Come, prize this serpentine tongue;
in where men have been known to vagabond.
Why fancy so  l   o   n   g
                               in secret?
Only to deny your landscape,
unto barren desert.
Dared to venture these dark hallways,
where knocked on doors would be answered;
yet your desire remains tussled.

don't feel sorry for me.
I am a competent,
satisfied human being.

be sorry for the others
who
fidget
complain

who
constantly
rearrange their
lives
like
furniture.

juggling mates
and
attitudes

their
confusion is
constant

and it will
touch
whoever they
deal with.

beware of them:
one of their
key words is
"love."

and beware those who
only take
instructions from their
God

for they have
failed completely to live their own
lives.

don't feel sorry for me
because I am alone

for even
at the most terrible
moments
humor
is my
companion.

I am a dog walking
backwards

I am a broken
banjo

I am a telephone wire
strung up in
Toledo, Ohio

I am a man
eating a meal
this night
in the month of
September.

put your sympathy
aside.
they say
water held up
Christ:
to come
through
you better be
nearly as
lucky.

the lady has me temporarily off the bottle
and now the pecker stands up
better.
however, things change overnight--
instead of listening to Shostakovich and
Mozart through a smeared haze of smoke
the nights change, new
complexities:
we drive to Baskin-Robbins,
31 flavors:
Rocky Road, Bubble Gum, Apricot Ice, Strawberry
Cheesecake, Chocolate Mint...

we park outside and look at icecream
people
a very healthy and satisfied people,
nary a potential suicide in sight
(they probably even vote)
and I tell her
"what if the boys saw me go in there? suppose they
find out I'm going in for a walnut peach sundae?"
"come on, chicken," she laughs and we go in
and stand with the icecream people.
none of them are cursing or threatening
the clerks.
there seem to be no hangovers or
grievances.
I am alarmed at the placid and calm wave
that flows about. I feel like a ***** in a
beauty contest. we finally get our sundaes and
sit in the car and eat them.

I must admit they are quite good. a curious new
world. (all my friends tell me I am looking
better. "you're looking good, man, we thought you
were going to die there for a while...")
--those 4,500 dark nights, the jails, the
hospitals...

and later that night
there is use for the pecker, use for
love, and it is glorious,
long and true,
and afterwards we speak of easy things;
our heads by the open window with the moonlight
looking through, we sleep in each other's
arms.

the icecream people make me feel good,
inside and out.

Waiting patiently
for you
in the dark
that place you
                 dare
                 not
                  go
                  to
                  bash your reservations in
                  like a piñata
devour you whole
as the *****
I was meant to be
you were borne unto me
to die in my arms
tonight

No meaning
except what we choose
so do as you will
let chaos rain
but rain always ends
order will be imposed
at least as much order
as can ever be
a new meaning will come
perhaps something nicer
maybe the sun will explode
I never know.

A little child on father's knee
Looked up at him with hope
She really wanted for to see
Through his telescope

He bent the lens down toward her
So she could place her eye
Then directed the tube upward
So she could see the sky

She saw a sphere with mighty rings
Another with a spot
But a strange and awful planet
Gave her pause and thought

For it was black and yellow
A putrid sort of green
She'd seen dwarf stars
But this, by far,
Was the ugliest she'd seen!

"What is this one, daddy?"
The girl asked, quite perplexed
He put his eye upon the lens
And saw why she was vexed.

"Well, my little daughter
There lived a warlike race
They were mean, and didn't seem
To see their world's grace

So they just destroyed it
Now it has no worth
We call it Garbage Planet
Once it was called Earth"

So from her single eye
She shed a single tear
And shook her oval head
Her father drew her near

"Don't worry my darling
Don't worry in the least
That warish race is gone now

and now we are at PEACE."



SoulSurvivor
(C) 2/28/2016

This gray cloud
With no silver lining
Blocks out the sun
Leaving just enough light
For me to see the mess I've made

This gray cloud
I never could hold
And never have
Leaving me without you
Remembering the love we made

This gray cloud
A women in black
The love we had
The love we lost
And all the mess we made