Hey, come here, I found a secret way
to get up on the roof, you can see for ages

Right over here. Nobody knows, just me
we’ll be the only ones there, come and see

So, do you want to come?

The melodious thunk
of Thelonious Monk.
Nobody ever played
the piano that way
before or since
nobody ever imagined music
that way
before or since.

It took a while
for the audience to get it.
Longer for the critics.

And the Poor Man -
all he wanted was a
hit record.

His wayward mind
took him in difficult directions.
Left him with flint on his tongue
a fever on his brain.
No matter to the music, though.

So take it any way you like -
straight, no chaser.
Or after midnight.
Doesn't matter
the time and place
the drinks they're serving.

Not in this smoky little club  
practically sitting with the band.
Know what I mean?
Music like this
might once have been heard
on a planet
spinning in some wild ellipse around
Alpha Centauri.
But never here.
Never now.

So sit back and enjoy!
That's what I'm doing -
swinging slowly.
Join me, friends.

Book your flight to
my home town.
Bring your seven-cornered syncopation hat,
your saxophone or any other
musical instruments you possess.
You can sleep in a tent
beneath the fir trees
in my backyard
once the guest room is full.

And together
we can search for
the mystic connections
between interstellar music
poetry
truth
and love.

Nha Trang, Vietnam, 1972

Darkened portal. Room of shadows. A haze of ***.
Hard vision of *** and combat. Mixed up. Dream.
Young girl smiles outside a Nha Trang bordello.
Smile of innocence in a land of evil. Unreal.
Whose need rejects this process? Transaction of lust.
She removes her *ao dai like lifting fog. Naked.
Mortars fall as we writhe. Danger is my business.
Harder and faster like a rocket barrage. Deep.
Kick of a 12 gauge pump. Flesh explosions.
****** ***** out your breath. So does this.
War and *******. Extinction and lust. The same.
****** a moment from the blood and tears.
All is burning. Cling to any possible refuge.
     Bound together in this instant of life;
     Completing ourselves in this world of death.

Poised on the knife's
edge between old and
too old. It is easy to
count up my misses.

I know now I'll
never get a PhD,
win a Nobel Prize,
discover a
Quantum particle
or find True Love.

It's just too late.

I am broke, old,
not very handsome
and slouching
towards inevitable
decay.

           No matter.

I have always been
better at life on paper
than living in the
world of phenomena.

Never keep score
on your life.

Don't mean nothing:

what counts is
not simply winning,
but learning the game,
loving the game,
playing for keeps,

and dying like
the man or woman
you are proud to be.

  ~mce

You cannot go without noticing her
in a room full of strangers
she always stands out
poised and dignified
she wears beauty of the nine lights
her body soft like fine silk
her heart is that of a child
loving and warm
she speaks for the voiceless
and acts for the weak and vulnerable
when you meet her you will notice
she wears a scarf of three colors
black, red, green
the colors of her nation
nothing more captivating this duchess
the Malawian duchess
when you meet her say your hellos
I'll answer you back
for I am her
a young Malawian duchess
the first and last of my kind

I always asked if she were alright
Before I knew she wasn't
Always and always, sometimes I though it annoyed her
But to have someone must've been a relief

She began to be honest with me, said that she wasn't
She didn't cut but she hurt herself
At first I was concerned, I tried to help
By telling her to talk to a professional

She did, eventually, but by then I had gone
I guess, the stress... I couldn't take it anymore
The length of time where all I did was talk
Not capable of action, and she just kept at it

Not sure if she still does, if she does she'd say nothing
For I left her, my selfish reasons, my limits pushed
My way out of self-destruction, was only to leave behind
A girl I had grown to love

Now I destroy myself anyway
I harm myself to release myself
Stress, anger, depression or impulse
Now I see why she harmed herself