Flying Solo is a Drag

Rock ‘n’ Roll without drugs?
Zappa without Zig?
Zep minus Zag?
Hey Joe…Jimi blows in the snow
Psychedelic Shack...Temptations…smack
Reaper Fear… Blue Oyster beer
Bottle of wine…Mashed potato time
Stones Bleed... you flushed the weed?
Came a day when the ears said…rest
Was a day…”yesterday”…the artist knew best

Smote Vote

Liberalism…was shot last night
Ballot Box Bullets…on a cool autumn night
Drilled, Riddled…Dollar sized holes
Fired by angry…Imbecilic Trolls
He clenched in bleeding, dying hands
His two greatest treasures…his two gifts for man
Altruism and Compassion clenched between fingers
Now only Intolerance and Avarice linger
Why was he murdered?...What was his crime?
A man on a cross once…could answer that line
Now he lays on a slab…dreams oh so shattered
His body defiled…his legacy battered
Whilst up on the hill…in mansions of Gold
They scoff at his death…with insolence most bold
So, once more we’re turned over…to conniver, to schemer
Men of conscience oft’ die young…the fate of the dreamer
Conservativism…the rapacious twin…the bitter pill
Has once again bent… the fool to his will
Where it all ends…only God has in sight
Ballot Box Bullets…on a cool autumn night

Hindsignt Heaven

Man, this ain’t America
People crying, dying on the streets
Thousands maybe…millions
Was crazy…nightmare leaking out my ears
Whoa! A human anthill… A freakin’ suburban picnic
Crazy massive muscle tussle
Blew past doing ‘bout 95
Sign said “RALLOD FO HCRUHC”
Huh? Wait a minute! I was home!
Everything backward…in a rearview mirror

Cheerful Chattel

I have ten fingers...and count with two
have ten toes…five per shoe
have two legs…perfect for walking
have one mouth…for eating and talking
have two ears…they hear one sound
have two feet…on the ground
have two eyes…one heart, that’s true
And all of me…belongs to you

Mista-Boehner (A Pre-Christmas Tale)

Twas a night in November, and all through the House
John Boehner spent drinking,and got soused as a louse
As the votes trickled in, he chuckled and grinned
“Dumb sonsabitches, they’ll never know how we’ve sinned
The lobbyists were all partying it would be just as they said
As delusions of grandeur entered Boehner’s pickled head
And Mama in spandex and I in old shorts
Sat down gloomily awaiting the election reports

When there on my TV I saw not Brutus nor young Cassius
But a red tidal wave spreading hate weaving Fascist
The sight was so sickening I wished I could chuck it
Then proceeded to do so in a rusting waste bucket
The moon was a crescent, just a sliver of hope
Yet results streaming in favored the party of nope
As I looked back at the screen through dismay and cold fear
I saw the besotted Congressman all choked up with tears
He was a cagey K-Street driver with devices so slick
I knew in a moment he’d be up to old tricks
A well seasoned veteran well versed in the game
And as tears issued forth he called us by name
“Now Americans one, now Americans all
Your voice has been heard, let the Democrats fall
In your grandiose mansions to the Country Club hall
Stash away, stash away, stash the cash away all”

Then with reverent voice and a trembling chin
He basked in the moment in Coppertoned skin
As he stood at the podium denying existence of blue
He proclaimed virtues of red and the Tea Party too

And with no lack of conceit he now spoke for the nation
A plutocratic voice feigning faux lamentation
So I settled back in and turned up the sound
As “the voice of America” began to expound
He exclaimed that the country had been returned to the people
And spoke of his faith as if standing ‘neath steeple
He was dressed in the requisite Armani suit
With patent leather shoes… and a red schnazzola to boot
Along side him was resting an invisible sack
Stuffed full of corporate favors he’d have to pay back
His eyes were quite misty concealing a shrouded wrath
As he recalled his early days and his arduous path
With quivering mouth slurring words fast and slow
And by the moment’s conclusion, he’d put on quite a show

He held no smoking pipe between tax payer teeth
And his government health club kept his figure most sleek
I must admit now that his speech was quite smelly
But he laughed at the end shaking like jelly
He gave the impression of sincere, half baked loaf
But only yesterday’s fool is duped by corporate owned oaf
Then, as he dabbed at both eyes and upheld his head
I could see in that face we had something to dread
He strolled off the stage to thunderous claps
As my wife and I sat pondering fellow American saps
Before leaving the room he shook many hands
Nodding and winking to his monetized bands
And then in a flash something less than a wink
He was gone, presumably, to imbibe one more drink
Now, I still hear his voice and this be no jest
The elite can sleep tight…and to hell with the rest

Infirmity

Bones crackle, eyes strain, ears ring, daily pain
My image gray before the glass…time past
The race is ending and never the twain
Shall meet, as old supplants young much to fast
Time invites sorrow for tomorrow flies
Uninvited to distort once smooth skin
Under Crow’s Feet marching ‘cross squinting eyes
Talking ‘bout the good “old” days way back in …
Gray stubble holds sway on my chin, words I say
Spilling forth from acidic, twisted tongue
Forgotten how to laugh…not fade away
Aging man trapped…with the soul of the young
Like the vampire I will remove all mirrors
And end my days in invisible fears

Sarahndupity

The last Polar Bear and the last Wolf
Atrophied icons of the Arctic
Stepped aboard the Midnight Ice Floe Express
Heading South… towards eternity
The unrelenting Sun burning holes
In sparse and matted fur
They lay side by side, their breathing belabored
And saw, as they perished in unison
An elderly woman, her spectacles reflecting
The dawning of a new day
Ooh’s and ah’s of her entourage
Echoing upon now dead ears
As she offered paying customers
A glimpse of the future
From the fortress-like Isle … of Ubetcha

Sanctuary

Oh! to dwell in castle
High upon a hill
No phone or internet
No… Prescription pills
Taking my old movies
All my vinyl too
Dogs and cats
But most of all…
Darling, I need you
Visits from my grown kids
Every blessed week
And high atop a battlement
With white flag
Free… I shall speak

Perennial Partners

When time began…he had a friend
He traveled with…he called him wind
They swept across the universe
And witnessed both…best and worse
Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock…a chiming bell
A babe asleep…and all is well
An urban blast…a ghetto flutter
Human beings…in a gutter
The tinkling of a hanging chime
With each tinkle…a chunk of time
Ceaseless laps ‘round cosmic glory
And every breath adds to the story
Solar winds blow hot in space
Time draws lines upon a face
Autumn’s leaves blow to and fro
Then soon it is the time for snow
They work together hand in hand
A Tempest or Timex wristband
In ancient times they used the sun
Shadows told when day was done
When warm spring breezes from the North
Thawed frigid hands…brought summer forth
With eyes and ears both wind and time
Have witnessed grandeur…and inane crime
Tick-Tock, that old clock and then a knock upon the door
Dread-Walk, the tears drop, a handkerchief sop, cold draft’s of war
Sometimes a blustery gale or just a gentle breeze
And bells are tolling somewhere…as pretty as you please
A destructive, deadly hurricane…a soothing brush across your face
One ages very quickly…one at a slower pace
Round and Round they circle the eternal spinning globe
Their beginning or their end?…a question no one knows
Every silence broken…every word so said
In dusky times so spoken…encompassing the dead
Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock…Time for me… soon will stop
Take me ageless friend…spread my soul…upon your wind

Progress Report

They loved caffeine…lots were fat
Talking war…they stand pat
Slot machine handles…remote controls
I-Phones and I-Pods…part-time souls
Rap vs. Country…A love of big trucks
If you’re down on your luck…many don’t give a ….
Bibles and Burgers…Junk food and beer
America died…in the year…20..?

A Flag Casts a Long Shadow

The “New” flag was unfurled today
It was a “Revolutionary” concept in “Standard” design
In keeping with the duality of our psyche
This “State of the State” symbol of National Efficiency
And Endowment, was a two-sided banner
Side A was dominated by a glittering, gold
Dollar sign…resplendent in a field of “Currency Green”
Our “Neoteric” symbol of wealth and power
Was flanked on the left by a representation
Of the “Top Hatted” banker from the game “Monopoly”
Numerous cards fell, floating from omnivorous hands
All inscribed with……… “Get out of jail free”
On the right of the dollar sign was an oil tanker
Plowing through grayish, inanimate seas
Immense…Intrepid…Intimidating
Banker…Tanker…Canker…together…on “souled” out satin
The “back” side of our “Pennant of Purity”
Consisted of an expanse of “Unsoiled White Filaments”
Exploding outward from a golden and radiant sun
Held aloft by an antediluvian, hoary hand
Whilst down below…reaching…stretching from…below
Were long, emaciated, arching…fingers
Twisted, curled, dirtied, broken……..bloodied
Cast in hues of Black and Brown and Red and Yellow
Reaching, forever reaching…forever drowning
In a pallid sea of alabaster anachronisms

And across America, a new breed of school children
Ashen, hollow eyed, culturally bereft
Proclaimed fealty…….to the “New Order”
“I pledge allegiance to the flag
Of the divided states of America
And to the Oligarchy for which it stands
One nation, One God, Discriminating Indiscriminately
With Liberty and Justice…for the privileged few”

Pin Cushion

Skipped the tequila…didn’t try
Squeezed the lime…juiced my eye
Social Darwinism…all the rage
Senile seniors…lost their page
Tea brewing…in the pot
The safety net... left to rot
Fascist doctrine…coming soon
Feast or Famine…Dueling spoons
Bad, bad news…everyday
Brings to my lips…hear me say
Et tu, Brutus?

Bereaving a Cleaver

Somewhere… out there
Wally’s chasing the Beav
Ward’s buttoning up the Cardigan
Lumpy is pouting
Phyllis Schafly delivered a beautiful eulogy
The lemonade pitcher’s half full
The house, as always, looks beautiful
June Cleaver is dead
But the omnipresent pearls…still tastefully arrayed
Adorn her neck
And for once
Eddie Haskell, has nothing to say

A Leaf's Last Rites

Winter at last! Blessed relief
Autumn’s heat stifling, many a day
Blazing sun descends upon red/gold leaf
Now, o’ernight blue skies change to mourning gray

In the wink of the hawk’s eye
He’ll soar chilled skies until Spring
Then float on updrafts that come with July
But for now the leaves fall, it’s a marvelous thing

A lumbering tallish tree that stands nearby
Begins to quickly shed its coat
As I watch behind glass with an appreciative eye
Pirouetting drops of life shouldn’t make a grown man gloat

And the leaves fell en masse, a most profound effusion
Oh! the limbs, in the fierce winds did so quiver and so shake
The whole scene was one of a flurry of winter’s confusion
With the defiant tree withstanding forces much akin to an earthquake

Inside the house where I’d lived for so ever long
The death raining outside the walls sounded much like song
Pitter patter, spitter spatter, soon the deluge of rains came
Clitter clatter, what’s the matter? Death is merely an old game

Limb’s children, with sap filled veins, fell in torrents
Their bodies spread across the frigid, frosty lawn
I might suppose that this depiction may sound rather abhorrent
Yet, for months I pined for winter and the day the leaves were gone

Then one day I stepped outside to survey my leafless tree
The fog of my breath brought on a euphoric exhilaration
When I heard a tiny voice that was calling out to me
And it came from the tree! What was the explanation?

Way up high, near the top, was a lone and chilled survivor
Its skin was yellowed, its body shriveled, and its “family” all were dead
Then with Lilliputian sounds it proceeded with a reminder
And I stood there, numb and listening, to every word it said

“I’m the last of my kind on this the passing year
The struggle to survive immense and I grow weak I fear
If I should fall and you should see please gather my remains
Leave me not to gutter rot or to drown in pouring rain

And as he spoke he lost his grasp and silently fell down
I caught him in my trembling hands before he hit the ground
When self-pity comes calling and I’m consumed with grief
I open up a treasured box and touch a withered leaf

Doutbting Thomas

The Jefferson Memorial was just torn down today
A last vestige of a founder had now been swept away
His name already removed from the pages of text books
They even went door to door and the nickels all got took
Piggy banks were confiscated to weed out poison pills
They even found old granny Smith’s beloved…two dollar bill
Monticello leveled; A Mega-Church now praised a wraith
And diamond studded preachers were covetous with faith
No Mosques, no Synagogues, no Buddhist temples were to be permitted
We’d all adhere to the word for which we were befitted
Freedom of Religion was blasphemy in a God fearing nation
Freedom from Religion was the pipe dream of a lost generation
With Dynamite and jack-hammers they blew his visage off Rushmore
And rock strewn remnants of wisdom lay strewn about the valley floor
It’s now claimed to be official, a Christian nation we shall be
As so proclaimed, by the conceptually blind, in the land of Liberty

No Cyber-Stalking Here

Old buddies….dying, drifting away
Hewed down…corn stalks in fading
Harvest Moonlight
A survivor… “Join Facebook, dude”
I hesitate….procrastinate…acquiesce
Instant friends….millionssssss…..
Soon I…………………….
Run afoul of… Murphy’s Law
Autumn’s façade… red overlaid gold
Bleeds upon Black clouds…Naked limbs
Frozen winds strafe my grave
And three corn stalks cling to earth

Only the Roaches Survive

The “New World Order” had been implemented
And it spread like micro-waved margarine from the folks it complimented
A crimson torrent from the Heartland reaching and grasping
Until it expanded its Type-A tentacles hauling in all the gasping
They stood on the verandas of their mega estates
Martinis in one hand and caviar on their plates
They watched titillated as the wagons rolled by perched on chic, padded seats
And spoke of taxes they’d now save, the Collection of the dead, the near dead, the deadbeat

“A fire wiped out the Joneses today”
The elite shook their heads saying “Why didn’t they pay?”
“Because this America, and its pay as you go
Jonesey should’ve thought of that, and we’ve privatized woe”

The wagons moved on rolling West, then North, South and East
The driver waved to the most, and scooped up the least

“Remember the Hudsons? They used to belong to the club
But then when Big Steve got sick we had to give them the snub,
Because this is America and its pay as you go,
We don’t tolerate loafers, and we’ve privatized woe”

The wagons rolled on through our towns and our cities
Predator drones now re-booted to collect without pity

“Look, isn’t that Bill, and, oh shit, his hottie wife, Ann”
“Just mix the martini baby, with your sweet little hand
Because this is America and its pay as you go
Bill took a wrong turn and we’ve privatized woe”

The wagons gathered luxury cars, fur coats, big screens did they pluck
If you was down on your ass you were shit out of luck

“There goes Bob and Nancy, she had a beautiful boob job
They had such a gorgeous home, then Bob got laid off, the poor slob
Because this is America, and its pay as you go
Bob got dealt a bad hand and we’ve privatized woe”

Now the wagons made a pile of all the nation’s “crap”
A mountain of hubris and then they made a final lap

“They're comin’ for us, for Earl, Jewel and Jim. Already got Lisa. Already snagged Kim.
What the fuck were we hurtin’ back here in this lot, our lives are the only thing left that we got
Because this is America, and its pay as you go
We'll be dead in a few minutes and we’ve privatized woe

The wagons filled up with starving dogs and stray cats
Shopping carts, sleeping bags, old coats and faded hats
The recycling centers all closed up, just wasn’t the need
Only folks that was left, only recycled greed
The New World Order in America was a custom ordered place
A survival of the fittest with a total lack of grace
Now the elite are replete with their own unique brand of sinner
And they’ll soon kill each other off, who the hell’s gonna cook dinner?

Beck-o-ning

Shadow replaces light
slowly for some
more rapidly for others.
Each breath taken
contains floating fragments
of hate and hypocrisy
embedding in the lungs
of those too mentally
and spiritually weak
to expunge their noxious effects.
Altruism and Egalitarianism
twin brothers
under attack
by "pious patriots"
dig in ever deepening
pits of sand
with shriveling fingers
the flayed skins
on their collective backs,
pocketed by charlatans
consumed in their
eventual burial.
Mass Media sings along
to the jingle, jangle
of "chump" change
as we bleed out
into an amorphous glob
of witless consumers
texting "wuz up"
as the shadows
make their inexorable march
across our collective psyches.
'Tis the "dark ages"
renewed for mass
customer appeal.
Flags flap "faithfully"
ethnic wedges are
strategically placed
by experts
and a "cancer"
known as avarice
infects and disables
what we we once
proudly pointed to
as "humanity."
Climb to a mountain top,
stand atop a rocky knoll
near an ocean
and breathe in
a last gasp of fresh air.

Hope Eclipsed

Central California…foul bowl
Stagnant…fevered…deadly
I burn my soles
On ice cold souls
Mockingbirds moan
Wing tips singed
A spider clasps eight hands
Sirens pass over a graveyard
I hear a train’s midnight sonorous blast
Heading somewhere…anywhere
And I look up…terrified…relieved
As the sun burns a hole
Through the moon

One Way Trip

Dead cat laying on the side of the road
Trucker speedin’ crazy with an unsafe load
Sometime feel like I’m gonna explode
Oh, I need a vacation

Pain about drivin’ me outta my brain
One a these days might go insane
Pissin’ and moanin’ doin’ nothin’ but complain
Oh, I need a vacation

Racing popsicle sticks down the gutter yesterday
Yesterday now’s forty something years away
Don’t give a shit what other people say
Oh, I need a vacation

Politicians sayin’ they about to fix all
If they’s one thing they got, they got a lot of gall
I’d like to staple gun a Senator to a dart board wall
Oh, I need a vacation

How come when yer young ya got everything ya need
Flowers burstin' forth from a little bitty seed
By the time yer in your fifties yer just happy that ya peed
Oh, I need a vacation

When we was all kids had fun a-building forts
Got a little older and loved to take a couple snorts
Now I’m just waitin’ for my colonoscopy report
Oh, I need a vacation

Got a great little wife and kids I love a lot
And I know I should be grateful for the things that I got
Just can’t help feelin’ that I’m wallowin' in snot
Oh, I need a vacation

Self-pity and regret ain’t my idea of friends
They don’t ever let up even when ya try to make amends
If I went scuba diving I’d surely bubble up with bends
Oh, I need a vacation

Lookin’ down the tunnel and it looks mighty dark
And a one of these days I’ll decide to embark
The way things are goin’ I won’t find a place to park
Thinking about…a vacation

Morgue-age

They found a cure for cancer today
The only question now, was just who could pay?
News traveled fast, lives would be saved
Calculators hummed, for the monetary depraved

Lung cancer patients studied the scale
An arm and a leg for the cure was on sale
Colo-rectal cancer was billed as a bargain
Lawyer’s fees were immense to decipher the jargon

For the women who are listening we won’t forsake thee
We understand that the ovaries are a target of “C”
And to breast cancer patients we want you to relax
“Cause even if we cleave ‘em, we’ll install a new rack

Testicular cancer makes a guy feel like a dork
But you’ll be hanging like new with sacks filled with cork
And whilst Penis cancer is rare we realize it’s demanding
With our backdoor cashier we exhibit… understanding

Leukemia patients lined up for miles
Triage estimators managed to banish the smiles
Melanoma sufferers drug themselves to the din
“We accept MasterCard to make whole the skin”

Pancreatic cancer, a death sentence heretofore
Alleviated by eighty payments of five thousand dollars or more
Brain cancer, Liver cancer, cancer of the bone
Dial 1-800-Beat-The-C, on your cellular phone

Our operators are knowledgeable, and know how you feel
Their all former clients, who got in first on the deal
So no matter the loved one, say a wife or a child
You’ll have taken the first step, the moment you’ve dialed

Our services may sound costly that’s just meant to be
It takes a lot of greenback to beat back the "C"
Yet were not without compassion so we’d like to correct
For Misunderstandings press seven and ask… for Cancer Collect

Sonnet 6

A painful memory locked up I keep
Although sometimes I do misplace the key
Where long fingers can’t reach and eyes can’t peep
A place of which “nobody visits but me”
By light of the moon when I’m fast asleep
Betrayal!… nocturnal duplicity
The box unlocked…I unconsciously weep
Dreaming where “nobody visits but me”
People I loved residing six feet deep
Still others, well, I know not where they be
I locked this damn box yet, still I must sleep
Torment… tears, where “nobody visits but me”
Endless barricades, forging mental locks
Yet death… if I should lose grasp of that box

Sonnet 5

Carried aloft on smooth silvery wings
Where angels fly and rest on nimbus bed
I stand and watch my true love soar away
Replaying, my love, the last words you said
Life is not a thing to take for granted
Each day is labeled with uncertainty
Love is but a seed that once is planted
Will grow or fade like Neptune’s breath at sea
Each time, my darling, you sail off through clouds
I doth realize that we had no choice
And when you’re gone I walk through strident crowds
My heart hears nothing but your tender voice
Come back, oh dearest, lay down by my side
We’ll dry the tears in your absence…I cried

Sonnet 4

Promoted with honor, labeled with pride
Mother packs, a “going away” basket
Both sides so lay claim to “God’s on “our” side?”
Live boys soon dead men in Flag draped caskets
Thy very first weapons… rocks, spears and arrows
Achievement’s of glory? Blood on thy hands
Mankind “advanced” … blasting bone from marrow
Conflict’s the fingers…of evil’s cruel hand
Ten thousand years of “civilization”
Built upon bones of those who came before
Hath savage clash spared one generation?
Do the rich, die in numbers, like the poor?
I sing this thing that men call war…then sigh
How many more, I wonder, have to die

Sonnet 3

A rose, red, cut, bled… stem within a vase
Taken aback thorns shout…. Amputation!
The rose arm, debased, now lives without face
I recoil from my crass permutation
Why is Beauty fair… often worshiped first?
Modest stands alone like a simple weed
Beauty doth bear a unique, deadly curse
Ugly lurks in shadow…a browbeat creed
Some say “silly”… bemoaning one flower
Do roses shed tears at the end of the day?
‘Twas I cut the rose… shear cutting power
Bud and stem severed? To that I say nay!
Crimson red roses or dull, yellowed weed
‘Tis Nature’s decree, they both come from seed

Sonnet 2

‘Twas a place for rest, of lace for killing
Built of silken filaments strong like steel
As Fall nights approached the air felt chilling
My friend the spider, the cold would soon feel
A tireless worker her home oft razed
Yet she rebuilt over and over, then
One day she did fight with hornet unfazed
Repairing damage in stiff blowing winds
Why I ponder our base fear of spiders
Is it eight legs… the cocooning of prey?
But unlike Miss Muffett, sit beside her
‘Tis the spider, not you, shying away
Chill Autumn nights will soon cause her to die
I pay my respects ‘neath late summer sky

Sonnet 1

In a fair and just world, we’d have two lives
One for foolish deeds, one we could atone
Roving eyed rogue… husband with loving wife
A chance for true love… doomed to stay alone
To those crying foul, you’ve still much to learn
One look at the world, reminds it’s not fair
If justice ‘twas lady, with torch to burn
Suitors would be many, safe in her lair
Mirrors of the past are a baited trap
Filled with promises… stark futility
As to my blunders, I’ll take on the rap
But dwelling on hell exacts a huge fee
A self-reflective speech, sound to mine ear
No wonder the vampire dislikes…mirrors

Bugle Call

When thou search for an earthly beast
And comb each avenue of thought one takes
‘Tis man you’ll find at the cupidic feast
That turns back the clock of the progress he makes
With avaricious cunning and cold calculation
He bares his soul for the blind to see
Feathering his nest with debauched machinations
With pious proclamations and stirring odes to the free
We now cast an eye on a desecrated planet
Forests barren surrounded by vast polluted oceans
How could man with God’s hands lay waste to solid granite?
When talk of Earth’s redemption is just going through the motions
A mere pebble in the universe too corrupt now to save
A terra firma wasteland, a mass human grave