I play my songs
for nobody
In sacred fields
of strawberry
Imagining
the world of man
much better than
I understand

While changing chords
from C to A
I watch the children
laugh and play
They run around
with happy grins
oblivious to shades
of skin

I change again
from A to F
and wonder if
the world is deaf
The songs of love
the children sing,
To jaded ears
don't mean
a thing

Bitten

Most of us were laughing
at the lady dressed in rags
She pushed an ancient shopping cart
filled up with paper bags

We gazed at her through Ray-Bans
and we flashed our teeth of gold
We huddled warm inside our coats
as she shivered from the cold

We didn't move to lend a hand
or help in any way
We mocked and laughed like stupid fools
with nothing kind to say

But now I find I think of her
in rags, without a dime
I'd surely do things differently
if God would turn back time

But alas it is to late for that
despite my change 0f heart
Yes I think about her on the street
as I push MY shopping cart

Sitting on a park bench
cutting up a pear
Having me a talk with
a guy who wasn't there
People passing by, they
all gave me funny stares
But I just kept on talking
to the guy who wasn't
there
Then a man in uniform
said 'son come on with me.
You’re scaring all these
people with this friend
they cannot see.
I’ll take you to a special
place and they’ll give you
lots of care
And they’ll help you with
this fantasy of talking to
the air'
I said 'well OK officer
I’ll gladly come with you
But what about the thousand
folks all sitting in the pew?
I saw them at St. Timothy's
all packed in like sardines
Talking to some other guy
that no one's ever seen
So I think it would be prudent
And I think it's only fair
That you send a couple
buses for them people
over there.
Then take the great big lot
of us yes all one thousand
one
Over to that special place
you mentioned in line one
Or maybe it was line thirteen
in truth I do not care
As long as we can all converse
with the guy who isn't there.

Creativity freed
from the structural
prison the decision
to pen the consciousness
within won out over the thin
argument of conformity’s
Apollonian demands,
and like sands falling
through the glass
the words are flowing
past my eyes and my
fingers don’t linger
long upon these keys
that for so long stared
with derision and laughed
at my poetical decisions
A block that mocked
and castrated the spirit
of creative bliss
This is freedom
in poetical existence
and the distance I cover?
Only time will discover
if any of it was worth
a **** at all...

Forgotten in a hell
begotten within the
confines of my own
depraved imagination

Will there be no end to
time spent wasting away
in the shadow of Babylon’s
polluted shore?

A poor, condemned wretch
wandering this wasteland
devoid of the prospect
of Heaven's divine
redemption.

I'm naught but a reflection
of the vanity I embraced
in a lifetime of dismal
remembrances.

The mercy of perdition's
flame would be a welcome
alternative to wandering
endlessly in this darkness
fashioned by my own
hand.

My years spent
kneeling before
Holy words
amounted to naught
but absurd notions
of divinity.
Wasted time
lost to eternal
ignorance.
Better I had  spent
the time on the sublime
ramblings of Nietzsche
or Thomas rather than
the insane promise of
divinity’s celestial return

Wake up children.
The night has passed
and at last we are free
to hurl ignorance back
into the void from which
it came.

The game is on
It's called life
Go and play

Pull up a chair
and I’ll lie to you.
And I promise that
you won’t be sad
If I told you the truth
you would call me uncouth
and insinuate I might be mad

See, Oz is a wonderful wizard
While Santa Claus flies in a sleigh
In the Heavens above
there’s a God made of love
who will show you His magical
way

And a bunny delivers
the Easter eggs
And the tooth fairy
left you a dime
And Christ may have died
with a spear in His side
but he never changed water
to wine

So I notice that now
you are smiling
Then I guess that
my work here is
through
Believing the lies
is a good compromise
and so what if it’s
not really true

1 In the beginning man created God
2 And God was without form, and without name; and the concepts of man had yet to be imposed upon God
3 Peace and tolerance ruled the land and from this tranquility, light entered the world
4 And man saw the light, that it was good
5 And man called the light knowledge, and he divided the light from the darkness from which it had come, and the darkness he called ignorance, and hence, division entered the world.
6 And man said,” let there be a separation in the midst of the world, and let us divide the ignorant from the enlightened”, and the enlightened he called righteous, and the ignorant he called wicked, and thus duality came into being.
7 And man looked up to the sky from which the light came, and he called the sky Heaven. And he placed his God in this Heaven and thus separated God from mankind. And he called this separated land where God no longer resided Hell, and thus evil was given a place of its own.

‘Together we march
in lockstep precision
Shouting on high our
collective decision’

"NO!"

'But you haven't considered...'

"NO"!

'But you deliver nothing
in the way of...'

"NO!"

'What do you say about...'

"NO!"

'I know you have your doubts,
but we can discuss...'

"NO!"

'If you would only just listen...'

"NO!"

'Fine then! Just stand there like
a glistening wall while our country
falls to pieces'!

"NO! Er, um, I mean look everyone!
The liberals say our country is falling
to pieces! They hate America!"

Wrapping my mind
around the blind
ambition of youth
The truth lies
between the
two extremes
of melancholy
and desperation.
Loss of sensation
follows the hollow
echo of mankind's
first glimpse into
eternity’s cataclysmic
abyss

The decay of
imagination
and compassion.

What never
should have
been has become.

When the seed of love
is smothered by the weeds
of desperation and the fires
of Hell scorch in the breast
the withered heart of man
then you will understand.

Demons on the perimeter
stalking serenity’s
unsuspecting bliss.
Is this all that's left?
Once mighty defenses
now offer little protection
against these ancient,
clawing phantoms.
Shadows lurking
in the forest of the
psyche, await nightfall's
indifferent embrace
Alas my redeemers.
Tiny painted disks
that beat back
reality's assailants
while extinguishing
the last threads
of creativity that yet
remain.
The strain on tattered
nerves almost too much
to bare
I care not what punishment
is wrought from these efforts
to remain sane in the light
of an unforgiving God.
My mind is mangled beyond
repair.

Who is there left to call 'friend'?

A ****** on the wing
makes me wonder
why this thing
keeps turning
and burning
while mankind’s
yearning is never
satisfied.
And the stars shine
And this is mine
And that belongs
to you
And all we can do
is cry for yesterday’s
abandoned innocence
and mourn tomorrow’s
faded expectation.

Give me a reason to keep on going
Give me a reason to rise and shine
Give me the courage to face the morning
Give me ambition and a steel spine
Give me a clue to the destination
Give me direction to the *** of gold
Give me a sign to know that you’re out there
Give me a moment away from the cold

Hello?

Naught but an echo in the hollow ether
Not but the wind to carry the sound
Naught but the laughter of yonder mountain
Naught but a tombstone in lonely ground
Naught but a memory that fades in the moonlight
Naught but a thought that passes away
Naught but a soul to vanish forever
Naught but a tear at the end of the day

Laid off
On the street

Children cry
I beg for change

Man shouts
"Get a job!"

In the days since our beginning
and the moments since our end
We accept the true reality
and forget how to pretend
And await the coming savior
or the latest fad and trend
but you find you can’t buy
happiness no matter what
you spend
Forgiveness is elusive
Redemption is sublime
And occasionally there’s
solace in the whiskey or
the wine
But you'll never find
salvation while kneeling
in the pew
Jesus left the building
but the Christ resides
in you.

Sea choking airways
Ice water phantoms beckon
Stars fade beneath waves

Somewhere between
no place special and
nowhere fast the last
of mankind’s honor
lies bleeding and
alone.
The receding tide
of ignorance carries
a crimson warning
that I fear will be
unheeded by future
generations of neocons
bowing before greed’s
unholy altar.
Arise and cast away
your golden calf
for in death the
breath of eternity
pays no heed to
souls blinded by
prosperity's lies
but in eyes alive
with compassion,
longing for a better
world

The woman kept on nagging me
my friend that is no fib
I can't believe they made her
from my godforsaken rib
I wish she had a sister
or a sympathetic friend
Cuz if I hear another word
it might just be the end

I guess that God almighty
must have heard my faithful plea
She's found a talking serpent
in the garden by a tree
They sit and chat for hours
about what I do not care
As long as I am over here
and she is over there

I think it was a Sunday
when my troubles all began
She showed up with a present
from her slimy serpent friend
A single, perfect apple
that was beautiful and red
I should have been suspicious
but I took a bite instead

All at once I noticed
she was naked thru and thru
And a cold wind made me realize
that I was naked too
I looked around for something
that would cover up my shaft
She handed me a fig leaf
and gave a mocking laugh

I said 'you find this funny
but you need to realize
Something here is different
and some evil’s on the rise'
She pointed at my genitals
which left me void of pride
'The only thing that's rising
is that thing you're trying to hide'

I spun myself away from her
a perfect pirouette
I didn’t know for certain
just how big this thing would get
She laughed at my confusion
and snickered at my shame
‘You’re the only man I’ve ever known
but I bet you’re all the same’

I said ‘we need to focus
on the matter now at hand
Maybe that old rattlesnake
can tell us where we stand’
And as I spoke these words to her
The serpent slid away
He said ‘I’d love to stick around
but really, I can’t stay’

As soon as he had disappeared
the ground began to quake
Old Yahweh came before us
and he said ‘for goodness sake!
Did you guys eat the apples
from that sacred apple tree?’
I said ‘it was this woman here
who gave the fruit to me’

The woman said ‘that rattlesnake
has played an evil trick
He took me to the apple tree
and bade me take my pick
He said I would be as a God
the smartest on the block
But all that really happened
was I laughed at Adam's ****'

Things were going very bad
I came to realize
It's bad enough we ******* God
but why insult my size?
Then Yahweh said 'I've heard enough
and cannot let this pass'
He tossed me from the garden
and I landed on my ***

A half a second later
Eve was flying overhead
She cleared my mark by 15 feet
and landed on her head
Two angels at the garden gate
advised us not to linger
Despite their wings and flaming swords
Eve gave them the finger

I looked into her smiling eyes
and found I didn’t care
She looked extremely lovely
with her finger in the air
All at once I understood
where I was meant to be
I could deal with any hell on earth
if she was there with me

Well now it’s been a thousand years
and I kneel at her grave
The only thing I ever loved
alas I could not save
I cast my eyes into the sky
and think about the price
Yes Eden was a garden...

But she was paradise

Nothing to forgive.
No desire or memory.
Everything cast into the
Hell I’ve created for myself.
Nightfall.
Slumber and the myth of
inner peace.
Moon casts shadows upon
the vanity of man.
First light.
Awaken.
Memory of dreams passes.
It’s time to abandon the
place of my salvation.

Man can it get any worse than this?
Aimless verse floats in space and time
until I’m sick of the shtick coming out
of my head.

Dead words on a wasted pages scream
rages to no one in particular.

Great! Now I have to find a rhyme
for particular.
Vernicular?
Absurd, not a real word.

Poetic license I believe allows
for nonsense I conceive.

Past 25 or 6 to 4.

Christ what a bore it is to exist
in the here and now

Winds of unknowing
blowing through
my tattered memory
A clamorous howl
wailing in desperation
for understanding and
forgiveness
The well of compassion
dry and void of mercy
while realities fragile
tether long since severed
is left unattended to blow
madly in the tempest
of a meandering
insanity

Lying in the shadow
of a harvest moon
Soon sleep will be
upon me and I will
meander between
dream and nightmare
until mighty Helios
rises in the eastern
sky to drag me from
a lover’s passionate
embrace or calamities
indifferent layer.
Dream and nightmare
They do not vanish
with the waking sun
All of life is but a
delusional vision
of the psyche
A mirage conjured from
the essence of our souls
true understanding of
reality.

Few outside the
temple or asylum
understand this...

Sitting here without a clue
my mind is on the blink
And I'm not sure of what to do
my thoughts refuse to think
But give me several lifetimes
and a quart of Johnny Black
And I might write a line or two
to let you know I'm back

Or maybe I should hang it up
and play guitar instead
I'm pretty good at strumming
when I've had my Johnny Red
At least old Johnny says I am
and I won't disagree
Old Johnny and his brother
have been pretty good to me

So I reach for my old Fender
and I plug it in the amp
Then bring those six strings
into tune and flip off all the lamps
And sitting in the darkness
I recall my favorite tune
A little song I've always loved
from 'Dark Side of the Moon'

And 'Hotel California'
is a special tune for me
Even though the Eagles
went and ripped off Jethro T
I pluck that B flat minor
thinking how it all began
When I'm through I think of you
and start to play again

But the guitar starts to crackle
and the strings begin to rust
Like everything I ever knew
it crumbles into dust
I look outside my window
and I see you in the rain
A trick of nasty weather
manufactured by the pain

But the rain's begun to vanish
and I see you pretty clear
I get up from the sofa
and I wipe away a tear
And all at once you're standing there
beside me in the room
And I see my lifeless body
lying naked in the gloom

You take my hand within your own
and sadness disappears
Without a word I realize
there's nothing left to fear
And in the east a glimmering
declares the rising sun
The nightmare's finally over
and the dream has just begun

Every now and then I wonder why
our God should be found under
steeples made of stone and mortar
heedless of our sad despair
It seems to me He should awaken
In the hearts of those forsaken
(and by the way this condemnation
seems to be a bit unfair)

It wasn't I who in the garden ate the
fruit and begged His pardon
Bringing forth such pain and sorrow
to this world so long ago
I think it simply far from normal
that a God who stands on formal
etiquette and rules of order should
forgiveness not bestow

A God so fond of preaching mercy
Through each member of His clergy
Every Sunday without fail should
perhaps His own words heed
For if this world and all its sorrow
Is to see a bright tomorrow
Then we must create a garden
where no child or Savior bleeds

Virtue and sadness
Two sides of a single coin
Anyone have change?

Help me please I think I'm broken
and I know we've never spoken
but I could use some friendly banter
just to get me through the night

You see my friend I'm lost and jaded
and my notions have since faded
leaving me the soulless vermin
that you see before your eyes

So feed me scraps and friendly laughter
and from now till ever after
I will be your humble servant
and your will, will be my own

I do not need so much attention
and I feel your apprehension
But I'll provide much satisfaction
with a bit of loving and a bone

‘If a man is intolerant, show him compassion
If a man should curse you, give him praise
If a man shouts you down, speak softly in reply
And if a man should hate you, show him love
Do this my son and you will have accomplished
something’

‘Will I be as the great Holy men of ancient time’s father?’

‘No my son.
Much more than that...

So very much more’

Veiled whispers startle
my polluted soul and
from the shadows she
appears.
Her hollow words pierce
the wind like soaring birds
and whither tomorrow’s
fragrant bloom.

The room spins.

Sins unfold upon
cold satin sheets.

Death's ritual accomplished
she departs leaving my heart
an empty shell swelling with
despair.

The unholy loss
of yesterday's bliss
and tomorrow’s fragrant
innocence.

In my search for truth
I knelt on the temple floor
Sore knees were my prize

You left a stain on
every day of my
childhood
You soiled my spirit
with the blood of my
soul
Perhaps it will take
all the flames of
perdition to make
right what you did
to me but I doubt
you could burn long
enough for my anger
to be appeased
You made me
a victim, a hater
of a fellow human
being
I wished you dead
so often the angels
themselves could
not hope to fathom
the count
No, my hatred has
left me well beyond
the grace of Heaven's
golden realm

My consolation?

If I too must be
abandoned to
the eternal pit,
I will pray to
whatever god
may hear a
lament from
such a place
that I alone
be permitted
to stoke the
flames beneath
your fetid carcass
And even if God
on high chooses
to someday pardon
your unholy trespass
do not dare to smile...

I do not forgive so easily.

Inside the pearly gates
of doom beside an ancient
throne
There lie the Holy robes
of God atop a stack of
bone
An echo from the gleaming
sky recalls His final words:

“I am the God of everything…”

And nothing else is heard.

I've read that all things in creation
Are the will of the King of Salvation
But given the state
Of man's sorry fate
I believe I'd prefer abdication

Returning last week from the Mass
I ventured to let off some gas
The folks on the bus
Made one helluva fuss
And tossed me right out on my ***

With love there is life
With hatred desolation
We must choose wisely

The product
of imagination's
meandering bliss
This long sought
after truth an
uncouth concept
in the beholder’s eye
Naught but a way to
disguise the fear of
mankind's inevitable
demise.

(Hell of a thing to base a life upon)

Shadows fall across the moon
I fear the end is coming soon
For I had things I hoped to do
As I am sure that you did too
But maybe in another time
that isn’t just a pantomime
Laughter and the children's
song will show us all where
we belong.

Brothers and sisters
you’ve got it all wrong
You're humming the
chorus but don’t know
the song
Put down your Bibles
and get off your knees
Get out in the sunlight
and into the trees
The poor and the hungry
are waiting for you
The sick and the homeless
and downtrodden too.
For this is the message
you all fail to see
'What you do unto them,
you do unto Me.'

Beyond what is known
The ultimate creator
The ultimate self
Beyond the concept of time
The timeless spirit is found

A night as dark
as dark can be
a wind to chill
the bone
And peering
out into the void
I feel so all alone
But then I feel
you next to me
a comfort through
my fear
And even though
you don't exist
I'm really glad
you're here

The movie ends and
the credits roll and the
droll lights blind our eyes
to the reality of
existence.
The distance between
now and eternity is 300
unadorned seconds.
Bliss or imagination,
can anyone really know
for sure where the pure
spirit lies in the moments
after death when breath
and heart and thought
cease forever, falling
into the clever trappings
of eternal silence?
Even as we ultimately
expire, will we know?
Our minds true essence
is lost without regard
to the realm of fantastic
illusion and the delusional
ranting going on around
us.
Where does the truth lie?

One for all and all for one
We’re together everyone
We’re together one and all
Though our voice is rather small
Even though our voice is small
We’re together one and all
Getting louder everyday
Growing strong in every way
Growing strong and getting loud
Standing tall and standing proud

Pretty soon they’ll here our cry
From every corner of the sky
Crying out for liberty
Stop the killing
Let them be
Can you hear me Sarah P
If they die then they ain’t free
If you **** them one and all
Then you've only built a wall
Built a wall and locked the door

When on Sunday I kneel and pray
Before the altar of man’s decay
I look up at the Christ and
I hear him say: “It’s time for you to go.

Reality lies within your dreams
and only you know what that means
But I can’t tell you a single thing
you don’t already know”.

So I walk out across the floor
Past the choir and out the door
Remembering things
I knew before...

When I was a younger man.