you

you were there when i was born you didn’t even say hello when i went outside you followed when i spoke you were always behind me in broad daylight and when the sun went down into classrooms and churches supermarkets and pizza shops job interviews bars and movie theaters i traveled the earth trying to lose you by plane, by bus by foot on dusty roads by boat, on subways on roller coasters and ferris wheels once, in a canoe which did not overturn you heard my every conversation interrupted my every thought when i “met” someone on line you always showed up “in real life” i don’t know what i was thinking i give up you win here let me buy you a drink

the dead wear white hats on the devil's birthday

don’t talk to me about love and hate i know all about love and hate i used to wait on the corner for the school bus cars went by in the wind and rain there was a police lady who directed traffic she had red hair and a blue uniform with a blue cap and i loved her and there was a newsstand run by an old man and he was ugly and i hated him so don’t tell me i don’t know about love and hate i learned early

street scene

if you see a traveler with a weary load help him before his head explodes he may be one, he may be two but he is more than me or you he mat be three, he may be four he just can’t take it any more the mayor asks him for his papers he runs away making funny faces they are all so many things plunked on a million piano strings they flow through the streets like purple gerbils crawling over bubbling hurdles a prophet stands in the window above murmuring a message of love but nobody pays him any mind as they are all being shoved from behind a bag lady stands on the sacred stones a golden light pours through her bones her words rush out in a steady stream but nobody knows what any of them mean i have a key to lenny’s room if all goes well, i will see you soon we will get to the bottom of this we have one more chance and can not miss

born

from the day you are born they hand down the rules you want to pick flowers they make you go to school you want to run naked but they make you wear clothes you want to make love and they punch you in the nose your dog spot was your friend now he sits home alone they fill your head with numbers until your brain turns to stone from the jail of school to the prison of work the media follows with its menacing murk you want to wade in the water and watch the waves roll but they deep fry your dreams and slowly slice your soul

a cloudy day

have you ever risen from the dead looked around and scratched your head said, this world can not be saved and crawled right back into the grave? have you ever wondered why no meteors flash across the sky to announce your passing by? i know you have - because so have i what would this world be without you? without me? in a very sorry state left to its own fate why do you all hate me? and fail to appreciate me? lies rule the earth and the truth is hid is it something that i did?