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

THEIR beliefs are myth
OUR beliefs are religion

On high the gods laugh...

Flag of my fathers

When will the winds of equality
lift you from your languid prison?

When will your 12,000,000
illegals be given shelter
beneath your furled stars?

Flag of my fathers

When will you be worthy
of your returning veterans?

I'm tired of them washing
my windows for spare change
beneath the overpass

Flag of my fathers

When will your gays and lesbians
be more than fodder for bible
thumping patriots?

I was a bible thumping patriot
once but I never hated the gays

I'm tired and broke Flag of my fathers

The bank wants my house
and the Chinaman wants my job

He's welcome to it if he can get
the Indian to give it up

The doctor wants my money
but it's all been squandered
on promises and broken dreams

I call for equality Flag of my fathers
and they call me a communist

I'm not a communist but if communists
believe in equality, was Jefferson
a communist?

Flag of my fathers

They tell me to leave if I don't like
the way things are but where will I go?
Mexico's crowded and Canada's cold

The government tells me 'get a job'
but the corporation says 'get an education'
The University hands me a bill
and when I can't pay
they tell me 'get a job'

It's all ****** up Flag of my fathers

It doesn't make any sense

I've got a headache, leave me
alone

I'm so tired

Watching shadows crawl across
the wall is dull even for a slow
witted fool like me

Flag of my fathers

Why are we at war?
Why are we closing our museums
and demolishing our libraries?
Why are we feeding our military
and starving our vets?

It's too much to take
Flag of my fathers

It's too **** much to take...

Working on my first folk song*

My demons are many
My angels are few
and the time for redemption
is long overdue
For the songs that we sang
from that merciless pew
were just words from an old
dying tome
But the gates of the garden
are opened at last
and an old voice is calling
me home

So to all of my critics
and all of my friends
I’ve loved every one of you
time and again
But the wheel must turn
from beginning to end
and my time with you
is now fading
For the darkness that
soon overshadows us all
will not long be keeping
me waiting

And finally I must
in good conscience proclaim
that the gods that divide us
are one and the same
And it matters not much
if we call them by name
for the names that we praise
are illusion
For the gods resonate
in reflections of men
and within we will
find absolution

The forest lingers
in the twilight
of God’s eternal
oblivion while
proud limbs
bend silently
in the cradle
of Autumn’s
loving embrace

The time of man’s
dominion over the
Yew and the Ash
is long past

The mighty Oak
no longer fears
the reaper’s foul
blade for we have
unleashed the sword
of ignorance upon
our own kind

In the end
all that will be left
is the serenity
of the trees

Sea choking airways
Ice water phantoms beckon
Stars fade beneath waves

Laid off
On the street

Children cry
I beg for change

Man shouts
"Get a job!"

Fearing the grey tomb
So much so you fail to live
Dead before your time

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.

The ground is shaking
(or maybe the bed)
Visions of Avalon dance
in my head
The serpent of Eden
asleep in my bed
While blues and yellows
melt into red.

‘Listen!’
a voice whispers
‘And I will tell you why
the Savior bled:

'Do not tell lies
or do what you hate
and all shall be known
before Heaven's gate
For all that is hidden,
no longer concealed
And nothing unknown
will remain unrevealed’.

Waking in darkness
the moonlight surrounds
Something has shifted
yet remains out of bounds
Outside my window
in darkness I see
Two serpent eyes
in the old apple
tree

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.

In autumn’s tranquil, moonlit night
I walked through embers of firelight
And in the air above my head
flew spirits of the newly dead

Floating in October’s chill
I think I see my uncle Phil
He’s there beside my auntie Fay
who holds a flame to light the way

Round and round they travel so
into the stratosphere they go
And disappear for evermore
Gone to Heaven's tranquil shore

But what is this? I'm floating too
Upon the wind, between the dew
I see my aunt and uncle there
awaiting me with loathsome stare

But wait! Why are they waving so?
It seems I'm sinking down below
Below the ground and into Hell
****, what is that awful smell?

Around me souls are crying out
from orange flames I hear them shout
"Oh God forgive us for our sins
We promise not to sin again"

But no one answers prayers from Hell
How long they'll burn, I cannot tell
They may be saved by half past four
or burn in Hell forevermore

As I descend, below the crust
the air is filled with sulfur dust
I gasp for every drop of air
that my lungs may somehow snare

But air is nowhere to be found
as my soul floats further down
And lands upon the burning floor
to suffer there forevermore

But friend you'll want to listen clear
If you don't want to wind up here
Avoid the food at Taco Bell...

*Or you may dream you're stuck in Hell

Walking down Fifth Avenue
on a Sunday afternoon.
Shuffling to the rhythm
of the ghetto’s tortured
brilliance.
African Mozarts fill the air
with their street corner
symphonies.
Silence ensues as a slow
rain begins to fall.
The lively street soon becomes
deserted, a shadow of an ancient
memory.
Turning left on Fifty Second.
A couple huddling in a doorway.
They manage a smile as the
lingering rain continues unabated.

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

Upside down in the void.
Annoyed by priests and
politicians who feast at
the trough of the ignorance
of mankind, blind to the
devastation their righteous
proclamations heap upon
Eden’s polluted shore.
Babylon’s ***** holds firm
their fate in her celestial grasp.

Standing before perdition’s
impartial flame, the liar,
the killer, and salvation's thief...

Dante’s imagination could not
conceive a suitable torment for
your lamentable offenses.

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

Jacking it up to knock it down
the sound of collapse perhaps
the saddest heard by humanity’s
jaded ears
Heroes made and defeated
by apathetic fools, the unwitting
tools of the corporate masses,
who bow before well-to-do *****
in the name of capitalism's sanctified
gluttony
The will of the enlightened
frightened into dark corners
of degradation awaiting
the salvation of one who will
deliver them from the chains
of society’s unadorned ignorance
Bewildered sheep grasping at the
tattered remnants of this wasted
democracy.

Vanquished dreams
crash and burn upon
time’s barren field
while the yield of
a lifetime is one half
pound of effort and
a few precious ounces
of success
At the end, is anyone
remotely satisfied
with the frantic waste
that was the last 26,280
days?
Two thousand years
waiting in vain for
the next Messiah
to save us from the
doldrums of mediocrity
while the best minds
of our generation
rot before the altar
of Yahweh and the
wide screen TV
Nietzsche understood
and it drove him mad.
Is that what it amounts to?
Boredom or insanity?

Ah man, what vanity
has led thee to this place
of desolation?

Moon on the horizon.
Soft breeze rattles the
brambles out by the
old barn.
The cat enters, looks
about and begins to
speak.

“Fears take flight after years
of drinking the tears away
while the days responsibilities
are laughable in the light of
satori's brilliant realization.
Silly, silly man, thinking reality
something to achieve, a destination
to discover, a journey to undertake.
Listen and I will tell you what little
I have learned burning away my
short time on this horizon of
understanding.
All that is transitory is a metaphor
for the eternal and all that is eternal
is a metaphor for the self.
The self is the collective consciousness
we all share and what we share is our
experience of being.
Being is nothing but an illusion created
in the mind of God while God is simply
a metaphor for eternity in the mind of
man.
Now pour me some kibble for I know
many things, but do not possess opposable
thumbs”.

I woke with a start, cursing the spinning
room and swearing never to mix Jameson
and Absolute again.
The cat finished her kibble and crapped
in the litter box.

Here comes Jesus
from his tomb
With baskets full
of gloom and doom
Judgment, famine,
pestilence and war

He says the end
is coming soon
I wish he’d sing
a different tune
Something that
we haven’t heard
before

He’s got Aids for Tommy
Parkinson’s for Sister Sue
There’s an STD for Mommy
(Daddy hasn’t got a clue)

Here comes Jesus
from his tomb
With baskets full
of gloom and doom
Judgment, famine,
pestilence and war

Maybe if you’re
extra good
And try to do
the things you
should
He won’t come
around here
anymore

You’ll wake up one morning
and you’ll know he isn’t there
And you will see the smiles
on the children everywhere

Oh here comes Jesus
from his tomb
With baskets full
of gloom and doom

Hippity, hoppity
what a ******* day!

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

It's 2am
and I'm still here
I should have skipped
that second beer
Perhaps the third
and forth ones too
I swear my drinking
days are through

What's that?
McFarland bought a round?
He never buys!
The filthy hound!
Then I'll drink that one
and gladly go
It'd be quite rude
to just say 'no'

Alright I'm done
It's been a ball
What's that you say?
The final call?
In that case
give me one to go
It'll be my last
I swear it's so

Oh Jesus
Where's that ****** door?
And how'd I wind up
on the floor?
And when did morning
come to pass?
Oh Heaven,
save my sorry ***

My woman,
Lord I'm in so deep
She'll knock my brains
into next week
She'll show no love
or sympathy
Save me lord!
Oh woe is me!

Whatever am
I going to do?
I really haven't
got a clue
What's that?
You open up at four?
Then I guess I'll stay
and have one more

Complete madness
settles upon the masses
leaving ***** exposed to
the unadulterated *******
of society’s collective wit.
Christianity’s **** will hit
the fan before man awakens
and dispenses with the mistaken
notion of this delusional existence.
The metaphorical distance between
life and death is but the breadth of
a hair in the universal cosmic order
we call reality.

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 ***

There once was a lady named Flo
who sat on Pinocchio
She begged him to lie
then let out a cry...

That was one very satisfied **

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

‘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’

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.

The sun shines
on Portsmouth
but not where
I am
It’s nothing but
wishing on stars
Two thousand five
hundred light years
from home
How did I wander
so far?

The east wind
is blowing
The anchor
is weighed
I’m turning
my back to
the gale
With a flask
on my hip
and a prayer
on my lip
and a promising
wind in my sail

And maybe
I’ll make it
or maybe
I won’t
The future
is so hard
to see
Too much
has happened
and so much
is lost
and I don't know
who I’m supposed
to be

Half moon twilight, shadows fade
Specters rise within the glade
Advancing in a soft parade
Along the hills and colonnade

Ghostly phantoms long forgotten
Wailing souls from Hell begotten
Crying out for Satan’s pity
Forsaken by the Holy see

Where to go and what direction
Darwin’s natural selection
Never saw this sad collection
Death’s pathetic imagery

Floating down among the people
bowed beneath a different steeple
'Perhaps these foreign gods will
save us from eternal misery'

But god’s are all created equal
from the start and thru the sequel
By the same enamored people
living in this desperate land

And so my friend there’s no salvation
from this fear and desperation
The freedom of annihilation
again denied by Heaven’s hand.

When the evening fades to shadow
and the moon is sailing high
I want to stay beside her
but I have to say goodbye
She smiles and says 'I love you'
and I know it’s all a lie
But the moonlight is bewitching
and there’s a twinkle in her eye

I kiss her very softly
as she lays upon the bed
I try to weigh my options
but the wines gone to my head
The room begins revolving
around all the things she said
But concentrations fading
and reasoning is dead

I wake up when it’s over
and wish it hadn’t been
I curse the empty bottle
and swear it off again
I fumble for my wrist watch
and it’s a quarter after ten

And I hate myself for wanting her

While I’m wanting her again.

Lost between the squalid scene
of sadness, blood and death the
dream surrounds.
Waking, shaking in the night
forsaken absence of sunlight
abounds.
Silence lingers in the dark
a sudden flash, electric spark
enlightens.
In the shade the lemonade
trickles down the colonnade
sublime.
Knowing that it isn’t real the
morning sun cannot conceal
delusion.
Walking, talking, life and
death, reality is only an
illusion

No sin
No beginning
No end

No sending it out to
laundry like tailored
sheets to be returned
with fashionable pleats
in all the right places
Sad faces
Too many **** sad faces
Forgiveness is an elusive
***** these days, her gray
shadow an unrealized
contrast to our delusional
perceptions.

The rain was coming down so hard
it drenched me to the bone
I saw a wooden structure
in the distance all alone
I made my way unto the door
and shouted loud and clear
Old Noah popped his head out
and said 'son get out of here!'

The door slammed shut abruptly
and I stood there like a fool
This wasn't like old Noah
to be acting so uncool
I pressed my ear up to the door
and thought I heard a goat
Then all at once I realized
this structure was a boat

A boat indeed filled to the top
with horses, sheep, and fowl
And every other kind of beast
that clucks or brays or howls
I knocked again and shouted
to be heard above the din
'It's raining pretty hard out here
come on and let me in!'

Old Noah shouted through the door
'I'm sorry but I can't
I'd welcome you most gladly
if you were a duck or ant'
'A duck? You must be joking
now come on and let me in
The water's rising very fast
it's nearly to my chin'.

I’m sorry I don’t make the rules
and I don't mean to be rude
But I’ve got a lot of work to do
so friend I guess you’re *******”
‘In the name of God I’m begging you’
I pleaded and I cried
I’m going to die right here and now
if you don’t let me inside!’

The door flew open suddenly
and Noah gave a frown
‘Well get your *** inside the ark
before you go and drown!’
Most happily I came inside
but Noah looked quite ******
'We're going to be in trouble boy
when God gets wind of this!'

'But I'm sure that God all mighty
would not be so unkind
You showed me love and mercy
when you rescued my behind'
Old Noah clenched an angry jaw
and furled a mighty brow
'I don't think that you understand
the situation now

God was most specific
on who could take this ride
If he knew I let you in here
he would have my ancient hide'
Then all at once the heavens cleared
and the water ceased to fall
the birds were singing happily
and the sun was standing tall

Noah stood in disbelief
confusion on his brow
He shouted out unto the sky
'What do I do now?!?'
He stood for several minutes
as if waiting for a sign
Then grabbed a piece of parchment
and began a simple line

'For forty days and forty nights
the wind is going to blow
and the rain will fall in buckets
unto the earth below
And evil then will parish
leaving Noah and his crew
and about a million animals
to begin the world anew'

'Hold on there!' I scrutinized
'You're story is absurd'
But Noah kept on scribbling
as if he hadn't heard.
'There was no flood'
I pointed out
'So why tell folks this lie?'
Old Noah put his pen down
and he gave a weary sigh

'A couple thousand years from now
when people reads these lines
They're going to think me quite a guy
for saving all mankind
In fact I think I much prefer
this version of events
At least my future progeny
won't think that I was bent'

I must admit his logic
made a lot of sense to me
The man had built a massive boat
ten miles from the sea
His character could not withstand
a thousand years of shame
And if I were in Noah's shoes
I might just do the same

In a land of 93 people
lived a preacher and a nun
In a church without a steeple
they professed to 91

The sermon was quite boring
so seven found the door
They left amidst the snoring
leaving only 84

The nun looked to the altar
and the scary hanging Jew
Twice 11 faltered
and that left 62

But the preacher kept on talking
and he didn't skip a line
Then 13 more were walking
leaving only 49

The nun began to worry
as she saw the empty pews
They were leaving in a hurry
by sixes, fours, and twos

A dozen minutes later
they were in the church alone
The ****** masterbater
and his faithful penguin drone

"So what are we supposed to do?"
the preacher asked the nun
They started out with 92
(or was it 91?)

To be honest it was 93
including priest and nun
You'd think that I would know this
as I wrote it in line 1

But the time is getting very late
perhaps I now can sleep
These lines are not so very great
and not so very deep

But they served my shallow purpose
as my eyes begin to close
And since nothing rhymes with purpose
I believe it's time to go

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

Not yet the morning comes.
It’s not time for our embrace
to end.
My soul for another moment
to hold you in my arms.
My soul to feel you next to me
a moment longer.
Soon light will enter our world.
The minutes even now are quickly
passing
It’s almost time my love.
It’s almost time to leave your side.
We have but a few lingering seconds
to be together and then I must go.

But not yet the morning comes.

Now and Zen I think of things
I've never thunk before
I think
and think
and think
and think
Then sit and think some more.
When evening comes
I take my thoughts
and put them in a jar
Then stroll among the fireflies
and wish upon a star

It’s just so **** frustrating
all this ignorance and war
It gets my mind to thinking
what the Hell is it all for

Half a million dying
for some worthless desert sand
No matter how they moralize
I just don’t understand

It seems to me that freedom
can’t be purchased with a gun
But hey the folks in Washington
they’ve got to have their fun

They’ll tell you Christ is coming
so you’d better pick a side
Cuz’ if you ain’t a Christian
There will be no place to hide

I see the end of the world
in the blink of her eye
And all the colors you
can think of just appeared
in the sky
And a guy who looks an
awful lot like Jesus walks
by

But nobody cares

All the people in the city
are to busy to feel
Running 90 MPH
just like rats on a wheel
Stuck in cages made of
concrete, iron, plastic
and steel

But nobody cares

The delusion of the moment
has them preoccupied
Whether Brittney or Nicole
will be along for the ride
And the sky begins to darken
and there's nowhere to hide

But nobody cares

Then out of nowhere
comes a shattering boom
A cloud of crimson colored ash
has passed in front of the moon
Six billion people disappearing
in the darkening gloom

And nobody cares...