Three From 10 Years Ago

After Las Vegas

comfortable here, at ease somehow
far away from those who won’t
hear what I have to believe
speak what I need to believe
comfortable here, easy to slink in and out of places
unseen, unheard, disavowed
burn the fields that hold the trees
and keep it there, keep it bled and broken down
blues for the holy kid
and flowers torn in pieces in your hair

February 9, 1999


She Hears Their Stories

spread out like crowd noise
they call her to the quiet red room
and on splayed-out couches
she hears their stories
she notes their theories
she listens, nods, and writes it all down
for her own book of mercy
her own company of thieves
for her own cool divinity
her own taste in fallen trees
it’s a good pure way to be

curled up in cottons
they call her in her kitchen floor dreams
and with gifts for the children
she hears their stories
she notes their theories
she shivers, shakes, it’s January now
in her own winter city
her own town of counted sheep
in her own cool vicinity
of rested toes and rousted wolves
it’s a good cold place to be

February 9, 1999


The Gold Theme #2

Jesus doesn’t care about your hairstyle
Jesus moved to Brooklyn in 1997
Jesus doesn’t care about your golden birthday
Jesus is a monkey and he’s going to heaven
you lost your keys...so what?
it rained a little...it rains a lot

Jesus doesn’t care if you’re not hungry
Jesus likes his Thai food mild and weak
Jesus doesn’t care about your picture frames
Jesus is a martyr and he’s saving the meek
your roses wilted...so what?
it’ll rain tomorrow...it’ll rain a lot

February 17, 1999

Three From the Red Notebook

14th Street

If I get it all back
And I'll get at least half
I'll put it away
Until a sunny day
When the cloud cover
Disappears by 11
Like it used to
In my unemployment days

I'd get in the car
And drive to 14th Street
Park in the restricted zone
Listen to an upbeat song
Heaven knows I'm important now
But then I could breathe
Or cry in my sleeve
Which - I've got to admit - was something

January 31, 2009


Louder Roar

It would have been laughable
Trying to recreate
The inner world of 19
Basements, corners, dead spots
There would have been swan songs
Corrections to long gone wrongs
Questions of great length
Tears and rain and snow and ice
And the redheads with their sage advice

All of it comedy
True and fitting
A long great tribute
To a small good time
And my drives up the avenue
To the north, to the single digit streets
Would have had soundtracks of spent time
A scent of lime, discarded papers
It would have been nice
To sleep in peace

But here I am
A louder roar but the same man
I avoid difficult streets
I beg for better songs
I crave the kinder call
I have none of it, I have it all

February 5, 2009


The Competing Narratives #1

And if in this rain
I have no enemies
Just those who come to me
With their narratives in which I fit
Like jigsaw pieces, perfectly
Then I'm a happy man
In this winter rain
In this merry month, 20 years
After the fact
20 years
After it all came true

February 8, 2009