Time And Petty Cash

if I could stop
wasting time and petty cash
I might pay back
half
of what I owe
for a lifetime of
wasting time and petty cash

so many games to watch and play
good and bad books to read
dope
good and bad songs to listen to and play on my guitar
long nights talking to barflies
in dives
too much sleep
bad sleep
make-up sleep
'cause I was out
wasting time and petty cash
'till dawn
with nothing to show for it

maybe a full ashtray an empty bag a head sore bad knees

you don't get dividends for
wasting time and petty cash
and if we did
I could buy a small country
or at least a fine boat

if I got credit for
wasting time and petty cash
things would be different
I guess
you can bet your ass
when I'm long gone my only regret will be there wasn't enough time and petty cash to waste

A Very Short Story A Pretty Long Poem A One Act Play About Teri: The Golden Palominos

I heard her before I saw her
at a party
across the room
talking to Rick
when Rick got up
I managed to cross the room
and sit down next to her
who are you I asked
Teri she said
what are you doing here
I live here
no shit
no shit
how do you know these assholes I asked and pointed in a a circle
I'm Mike's wife you're Clayton right
yeah who's Mike
he works with you I think
no shit
I think
so you are stuck with us how do you know my name
she laughed I asked Rick
do you have any dope
nope she said and laughed
I smiled I do I said
she pointed at a guy talking to Kevin that's Mike she said
I don't know him I said you have a nice smile I added
she laughed again
should we go somewhere and do a line and smoke a joint
why not
we went into the bathroom and did a line and outside and smoked under a spooky tree
is this your house I asked
we're renting it
I live in the barracks
how's that
it sucks
I bet
how long have you been married
seven years
that's a long time
it sure is
I've never been with a girl for more than a couple months
why's that
I shrugged not sure I said I guess I always want the ones I can't have
that will get you nowhere
it has
there's plenty to go around
that's one way of looking at it
you don't think so
not when you break it down
how so
good looking unmarried without a boyfriend and likes me it narrows it down to say the least
I see
do you want to go for a drive
sure
do you have a car
she laughed
it will be fun
I'll get my keys
I'll wait here under this wicked tree
the tree is the best part of the house she said and walked away
I waited five minutes
I thought she wasn't coming
and than she emerged from some shadows and said let's go
I followed her
will your husband be pissed I asked
if he finds out
I laughed I won't tell I said
I won't either where are we going
the river
she led me to an old brown car
nice car
no it isn't do you want to drive
not really
she tossed me the keys you know where we're going
I'm drunk
so am I

I parked the car and we walked down a path
I picked up a rock and threw it in the water
why are you here I asked
she shrugged who's that girl you were talking to she asked
you saw me talking to a girl
yes I did
I used to or I guess I'm in love with her I said and picked up another rock
why aren't you here with her she asked
I hit a deer on the way home from a bar and she hasn't given me the time of day since I said and threw the rock at a tree and missed
she has high standards
I guess
she sat down on a rock
I lit a cigarette
can I have a drag
I handed her my cigarette
I quit she said
you can always take it back up are you cold I asked
kind of
I gave her my jacket
thanks
so you're still in love with her
I'm not in love with anybody I just wish that I was in love with someone
that's sad
yeah I guess it is why are you here I asked
don't ask me that
why not
just don't she said and handed me my cigarette that tastes so good 
I found a rock and placed it beside hers and sat down
the moon is pretty tonight she said
it always is I said I like you I added and kissed her softly 
we should get back before your husband puts two and two together I said
he's not very good at math

Low Art: John Prine

I started with this line I only did it 'cause I want to be that good while I waited for Penny and Cate after playing golf with Brown Deer and Billy the line is in reference to some lines I stole for a song I wrote a long time ago
I added this line how did it turn out so badly I sang those lines and played my guitar until I came up with I've been running around here for over twenty years knocking on every door twice I played and sang those four lines for about five minutes did the dishes picked up my guitar and sang there's a woman on twenty-eighth street she always leaves on the lights I repeat the first two almost nonsensical lines and that leads me to I was sitting outside the liquor store killing a six-er of Pabst 
a dude walked up and said I could sure use your extra cash 
I said old man what the hell is extra cash I've spent every cent I ever made 
the old man said extra cash is the shit that you don't really need today 
I said old man I'm down to two cigarettes and a half empty can of paint 
he said I guess you're not the guy I'm looking for I'll just be on my way 
I said old man no shit old man I'm broke as a dead Indian 
and old man the really sad part is I worked four days this week these lines come quickly maybe too quickly and now I have to sing and play them for hours messing with the phrasing and chords until I have something that sounds like a song and if that happens I do have a song
kind of
the song is done but it has to prove itself and that's one reason I need a tape recorder if it doesn't prove itself it will be lost and that is not my intention whether it proves itself or not
if that makes any sense
twenty minutes becomes two hours and sometimes twenty-five years and you're still messing with it
that's why I would like a kick ass tape recorder that's easy to use
ten days later or so I was laying around waiting for something like I always do and I picked up my guitar like I sometimes do and played the song and it's coming along
It sounds better then it reads
I hope
I put down the guitar and thought John Prine hasn't made a great record in over twenty years
since the missing years and that made me kind of sad

If Life Were A Folk Song: Richard Thompson

if life were a folk song
there would be more
romance
danger
magic
abominable snowmen
fires
ghosts
floods
orphans
feats of strength
maritime disasters
jesters
hard times
good times
crab games
shacks on a river
dive bars in the woods
mississippi john hurt records
righteous pain
cops and robbers
dry rivers to cross under purple moons
nights that never end
days that never begin
cowboys and indians
damn builders
union dues
mountains to climb and descend
interesting trees
cool hats
horses
dirty thousand-dollar pinstriped suits
dusty old leather shoes
all night drives
across state lines
candles burning at both ends
guitars
violins
guns
accordions 
drugs
and ne're do wells
hanging around
cheap apartments at dawn
if my life were a folk song
it would start in a minor
end in g
with a bridge in b flat
to float under
in a raft
or dive off
break my neck

Capitalism Run Amok

the price was high
free would have been too much
I paid our shares
we went inside
put on three-d glasses
and watched something happen
I'm not sure what
I asked you
you shrugged
I don't like to judge
but what the fuck

the price was high
as was I
on my birthday
we bet on the dogs
won a couple hundred bucks
went to a bar
and drank until I couldn't walk

the price was high
the band sucked
a pretty girl told me
to fuck myself
when I asked her
for a light

capitalism run amok

people often say how hard you have to work to get to the top

I'm saying you have to work pretty hard to maintain your station on the bottom

and you probably won't even get a vacation

a pat on the back for a job well done or a fare thee well when they show you the door

Unmade Bed: Leonard Cohen 1973

I say sorry and thank you for the lines I steal and write on a scrap of paper
while you give me head on a unmade hotel bed
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
some of the songs sounded better then others
like the records I make
that seem so much more important then they really are
and what a wonderful perk you turned out to be
I think
I need you
I don't need you
I need you
I don't need you
and all that jiving around
when you make your getaway
I'll be relieved
and down the road I might remember
your semi-gaped tooth smile
that against the odds
only enhances your perfect nose
and your tie-dyed peasant dress
you take off
and throw on the floor
put on to fetch cigarettes in the lobby
and take off and toss on a chair
and 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 and smile and dance and 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

I'm Not Sleeping With You

do you think they can see us i asked the tree top tall thinking woman while we shared a pipe behind the barn
the people in that house could care less what a nigger and a jew are doing back here the tree top tall thinking woman said and what do you care
i don't i was thinking about you i'm not a jew by the way i said
whatever don't you worry about me although i'm too important to limit to one poem it would be like raymond chandler using philip marlowe in one novel she said
i'm no raymond chandler i said no shit she said and you ain't philip marlowe i said
i could be if you weren't so lazy you don't deserve a muse she said i never said i did i said
i'm not sleeping with you she said i never should have stole you from that blues song i said
true that she said you have any friends i asked i'm a loner she said and smiled like a million dollars
if i could record that i would but i can't i'm a reporter not a poet no matter what i might have said to get you to do what you did i said
you need to buck up she said yeah i'll get right on that when i finish what i'm doing i said and it might be awhile i thought
do you want anymore of this i asked i always want more of this she said