White Collared

Country Club Buffets…Wall Street Knaves
Death Panelist Recipient…Fascist Incipient
Republican Healthcare…Voucher Pass
Stipend Used Up…Plutocratic Crass
Rodeo Drive…Tiffany’s is Splendid
Wars of Empire…Never Ended
Yachts in the Harbor…Dinghies at the Helm
Blue Collar Workers…”Serfing” the Realm
Oysters Rockefeller…Gold Rimmed Plate
Libraries Shuttered…Preservation of the State

Bottoms Up

Ten years sitting in a tiny, stinking, rotten jail cell
Nine years of marking X’s on an old calendar
Eight years of dreaming ‘bout the first twenty
Seven years of thinking where she was
Six years on the same mattress
Five years, I can’t wait
Four tries, knotted sheet
Three feet high
Two, One
Bye

Blood .... Shot

I heard the bells ringing…distant village
My crepuscule world…so close about me
Helpless I lay…to those who would pillage
From “Her” I sought comfort…once heavenly
We’d met on day…when sunbeams pierced rainbows
As cloud shaped ships…sailed skies cobalt blue
Golden, crimson leaves…your hair in moonglow
Grandeur abounds…mine eyes turn back to you
Your beauty majestic…and soon we wed
‘Twas soon I learned…you were quite insane
Nature’s pomp stopped me…wanting to be dead
View of flawless snowflake…pacified pain
Vision preserved me…sight my greatest prize
I lay hearing bells…listening with no eyes

Library Card

They burnt last book today…save one
“Twas heresy they said…and from that book
A black cloud formed…raining pages so once read
Paper fluttering…’twas only sound
Soon works of mankind …took root upon the ground
The sanctimonious…could not bear to look
Wisdom doth… indeed flower…from more than just one book

Lager of Love

Can’t find your life…bottom of a bottle
Sure as hell wasn’t goin’ to stop my tryin’
“Brewski!… Barkeep…collectin’ an army o' dead soldiers”
Down came another beer
“Booze won’t drown your sorrows, son
Only gives ‘em somethin’ to swim in”
“Tell it to the Marines old man…and listen…
You got a snorkel?”

Breadcrumbs

I searched for our footprints
Signs indicating… we’d once been there
Lapping water caressed my ears
The old oak remained at sentry
Coots worked without snorkels
And the old rusty tractor still plowed the past
Wind, rain, time… had conspired against me
Vanished
Forever lost, in perpetually shifting soils
Muddy paws, size 13’s…yesterday’s walk

Footprints

Poetry written…by men more great than I
Easily found…’tween books many pages
Judge not too harshly…with a loving eye
I shan’t be mistaken…for time’s true sages
‘Twas o’er fifty years…’ere I found mine pen
Road to discovery…littered with waste
Half century aged brain…scoured again
Each day flows by…consumed am I with haste
Yet a trail I shall leave…scattered with crumbs
Some may soothe thy palate…others less so
You may say he wrote…with protruding thumbs
Or find a gem…perchance I’ll never know
I do know I’m the sky…and you the stars
One day we’ll fly…beyond red skies of Mars

Grad Dad

A moment in the sun…but I have no son
A tear in my eye…small drink of water
A flag fluttering…the battle’s been won
Proud Father awaits…stage walk of daughter
The clouds pass on by…crowd erupts in cheers
The names of the honored…float on the wind
The waiting’s been long…now I’ve no more fears
That which she earns today… one can’t rescind
I recall the first day… on her new bike
I remember the day when she turned ten
I cringe at teenage photos…anger spiked
Oft’ rocky road…I’d travel it again
Diploma in hand…beautiful to me
My little girl…for all the world to see

Stab to Slab in Under an Hour

Never I’d dreamed…terror of a zipper
The last teeth closing…Final glimpse of light
I lie in blood…in puddle…a dripper
Death uninvited…swan song of the night
You travel end miles…in a “body bag”
Plastic on your skin…hemoglobin hair
Journey seems so long…why must driver lag?
Slab in the morgue…impatient for its faire
Cold…oh so cold!...your drawer, your bed, your tomb
A sliding of rail…a click of the lock
‘Tis only temporary…inverted womb
Fly you no more…having left earthly flock
Arrive mortuary…unzipped once more
Antipodal drops…crimson on the floor

Dig Them Dregs

Johnny blew Larceny on his Goldman Sachs
The “rollers” did bump and grind
Cat was whooping, wailing down Fifth Avenue
A hep tune called “No banker left behind”
Perks and bonuses…no government onuses
Wall Street’s back, snortin’ greenback crack
Paper or plastic they ask old Mother Cupboard
For one lousy half filled grocery sack

Dig Them Dregs

Johnny blew Larceny on his Goldman Sachs
The “rollers” did bump and grind
Cat was whooping, wailing down Fifth Avenue
A hep tune called “No banker left behind”
Perks and bonuses…no government onuses
Wall Street’s back, snortin’ greenback crack
Paper or plastic they ask old Mother Cupboard
For one lousy half filled grocery sack

‘Twas blustery day, the clouds passed quickly
Except for one that loomed oh most darkened
I lived far off and alone, quiet…sickly
Adumbration o’erhead…’twas death harkened?
I stood in grim fascination…mute, fearful
As if rooted to ground, of which I stood
Thunder clasped and mine eyes became tearful
Day had arrived, no more knocking on wood
I found my legs… gathered my possessions
There actually was only one it’s true
Stark reminder… my greatest transgression
Photo taken…before I’d murdered you
I woke prostrate upon the kitchen floor
Silhouetted corpse…lightning framed in door

Dinner Guest

‘Twas blustery day, the clouds passed quickly
Except for one that loomed oh most darkened
I lived far off and alone, quiet…sickly
Adumbration o’erhead…’twas death harkened?
I stood in grim fascination…mute, fearful
As if rooted to ground, of which I stood
Thunder clasped and mine eyes became tearful
Day had arrived, no more knocking on wood
I found my legs… gathered my possessions
There actually was only one, it’s true
Stark reminder… my greatest transgression
Photo taken…before I’d murdered you
I woke prostrate upon the kitchen floor
Silhouetted corpse…lightning framed in door

Sancti-fried

Drive thru…I do
Half in the bag…bloodshot blues
Vows are simple…Treat me Nice
Don’t be Cruel…Throw your own rice
Fat belly…Cheeseburger breath
Porkchop sideburns…Jacked on meth
Got a hunk a hunk of Burning Love?
Fully sanctioned from the Big Guy above
Vintage Vegas…Sin City
Ostentatious…But ‘tis a pity
If Gay you are…SOL
When Elvis plays…the wedding bells

Keel-Mauled

On her tummy they performed tuck and roll
From her nose removed a pinkish mole
Her breasts were parted up and lifted
The sag around her bottom sifted
Smoothed out all the facial wrinkles
Adorned her hair with glittered sprinkles
Colored contacts and plumped up lips
Sixty years old, what a trip…S.O.S Abandon Ship!

To Be With You

Dyed bones, dead, alone, lie upon the hill
Their markers long forsaken, lost to time
They once laughed, danced, cried, as living do still
Laughter sighed, tears dried… wind brings icy clime
A child of seven, she passed very young
Two brothers, same day…mother’s tragedy
An old man who once, had an acid tongue
I search for stone… forever is to thee
‘Tis ancient this graveyard…my love persists
Across the centuries…heedless of years
In barren corner…your grave doth exist
I throw self on soil…dampen it with tears
Dead I shall so be…on Necropolis
Embracing you…free, from Metropolis

The Last Generation of De-regulation

Tracers streak into a nighttime sky
Anarchy and Avarice waltz in shadows
Crumpled top hat awash in fetid gutter
Tattered remnants of Red, White and Blue
He built an EMPIRE
He forged a STATE
He did the BUILDING
Now the starving, the pitiable
Do partake of the FEAST
‘Twas FREEDOM that killed
The profligate BEAST

Breathless Ceremony

My love, my love please tell me that it's you
Although you lie dead, I still hear your voice
A crescent moon drips red, your lips so blue
I’d infuse thee with life, if I had choice
We’d danced at nightfall, ‘neath constellations
Made wish on falling star, love beneath moon
I’m now prone to wild…gesticulations
You swore you’d never leave, now gone so soon
A maddened plan have I, debauched, depraved
Cemetery fence, shall not halt my task
With shovel, I advance upon your grave
Under stormy skies, your visage I’ll bask
Thunder makes music…I grasp icy hands
Caress pallid skin…exchange wedding bands

All in a Day's Work

A Nigerian “soldier” rapes a nine year old girl
A Chinese coal burning facility belches toxic smoke
A small boy in India digs through garbage…for his breakfast
A woman in Afghanistan blows herself and 47 other people to smithereens
A fat hedge fund manager sweats profusely looking up at bouncing silicon
A pompous athlete points to sky after hitting a fifty thousand dollar home run
A hurricane blows across a mid-west landscape ripping limbs from trees and people
A Palestinian, ancient and wise, points out to kids where his “country” used to be
A man armed with chainsaw removes one more piece of life sustaining Brazilian rain forest
A toothless 40 year old woman pushes her home, a shopping cart, under a rippling U.S. flag
A man is tortured somewhere in Eastern Europe for being in the wrong place at the wrong time
A Mexican farm laborer stretches his aching back before resuming his “salad making duties”
A Muslim man is beaten senseless by British hooligans for the sole crime of wearing a turban
A “Man of the cloth” coerces a young boy with angelic voice to come later for “private lessons”
A politician somewhere…everywhere, looks about attentively before sticking hand in “cookie jar”
A dog, a cat, a raccoon, a deer is crushed beneath the wheels of what is euphemistically called “progress”
A child is born, a woman dies, a man laughs, a “lost soul” cries, and the cycle is forevermore repeated
And God, watching from the beginning of time and the outer boundaries of amaranthine space
Weeps

Backseat Lullaby

Summer…1950 Chevy Coupe
Kosmo’s drive-in…Here she comes
Satin shorts…Roller skates
“Blue Moon”…on the push button
She licks delicious lips…”Eating or just looking?”
“The menu looks great baby”
She laughs… harps from heaven
“If I was your baby…would you rock me to sleep?”
“Relax honey…I got the pacifier”

No Rewind

Summer stars, loud guitars…fade away
Camaraderie…slowly separates
Sultry winds chafed youngish skins…yesterday
Mine eyes do inform me, ‘tis getting late
We drank nectar of youth…no tomorrows
Climbed mountains of the brain…forever lost
I hear the old tunes… they oft’ bring sorrow
No one tabulated, the future cost
Friday nights were always, something festive
A toke or two of herb…cold keg of beer
The record’s stopped playing…I grow restive
Gray hair and wrinkled skin…make message clear
Youth lost on the young…so the story goes
Songs drift on wind…I still feel summer’s throes

Frontier Fascist

In Maricopa County…they like takin’ things slow
Excludin’ that stalwart lawman…who folks call “Sheriff Joe”
Detained, Investigated…Shackled, Humiliated
Human beings herded like cattle…Old Joe he sure does prattle
If you’re headin’ to ‘Zona…wear BS resistant boots
And when you go, say hey to Joe, and pick your own damn fruit

Cash + Cross

“Twas an unholy alliance requiring compliance
On the part of all concerned.
But matter of factI’m telling you Jack it’s a recipe for getting burned.
A portfolio marriage, they rode off in Gold carriage
For the whole damn world to see. But crap hit the fan
Not jivin’ you man when Capitalism married Christianity.

Fox Tales

Homer swilled a beer and smiled
Man “always” was happy
Agnes… barkeep, drew another draft
She said, “Homer, you always smiling’”
“Simple philosophy, Aggie darling,
Ignorance is bliss. I hear Rush every mornin’
Watch Fox every evenin’, came to a conclusion.”
“Wanta share, Homer?”
“Sure enough Aggie girl - I been ‘Blissed.’”
Simple solution, simple feller.

Wad the God

Politicians…flag pins displayed
Talk values
Teachers…standardized tests dismayed
Talk values
Preachers…glad-handing at door, advocating war
Talk values
Pundits…Cashing in land, a virulent propaganda
Talk values
Values…“interests”…Values...“ideals”
Values are integrity…Or easily repealed
Values in USA…have been summarily shot
Only “value” America has…how much wealth you’ve got

Wad the God

Politicians…flag pins displayed
Talk values
Teachers…standardized tests dismayed
Talk values
Preachers…glad-handing at door, advocating war
Talk values
Pundits…Cashing in land, a virulent propaganda
Talk values
Values…“interests”…Values...“ideals”
Values are integrity…Or easily repealed
Values in USA…have been summarily shot
Only “value” America has…how much wealth you’ve got

Craps

Rested my bones…on duct taped bar stool
Bartender was built like a 57’ Caddy
Shiny chrome on aging eyes
Her voice oozed cotton candy
“Another shot honey?”
“Little girl, I been shot so many times I
look the six side of a dice cube.”
She smiled, and I melted out the backdoor.
Like always.

Endangered Species

LIBERAL!...They shouted
We’ll flay his skin
LIBERAL!...They exalted
The last of his kin
Hung from lamp post
For the obtuse to see
LIBERAL!...was flayed alive
‘Til the blood dripped LIBERALLY
They tugged and pulled on body
And it soon was torn apart
Then they gasped in consternation
The LIBERAL had a HEART

Quartz Movement

Darkness creeps as sunshine sleeps
An owl screeches in the night
Coyotes howl, at the harvest moon

A shark cruising ocean deep
Cat is blinded by headlight
Water placid, no splash of the loon

Near dawn predicts the daily peep
The incandescent amaranthine plight
Denizens of eventide, await celestial swoon

Today…Tonight…Midnight, High Noon

Stir Crazy

He didn’t have both oars in the water
Some say she’s two bricks short of a load
They went and had a beautiful daughter
Who married a guy who looked like a toad
The grandkids are a handful, two mules, a fawn, a dove
Folks just always shake their heads
A “crazy” kind of love