A runaway
ducking landlords
just back from timbuktu
containing
           wild
wild
                                     and some rite of
                                                              ­                                              some protective voodoo
dialing for

d
o
l
l
a
r
s

I don't have

I just gotta get through

Beggars call collect and the alms are anyone's ears,
anyone
will do
The receiver,
eternity's choir
Singing
soggy
sorry
gloom
The preacher man's a liar
Just tell God to let me through

My tongue
becomes
                                                  ­    a sublimated jazz singer                                    spitting
my soul impromptu
some
R a p i d f i r e

c                o               n               f              e               t               t               i

At a party where everyone is mute
Their silence unsettling
the space between rings, music

I'm going to

lose it

stop

traffic has gone bebop
Outside                                                    ­             the booth
While the rain is trying at the blues
But I know that song
and I know me
it's way
out
of
tune
Singing, Hey mama!
I'm so sorry I flew the coop
I should of changed from my pajamas
But I still had some furious flu
So I got
down
with
the
sickness
Because the cure won't                                  
                         ­               fit in a tablespoon
Even still,                                                        
I hope to get through
                                                         ­                                the kind of hope thats put me
At the

bottom of                             the

booth

Bi     t  i n        g  
                                
                   ­                     ankles                                      ­                                                            
                                                    
                                                                ­             moon              
Howling
                                    at the
        
Giving
up
to
a
gambit.

Who am I even talking to?