Song: Petit Chou

The lantern blew out on a lonely-o

night too long in the Frigidairey-o


Crusty and musty, air so dusty-o,

hope lay cold in the ether-o.


He tried to tell her no. So cool-io,

words blew out in smoke-o.


But what kind of God brings beauty-o

to one so worthless, or so he felt-sio.


The dark grey in the room, all mold-io,

one word wrong brings it all to ruin-o.


Then he sets a river loose, unbending-o,

and wakes up as she listens-so,


"You should have told me, petit chou.

Talk more. Tell more. I'm in love with you."


"A Mi Me Gusta Asi"

Thank you Pete Rodriguez for one of the all-time great songs. Boogaloo, baby, wherever you are!

        And thank you The Blackout Allstars for cooking it up on your stove!



Ah, the moment comes,

we face the lizard bull.

Then, release the cape to see

beyond post office posters


of bad men and presidents.

No, the terrifying fate!

Snorting like an old tractor!

You don't like love at all.


Don't much like me, neither.

But here we are,

both fallen stars,

who just need heat.


We were the wildest manatees

ever to dance in the color of water

that haunts old pirate sea caves.

All bet on one thing we agreed on!


Oh, call and response! Mercy!

We slouched our way through,

all the time singing like toreadors

Pete's "A mi me gusta asi!"



Busker

Just a jet riding down to the runway,

growling sound, all around, our future.


Today's the day to wake up brave,

as they punish us one day at a time.


What he did was sing out loud

about the women he wanted to fuck,


with the blunt force of a condom falling

from the guy's wallet as he pays for dinner—


police chief's wife, banker's daughter,

his high school principal one more time.


And he ordered us around sometimes

like he was building the worst army ever,


singing out the truth loud as a mad chef

yelling at the kitchen for more flavor!—


"We turned the sun into a warning,

so each dawn arrives as threat.


"Wake up. Respond. Wake up. Respond.

What are you going to do? S-s-s-stop?"


Invisible us, we pray: love come ocean wave!

We are broken toys. Only a song can fix us!


He showed up as if we dreamt him real.

On his own magnet, guitar of honey dust,


with a saucer full of Martian fun. The yes.

Corpuscle choir practice. Neuron garage band.


They say the winds took him away

one day, like a mighty sailing ship.


It rains harder than before. Less stars.

Sun like an ice pick. As gravity grows.



Abbé Faria

first find a digging tool

strong enough for stone

and rough cement


start


Ceci N'est Pas La Sorcellerie

Sometimes, I stall out.


Try to take one step.


And I know it's not for me.


Choice that doesn't really exist.


You're left with, (1) how much do you believe?


(2) How afraid are you to believe?


(3) What if the door only opens with belief?


I love the soil beneath my feet, the floor.


Won't leave it.


Hard to believe anything in the absence of people.


But it's time.


The way an orchid can look like a woman's gloved hand just off the next balcony at the opera.


Or, the engine ran like it was sucking mud, so Louie threw a wrench and broke the dyno room window—the falling glass sounded like sleighbells.


Dana kissed me in full sucker punch as I opened the door to the Chinese restaurant, and it was the first time I thought I might make it through this world.


As if a man can cry out in delirium that he wants his life back, and no one knows what he's talking about.


Men treated nature as if it had a woman's voice.


he fell in love

it had ceased to be a mountain


pressure in his legs from god


life in all its cuts and bruises


hard breathing just our way


then he walked off clean and free


air of strawberries, cream, mint


invisble as everything else until


he wished himself back into being


out there, in nowhere, 1 mile off


distant ground, color of grocery bags


so afraid happiness wakes us up


Moment

I am the floating jukebox:

As if it can't exist
beyond words?

Hell, we drown in moments
every moment!

The Now is a 100-story building*
where a single elevator arrives
at each floor the same time!

100 songs sung this instant!

Press a button, and I'll play you one.

Or hear them all now,
and get speechless, man!

*1.  sign says art, like shakespeare
2.   art is pretentious
3.   I wouldn't like anybody in there
4.   green line on the sign, not lime, funky avocado?
5.   car sounds are a blanket
6.   corniest college students, midwest, not like the old days
7.   I want to eat something
8.   thank you god for that blue sky
9.   like a big piece of paper
10. like when I tried to learn to play guitar
11. there was no art. just play the book
12. the way my Mom painted her furniture
13. I don't smell any food
14. I worship a blue sky
15. I'm not at home
16. I'm not watching TV
17. lunch will be cool
18. just me, a beer and something somewhere here
19. I'll think fun thoughts
20. no one would publish me
21. as if it's just another gag; I hope not
22. black jeans are badass
23. mocassin deck shoes, no socks, cool, baby
24. tacos?
25. I can get tacos anywhere
26. a perfect 75 degrees
27. breeze against my face, you need it at 75 degrees
28. I'm thankful
29. no one I know here. surprised
30.  i feel like i've time travelled
31.  how it can look like a hometown but you don't see anybody you know
32.  i'm glad i never had to be alone
33.  is my hair OK
34.  the light so bright sometimes I should have worn goggles
35.  all that heaven and hell bullshit infrastructure that got toppled years ago, but it takes an eternity to hit the ground and turn to dust
36.  falling on me all the time
37.  I'm a good person
38.  but I sure don't know what happens after we're dead
39.  maybe return to some sort of eternal energy
40.  like a toulouse-lautrec is going to walk out of that art store
41.  i'm doing good in life
42.  i love beer
43.  was i the reason my family all broke up
44.  i forgot i had cancer
45.  always some squeaky voiced reminder. no pain or discomfort yet, except from treatments
46.  i wonder what the 1950s were like here
47.  i bet just like andy griffith
48.  but I'd never want to live there
49.  love no fast food joints downtown
50.  I'm a castle
51.  the sun is my father
52.  i feel like I'm back East
53.  professors, insurance salesmen, ladies who lunch, secretaries
54.  feel like a ghost, invisible, floating unseen, and god, I love it
55.  i've been here several times before, and it's always this way
56. O'Hara's is now a bros bar, but I wish it could be my home
57. shamrock's make me feel like angels are beckoning
58. maybe a salad, with heirloom tomatoes
59. the sky has no personality, and I like that
60. all the black cars. why?
61. living the postcard
62. scared a lot as a kid about a lot of things. glad I'm not scared any more
63. those library doors were classic! automatic. made a racket as they opened and closed.
64. the old bank is now a Starbucks. what's happening to this world?
65. hairdressing school cracks me up
66. that old fountain and the traffic circle, something we normally tear down
67. love button-down collars now, but i didn't always
68.  my family's in good shape. this is their big gift to me....no worries
69.  peace and sunlight and money for lunch and beer, so great
70.  i'm so glad i have no religion
71. sometimes i want danger and sometimes i sure don't
72. hard to write anything when you're happy
73. the palette is so corny. everything done on computers. like building pyramids
74. no reason to think about dinner
75. myself as a ghost of a kid all over these streets, as if i could almost see myself, almost as if
       i always knew i'd have this day.
76. we don't accomplish much, but better food and drink is OK with me
77. i miss the road, but not that much
78. these trees once saw dinosaurs and caballeros
79. planning on a three beer buzz
80. everything is so much slower than me, but i like that
81. glad i'm not a drunk
82. if i bought the record store and the comic book store, people wouldn't see me for years
83. i even know two city councilmen
84. you'll never see a taxi in this town
85. loved my grandmother's gingerbread. it was so big, my parents would let me eat as much
      as i wanted, the only food where that was allowed, and it filled me up and saved my life
      many times
86. miss her
87. i'm a lucky man
88. despite the cancer
89. i could say goodbye to it all right now, and take it with me
90. two gelato places. which? which, godammit?!
91. a free man
92. people don't know how to drive
93. poor kids don't know how to hot rod a car any more
94. i'd like to be looking out of that second floor window
95. never thought this would be me one day
96. safe
97. god i love craft beer
98. i'll be gone but someone will be walking down this street just like this
99. things start getting stupid and dull just two or three blocks away
100. watch out for the gum