I’m gonna play my vinyl in the ******, and that’s final
Life is bad when you're sad
Ain't you glad they took you out of school, coz you were cool
Chicks don’t understand your waveband, don’t know the beat, take a seat
Let me explain, give it plain, feel the pain, I’m on a higher plane
Take a shot, I’m hot, fire around my soul, like coal burning in the night, dynamite
Touch the aura, stars at night delight in my plume
They give me room to shine, divine
Radio waves take me further down
DJ thinks it’s cool to swear, records on air, doesn’t understand, I’m on a higher plane
Can’t explain to lower creed, we give them seeds to grow, and still they sow
Watch them bow and scrape, no escape, see them run
Radioactive fallout kills the pain, don’t eat the fruit without the silver suit
Read the signs, stars are on the wane, I’m on a higher plane
Black women wear white to shine the skin, purify the race, educate the masses to a greater state
White man loves black, he sees the dark touching deep, can’t sleep without the thought, black women enslaved to bleed, chained and made to sleep
White women wear black to get back, we’re all insane, you know where I am
Now we’re on the moon, and very soon to change the smile to gloom
Looking down I saw Iran
Pressed a button during sandwich break, changed the map forever
Rediscovered China on a trip to Mars, now there’s just a wall
Made the six o’clock around the globe
Jupiter seemed a distant star, and we all went to sleep
Tomorrow was another day to play.

The guy with the flowers and the milk tray
So sorry, she’s having an affair
With me
I’m your friend too
Strange the things we do
Just sort of happened
You would understand if it wasn’t you
We should end it, walk away
Start another day
We wont
Not till all the cards are played
We know the end
The hurt, the betrayal
The words they say
You, they hate the most
Now the ghost
Doors are closed
Family walk away
Strange, the marriage stronger than ever now
I did that
Self congratulations as I walk away
Yet I don't see the gratitude coming my way.

He was sat on the bridge when the stranger appeared
No words
He lit a cigarette
Then spoke
Woman
I nodded
Mortal man
Destiny unplanned
Soul who waits
His tempered fate
Let me paint you a scene
Dead body, screams
Lots of tears
No sound, as they lower you into the ground
Two weeks down the line
Slight anger
You made her cry
Made her guilty, why
You were the dumb one, stupid guy
Now you’ve gone
She’s moving on
Thats life
Though, there is another way
You could stay
Tough it out
Times change
Maybe she wasn’t the one
Who knows
Tonight you die
Or tomorrow you grow
Let me know
Then he was gone.

“I loved you long before you loved me. It's the only thing I have you beat at, and I'll bring it up every chance I get.”*

She was sitting on the beach
wearing the tiniest bikini
staring out at the perfect Adriatic.

She sat alone, which considering
her beauty and elegance
seemed some cosmically bad joke.

Unlike myself, I approached her,
flashed my guileless 17-year-old smile,
and said hello, fully expecting
a giant older brother or even
Poseidon himself to appear
from nowhere and ****** me.

She spoke a lilting English
with an accent I could not name.
She said her name was Marisa
and she was twenty-one.

Next morning, in my two dollar room,
after an exhausting night of abandon
during which she moaned and peaked
three times, she dressed as I lay
shrivelled and worn out
as a mummified banana.

She told me she had come here
to be alone a little because
next week she must marry
an older man whom she did not love
chosen as was custom by her parents.

She said she would remember me
as the last morsel of passion
she would ever know in this world.

She kissed my forehead and left.

I had no words.

I never knew her last name
nor ever saw her again.

The Wheel spins, the particles dance,
we can never know the trajectories
that chance encounter can engender
nor what shapes the next round brings.

The next day I left for Greece
uncertain of what had even happened.

I still don't know. I never will.

But I think I may have met her again...

  ~mce

So, are we good?

We are good.

Good.

Better to hear
sometimes
even than

I love you.

Or perhaps
the same thing.

  ~mce

Today I am holding on tight to nothing
and it is just enough to keep me breathing.
How marvelous to be an ordinary artist
who can survive on so little.
You taught me that a kiss matters
more than all the pain and terror on earth.
I leave the world's problems to its big men.
I am a small man working only on problems
a small man might hope to solve.
Why are there birds? What do dogs think?
Why do cats purr both when happy and sad.
Why do you taste like lost oceans?
These are the mysteries I care about.
The curve of your cheek matters more to me
than stock markets, earthquakes or wars.
My hands caressing your human *******
matter more than tsunamis and revolutions.
Your voluptuous *** speaks ****** volumes
about where the world should pay attention.
I would gladly lie down with you in Eden
smelling of apples and the loss of eternity.
I sing only for helpless humans and animals.
Let the wealthy and powerful purchase their
own poems though I doubt they even care.
I am content to feel the texture of your hair
and celebrate your green eyes with humble words.
We are human, we are warm and we are here.
That's enough for me, maybe more than I can bear.
I am holding on tight to nothing and I do not fear.

~mce

One hand slides up your thighs,
my tongue reaches down your throat,
the other hand fondles your breast,
but the real ***, the deepest ***
is the love passing between our eyes.

~mce

They looked like any other couple on the beach
Hand in hand
She was planning the future
Marriage, children, happiness
He would be going away
She couldn’t take it in at first
Nothing made sense
He tried to explain
It was like a calling
Something that grew and grew
Stronger than them both
Devastated, she left
He went off to war
Years of battles
Inflicting horror
Receiving the scars without complaint
Battle hardened
He saw her on the beach
Mother and child
Her dreams come true he hoped
He watched them for awhile
Thinking back to times before
Hand in hand
No regrets
She didn’t recognize him at first
His face like granite
Scared her
They talked
He would be staying awhile
The beach would bring them back
He watched as she slept
So peaceful
Unlike his own nightmares
Always death
Though at times they were a comfort
Something told him to stay
He saw a family
A future
He would be going
A letter his final gift
She didn’t ask him to stay
It was never meant to be
The journeys end more sweet
She was a woman
The attack came at dawn
******, battlefield lost
He felt good
Hand in hand
She let the sea take his ashes
Blowing back against her
The children were playing
The war was over
She was happy.

My Marie, wasted so much time watching
Sat behind your image, I always wondered
Type me another picture, so I can look inside your head
Reach the final thread

When all the words are said and done
And times we have no longer fun
Please remember how it all begun
Cause no one won, no one won

My Marie, did you really think I’d change
Become your love, rearrange my life to suit your soul
Could we really be such fools
Expect to change the rules forever

When all the words are said and done
And times we have no longer fun
Please remember how it all begun
Cause no one won, no one won

My Marie, another picture in another place
***** talk, ***** ******
Lousy love that didn’t please
High class *****, ******* tease

When all the words are said and done
And times we have no longer fun
Please remember how it all begun
Cause no one won, no one won

My Marie, dressed to thrill, stocking tops where guys would ****
Pink champagne upon your *******
Trickling down your shaven nest
Sighs to screams, frenzied pace
Champagne and love, the sultry taste

When all the words are said and done
And times we have no longer fun
Please remember how it all begun
Cause no one won, no one won

My Marie, we fight goodbye
Mocking insults, tears to cry
Words like daggers deep inside
Daggers deep inside
Goodbye Marie, our time has come
The pictures running dry
Sat behind your image, I always wondered why

One day I was feeling all alone
Felt so really down
Remembered a pair of lacy pants
And put them to my brow
Champagne and scent came flooding back, and time began to clear
For a fleeting moment I had you
And then you weren't there.

The man on the bridge is in between life and death.
Such a fine line.
Where did the hope end.
Did it begin.

The man on the bridge is in between life and death.
Is it too late.
Would words change your fate
Would you wait

The man on the bridge is in between life and death
The moment has come
Seconds to die
Just tell me why

The man on the bridge is in between life and death
You don’t want to know
Is it worth your life
I think so

The man on the bridge is in between life and death
He has made up his mind
Thank you for being so kind
The man on the bridge.

I can feel it
& cry heartbroken
on the same bathroom floor
wondering what went wrong,
how could she
be like that,
after the love
I poured into her,
she wanted,
she took
from me.

What’s wrong, you look like thunder.

It’s those two birds I’m going out with, Tuesday and Thursday.

What’s the problem, get the days mixed up.

No, I call them Tuesday and Thursday, I take them out Friday and Saturday.

You do lead a strange life, so what’s the problem.

The problem is Tuesday, she wants to go out on Saturday.

Well, why don’t you take Tuesday out on Saturday afternoon, leaving you free to take
Thursday out on Saturday night.

My god, that’s genius, that’s what I’ll do.

# Monday morning

So how did your weekend go.

Aw man, what a disaster, took Tuesday to the bowling in the afternoon, totally forgot Friday worked there.

Wow there, who the hell is Friday.

She was casual.

So what happened.

She phoned Thursday that’s what happened.

Oh, sounds painful.

No, the painful part was when the wife turned up.

Oops, bet you were wondering what day it was, can I see the film.

Get you a copy later, now I’m forced to stay with Monday for awhile.

What did the wife say?

She wasn't my wife but Wednesday's
Wednesday is married to a woman?

Yeah she's a little freaky. So there I was with Tuesday, Wednesday's wife, Thursday on the way and Friday in my face about Thursday.

                                                      
                                                Paul Gaffney & Lily Nurmi.