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Apr 2018 · 174
Which Change is Coming?
Zane Safrit Apr 2018
Bartender and
I holding court
Chris Stapleton
Giving us hope

Otis Redding sings
Change's gonna come
But which is the change?
Trump or life for all?

Live  band kicks off with
Life in Wartime, why not
We’re bombing Putin
This ain't no disco.

I’m drinking hard

© Zane Safrit -  2018 - All Rights Reserved
Apr 2018 · 94
Time to Go
Zane Safrit Apr 2018
You know it's time to go
when your world is one big
Nancy Reagan and it
just says no. No. No. No

No to love
No to jobs
No to Hi's
No to byes

You walk in a
parallel universe
watching, waving
as they and theirs go by

© Zane Safrit -  2018 - All Rights Reserved
Apr 2018 · 95
When I Die
Zane Safrit Apr 2018
When I die
Well they may not even notice
I don't think they know my number now.  
If they don't just let 'em alone
I'm happy
Happier than I've ever been

Iowa was my home for so long
Couldn't find a better place to live
But all good things must end sometime
any how
I'm on my way to heaven, who knows
if it's there.

© Zane Safrit -  2018 - All Rights Reserved
Hat tip to Tanya Tucker and her 1978 version of "Texas When I Die" written by Ed Bruce, Patsy Bruce, Bobby Borchers. There's a sad defiance to its claim of journeys and setbacks and coming home. I woke up singing that song this morning. Here's Tanya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqOPWieA9Tc
Mar 2018 · 119
True North
Zane Safrit Mar 2018
Your poems are always sad,
she said
They always start out happy
I said
And then what happens
she asked
The past catches up
I said

But I am your true north
she said
Yes, you are. Keep shining


© Zane Safrit -  2018 - All Rights Reserved
Mar 2018 · 284
I Just Don't Care
Zane Safrit Mar 2018
Heard all the news
Read all the sites
Talking heads views
Little sound bites

I just don't care
I really don't
Cause I got you
Cause I got you.

Trump's up in Flames
Our world is too
No one to blame
It's all boo-hoo

I just don't care
I really don't
Cause I got you
Cause I got you.

Children got fear
Adults got guns
The NRA cheers
We're all undone

I just don't care
I really don't
Cause I got you
Cause I got you.

Black man at home
Waving brand new phone
Cops shoot him dead
20 shots center mass

I just don't care
I really don't
Cause I got you
Cause I got you.

© Zane Safrit, 2018 All rights reserved.
Just a riff
Zane Safrit Jan 2018
Laughs and tears

Haunt these halls

Silent whispers

Silent fears

Empty hearts, empty rooms

Cold and still, endless gloom

Your hurt, mine

My tears, yours

What's it matter

What's done is done

© Zane Safrit, 2018 All rights reserved.
Aug 2017 · 138
Rage against ...
Zane Safrit Aug 2017
We roll by
Giving all
We got to
Get by and

We might be
Driving a
Taurus or
Fiesta
Maybe a
Pickup truck
Or shiny
Kia thing

We will rage
Sometimes by
Our dying
Kitchen light
Not too loud
Can't lose our
Jobs because
Our babies
Need healthcare

© Zane Safrit, 2017
Hat tip to Dylan Thomas for his "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night."

This started from my perspective, 'He.' But then I remembered that economics and everything it's possibly more accurate to say "She" ... So I wrote it with She/Her. Then I realized ... it's us and we. We're all in this together.
Jul 2017 · 152
Country Jam
Zane Safrit Jul 2017
Long beard, longer arms
Lurching, grinning, having fun
Jamming, slamming, deep
down a rutted country road

Their hope and dreams washed
away in last year's hundred
year flood, the second
This decade but who's countin'
Jul 2017 · 275
I can see tomorrow
Zane Safrit Jul 2017
See if I wanna
Tell it all and, dunno, I
wanna see if I

Could shake it up now
Too old or too high too high
She's smiling now, I

Wanna see more, the
Light so bright, so crystal clear
Shines in my eyes, I

Wanna cry is all
So happy, so happy I
Can see tomorrow
Jun 2017 · 127
Dream On
Zane Safrit Jun 2017
Dream on, he sang
Dream on, Dream on
Just keep dreaming
Always liked the song

Some days it’s like
stirring around
old, cold ashes
the fire gone now

© Zane Safrit -  2018 - All Rights Reserved
Jun 2017 · 126
Tell Her
Zane Safrit Jun 2017
Someone took my laptop
And my smartphone too
What kinda world when
they do that to you

No one needs to steal her
she just walked away
Someone else buying her
pretty things today

Now I am happy too
here writing all day
but please would you
tell her, tell her, okay?
Jun 2017 · 169
Little Fat Man
Zane Safrit Jun 2017
Little fat man
hitching his pants up
by the belt to
no avail now

It's a tick
an itch he could scratch
but why now and
why here, in front

of me and her
we're giggling, can't help
it, he's looking
he can't help himself

hip-shake, I say
she laughs, not the stones
she laughs again
We can't help ourselves

Shake for me, I
say, her laugh roars
he's hitching, shaking
he can't he'p himself

We're all little
fat men, hitching and
shaking, scratching
these itches we got

People laughing
Pointing at us
helping themselves
hitching and shaking

What if we all
relaxed and hip-shaked
together, giggling
can't help ourselves.

Seeing who, seeing how
shimmy shaking
smiling and laughing
not so bad, really.
Jun 2017 · 166
I ain't lying
Zane Safrit Jun 2017
I ain't lying
I ain't got the time
'sides what's the point
Truth alone triumphs, right
I saw that on a screen saver

Doesn't matter
I ain't lying
Believe me, now
Time is short
and the seconds
are passing
Faster and faster.

© Zane Safrit, 2017
Jun 2017 · 180
Why Don't You Know
Zane Safrit Jun 2017
I don't know why
Why you don't know
What died inside
When you said no.
Jun 2017 · 146
Open Mic Night
Zane Safrit Jun 2017
Rapper on stage
Volume up, beats thumping
Crowd runs out of claps like smokers run out of breath
Still they wait, smiling, hoping it'll come back
He's smiling, too, bumping peace and love
I'm not sure happy people should rap
Jun 2017 · 168
They All Called
Zane Safrit Jun 2017
They all called
One by one
or texted two words
Happy Birthday.

One by one
except the one
The one
I wanted to call
May 2017 · 549
Silence Was Not An Option
Zane Safrit May 2017
Okay
So you wanted to leave
And I had nothing to say.

— The End —