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We read “Captain Hook’s collection of psalms,
And other songs to sing along to.”
Nothing better to do off hand,
But revel in our own arrogance.
And, we notched holes in leather straps,
To expand at the waste.
Drive through diets replacing lessons-
Of keeping elbows off the table.
Of speaking only when spoken to.

Twenty-one years plus a little change.
And, daddy says-
Everything I taught you is replaceable.
And, daddy says-
Mistake is a just a word.
Hasn’t got it figured out either,
At least he admits it,
Choking down another cigarette,
Says: here’s to now.
And, don’t break your back if you don’t have to.

Technology affords avenues
Different rivers to float experience
Overalls and baseball caps
And the tree house that broke my tibia.
Talked through tin cans in this age,
Of golden innocence.
Now I’m Facebooking and twitting or twittering
Or… who the **** cares?
No one I care about.
Rivers given way to raw sewage.
And, even dogs eat their own ****.

This cat called my computer a ******* box-
If the shoe fits,
Clichés get the hits.
Search: Blonde **** *******-
5 million 38 hundred and 2 results.
Neon Bibles erupt in the sky.
Today I am a believer in the quarter pounder with cheese
Tomorrow in gasoline for 2.85
Midas made gold
Now he wants to change my oil.
They call that economics
Or advertising.
And, suddenly my sneakers aren’t good enough

Voice on the other end reassures-
My ideas are manic.
Paint a scene of terror.
Laying waste to iron giants-
Tearing down systems in place to restrict
Setting fire to everything-
Rack it up to fulfilling.
Rack it up to rebuilding.
Dismal haze, red glow to ash filled sky,
That makes mom clutch the good book-
Saying its time to go home.
How she knows her redeemer lives.
Clarity reigns supreme
And, daddy says-
Son, you’ve been watching too much TV.
And daddy says-
You catch more with honey by rule.
It was Saturday,
And you said God was with us.
So, we drove as fast as possible-
Into blistering orange and purple,
Into the death of the sun.
Because we knew he was, just as well as wasn’t.

There was sweat on your chest,
And on mine two black handprints of mud.
You called me your Apache warrior.
I made fierce stabs at sol, spears tipped with glass.
I did not **** the fire, only scared him away for a cycle.

In ecstasy you asked if I’d like some-
Fearful to step past my father’s drugs I shrugged you a no.
Sold you the same line from dreams before.
I don’t like being in heaven and hell at the same time.
To which you replied with hollow eyes to hell with heaven.
And together we cried ponds in the parking lot of Wal-Mart.
Beseeching the dams not hold,
Hoping we could wash it all clean.

It was Sunday,
And you said that god was dead-
We danced in the street, maniacs,
Exposed flesh and drumming war cries.
Busted open the fire hydrant and nursed,
Hysterical for love and peaceful tomorrows,
Crusaders of regrettable intentions.
And then your mother called and you had to run off to church.

During this fifth year you were enlightened.
Many people feel that upon reading a book or two.
Labeled me wrong, you of course playing the protagonist -
I didn’t see it that way.
I wasn’t keeping any type of score.
Still bear chested, scowling at king sun,
Howling to mother moon, dressed in pale luminous silk,
Knowing she would never howl back.

With duly noted precautionary tales in mind I set forth-
To coastal plains lush with life,
Trees hiding the cityscape.
Stars sending light at a glacial pace,
Eroding corneal muck.
You had left three sheets to the wind,
And I was inside my own mind without.
Skies bled crimson heat,
Leached from me that passion that once held steadfast
And it was pleasant at best.
But, I am no martyr.
Revitalized in my own indulgences,
Slept till Saturday when you returned-
The world making right again.
Long for a pure existence.
Safe inside the comfort -
Of my own mind.
Contemplating this idea
Of throwing it all away.
Head for the hills,
           for the mountain peaks,
             for the coast.

Content of my wallet is fitting-
No paper,
No value to the plastic.
So, whats the point?
Working towards working towards dying.
**** all that, I'm out.
You cant buy clarity,
At least I dont think you can.

Grew up in the country.
God I miss the birds.
All the birds around here look sick.
I think it's from eating so much fast food.
Miss the stars too.
Miles and miles, stretching -
Pin-points of untouched hope.
Thats gotta be pure, to think -
That star is a part of everything
And everything a part of it.
Heard the moon from under a blanket.
Wrapped in silk she rapps on my window,
begging in the most patient manner - to be let in.

Hello my lovely Margret.
How I'd like to sink my teeth into her tonight.
Should we have a smoke?
She trembles in her luminous shimmer.

Takes my hands - Margret you  devil.
Never an audible urge,
but an ethereal curtain becomes us
and I hear the cry - dance with me, she says.

Not tonight Margret, we must behave ourselves.
God she's a different kind of tempting.
I really should kick this nasty habit, I know.
She snakes those legs around my middle.

She's no pioneer - not a ****** innovator,
Just a crutch, but a beautiful one at that.
Will you stop it, I said not tonight.
Dims a bit, start fearing  I've been to rough - but she's back.
Just a passing cloud.
Eager as ever, tonight, to bathe me in radiance.
Dance with me, she cries -  and I falter.
The streetlights are never lonely.
Cars always got a companion or two.
Feet to the street.
No comfort in the city-
No oxygen either, darling.
Only lunacy dons its hat here.

        Hip Hip Hurrah!
        Hurrah you *******,
        Hurrah god ******!

What marvels we've created.
Aphrodite - Queen *****,
Slouching.
Elbows resting on glass countertop -
              Go **** yourself.

All you are -
         Is beautiful.
All you are -
         Is perfection.

Can't touch you baby,
     No, not again.
Smiled and cooed,
     Then playing the role of dog in heat,
     Snapped and snarled -
Like I was the crazy one.
     You asked for it.
Laughing mans gotta run.
Feels it.
Kicks up his spine - It used to only crawl.
Shake a little cold from the bones.
Never hadda run before. Oh well,
Always knew it was coming.
Boot to dirt,
             to leaf,
                 to twig.

Came down from Hollywood. Laughing man never shined.
Never, not once. Felt it there too. Always feels it.
''*******,
     *******,
         *******'', Always.
Didn't run from the city of angels.
Walked a stint though.
Taught a man some spanish for a ride through Arizona.
"Knowin a little Mexican can keep your nuts dry''
Laughing man laughs at his own jokes,
laughs at everything.

Sky is grey and spitting a little bit.
How many more steps ol' Laughing man have?
Keeps on running.
Saw a paper in some town a while back.
That first ones face was on the front,
Then a bunch of words - how many pieces there were.
Laughing man laughs at this.
Remembers asking, "Whats it feel like?"
Thinks her lovely and tucks that one away.
Boot to asphalt,
             to mud.

Here's a trick - said to tree.
"Always put on a face,
People like faces." Laughing man Laughs, shivering.
Gotta get running. Surely they've found more by now.
Two and three were no doubt a mess.
Bad memories. Shake 'em, duck 'em.
"****,
        ****,
              ****," Laughing man angers.
Gotta get running.
Wake up achy muscles.

Paula drove to the beach.
Never been before - Laughing man thrilled.
She laughed almost as much.
Shakes a little - cold, hunger, maybe lament?
Thought she'd stay around.
Ol' Paula fails to make the return trip.
Laughing man laughs and accelerates.
Shiny new car.
No car now.
Times done its thing, always does
Feet to the grass,
                   to the gravel,
                              to water.

Wretched waters to nurse wounds.
Laughing man drinks, awakened - thanks the icy liquid..
Never hadda build a fire before.
"Instinct my dear." - Laughing to smoldering tender
"Evolution my dear." - Laughing to roasting meat,
                                                                ­         to crimson stained steel.
Gotta get running.
"She wont turn up but she might"
and
"Ok, might've left her teeth in the sink."
Feels 'em breathing down the neck.

Into the lake, water stinging skin.
Laughing man paddles.
Mindless.
Throbbing, heavy breathing.
Feet to nothing,
                       to thrashing.
"Help me out here ya gorgeous ******!" Laughing to the moon.
Exhale,
          inhale,
                   float, nose to sky.
Calm, gives a shake to number seven.
Remembers fourteens eyes.
Cold and grey.
Looks to the moon.
                      Winks back and gives driftwood a chuckle.
Laughing man does his thing, then the water does its.
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