There are thank yous to be given
To the people who have bestowed to me a voice
A chance
An opportunity to get my work out there to the public's ear

The people who give that to everyone wanting to display and demonstration raw self-expression with passion
The people who they themselves are artists as well
Writers, musicians, brilliant and enlivened

They bequeath to us platforms, podiums
Spotlight center stage soapboxes

Microphones waiting to have words of insight cascade into them
And amps bracing themselves to have those words erupt out of them
Onto an expecting and interested crowd

The smell of coffee
The smell of cigarettes
The taste of Burgundy
On my nervous breath

On the air
On the mic
I'm there
And I thank you all

For the chances you grant all of us
We who want to show the world what we can do and who we are
There needs to be more people like you, caring and ardent

With the utmost sincerity I give you my deepest gratitude

Here's to you

A boxer with an undercut goes for an uppercut against his opponent
Who doesn't know the correct pronunciation of the word "sterile"  
Don't you get it?
Cut the cable
And stay inviolate
Perform the synthesis
Wait for the nuisance to abate

Ride on the magic carpet
Be nimble
Pass on
Against the grain
The shrill laughs
Just make your way in the world
Through the Savannah
Going job hunting

Downplay it
A well deserved day off
Coke bottle glasses
Sleepless
Countering verbal assaults
Chopping wood and ******* blood
Oh brother, oh bother
Upstairs, down stairs

Pushed away by bad music
The barista sneezed in my coffee
I wonder what she does after hours
Mercy mild
Made from concentrate
You don't want any part of this
You poor anemic *******
You *** stirrer

So lethargic
Victim of calumny
Ruptured appendix
Constantly rebuked
On the pursuit of happiness  
Receiving flack
So pusillanimous
Looking for something cathartic  
Fight with yourself
When your're your own worst enemy
Leaving everyone scratching their heads
And hanging on every word
Smoke 'em if you got 'em
First impressions are my worst impressions
Bad decisions and fallen angels
Pedantic stipulations
Derogatory semantics
Fight with yourself
When your're your own worst enemy
Leaving everyone scratching their heads
And hanging on every word
Smoke 'em if you got 'em
Review the glossary
Check the index
It's a lost cause
The cut throat is fighting
The masked wrestler on a tugboat
They're both wearing Hawaiian shirts
Fight with yourself
When your're your own worst enemy
Leaving everyone scratching their heads
And hanging on every word
Smoke 'em if you got 'em
      -Tommy Johnson

The quartet became a trio
The trio became a duet
The duet became a solo act
The first chair was ambidextrous
His hands worked as a duo
He called them Cain and Abel
They had great reflexes
He washed them with soap and water

He played in light houses
Night clubs
Tin Pan Alley

He sang about tapped phones
With a dead pan, dry humor
And dehydrated wit
To a room full of sugar daddies and their sugar babies
His music left them befuddled but hungry for more

He ate nothing but black bean brownies for weeks
Any tiny morsel of food he could find to survive
He wore a pork pie hat
And would always say "lather rinse repeat"

To him racism was a detestable invention of mankind
"Towel-head"
He cringed at that word

But when he got on stage at The Tree Trunk a moment of tranquility commenced

Deadlines
Bleachers ripped out and put in the dessert so the audience can bleach their bones in the unforgiving sun in Mother Nature's desert

"Not too shabby
If I say so myself
It could make headlines
Sudden death
A stick up man verses a Gestapo
Lightning round

One suffers from Salmonella
The other is addicted to drinking Molotov cocktails for the hell of it
Throw them in the snake pit
We can hear gun shots
And the sound of someone being scalped

Get you souvenir **** plugs here!

These two *** wipes are in the because we had probable cause
One tried ransacking the whole place
And the other came out of the woodwork and threatened the room service boy with cellophane and gasoline

We've taken the proper precautions of course
We have nurses who, after each round will kiss their wounds
Then rag on them and all their short comings
Just for the sake of it

Making this show was a long shot
We never thought it be so big
But all our clients are eating up
What are you mumbling?"

Uh, would you say this sideshow act is inhuman or would you say it's heinous?

"No comment"

We got a god thing going here
We got gun runners and *** runners
Nice and furtive
I will not go to the penitentiary
I'll get a face lift if I have to

She knows too much
Give her a party favor
That represents our colonial ways
Gingivitis
It's a hoot
Halitosis

Pass the ammunition
No flash photography
Bump some coke
Before the search and seizure
Of puzzled looks

Some can't deal with this safari maze
Mutter a prayer for human error
It's first come first served
A double helix goodie-bag
Stomp the home schooled henchmen
Mace them and throw the grenade
It's too close for comfort

And that's the gist of it

The doctor is in but refuses to see you
Now hush
We've reached an impasse
We're all sedated
We're all mutated candidates
Subject to friendly fire
The pick of the litter is devouring the runt
Buzzard food
Shush
This is a stalemate
Please excuse me
We have conflicting schedules
Pilgrims and dive bombers
Settlers free all the animals from the zoo
And keep the castrated guests at bay
We all cheer giddy while the stunt double gets dismembered
We're all in a frenzy because she can walk through walls
We're all impressed and floored with her rainbow credentials
The jury is out