Screw them all,
I will make my own rhythm
and dance when my feet tap
without being told.
Who are they anyway,
nobody’s somebodies,
certified, sanctioned,
next wave of authorities,
packaged, presented,
thrust on us, sold.
Tag Archives: lyrical
What if I Should Fail and Fall?
When young they took my youth away
chaotic nights, uncertain days
I used my eyes, saw through it all,
but what if I should fail and fall?
Exposed, abused, then sent to hell
“for my own good, to make me well”
I set my face and fooled them all,
but what if I should fail and fall?
I grew, and strong, I took the reigns
got good at playing money games
I learned the rules then broke them all,
but what if I should fail and fall?
Five times alone did I do right
So here’s what keeps me up at night
my family counts on me for all
but what if I should fail and fall?
Kicking it Olde School
Fair Death come claim your feeble prize
no longer fit to haunt the earth
I’ll not resist, nor shall I tarry
’tis been my aim since ‘fore my birth
Squirrel
He stops mid-trunk with much to say
in taunting reach of dogs below,
perhaps disgruntled by their play
amused at how they move so slow.
English
These are your words, my words
I took them every one
To heart, to task, to my own purpose
In earnest and in fun
I’ve spoken vows and made confession
I’ve teased my newborn sons
My daughters sing an island song
Their grand-folks never sung
When Alfred set the Danelaw
Or came William from the east
When the plague killed foreign clerics
and promoted peasant speech
Could anyone imagine
Or would anyone have dreamt
This rock-born bloody bastard
Would around the world be sent
I know some French and Spanish
A little Hebrew, and some Greek
I read old verse in Latin
But it’s English that I speak.
The Shaker of Trees
(for Mark T)
The cool forest is my cathedral.
Autumn leaves fall,
abandoning bough and branch
they stain the glassy pond below
each a sermon, a story of bud and bloom,
of green springs and the rich colors of decay.
Birds bear witness to the falling,
harmonies and hymnals, sung in a round,
an ambient concert, a day song,
testimony to breezes and the unseen hand,
the shaker of trees.
passing time till time passes away
a mindless smile returned to expectations
a standard suit in which to face the day
studied steps require no rehearsal
passing time till time passes away
passing time till time passes away
no cause, no valued prizes to obtain
a pantry full, a trophy on the mantel
to wake again means only to maintain
to wake again means only to maintain
get up, get dressed, get going on your way
no sooner done, no sooner comes the morrow
passing time till time passes away
passing time till time passes away
an hour, a year, a lifetime capped with grey
a bent back and a belly for a burden
weightlessness itself begins to weigh
Baptism
This air is the water of our baptism,
immersed at birth and destined to passion
what need have we for ceremony,
what ritual could be more profound?
Another Time
(Tweeted 2.24.2014)
Time’s relevance, finite:
no river,
but chain;
Eventful reactions,
each ending
the same.
Unresolved
(Tweeted 2.20.2014)
God-fucked and flung to ground,
Groping without grasp;
Clinging to the specter
of divine deliverance.