It’s the middle of the day,
and I am drunk. Without a
drop of Alcohol, not a smell
of any Wine. The sense of
being sober completely give
in once I have him in mind.

I’ve found myself miss you a lot today.

I thought I heard the gunfire,
the deep crack on his smile, I
thought I saw it, when the
bullet took the temperature
away from him, I can feel,
my earth is crashing down.

You’re the best dream I’ve ever had.

Be not afraid of the Death, he
said, we’re born to be ruined.
They would curse you for the
leaving, but what can they do
– to **** you again after you died?
He grined, with tears in his eyes.

Contagious, contagious, contagious…

When the first sweet scent of summertime,
sifted through the sea-salt scented air,
so many things and everything
were bright, light and happy-go-fair,
the Summer Life with you was finally here.

As soon as our bare feet hit the wood bridge,
running from the road up over the dunes,
great grey seagulls squawked, dove and swoon,
we held hands together, one and one
made two,
dash-dancing across the shiny sand with you,
dressed and undressed in our Summer Life moods.

Colours like pinwheels spun like yarn,
flashed and clashed bright orange to blue,
you danced and giggled like a loon,
pulled me up and so close, so close
to you,
that I had to dance, I had to dance like a loon,
I just had to laugh and dance and laugh along with you.

How we played, we frolicked beneath the beachy sun,
belly-surfed upon the waves just for funny fun,
flicked flecks of sand from our sticky picnic lunch,
shared swigs from a big blue thermos jug
of fruity-fruit yummy punch,
sharing and caring beneath the Summer Life's sun.

By evening-tide the air grew cool,
you called me 'lover,' I called you 'fool'
-with a big ol' blanket draped over our shoulders,
we kissed and cuddled, growing much bolder,
falling flat back
upon the mighty mattress of sand,
feeling the mists of the waves licking our hands,
as the Man-In-The-Moon arose and shone,
to dance and laugh with us on the Summer Life's throne.

Hey there babe come on with me
We’ll run into the night, so much to see
Leave it all behind, see that’s the key
Grab my hand, sink your feet in the sand
Cuz’ now we’re livin free

Ain’t no worryin here on out
All’s left to do is dance and shout
The moments what its all about
Hear the music play steadily
Don’t look back at doubt

Run through fields of daisies
So what if we’re going crazy
Day and night its getting hazy
Mindbeams begin to spout
I see you babe, its all ok

Settle down for once in the west
They always tell me it’s the best
We’ll hunker into a cozy nest
Spend our days lazy
Think you know the rest

Time comes round to say goodbye
Never wanna, you got me too high
Sometimes tho, you gotta try
To beat the final test
But you an me babe
We ain’t never gonna die

without you is a lonely shore,
a stretch of sand, a closing door,
where wisps the winds from off the waves,
such mockery of my heart they make.

no matter what the time of day,
i think, i dream of you this way:
hand in hand, at last as one,
sharing laughter, love and fun.

falling with you to catch me,
i am Icarus.

wings of wax.

the man in the air of your dreams...

I

i am so much smaller than you
and i can ever
                            believe...
and you are so much smaller
than you and
i know.

i sit within the winds,
those summer breezes,
some gusty gales, perhaps,
feeling
'the tug
               and toss
of its fabulous force
     rippling
     churning
combing the thinning grey hair on my tired head,
my clothing,
                          so indistinct,
flapping,
                  furling,
floating, --filled with this seen-un-seen presence,
     and i know

a am so small,
and my life so
ludicrous,
like the air
that comes
                      and goes
out of its own control,
but,
                                               i am too small,
and unable
to stop this, its invisible assault.

II


when i am a-float upon
the great lakes, the oceans
the
      rolling
                    rivers
i live
like a tiny slab of flotsam or
     driftwood
sailing
             slowly,
circularly,
(oh-so!) quietly
                                running,
reeling the peeling painted oars of my boat
against
the grainy flashing surface of the waters
                                 rumbling,
                                                                                  rolling
                                                                                       away
this insatiable yearning
to go wherever it takes me to go, but
i know
              i am very small,
and cannot control the eddy's creeping currents-
constant-currents
thus
          submitting
my wayfaring self
to the
unfathomable.

III
__

these trees towering
                                         above me
around me,
the sapling,
the blanketing
                              (in my lifetime)
                                blooming branches
creating
an emotional, outer, physical, inner, spiritual
                              dwindling
like the leaves left shivering beneath the cold winter's frost,
once casually
                falling,
                              dropping,
drying up around my soul
slipping
into silent winter slumber,
to awaken
                     again...
                                    --and then!
(to the dismay of my self-enlightened discovery)
i see
how small
                                            i am
only to return again
from that brownish-moist
soil-bed
                like a seed
beneath
                  the ground
                                        never sprouting,
only fogetting,
the once and always forvever
and ever
the natural
insignificance
                                                                 of being.

How dose your Ship Float?
Corkey Hawley
1982
How dose your Ship Float?

What do you do when
You lose the feeling

When your heart gets
Broken and you need healin’

Does another’s arms
Calm the storm for the night

Or does your ship sink
In the dark and quite

How many holes can you
Put into your ship

Expecting it to stay afloat
While on deck you flounder and slip



CH

New York City alive and
Live’n still

If the roaches don’t
Get ya, the taxes sure
Will

It’s ***** all year and
It stinks as bad as hell
But the actions so exciting
It gives ya such a thrill

1982



You & Me, Baby

You’re a lady
who needs a tender touch
You don’t like anything
That’s rushed….too much

I’ve seen the disappointment
In you eyes
I’ve tasted your tears
When you cry
We’ve been closer than
Any I believe
I’ve stayed longer then some
Should I leave?

You know it’s down to
You and me
Sometimes I think I
Should leave
Buy those baby blues
Plead please stay

Sing for me one more
Refrain for today
Please no more
Rain today

I’m not quite the bargain
You thought I’d be
I’m not as cheap to keep
As I claimed to be
I spent your dime
Take’n my time
Now heartache is the
Only thing I find in rhyme

I’m just that lonely
Guitar picker you found one night
Lookin’ for a home, some warmth,
And a feelin’ that felt right
You’re the one who saved
Me from myself
I could have died lonely
Without any help

When those who called
Them shelves my friend
Were stabbing me in the back
You showed me
that it wasn’t the end


CH ‘82



Street Music

There’s a lot of good people
Play’n music in the streets
Singing really fine for all
Gett’n little change for
Something to eat
They never ask for anything
They mostly sing and play for free
Freeze in winter, thaw in spring
Boogie in summer, the fall they never see
Most people don’t stop to listen
They’re to busy going by
They don’t know what they’re
Miss’n they don’t even stop
To wonder why

Street people play’n music
There’s a lot to pick from
Street people play’n music
Catch a song on the run
Street people play’n music
Lord knows I’ve been one




Wiley Words of Wit
Corkey Hawley  11-79

The hounds are hiding behind
Their burning bushes and
In flaming tongues they find
Some wisdom there in Whitman
And metaphysics in Donne’s
a kind
Of wily words of wit

These flaming, dancing tongues
Bound between the hounds
While beyond all burning tongues
A silver fox is found
Who leads the hounds upon a run
With wily words of wit

The bushes, they have burned
And scared the fox so deep
Now it’s the hound’s turn
To see and feel the heat
As the hounds pursue and yarn
For wily words of wit



Oh The Tropics


Living in the sunny tropics
That would be the life for me
Lying on the sands
With some *** in my hand
Toasting to the stars and the sea

Eating crab meat all day
Watching the palm trees sway
Never give a care for tomorrow
Just living down by the bay

Chorus:

They don’t make a Pinacolada
Like they do
in the South Seas
And the sun don’t shine
Like strawberry wine
Except in the South Seas

I’d strum my guitar on
Some old sand bar
And tan my form in the sun
Lay down for a while, and stay
With a smile until the day is done

Picking fruit form the trees
As much as you please
And taking more then you could eat
Find a friend on the beach
And give her a treat, maybe she’ll
Stay for a week



What A Way to Go

Met him in Seattle, he bellied up
To a bottle tellin’ lies in the Blue Moon Bar
His face was hard and traveled
And, as the lines unraveled I saw a man
Who could laugh about his scars

He said,” I got shanghaied in Vegas
By a painted woman
Hog tied by a ****** in Ohio
Derailed by a dancer down in Detroit
Lord women goin’a be the death of me
But what a way to go”

He said, a girl named Nancy
Once tickled his fancy
And he backed it up
With a fifty dollar smile
He laughed when he remembered
The pain of sweet surrender
But heartaches never seemed
To cramp his style

He said,” I got tongue tied
by a teacher in Tallahatchie
French fried by a waitress in Idaho
Way laid by a widow in Wyoming
Women goin’a be the death of me
But what a way to go”

CH ‘82



This Must Be Love

The sun came shining
Through my window today
Waking me from pleasant
Dreams I wished would stay
Then I felt your body
Next to mine
Warm’n my cares away
I almost thought that
Your love had gone astray

Chorus:
Is this love, love, love, sweet love?
All these feelings I’ve got inside
Is this love, love, love, sweet love?
All these feelings I can’t hide

The sound of, I love you,
is ring’n in my ears
As we hold each other tight
We draw each other so near
All I ever want or need
Are those precious words to hear
But then you know, the feelings
I’ve got aren’t quite clear

Chorus:




Here’s to…

Here’s to the morning light
Which I so seldom see
Here’s to the woman who
Cares for and comforts me

Here’s to the songs I write
Which are so seldom sung
And here’s to every blessed
Little thing I’ve ever done

The night it lasts forever
When I try to find some rhyme
That fits within the meter
And keeps a steady time

I could spend the night
Awake searching lines inside my head
Instead of turning in my pen
And taking comfort in my bed

She never understands
The reasons or the whys
For my midnight madness
Sometimes it makes her cry

I’ve never meant to hurt her
With my all night writing sprees
I just want to leave behind
some songs
A little part of me

CH

When I walk alone and by myself
for a day or two or perhaps a minute,
nothing makes sense and everything does,
and I want to write without words
and love myself while hating me, too,
and prove to you the world is ours
or maybe just yours
when all is paved in pain
like some puzzle missing pieces vital.
But only when I walk alone.

When I have to be with you
for an entire day or a few minutes,
it all makes sense and it doesn't
and I want to talk in silence
and be your friend and maybe more
and prove virility while wrestling the lions
or just by simply holding you
when the tears fall from your eyes
like the blood from one thousand wounds
but only when I have to be with you.

I am,
however, no hero,
just a lowly poet
in the always
and forever
quest for the pursuit of
truth...

Kid you make me,
        absolutely crazy sometimes....
              (and that's not always a bad thing)
Kid you make me,
        wish I were dead sometimes.....
Kid you make me,
       so happy I feel like I'm floating.......
Kid you make me,
       acutely aware of how far my morals have slipped.....
                 (in fact you help them slip further)
Kid you make me,
       so many conflicting emotions,
              that I don't know what to do.
                     My friends tell me to get rid of you,
               but I'm not so sure that I could survive....
       But I have to decide whether
the good things you make me,
                                          are worth all the bad.....

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
and
...Z.

Now I know my A-B-C's,
...could you kindly
*******!

Love,
d