can know

if they were you’d think they’d say something though

Occam’s razor has an explanation for zero mention

oh and will the recreation even matter

or will I just let it slide

I’ve done plenty of that yeah

and you know if it falls flat

there’ll be just another plain marker

where another idea died

what

2.1629 : 10/18/09 : Hello World

Oh yes hello

world

so predictable

Had some thoughts I didn’t care for

today

and I don’t want to tell them

to anyone at all

I don’t need to tell at all

maybe that proves it

isn’t serious

and anyway it’s all gone

and here I bow

under the camera imperious

what

2.1628 : 10/17/09 : Prior

Prior to deciding whether

to crash and burn

it’s not duress exactly

or salvation I spurn

I don’t know how to describe it

some desire to drive a nail

with one damn blow

and no doubt doomed to fail

then again maybe it’s just

wanting to scratch an itch

dig in a little really

lean on that bitch

just a dummy

making dumb decisions

pushing consequences on tomorrow

subject to tonight’s revision

what a drag

what a tale of fools’ delights

how many more does it require

these foolish nights

I wish I had the number

wish I had it written out

I suppose that wishing’s just

more of what it’s all about

what

2.1627 : 10/16/09 : Cross the Line

Today is the day I cross the line

wow it just happened

check out my spine

I could claim I was hired to work

it would be fair I’m exhausted

I try to fight through it while

on all sides I’m accosted

by dreams by work by progeny

start the countdown on some click

don’t have even a clue

of where this strange idea took hold

could probably use a walk

this gloomy gray doesn’t help me

get out wake up or get busy

and just keep crossing and crossing the line

and it’s making me

quite dizzy

what

2.1626 : 10/15/09 : Gorgeous

Give us back our gorgeous

dreams of tomorrow

instant everything and easy flight

this social rhetoric

and primitive explosives

Sure don’t match up to a dream of light

Is it an illusion I believe

that if we just dared to dream big enough

we’ll rise above this urge to war

and petty scarcity

and embrace experience over just more stuff

I suppose that I would have to

make myself a proof of concept

live a life glorious and gorgeous

it doesn’t seem so easy now

well no confess it doesn’t

but I can’t escape my portion is generous

what

2.1625 : 10/14/09 : Pattern Recognition

Why this brain’s supposedly so great

a point I tend to think you overrate

I guess it comes in handy

spotting the connections dandy

But in the valley where chaos reigns

it asks more questions than it ever explains

Pattern recognition

Won’t explain my grim position

Why isn’t it clearer or completely opaque

If I’m never going to make it will I always

have to fake

I recognize this pattern but

feel powerless to halt it

If I can’t blame my brain who can I blame

Still it feels wrong to fault it

Keep looking for the patterns

don’t you get discouraged

see long hours late of screwing off

hey maybe you should act your age

and I know recognizing it’s the easy part

scribing a new pattern is wholly the realm of art

but you’ve got to start where you are

if you hope to gin up a new avatar

what

2.1624 : 10/13/09 : Passive Voice

What was done to me

What has happened to the world

the evil that was allowed to flourish

the stones that were hurled

in the glass houses that were built

by the figureheads selected

In the races that were bought and paid for

by the products that were selected

And it got called freedom

and it got called choice

until it went beyond endurance

and I yelled out in my passive voice

what

2.1623 : 10/12/09 : In the End

In the end

what perfect arrogance

tell me friend

how do you feel about dissonance

I feel fine fine fine

I’m ready for

an uglier day

I feel fine

bring it on it’ll be

different anyway

there will be no end

there will be no aftermath

just now and now and now

throw the best case out

with the worst case bath

and I guess I am so dense

I’ve got to learn it over endless

it could be worse it could be worse

I’m not stupid

and I’m not friendless

what

2.1622 : 10/11/09 : Stupid Moron

The stupid moron

inside of me

barks for poison

as he swings from the tree

of the fruit of knowledge

of stupid and smart

I no longer know what this is

but could it really be art?

How I hate you stupid moron

I’d like to force feed you

arsenic and boron

wouldn’t it be great to be free

the only problem is the stupid

moron is me

I keep saying I’ll

keep him in the box

the moment I doze off

the stupid moron talks

I’m afraid I’m going to

just have to learn

to live with him and try to

cope when it’s his turn

what

2.1621 : 10/10/09 : Last Page of the Internet

Last page of the internet

they’re making robot bees

at Harvard

Maybe I should have

sent in an application

shift my whole history

hard to starboard

You have to cultivate

and attitude of no regrets

just to get along

maybe today I’ll do

one more thing right

than everything I got wrong

I am thankful

don’t get me wrong

but I think that you

must earn me back

I am standing up

I am asking so much more

but truly I am

not on the attack

what

2.1620 : 10/9/09 : Epic Fail

Failed to keep the promise

throw it on the pile

hour stretching endless

be here for a while

swallow brandy

reach for a feeling

knowing it is only

my own sleep I’m stealing

told myself I wouldn’t say

the same old same old

day after day

sounds familiar

looks beyond the pale

another document

of another epic fail

what

2.1619 : 10/8/09 : Stretch the Hour Until it Breaks

I’ll stretch the hour until it breaks

act willful, claim it’s all mistakes

hands aching with the cold

and feeling feeling old

Hard to bear to tell it straight

the night is cold the hour is late

halfway through this foolish swing

praying the mighty pendulum ends this thing

what

2.1618 : 10/7/09 : Germane

What’s relevant? what’s germane

If I jump through every hoop

just what will I gain

say riches won’t make you happy

but debt will make you sad

It’s a hell of a system

And I feel like I’ve been had

It’s really all my fault though

I confess I should have known

if you have to find someone to blame

it rests on me alone

try to figure out what is germane

and figure out what fits

hope those hoops don’t start spinning

chop me into bits

what

2.1617 : 10/6/09 : Consistent

Try as I might I just can’t

seem to get it consistent

and the howling of my aging ego’s

getting more insistent

as I try to piece together

what the next phase is

don’t really want to talk about

it anymore but there it is

consistently falling short

consistently up too late

consistently glossing over

what maybe could be great

consistently backsliding

in habits old and new

just thank God I’m not a drinker

and that I’ve held onto you

what

2.1616 : 10/5/09 : Transcription

This is no new scripture

on golden plates

has it been a decade

casting pearls before the ingrates

transcribing history into

digital ether

I asked my muse to help out

She said it was beneath her

the scale of it defies

rational description

the big computer’s

universal transcription

destructive analysis

only information will survive

So enjoy all your sensations

while you’re supposedly alive

And I’ll make my map in miniature

my little track of the day

on the theory that the future

will need an awful lot to play

what

2.1615 : 10/4/09 : Insanity

I know doing it again is crazy crazy

Heaven knows I’ve tried to stop

Heaven knows I’ve killed myself

waiting up night after night

waiting for the other shoe to drop

It’s crazy and I have to

slog back even from here

illustrating the

definition of insanity

Learn from my mistakes

hell I don’t even learn from my

successes

So typical,

oh the humanity

what

2.1614 : 10/3/09 : Blown Away

Nobody’s getting blown away

by this masterpiece

hoping for some stale shake

buried in the crease

hell it could be worse

I could be thinking that way

I’ve made a tiny bit of progress

with my feet of clay

Just thinking about it

washes me out with fatigue

thinking the whole damn world

is out of my league

I could be so much worse

a real monster true

but I’m just not enough

and I’m so sick of pushing through

what

2.1613 : 10/2/09 : Lost Leaf

Leave of paper, leaves of tobac

leaves are turning yellow

So soon winter’s coming back

and I have lost

the thread of the leaf

that I collected

and I’ve scrambled all the

notes of the

experiment subjected

what

2.1612 : 10/1/09 : Working Backwards

Working backwards to fix the error

this one went deep it hurts

after the flood the crash the terror

we’re lucky we still have our shirts

try not to look at those not so lucky

try not to hear the bell toll

thinking about all that makes me feel yucky

and I don’t want to stop I’m on a roll

It’s really happening today I’m unplugging

flushing 13 years of poor production

find out what happens if I really keep chugging

maybe at last I’ll find my damn function

it couldn’t get any dumber I hope

drop all thought of sunken cost and regret

pray to get just enough to cope

Well you haven’t heard the last of it I bet

what

2.1611 : 9/30/09 : Time

Time is more full with

treasures since you came

Made your debut

appeared secured your name

It bowls me over sometimes

thumbs my buttons true

Even so through time I go

At some whole other level with you

I couldn’t say enough

every day of the year

Five brilliant cycles on

just getting started have no Fear

what

2.1610 : 9/29/09 : American Psycho

Nobody listens: that is the lesson

so it doesn’t matter, who hears the confession

everybody’s implicated, everybody’s culpable

so everybody is in on the clean up

and the tension in here is palpable

observe the average specimen: male, American, Psycho

wondering what you’d look like with your head on a pike-oh

wondering if the ghosts of these memories every existed

wondering at this death impulse, why we ever resisted

I saw her give a little smile

from the back of the cruiser

as it pulled away from the curb

that’s when I knew I was the loser

what

2.1609 : 9/28/09 : Back Down in the Hole

There’s a lesson in this

if I bring myself to hear

the mission to get clear

can obscure what threw me

back down in the hole

back down in the hole

That’s easy but this is hard

to find another path to trod

wave the carrot or don’t spare the rod

Who knows what will keep me from falling

back down the hole

back down the hole

maybe I’ll leave one more gap

at least it won’t be the same today

maybe tomorrow well who can say

having nothing to do but hope and pray

I don’t end up just jumping

Back down the hole

back down the hole

what

2.1608 : 9/27/09 : Faith

Believing in an outcome may be required

Some anodyne some tonic for

when I get tired

when you’re faking so much

and making so little

And sunk in real doubt

there’s a real answer to the riddle

Confusion is okay for a chapter or two

but it won’t make the nut

for the whole book of you

Maybe faith in something more

than ears stopped, eyes closed

a knowing you require

when every obstacle’s exposed

what

2.1607 : 9/26/09 : Stacks

The stacks get so high

and it’s all my fault

what to believe in

I’m sick on grains of salt

will I ever get better

as good as I demand

will I ever leave this desert

stop pounding sand

so many ways to go astray

lose all my momentum

So many other lines like this

these ideas I just rent them

what

2.1605 : 9/24/09 : Groan

Sometimes there’s nothing but to

hold your nose and groan over it

It’s shameful but there’s sure no point

in throwing a fit

I’m no less trapped

but my house is cleaner

no I had better get unplugged

before it makes me any meaner

when the gap is shut

and the ten year calendar is caught up

when the money’s flush

and the armageddon rations bought up

will I still be facing

this idiot pundit class

well I guess we’ll give those dolts

something new to harass

what

2.1604 : 9/23/09 : Numbers Racket

Should I be playing in a

numbers racket

running a numbers racket

odds are odd and

I couldn’t hack it

Guess I’ll stick to

seeking wages

messing up and

filling pages

till I tip the

rock of ages

see what’s crawling

underneath

run tongue over my

wearing teeth

and lay down this

mourning wreath

No more numbers

rackets no quick fix

and all the chaos

it inflicts

the other path is slow and dull

I just hope I’ve got a few more tricks

what

2.1603 : 9/22/09 : New Home

My big idea for a new home

for the words and these

silly little songs

turned out to cost too much

it really wasn’t all that big

just the first thing that occurred

since the last rug you yanked out

not to say that anything there was assured

I read a friend get way too intimate

talking about their fucked up life

maybe seven years you’ll read this friend

and it won’t mean a thing and that’s history’s knife

It’s not easy to find a new home

so we try real hard to make it work

but inertia is a wicked mistress

and these habits surely make me look the jerk

well I’m mostly not looking for a new home

just like to pick up better habits

it’s getting cold and I’m tired and it feels like

time to go to ground just like rabbits

what

2.1602 : 9/21/09 : Devil On the Mat

Predictable consequences

what to make of that

you’ll have to play the tough guy

if you want to wear the hat

how the hell hard does it have to be

to get a little change up in my habitat

hey a little here, hey a little there

is this ever going to get the devil on the mat

Far from happy with the

gross wages of plain excess

I can fake perfection for a while

but I can’t always sustain fancy dress

and it’s perfectly pitiful

to end up in the same old mess

but you can only lead yourself so far

under self-imposed duress

I’m all hung up on hope

but I’ve got to beat the clock

It’s so hard to believe these days

that anything’s going to rock

So hard to really argue

that I’m anything but talk

but I grasp for optimism

and still retain the hope to shock

what

2.1601 : 9/20/09 : Run to Delight

Not so satisfied

refuse the endless night

run run run

run to delight

make no plans

no intentions none

Though the night seems deserted

I am not the only one

may I end here

oh just for one day

I’ve never wrote so much

feeling I’ve got nothing to say

to hold up the bargain

I must at times repeat

myself till I feel empty

while the puzzle’s

still so incomplete

what

2.1600 : 9/19/09 : Eleven

Turn it up to eleven

comedy cliché

I hit it every hour

I hit it every day

I’ll never explain myself

just hope that it gets better

refine it to a paragraph

and send it in a letter

complete one sentence

and roll on to another

think about my father

think about my mother

A line must just be drawn

somewhere this side of heaven

consider it a matter

of dialing up eleven

what

2.1599 : 9/18/09 : Limitations

What’s the statutes of limitations

on silly young man’s

unrealistic expectations

It could be worse oh Lord

I know it so well

too old to get so dramatic

to claim that this is hell

too old to expect

some sort of clean break

young enough to want to

deny it’s just a damn mistake

travel through the stages

breathe all the stations

while away an hour

contemplating limitations

what

2.1598 : 9/17/09 : Verse

The metaverse, the negaverse

the vicaverse, the versaverse

oh is it miracle or curse

so many ways that I could not exist

and could I really call them worse

Oh that I could be forgotten in an instant

like the snuffing of a small flame

or the crushing of an ant

nobody mention in the room

there is an elephant

and the other verses linger in the mist

and who’s to say what can and can’t

what

2.1597 : 9/16/09 : First or Second

First or second

don’t even know

maybe luck but

so far I’m

making it so

to all the sorry strugglers

trying to sweat the first or second

seeing visions of the sweet vice

that in the distance beckoned

I guess I remember

and it all is tucked away

to examine if I need to

a game I alone can play

I guess it’s better than

What came before but I’m not thrilled

a demon is dispatched

but yet the Beast remains unkilled

what

2.1596 : 9/15/09 : Death of Ritual

By the pain in these hands

by the scratch in this throat

never again that midnight road

never again this leaking boat

by a day unmarked mislabeled

misremembered meaning nothing

by a piss poor rhyme or reason

propped up shaky by one thing

I seize and execute this

I effect the death of ritual

once more a rutted bloody track

in a promise of success pure virtual

what

2.1595 : 9/14/09 : Another Five Minutes

Another five minutes

time to wash a dish

wedge in some creative drool

pick up a tiny plastic fish

Figure I should be doing

more serious work

but the serious work

is such a bore

I guess this all beats

finding out what

another five minutes

is really for

what

2.1594 : 9/13/09 : Please No More

Please no more

must it be put on display

Lord knows it’s gotten

written down enough

day after day after day

the opposite of special

beyond mundane

oh yes the tired is real

and sure the pain

but everyone’s in pain here

everyone’s bored

you’d think you could

have spotted

this, one coming Lord

what

2.1593 : 9/12/09 : Wanton

4,150 : 9 ?

Wanton wanting after wealth

attempt the needle’s eye by stealth

won’t I look stupid lodged in there

and not even rich, double despair

scarcely know what I’m really pining

for, maybe any silver lining

riches false metaphor for some false prize

maybe just covet what’s before our eyes

getting see-through fading out

tired as hell without a doubt

if I give in now though

I’ll wreck the night

odds are I will anyway

what a fool’s plight

what

2.1592 : 9/11/09 : Column

Watch the liquid mount the column

shining golden fire

waiting for the fractionate

to trip the sensor wire

decant the essence of the

decoction of the 7 vital airs

daydreaming carrying the

filled vial up the stairs

toss it back in one draft master

everything according to the plan

chasing your obscure disaster

becoming more and less than a man

when they write the story of it

I’m sure they’ll leave out my name

but despite being lost to history

I was in it just the same

what

2.1591 : 9/10/09 : Yours In Struggle

Struggle with the feelings

of inadequacy

struggle with sleep

hey I’m not fussy

How am I going to get around

to the manifesto

Yours in struggle,

Comrade don Ernesto

I was het up about equality

While you were in diapers

call me in 20 years

when you’re paying all the pipers

I don’t see much changing

and no it isn’t fine

but I’ve got bigger fish to fry and

it’s your struggle now not mine

what

2.1590 : 9/9/09 : Slapdash

Slapdash just laying

paint down anywhere

no master it’s a mess

it’s in my teeth and hair

every stolen moment’s

Shouting at me from the bleachers

I’ve got no mentors no

And I’ve got no more teachers

maybe it’s all a confidence game

modern art a modern myth

maybe culture’s best produced

and packaged in some monolith

if so I hope they’ll overlook

my sorry little enterprise

as I refuse to stop and if

they don’t like it well damn their eyes

what

2.1589 : 9/8/09 : Worm Turns

After long hiatus

the stomach worm returns

nothing I’m not used to

though it vexes and burns

and it takes me back to old haunts

and memories long archived

I’ve known it since I was a child

and what the hell, I survived

still in the grips of madness

I recognize its hue

and the worm must be a gift of God

a spike to push the message through

but though my eyes are leaking

and the pain’s from tip to toe

there’s a little crazy left yet to extract

so on and on and on I go

what

2.1588 : 9/7/09 : Alternative

Alternative to finishing the race

consider falling flat on my face

or sketching out the barest bones

procedures whispered into telephones

Alternative to going crazy the same old way

wake up get up and deal live for today

I can’t help it if the oldies hit me just right

it was in my mind a moment but faded from sight

If this isn’t the answer then what is

I would give you speculation hit or miss

or wrap it up check the clock and give

one last fleeting nod to the alternative

what

2.1587 : 9/6/09 : Open, Shut

An open and shut case

it all adds up to very little

we’re struggling beneath the law

yes every jot and dittle

what

2.1586 : 9/5/09 : Marathon

4,143 : 2 ?

Too dull to even

record the session

round it down to

a thousand is three

I might have sixty left

there’s no knowing

call it twenty thousand then

for all the good it does me

three hundred twenty thousand then

with eyes open anyway

sounds like a hell of a marathon

see what I can get done

down in fifteen minutes

imagine if it just went

on and on

drops in the bucket

fill up the bucket

One point two million

eighty thousand and naught

sounds like plenty

too bad it’s just an estimate

who knows what I’ve really got

what

2.1585 : 9/4/09 : Fake It

Fighting a feeling like I

really might not make it

every other day it seems

like I just can’t fake it

got through yesterday

but what about tonight?

and always another one

so many chances to not get it right

I think I sang a song about the

lost thread already

So tired so faded

yet my hand is still steady

So I guess I keep it up

today and still fake it

I hoped for more for sure

but hell I’ll sure take it

what

2.1584 : 9/3/09 : Rapid

Is it just the name

then

would anyone

notice otherwise

rapid deployment

of vague enjoyment

dark dazzle

of the mocker

flashes off my eyes

would it be best to sleep

try to catch it up

another day like yesterday

no thanks, please

just take back the cup

what

2.1583 : 9/2/09 : Comrade

Nothing but one another’s

rhetorical devices

some new society

distraction from the crisis

I hope you let it go

forget the comrade crack

because I’m walking away

and I will not look back

I should keep it short and sweet

but I keep rambling on

So far so incomplete

Where have the days gone

What I said to you

applies just as well to me

maybe we’ll meet on better terms

someday when we’re both struggling free

what

2.1582 : 9/1/09 : Cosmos

Oh the Cosmos, oh, oh the Cosmos

call it curiosity

so many things meant

something to me

prejudice and superstition

that isn’t all there is to it

yet there is something here

a mission

don’t ask me to be your messenger

your bastard

I’ve been hung out

Look at this another

aching night

sick anxious

worn and strung out

but I smile thinking

about the Cosmos

and every crazy thing in it

no matter how long I hold on

five hundred thousand hours

of contemplation

will not show me more

than a tiny bit

what