Purple mountain
Open door
{Under
(You pick weeds
I smoke)
Window}
Dull gray sky turns
Red and orange.
4.30.2010
4.29.2010
Holed Up
The wind wouldn’t let up.
The rain turned into snow.
All day we waited,
in a cabin,
Next to the Wisconsin river.
I offered her an apple
She said, I want a hamburger.
The rain turned into snow.
All day we waited,
in a cabin,
Next to the Wisconsin river.
I offered her an apple
She said, I want a hamburger.
4.28.2010
Last Call
It was almost last call in the Dilly Dally and I was down to three dollars.
It was time to go home but I didn’t want to face that prospect.
I knew the end result too well.
I left the three bucks on the bar and walked slowly across the parking lot and stopped under a street lamp and lit my last cigarette.
I stood there awhile watching the night sky not move or change or give me the slightest bit of hope.
The moon was hanging below the stars and it was the kind of moon that keeps crazy people up all night.
I watched people walk out of the bar and get in their cars.
I wished I could have had one more beer.
The beer would not have made much difference but it would have been nice, to still be sitting in the bar flirting with the bartender while she washed the glasses.
I walked home and looked under the couch for change.
It was time to go home but I didn’t want to face that prospect.
I knew the end result too well.
I left the three bucks on the bar and walked slowly across the parking lot and stopped under a street lamp and lit my last cigarette.
I stood there awhile watching the night sky not move or change or give me the slightest bit of hope.
The moon was hanging below the stars and it was the kind of moon that keeps crazy people up all night.
I watched people walk out of the bar and get in their cars.
I wished I could have had one more beer.
The beer would not have made much difference but it would have been nice, to still be sitting in the bar flirting with the bartender while she washed the glasses.
I walked home and looked under the couch for change.
4.27.2010
Blah Blah Blah
I was bombed
Sitting on a stool
Wearing headphones
Greg said
Mute it
I felt it before he did
I was bombed
But I know
Rock and roll
More than that
Good songs tell you
Ask Miles
Or Mozart
For that matter
It took all night
It always does
Drinkin’ and druggin’
Slows things down
And L.A. in 1980
I can’t even tell you
How much
Fun I was having
I am remembered
For a few things
My solo on
Hotel California
Life's Been Good
Rocky Mountain Way
The James Gang
I’ve made my mark
I guess
But that night
Recording a song
Warren wrote
With Springsteen
That’s the one I remember
The night we cut
Jeannie Needs A Shooter
4.26.2010
Machine Head
Sky
Song dog
Sings
Smoke on the water
Ten inches of snow
On the ground
Cold
North
Wind
Blows hard
Into my ear
Out the other
Through the trees
Across a creek
Over a hill
Swirls
Outside
Germantown
My truck won't start and I'm too drunk to drive
4.25.2010
Fields Of Desire And Madness
She bought me
A much needed drink
And said, you’re coming with me.
Where we going? I asked.
Does it matter?
No it don’t, I said.
My squad was kidnapping a terrorist in a little village beside a river in Afghanistan.
The government doesn’t like to use the word kidnap
And we weren’t sure he was a terrorist.
I put three in the chest of his bodyguard,
While we
Were falling back.
I realized
I liked jazz
While I took a piss
In the parking lot of an church
On Fourteenth Street and Washington
At two AM.
I heard a horn
And thought
That ain’t bad
But things couldn’t be much worse.
A train rolled by
Not too far away
The horn
Kept blowing.
I was looking for Dove,
She wasn't around,
A cop followed me to Thirty-Second Street.
I turned left,
He didn't.
I didn’t tell you where we were going because I didn’t want you to think less of me, she said, as we laid on her bed sharing our last cigarette.
It makes me like you better if anything, I said and dropped the butt in an empty bottle of cheap Vodka.
She pulled into a trailer park, come on, she said.
A tall skinny mean looking dude led us into his bedroom and we sat on his unmade bed while he made up a fifty - dollar bag.
Brown and I were
Smoking hash in a cave,
Watching rain
Find its way to a river,
Brown was looking at a picture
He took
Of a dead horse lying in a puddle of bloody water.
He said something to her,
I don’t remember what,
But it wasn’t nice
And that was my excuse
To hit him,
On the head,
With a rock
I picked up
In the
Parking lot.
If I knew you were going to do that I would have had you wait in the car, she said and laughed.
At sunset an old man stood beside a dilapidated shelter
With a silly grin on his face.
Would you look at this idiot, Brown said and handed me the picture.
I’ve already seen it.
We need smokes, I said and walked to a Circle K and bought us each a pack of cigarettes with the money I took out of the dealers wallet.
I gave her the smokes and the dope I took out of the dealer's closet and told her I had to be going.
I’ll drive you, she said.
I don’t mind walking, I said.
It’s raining.
It will do me some good.
I walked to a cheap motel and watched the final round of the British Open.
What is he grinning at? Brown asked.
You, you’re taking his picture.
Yeah but his horse is dead. What's funny about that?
A much needed drink
And said, you’re coming with me.
Where we going? I asked.
Does it matter?
No it don’t, I said.
My squad was kidnapping a terrorist in a little village beside a river in Afghanistan.
The government doesn’t like to use the word kidnap
And we weren’t sure he was a terrorist.
I put three in the chest of his bodyguard,
While we
Were falling back.
I realized
I liked jazz
While I took a piss
In the parking lot of an church
On Fourteenth Street and Washington
At two AM.
I heard a horn
And thought
That ain’t bad
But things couldn’t be much worse.
A train rolled by
Not too far away
The horn
Kept blowing.
I was looking for Dove,
She wasn't around,
A cop followed me to Thirty-Second Street.
I turned left,
He didn't.
I didn’t tell you where we were going because I didn’t want you to think less of me, she said, as we laid on her bed sharing our last cigarette.
It makes me like you better if anything, I said and dropped the butt in an empty bottle of cheap Vodka.
She pulled into a trailer park, come on, she said.
A tall skinny mean looking dude led us into his bedroom and we sat on his unmade bed while he made up a fifty - dollar bag.
Brown and I were
Smoking hash in a cave,
Watching rain
Find its way to a river,
Brown was looking at a picture
He took
Of a dead horse lying in a puddle of bloody water.
He said something to her,
I don’t remember what,
But it wasn’t nice
And that was my excuse
To hit him,
On the head,
With a rock
I picked up
In the
Parking lot.
If I knew you were going to do that I would have had you wait in the car, she said and laughed.
At sunset an old man stood beside a dilapidated shelter
With a silly grin on his face.
Would you look at this idiot, Brown said and handed me the picture.
I’ve already seen it.
We need smokes, I said and walked to a Circle K and bought us each a pack of cigarettes with the money I took out of the dealers wallet.
I gave her the smokes and the dope I took out of the dealer's closet and told her I had to be going.
I’ll drive you, she said.
I don’t mind walking, I said.
It’s raining.
It will do me some good.
I walked to a cheap motel and watched the final round of the British Open.
What is he grinning at? Brown asked.
You, you’re taking his picture.
Yeah but his horse is dead. What's funny about that?
4.24.2010
Looking For Lewis And Clark
If I were a river
And I wrote a book
The stories I could tell
Would be worth a look;
Trees and houses,
Cornfields and strip mines,
I roll by and
Sometimes the sun shines.
And I wrote a book
The stories I could tell
Would be worth a look;
Trees and houses,
Cornfields and strip mines,
I roll by and
Sometimes the sun shines.
4.23.2010
4.22.2010
Summary
Virginia Woolf
filled her pockets with rocks
and walked into the ocean.
To the Lighthouse
was a strange book.
A kid waited ten years
to get to the lighthouse.
There was always bad weather
to contend with.
And when he finally went
he didn’t want to go.
His father made him.
His beautiful crazy mother was dead.
It was the right thing to do.
The book needed an ending.
Virginia Woolf
filled her pockets with rocks
and walked into the ocean.
filled her pockets with rocks
and walked into the ocean.
To the Lighthouse
was a strange book.
A kid waited ten years
to get to the lighthouse.
There was always bad weather
to contend with.
And when he finally went
he didn’t want to go.
His father made him.
His beautiful crazy mother was dead.
It was the right thing to do.
The book needed an ending.
Virginia Woolf
filled her pockets with rocks
and walked into the ocean.
4.20.2010
Frisco And A Few Places Inbetween
My mother, my dog Jenny and I drove from my mother’s house on the Navajo reservation to San Francisco to visit my sister who was living with my aunt Sally. We stopped in Las Vegas and I won about fifty dollars playing video poker because I was scared to hit the black jack table and we took Jenny for a walk around the Hoover Dam parking lot and we stayed in a pretty scary motel in Bakersfield. I remember the traffic picking up about fifty miles outside of Frisco and the one - way streets and double - parking on hills and the city was dirty and windy and almost but not quite cold. We went to Alcatraz on a boat and my sister worked on pier thirty - nine in a little shop that sold over priced junk and I bought some bunk hash from a bum on the pier. My aunt threw a party one of the nights we were there and there was dope but not enough and one of the girls attending said she slept with Richard Brautigan and I don't know if she was bragging or making a point or stating a fact and as a matter of fact I saw a movie about fishing in Key West that he and Jim Harrison and Thomas McGuane had bit parts in and according to what I saw if I was a girl I wouldn’t sleep with any of them even for money and the wind blew hard enough they had to close the Golden Gate bridge and my mother, my cousin and I had to get into the city to meet my aunt and some of her friends for a birthday party for her boyfriend and we had to drive through Berkley and it took forever. We ended up in a fancy joint and had a real nice dinner and one of my aunt’s friends said that an hour lunch break was not enough to satisfy her Pac Man fix. The next day I went to a MC Escher exhibit and my sister and a distant relative and I took the Bart under the bay to Oakland for a Grateful Dead show and we had to leave early to catch the Bart back and we stayed in my mother’s gay cousin’s boyfriend’s apartment and the next day or a couple days before we drove up to the top of a mountain and walked through the Presidio and went to Stinsin Beach and took Jenny for a walk beside the water. On Christmas morning my aunt's boyfriend gave me a bike racing hat that I thought was pretty cool but I had no where to wear it because I think bikes are for children and teenagers that don't have driver's licenses and on the way back to Arizona my mother dropped me off at my father’s condo in Telluride and my dad said where did you get this hat and I said Sally's boyfriend and my dad asked if he was a fag and and I said no he's cool and after spending a couple months with my father and his crazy wife I ran out of money and could not find a job and drinking in the Fly Me To The Moon Saloon wasn't free so I joined the Army and twenty years later I picked up a girl in my cab and asked her where she was from and she said the Bay area and I took her to a hotel in Chandler and we sat at the pool and talked for a couple hours. She told me I couldn’t come up to her room but she gave me her phone number and told me I should visit and I showed up about three weeks later with a six pack of Heineken and slept on her couch and the next day we went to San Jose and went from mall to mall returning stuff she bought but didn’t want and went out to dinner in a sports bar. I had fish and chips and a couple beers and she had two pieces of pizza and four glasses of wine and I thought she was going to get a DUI on the way back to her place or crash the car. I thought that’s just my luck cause I figured she would let me sleep in her bed that night anyway she got us home and we slept together and I remember her walking around the next morning in her panties and a T shirt and smoking cigarettes in the backyard and it was always windy. My aunt invited us over for super and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to come with me but I think she was scared if she didn’t I wouldn’t come back and she was probably right. We were early so we killed time in a tavern in the woods and a bar on the bay and my uncle cooked us a vegetarian dinner and I talked to him about the Giants and he told me that there is no way the American people will re – elect George Bush and I left the next day and haven’t been back. A couple years later the girl called (I don’t remember her name) maybe Maria and she told me she was driving to Texas and that she would like to stop in Phoenix to see me. I told her I was married but I wasn’t but I am now to a girl who grew up in Frisco a small town in the Rocky Mountains and she loves San Francisco and she would like me to take her there but I would rather go to Milwaukee .
4.19.2010
National Training Center - Fort Irwin, California
I asked Jackson for a smoke
He threw me a Newport
And looked at his compass.
We were eating C rats
At high noon
In the desert
Next to a broken half track.
"I hate this shit." Washington said.
“What do you think happened to the half track?”
“It’s probably out of gas.”
“Who cares, it’s shade.”
“Maybe it’s a trap.”
“All of it. The motherfuckin’ desert,” Washington said.
Murphy smiled.
“Yeah it sucks. But it has its moments. Check out that cool cloud. It looks like a pussy.”
“You’re psycho, you enjoy this shit.”
“Sometimes.”
“You’re going to get someone killed.”
“He probably already has.”
“Well if it’s between you and me,” Washington said.
Murphy laughed.
“Hey boys you’re on the same side,” Sergeant Dewberry said, “Try and act like it.”
“For now Sarge,” Murphy said.
“You got that right,” Washington grinned.
Murphy pointed his M-16 at Washington’s chest and pulled the trigger.
“You’re fake dead, you fucking chickenshit,” Murphy said. “Any one got a light?”
“Goddamn Murphy,” Sergeant Dewberry said.
“It’s just a blank.”
I tossed him my Zippo.
"Thanks man."
"We have to move, we're sitting ducks here." Sergeant Dewberry said.
"So what. This ain't real and it's fucking hot."
"It's real enough." Murphy said.
He threw me a Newport
And looked at his compass.
We were eating C rats
At high noon
In the desert
Next to a broken half track.
"I hate this shit." Washington said.
“What do you think happened to the half track?”
“It’s probably out of gas.”
“Who cares, it’s shade.”
“Maybe it’s a trap.”
“All of it. The motherfuckin’ desert,” Washington said.
Murphy smiled.
“Yeah it sucks. But it has its moments. Check out that cool cloud. It looks like a pussy.”
“You’re psycho, you enjoy this shit.”
“Sometimes.”
“You’re going to get someone killed.”
“He probably already has.”
“Well if it’s between you and me,” Washington said.
Murphy laughed.
“Hey boys you’re on the same side,” Sergeant Dewberry said, “Try and act like it.”
“For now Sarge,” Murphy said.
“You got that right,” Washington grinned.
Murphy pointed his M-16 at Washington’s chest and pulled the trigger.
“You’re fake dead, you fucking chickenshit,” Murphy said. “Any one got a light?”
“Goddamn Murphy,” Sergeant Dewberry said.
“It’s just a blank.”
I tossed him my Zippo.
"Thanks man."
"We have to move, we're sitting ducks here." Sergeant Dewberry said.
"So what. This ain't real and it's fucking hot."
"It's real enough." Murphy said.
4.18.2010
A Long Way From Penny
My daughter and I were staying in a motel between Gallup and Albuquerque on our way from Phoenix to Milwaukee. We got a late start and were in no hurry. We walked to a diner for dinner. Cate didn’t eat, she said I’m not hungry. I had meatloaf, potatoes, corn, and a piece of pie. You should have eaten, I said, that was pretty good. You shouldn’t smoke daddy, Cate said.
I know that, but it’s none of your business.
Yes it is. I want a candy bar.
We don't have anymore, I said and flicked my butt into the street.
You shouldn’t litter.
You have me there.
I found a baseball game on TV and we laid on the bed and watched . I hate baseball, Cate said. I want a snack. I gave her a bag of potato chips.
Let’s call your mom and tell her how much fun we're having.
I’m not having fun daddy.
My wife asked if Cate had a good dinner. She had a hot dog and a piece of apple pie, I told her.
Daddy you shouldn’t lie to mommy.
What did Cate just say?
Nothing, I’ll call you in the morning.
Tell Cate I love her.
Will do, I said and disconnected. Would you quit busting my balls? I asked.
What does that mean dad?
It means you’re a pain in the ass, now go to bed.
It's still light outside, Cate said.
I looked out the window at the sun falling slowly and my car in the parking lot reminding me of how far we have to go. I miss Penny, I thought, while Cate dumped half a bag of potato chips on the bed and laughed.
Look at me daddy. I'm funny!
I know that, but it’s none of your business.
Yes it is. I want a candy bar.
We don't have anymore, I said and flicked my butt into the street.
You shouldn’t litter.
You have me there.
I found a baseball game on TV and we laid on the bed and watched . I hate baseball, Cate said. I want a snack. I gave her a bag of potato chips.
Let’s call your mom and tell her how much fun we're having.
I’m not having fun daddy.
My wife asked if Cate had a good dinner. She had a hot dog and a piece of apple pie, I told her.
Daddy you shouldn’t lie to mommy.
What did Cate just say?
Nothing, I’ll call you in the morning.
Tell Cate I love her.
Will do, I said and disconnected. Would you quit busting my balls? I asked.
What does that mean dad?
It means you’re a pain in the ass, now go to bed.
It's still light outside, Cate said.
I looked out the window at the sun falling slowly and my car in the parking lot reminding me of how far we have to go. I miss Penny, I thought, while Cate dumped half a bag of potato chips on the bed and laughed.
Look at me daddy. I'm funny!
4.17.2010
If I Could I Would
If I could turn a Pine tree into a rocket blasting off from Cape Canaveral,
I would turn this theater curtain into an ocean and chase you to Barcelona.
If I could turn a streetlamp into the north star
A poodle into a sports car
My girlfriend into a post card
I could turn this pile of rocks into a piece of paper and build a castle in Kyoto
And write a song on my piano.
If I could turn yesterday into tomorrow
A can of corn into an empty whiskey bottle
A genie would pop out
And I could quit driving this cab down the dingy streets of this Godforsaken great big small town.
I would turn this theater curtain into an ocean and chase you to Barcelona.
If I could turn a streetlamp into the north star
A poodle into a sports car
My girlfriend into a post card
I could turn this pile of rocks into a piece of paper and build a castle in Kyoto
And write a song on my piano.
If I could turn yesterday into tomorrow
A can of corn into an empty whiskey bottle
A genie would pop out
And I could quit driving this cab down the dingy streets of this Godforsaken great big small town.
4.16.2010
Metaphor
It’s like Kevin Costner said
In the guise of Crash something or another
One hit a week
Is the difference between an all star
And an also ran
Or someone who never even gets a chance
That is true in life
As well
If you do not believe me
Or Costner
Or Crash something or another
Start getting one more hit a week
And tell me that
Your house doesn’t get bigger
Your girlfriend prettier
And if some of those extra hits
Fly over the wall
You might be able to afford a winter home in Arizona
Or a fishing cabin on the Upper Peninsula
And a fifty thousand dollar a year budget for whores
Some years later
In another life
Costner pitched a perfect game
For the Tigers
It brought tears to my eyes
In the guise of Crash something or another
One hit a week
Is the difference between an all star
And an also ran
Or someone who never even gets a chance
That is true in life
As well
If you do not believe me
Or Costner
Or Crash something or another
Start getting one more hit a week
And tell me that
Your house doesn’t get bigger
Your girlfriend prettier
And if some of those extra hits
Fly over the wall
You might be able to afford a winter home in Arizona
Or a fishing cabin on the Upper Peninsula
And a fifty thousand dollar a year budget for whores
Some years later
In another life
Costner pitched a perfect game
For the Tigers
It brought tears to my eyes
4.15.2010
Some Thing To Depend On
i got married
two weeks after i graduated
from high school
my girlfriend got pregnant
an abortion was out of the question
we weren’t built like that
maggie was seventeen
cute as hell
a good sport
i thought
she got heavy
complained about everything
a couple years later
we had another kid
things got worse
i got laid off
of one shitty job
got fired or quit a bunch more
maggie worked too
when she could
the kids became unruly and stupid
who can blame them
they were being raised by fools
angry ones who didn’t get along
every night was the
same old same old
tv beer and dope
then i realized
that i hated them all
they hated me too
so i started following girls home
from the grocery store
sometimes i would wait in the parking lot
for hours
i would watch them get out of their cars
and unlock their front doors
sometimes i would just follow them in
and if that didn't work
i learned how to pick locks
i could stand for hours like a ghost
just watching
them do what ever they did
i never moved and
acquired a discipline
i never had before
something to depend on
in this wicked world
like god
two weeks after i graduated
from high school
my girlfriend got pregnant
an abortion was out of the question
we weren’t built like that
maggie was seventeen
cute as hell
a good sport
i thought
she got heavy
complained about everything
a couple years later
we had another kid
things got worse
i got laid off
of one shitty job
got fired or quit a bunch more
maggie worked too
when she could
the kids became unruly and stupid
who can blame them
they were being raised by fools
angry ones who didn’t get along
every night was the
same old same old
tv beer and dope
then i realized
that i hated them all
they hated me too
so i started following girls home
from the grocery store
sometimes i would wait in the parking lot
for hours
i would watch them get out of their cars
and unlock their front doors
sometimes i would just follow them in
and if that didn't work
i learned how to pick locks
i could stand for hours like a ghost
just watching
them do what ever they did
i never moved and
acquired a discipline
i never had before
something to depend on
in this wicked world
like god
4.14.2010
Billy, Kurt, My Brother And Me
The trees are dancing and the grass is soaking wet.
The rain stops but the wind is blowing hard, making it hard to light a cigarette.
My brother gets his lit.
I light mine off of his.
Kurt says maybe we should quit.
Billy hits a pretty shot twenty five yards short of the fifth.
I long for the jacket I took out of my bag a couple days ago for no reason.
My brother opens a beer.
Billy throws his eight iron into a tree.
I slice a ball around a tree under the wind onto the green.
My brother says maybe Kurt is right.
Billy says, I hit that pretty good.
Not good enough, my brother says.
Billy picks up his club, re-hits the shot, and hooks it into a creek.
Billy throws his club again.
My brother hits his fourth over the green.
Billy gets up and down for par.
I line up my putt.
Kurt looks for his ball in the weeds.
Did anyone see it? Kurt asks.
It's too cold to be looking for lost balls, I think, putt, miss, tap it in.
I didn't, my brother says.
Billy and I help Kurt look for his ball.
My brother picks up his and says, I've had enough of this hole.
The rain stops but the wind is blowing hard, making it hard to light a cigarette.
My brother gets his lit.
I light mine off of his.
Kurt says maybe we should quit.
Billy hits a pretty shot twenty five yards short of the fifth.
I long for the jacket I took out of my bag a couple days ago for no reason.
My brother opens a beer.
Billy throws his eight iron into a tree.
I slice a ball around a tree under the wind onto the green.
My brother says maybe Kurt is right.
Billy says, I hit that pretty good.
Not good enough, my brother says.
Billy picks up his club, re-hits the shot, and hooks it into a creek.
Billy throws his club again.
My brother hits his fourth over the green.
Billy gets up and down for par.
I line up my putt.
Kurt looks for his ball in the weeds.
Did anyone see it? Kurt asks.
It's too cold to be looking for lost balls, I think, putt, miss, tap it in.
I didn't, my brother says.
Billy and I help Kurt look for his ball.
My brother picks up his and says, I've had enough of this hole.
4.13.2010
I Met Linda In A Bar
I met Linda in a bar. Ackerman brought her. She was a friend of his girlfriend. They sat at the table Steve and I were using to get so drunk we might forget where we are. It wasn’t working. Linda asked me a bunch of questions I don’t remember anymore or probably did five minutes later. I had good answers though. We ended up at Sergeant Ready’s house and smoked some pretty good dope. Linda didn’t smoke. Why not, I asked. It’s illegal. You can get in trouble. So what? What are they going to do, kick me out of the Army? For a start, she said. If you keep smoking that stuff you won’t amount to anything. She added.
4.12.2010
Juarez II
I was sitting on a piss, dirt, sweat and puke stained couch drinking a beer and talking to a girl.
We didn’t understand a word the other said.
The rest of the group I was with was at the bar arguing about the price of prostitution.
I thought the rates were fair but didn’t want to fuck a girl I couldn’t thank or say I’m sorry to.
I finished my beer and decided to make my way back to the border and catch a shuttle to the barracks in time for the Georgetown St. John's game.
A couple of the guys came with me, and as we were crossing the bridge a guy walked up to us and pointed at a girl.
“My sister will do anything you want for forty - eight hours if you sign her in as your guest,” he said.
“I have a lot of work to do,” I replied, and kept walking into a dive and ordered a taco.
Flies were buzzing around the table. The taco was spectacular. Georgetown beat St. John's.
After the game I walked into the desert and smoked a joint, looked at the Big Dipper and wondered what I could do differently with my life.
Just about everything and then some, I concluded, as clouds crossed the invisible line, I threw a rock at the moon.
We didn’t understand a word the other said.
The rest of the group I was with was at the bar arguing about the price of prostitution.
I thought the rates were fair but didn’t want to fuck a girl I couldn’t thank or say I’m sorry to.
I finished my beer and decided to make my way back to the border and catch a shuttle to the barracks in time for the Georgetown St. John's game.
A couple of the guys came with me, and as we were crossing the bridge a guy walked up to us and pointed at a girl.
“My sister will do anything you want for forty - eight hours if you sign her in as your guest,” he said.
“I have a lot of work to do,” I replied, and kept walking into a dive and ordered a taco.
Flies were buzzing around the table. The taco was spectacular. Georgetown beat St. John's.
After the game I walked into the desert and smoked a joint, looked at the Big Dipper and wondered what I could do differently with my life.
Just about everything and then some, I concluded, as clouds crossed the invisible line, I threw a rock at the moon.
4.11.2010
Down The Fairway With Brown Deer Pt. I (Cave Creek Golf Course 1993)
A couple months after the Shark
Won his second British Open
The sun slipped behind a huge gray cloud
And I hit a golf ball forty yards left of the first green
Brown Deer hit his two feet from the stick
I’m going to kick your ass Brown Deer said
I chipped my ball on the green
Three putted
Brown Deer missed his
I haven’t made a putt in three weeks Brown Deer said
We walked to the next tee
Hit our shots
Walked into the cold
Bitter wind
To our balls
Hit them
Walked
Hit them again
The rain started fast and picked up
Did my ball go backwards Brown Deer asked
I think it did
How can a ball do that Brown Deer said
Won his second British Open
The sun slipped behind a huge gray cloud
And I hit a golf ball forty yards left of the first green
Brown Deer hit his two feet from the stick
I’m going to kick your ass Brown Deer said
I chipped my ball on the green
Three putted
Brown Deer missed his
I haven’t made a putt in three weeks Brown Deer said
We walked to the next tee
Hit our shots
Walked into the cold
Bitter wind
To our balls
Hit them
Walked
Hit them again
The rain started fast and picked up
Did my ball go backwards Brown Deer asked
I think it did
How can a ball do that Brown Deer said
4.10.2010
Like Trees To Twist Across Boundless Hills
She was a smart
good looking dog
The great thing
about my dad
is all he ever needed
was a pencil
Houses on hills
beside trees
in the town of Erin
you built Sconfinato
with your cousin
She would watch you
watching her
until you looked away
for a second
she was patient
and then she would run
all the way to a swamp
beside the highway
with Finn
He’s a simple man
with a huge
imagination
At my grandmother's house
his father built
in Brookfield
on a Sunday afternoon watching the
Green Bay Packers
A modern building
blending into the rocks
and the sky
I’m going to miss that dog
he said when she died
good looking dog
The great thing
about my dad
is all he ever needed
was a pencil
Houses on hills
beside trees
in the town of Erin
you built Sconfinato
with your cousin
She would watch you
watching her
until you looked away
for a second
she was patient
and then she would run
all the way to a swamp
beside the highway
with Finn
He’s a simple man
with a huge
imagination
At my grandmother's house
his father built
in Brookfield
on a Sunday afternoon watching the
Green Bay Packers
A modern building
blending into the rocks
and the sky
I’m going to miss that dog
he said when she died
4.09.2010
River
it’s a short walk
to the river
from my porch
the water
is ice cold
rolling down
the mountain
going
who knows
where
I have
never been away
from here
wouldn't know where
to go
if I dared
I spend hours
sitting
on a log
with a
twig in
my mouth
watching
the river
I
imagine
it goes
a long way
to someplace
nice and warm
even when
the wind blows
like a bad sax solo
way up here
to the river
from my porch
the water
is ice cold
rolling down
the mountain
going
who knows
where
I have
never been away
from here
wouldn't know where
to go
if I dared
I spend hours
sitting
on a log
with a
twig in
my mouth
watching
the river
I
imagine
it goes
a long way
to someplace
nice and warm
even when
the wind blows
like a bad sax solo
way up here
4.08.2010
1983
he lives in hole
covered by canvas
in the back yard
of a house
that he built
for his parents
he’s always been a crazy kid
his father says
brilliant though take a look in his hole
the drugs
his mother sighs
he has a daughter she’s delightful
she just started high school
we get what we got
his father says
but it’s such a pity she's so pretty
his mother adds
yes she is
at least she lives in a house that her daddy built
we count our blessings
covered by canvas
in the back yard
of a house
that he built
for his parents
he’s always been a crazy kid
his father says
brilliant though take a look in his hole
the drugs
his mother sighs
he has a daughter she’s delightful
she just started high school
we get what we got
his father says
but it’s such a pity she's so pretty
his mother adds
yes she is
at least she lives in a house that her daddy built
we count our blessings
4.07.2010
On The Rocks
A word about
how great
whiskey tastes
when you shove it
in your mouth
with some ice
and that little
sleight of hand
you don’t
understand
why you can’t
walk ten steps
to save your life
how great
whiskey tastes
when you shove it
in your mouth
with some ice
and that little
sleight of hand
you don’t
understand
why you can’t
walk ten steps
to save your life
4.06.2010
Dylan And The Duke
i met john wayne
on a boat in the south pacific
he was making in harm's way
with kirk douglas and burgess meredith
he said i hear you’re a folk singer
i said yeah
play something he said
i did
that’s pretty good do you know blood on the saddle
i did but i knew high noon better
maybe i would have played that
if he was gary cooper
anyway i thought of asking him
why some of his cowboy movies are better than others
but i didn’t
Based on a tale from Chronicles
on a boat in the south pacific
he was making in harm's way
with kirk douglas and burgess meredith
he said i hear you’re a folk singer
i said yeah
play something he said
i did
that’s pretty good do you know blood on the saddle
i did but i knew high noon better
maybe i would have played that
if he was gary cooper
anyway i thought of asking him
why some of his cowboy movies are better than others
but i didn’t
Based on a tale from Chronicles
4.05.2010
Cousins
My grandfather
taught my father's cousin Paul
how to build houses in Brookfield.
For the next ten years
my father kept Paul busy
building houses
he designed in Wisconsin.
Paul is a craftsman.
He takes his time.
My father thinks he’s lazy
and maybe he is
but it took
twenty years to
replace him.
taught my father's cousin Paul
how to build houses in Brookfield.
For the next ten years
my father kept Paul busy
building houses
he designed in Wisconsin.
Paul is a craftsman.
He takes his time.
My father thinks he’s lazy
and maybe he is
but it took
twenty years to
replace him.
4.04.2010
Juarez
When I went to Juarez with some rangers our first stop was a whorehouse. The bartender bought us all tequila. A girl walked up to the bar and asked if we would like to see how two girls make love. The question only needed asking because we were not aware of the option. We pooled our resources and came up with twelve dollars. The girl told us it would cost a hundred. The guy in our group that spoke Spanish told her we could come up with twenty. We went into a purple room with a bench circling around and a stage in the middle with a bed and pulled a couple of dollars out of our pockets and gave the money to the bartender. Two girls walked into the room with some dildos. One girl was pretty the other girl was not. They disrobed and played with each other and the dildos for about five minutes. It was not as enlightening as I thought it would be. The guy that spoke Spanish told us that the pretty one gave him a blow job after the rest of us returned to the bar, ordered beers, and asked the bartender if there were any cheaper whorehouses in town.
4.03.2010
Dignity
My father is a cab driver
In Baghdad
He always carries a camera
He studied art history in Paris
That’s where he met my mom
She was a lawyer
Until a bomb exploded
Next to her car
She’s buried on a hill
Overlooking a river
In the middle of nowhere
That’s what she would have wanted
She was a very private person
My father and I drive there
Once a month
Leave flowers and prayers
At midnight
I try not to cry
My mother was tough
So am I
In Baghdad
He always carries a camera
He studied art history in Paris
That’s where he met my mom
She was a lawyer
Until a bomb exploded
Next to her car
She’s buried on a hill
Overlooking a river
In the middle of nowhere
That’s what she would have wanted
She was a very private person
My father and I drive there
Once a month
Leave flowers and prayers
At midnight
I try not to cry
My mother was tough
So am I
4.02.2010
Easy Money
Sitting in the parking lot
Of a lesbian bar
Reading Origins of Russian Communism
Listening to KJZZ
Hard to understand
Easy to forget
Every once in awhile
A girl walks by and spits
I wonder if I should go to Scottsdale
Sit there and read
A guy walks up and looks in my window
Asks if I’m working
Where’re you going
Just a minute
I read half a paragraph
He comes back
Just a minute
He says
I re - read the half paragraph
A different guy gets in the back seat
Where’re you going
Forty Fourth Street
We aren’t even out of the parking lot and it’s two ninety five
It’s a big parking lot
It ain't that big
Of a lesbian bar
Reading Origins of Russian Communism
Listening to KJZZ
Hard to understand
Easy to forget
Every once in awhile
A girl walks by and spits
I wonder if I should go to Scottsdale
Sit there and read
A guy walks up and looks in my window
Asks if I’m working
Where’re you going
Just a minute
I read half a paragraph
He comes back
Just a minute
He says
I re - read the half paragraph
A different guy gets in the back seat
Where’re you going
Forty Fourth Street
We aren’t even out of the parking lot and it’s two ninety five
It’s a big parking lot
It ain't that big
4.01.2010
Related Scenes
I.
I don’t see the point
She said
Under a bridge
We sat
On a rock
Sharing a cigarette
It's pointless
I said
II.
We can’t see the sun
Through the forest
We stand on the bank of a river
Beside a damaged boat
III.
The last thing
We needed
Was a flood
We weren’t prepared
And now we’re
Ducks
IV.
You laughed
I smiled
Late at night
The sky was purple
I lit a cigarette
Poured whiskey
In your glass
Thanks
You said
V.
Nothing changes
Or lasts
On the bottom
Of the lake
I wait
For you
To dive
Off the pier
I don’t see the point
She said
Under a bridge
We sat
On a rock
Sharing a cigarette
It's pointless
I said
II.
We can’t see the sun
Through the forest
We stand on the bank of a river
Beside a damaged boat
III.
The last thing
We needed
Was a flood
We weren’t prepared
And now we’re
Ducks
IV.
You laughed
I smiled
Late at night
The sky was purple
I lit a cigarette
Poured whiskey
In your glass
Thanks
You said
V.
Nothing changes
Or lasts
On the bottom
Of the lake
I wait
For you
To dive
Off the pier
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