Accidental Incidents

the dark
comes
goes
so does
the light
it's no miracle
or a surprise
but it
sneaks up
on you
sometimes

how much time
do we have left?
she asked
not enough
I said
the setting sun
had nothing
to do with it


the last thing
she said
left me
hanging
on a ledge

I'm drunk
right now
I'll be drunk
tomorrow
my wife
is in Chicago
fucking
my best friend's
brother
and I couldn't
care less
and I would
take her back
in a second

hey Mr.
pharmaceutical man
I need
a buzz
I smoked
all my meth
last night
and I
can't find
my weed card

the girl
is gone
I'm still here
nursing
a drink
I forgot
I ordered
about a half hour ago

this is not
as easy
as it looks

Tool Bag City

in tool bag city
nobody listens
cause everybody's talking
but they don't say anything
on their cellphones
at 3 AM
in tool bag city
everybody drives
a sport utility vehicle
or a great big
brand new truck
with nothing in it
in tool bag city
the game is rigged
nobody wins
although the bullies
think they do
in tool bag city
everybody owes
the fat man
with a big smile
a thin mustache
and a thousand dollar suit
about fifty percent
of what they make
and they don't make shit
and the fat man thinks
they should work harder for it
in tool bag city

Guitar Lessons

be patient
keep messing with the tempo
crank the distortion

sabbath bloody sabbath riff

chant

nobody's fault but mine
for five minutes

don't wear shorts
if you have a cape put it on
eye liner is optional
a cool hate essential

avoid the whammy bar
it's not worth the trouble

if it drives everyone crazy
you might be onto something special

don't forget woody
joe never did

Thin Wild Mercury

sometimes abstract
frequently invisible at first glance
almost always simple
often impossible
only attainable when you work like an immigrant and get lucky

a lie
a bitch
a vice you can't kick
a ghost
a cool house in the woods
a recurring nightmare
a whore in a purple dress flipping off a cop at two am behind his back

what I am trying to do

what am I trying to do

something you can lose or throw away
never easy to understand
something most folks don't think about much

blond on blond

Minuscule

It is kind of like the difference between
Hank Aaron
And Robin Yount
Bart Starr
And Steve McNair
Shakespeare
And Norman Mailer
Picasso
And Jackson Pollack
Bob Dylan
And Rick Nelson.

Six of one, half dozen of another.

And if you don't believe me
Watch a few old Super Bowl tapes
Read Armies Of The Night
And Macbeth
Back to back
Go to a museum
And take a look
Or do the math
755
-
251
=
504
And that's more than I thought
But it doesn't matter
'Cause it's only Rock and Roll
or the difference between
Frank Lloyd Wright and my dad.

Forty Years Ago - Forty Years From Now

I say sorry
thank you
for the lines I steal
and write on a scrap of paper
my limo waits in the street
to take you wherever you want to go
New Hampshire
I think you said when we met
I recall the show a night ago wistfully
some of the songs sounded better then others
like the records I make
that seem so much more important then they really are
what a wonderful perk you turned out to be
when you make your getaway
I'll be relieved
down the road I might remember
your semi-gaped tooth smile
that against the odds
only enhances your perfect nose
your tie-dyed peasant dress
you take off
throw on the floor
put on to fetch cigarettes in the lobby
take off
toss on a chair
when you find a real man
and are raising two or three kids
you will always have my voice on record or cassette
I hope my songs make you laugh
smile
dance
cry your eyes out
in the middle of the night
I'll throw you a toast
or you can throw one at me
to the night we listened to the storm
when we were almost young
a long time ago
won't seem so long ago
when we think about it
forty years from now

El Dorado

if my love was a song
the sun would walk beside her across oceans of time
I chased her
across a bridge over the Missouri
into a valley
she vanished
she may have been a ghost
the train was on time
I couldn't catch it
the sun walked beside her across oceans of time
I followed her shadow
into a cave
I sat on a rock
she hovered above
I swam to a cove
laid in the sun
waited for something more dependable
when the moon rose over the horizon the sun still walked beside her
I followed her path across oceans of time and a field
over a cliff
into the great whatever
if my love was a song
the sun would walk beside her across oceans of time
all the way to El Dorado

More Of The Same

in darkness I found her in the bright lights I lost her

staggering down a road I stumble and stop
to stare at asphalt or dirt
realize
how stupid that is
or I must look
not that it matters
I think
at least how I look
I decide to move on
for some irrelevant reason
I remember her name
and start chanting
a song I loved

it don't matter
it don't matter

I can't recall the next line
or if the line I'm chanting
is a line from the song
or if she's the girl I'm thinking about

or why I care
about anything

the first line is bullshit
the rest are almost true
however
almost true
is almost bullshit

and if I expect someone to pay for this stuff
I have to grow up
and I'm fifty-one fucking years old

Song For You

I'm down up around and through
all the shit I had coming
I sidestepped
and passed on to you
chasing whiskey
down the highway
sitting in your old brown car
listening to the river
and that Tina Turner
song you loved so much
or was it Tom Petty
chasing that whiskey
with acid weed and coke
pain killers and magic mushrooms
whenever we could afford it
life sure had its moments
the money always ran out though
no matter how hard I thought about it
it always came out wrong
like the time I hitch hiked to your house
and you weren't home
our the night you drove out to the base
and I was way too drunk
or maybe I never thought about it enough
and you never said goodbye
the night before you left
Columbus for good
I was sad for a long time
and maybe you were too
Sometimes I wonder
if we think about each other
at the exact same moment
that would be kind of cool
wouldn't it?

Anderson's Fifth Estate

tom
was drunker
than a fiddler's bitch
he yelled
kill em' all
kill em' all
while a fat
balding
high school dropout
recovering junkie
master songwriter
lectured the bar
about the evils of capital punishment
from a bully pulpit
I ain't healthy enough yet to think like that
the singer said
I laughed
danny whisked tom out of the bar
the ex junkie pointed at me and said
I got a microphone and you don't
and that was true
and what the hell could I say
shut the fuck up?
leave me alone?
sing your songs dude?
you got the wrong guy?
I kind of agree with you?
I left the bar and listened to the rest of the show on the patio
cause it wasn't my place to make a scene
tom never forgave him
for what? I'm not sure
I don't hold grudges
and still buy his cds
cause they are always good and often great
and would like to see him again
but he never comes around
I guess we showed him

Rolling Thunder II

are you sure you're in the right room? clara asked

I bet this room was nice about a hundred years ago I thought

I think so judy said I'm not sure she added and glanced at a slip of paper and smiled

well clara said and looked at me

her eye's a burning like street lamps in a desert city on some border between love and whats left of it

a rooms just a room I said

you're a coward and an idiot clara said

I agree judy said

I picked up a guitar and plucked a melody I wrote for one of them a decade and a half ago or so

is that my song judy asked

if looks could kill judy and I would have died in that room that night but they don't

maybe I said maybe not I added it's just a song I stated

and you are a complete and total asshole clara said

true that I thought and turned my head toward a window and watched the sun climb over a palm tree and picked up the tempo

it's the song you played at our wedding clara said

I think you're right I said

judy laughed and picked a rose out of a vase and left the room

I'll see you latter I said

this must be hard on you I said to the one that left and the one that stayed

I have what I want or need I thought or do I?

clara walked across the room picked up the vase and dropped it on the floor

the blues are knocking on my door

I sang

I don't want to let them in anymore

but I can't keep the blues away

these days

I'm going to bed clara said

I think you're wrong about the song I said

you just changed the words clara said the songs the same she added

yeah maybe I said and set the guitar down and walked into the hall 

judy was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall

what took you so long jack she asked

Rolling Thunder

she said you're going to get it right away or you aren't going to
I said cool shoot
and she shot

I won't bore you with the details
I couldn't even if I wanted to
I wasn't really listening

I said I think I get it
she said you're not even close
I asked what do you want from me
she said your total concentration
I said that's kind of unreasonable

she laughed and tossed a book at me read this she said
I caught it looked at the cover and title and said what's it about
she said you'll tell me when you're ready
I don't want to read this fucking book I thought and set it on a table and said I may never
she said I know but you have to remember the end is just the beginning and not as important as the journey
I said oh it's like a quest
she said not exactly and picked up a violin

I turned on a tape recorder
she said I'm more of a magician then a musician
I lit a cigarette
are you ready she asked
as I'll ever be I thought but I wasn't and she knew it
I said yeah

Loserville

when I became the biggest loser
in Loserville
I didn't whine or complain
much
I just accepted the fact

you only get what you deserve when you deserve something bad

Loserville is a pretty big city
it kind of reminds me of Louisville
a place I never need to end up in again
I spent an afternoon night and morning there once
while I was in basic training

I'm not saying all soldiers are losers
but do the math
it isn't algebra or chemistry

spend a little time in Louisville
and tell me I'm wrong
and do not enlist in the Army
no matter how fucked up your life gets
it can and will get worse

I became the biggest loser in Loserville
the night I spent smoking meth in a cheap motel
with an old whore

when we ran out of dope
she dumped me
for a guy walking around the parking lot

he had fifty nine dollars
and I three and some change

I headed down the road
to no town and back
it's a long way around

I thought I was in love

Loserville is a state of mind

a great big small town
without exits

when you run out of dope
everything gets a little worse

do the math
and don't join the army
or end up in Louisville
smoking meth

My Bloody Valentine

when the bells started to ring
I knew it was time
to get on with the going
before the stars started to fall

out of the sky
out of the sky
out of the sky

when the bells started to ring
she took off her dress
laid in the grass
looked up and said

you better watch out
you better watch out
you better watch out

I don't know why
I don't know why
I don't know why

the stars fell from the sky


when the bell rang
I knew it was time
to get on with the going
before the stars

fell from the sky

when the bell rang
she took off her dress
laid in the grass
looked up and said

you better watch out

I don't know why
the stars fell from the sky

For Want Of A Better Word: Wisdom

some things an old dude told me while I gave him a ride to the casino

good music soulful he said
I won over a hundred dollars playing cards last night and gave more than half of it back got a room for a couple nights I'll probably be walking home tonight it isn't about the money I love the game
you know what I miss most? young pussy money and pussy are the only two things in life that you need drugs help but they can send you sideways and back you can buy anything you want with money but you can lose your soul mine's long gone south for the winter of my discontent
when I got back from 'Nam they called me baby killer they weren't lying I killed everything that moved including babies I have to live with that
God's a woman everyone thinks men run this shitty world they're wrong we've been fucked since the day we were born
I wish I could give you more but I'm always broke he said and handed me a ten wish me good luck brother
good luck I said you heroic bastard I thought

In My Imagination

nobody wins the election or better yet no one votes

the red light turns green before I fuck everything up

my government did not just blow up a family celebrating a six year old's birthday because a satellite thought it saw a terrorist smoking a cigarette in the backyard

the streetlamp is a spotlight at the grand old opera I'm standing under

the short story I told her wasn't a lie

Bad Night In Dog Shit Town

the boss told me the fag hit man from the north side's in the bathroom
while he palmed me a gram
I palmed him a hundred
so you better be careful the boss said Jimmy ain't forgiven you yet and the little fella's tougher than a Boon's Farm hangover
blah blah blah I said
the fag hit man strolled out of the bathroom in a splashy red three piece suit and winked at me
I smiled
I gotta go I got shit to do I said
watch your ass the boss said and laughed
yeah always I said and hit the swinging door
the rain smelled cold
my jacket was at home
my car was in the junk yard
I walked down twenty first into the fucking wind
with eyes in the back of my head
burning at both ends

what chucky said

we got to get those cocksuckers

my best friend chucky said

we were hiding in the woods

with chucky’s one-eyed dog pal

chucky’s mom ran pal over

and they had to sew up his eye

he looks kinda funny

but he doesn’t seem to mind

chucky told me

that dogs can’t see for shit anyway

yeah I said

what does cocksucker mean I thought

we were outnumbered

and our enemies had bb guns

and all we had were slingshots

we have to circle around I said

what chucky asked

chucky’s a year older than me

so he’s used to giving the orders

but this was important

and chucky’s not as smart as I am

we have to get ahead of them

and cut them off at killer hill

that’s a good idea chucky said

hit those chickenshits

when  they’re halfway up

c’mon pal we’re going hunting

we have to be real quiet I said

chucky smiled I’ll  be quiet as an injun

chucky hit kevin in the face

kevin dropped his bb gun

fell and rolled down the hill

I hit wayne on the shoulder

he yelled shit knelt down

and crawled for cover

jimmy and tom hid in the trees

we took a couple more shots

let’s go I said and we ran as fast as we could

but they didn’t chase us

too busy licking their wounds

did you see kevin chucky asked
when we got to the cornfield

yeah that was a great shot

it sure was do you think he’s bleeding?

there’s a good chance

I hope he bleeds to death

what’s cocksucker mean I asked

girls are cocksuckers chucky said