Opus Infinitum

Kiss The Night

2011-11-29T16:10:00.001-08:00

I was breakin' the law

to swim in the sea,

over the wall,

in the shade of the ministry

There was nowhere to dance,

nowhere to sing

No one to stand up

to the heights of their beliefs

They'd been too long

from the streets of the night

It didn't feel too wrong

but it never felt right

Now, I don't know where love goes

in the dark of the night

But when they're howling at your door

YOU STAND AND FIGHT!

I could see from the shore,

a radiant light

split the horizon

from the whole of the blackest night

They were out in the open,

biting their tongues

I heard somebody humming

then the words shot like a gun

We've been away too long

from the streets of the night

It didn't feel too wrong

Yeah, but it never felt right

Every hair stood straight up

in the morning light

and when they rang those mission bells

WE SHOT ON SITE!

I remember the sound,

like a warrior scream,

from a radio speaker

spread a fire down to the streets

They out on their roofs

up on their cars

Everybody was wavin'

fist up, hand full of stars

We've been away too long

from the streets of the night

It didn't feel too wrong

but it never felt right

I never cared for the floor

once I knew of the sky

now when I hear those mission bells

I KISS THE NIGHT!

We've been away too long

from the streets of the night

It doesn't take too long

before you start to feel right

Now, I don't know where love goes

in the dark of the night

but when I hear those mission bells

I kiss the night......

The Other One

2011-04-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

New blues tune...

Once or twice, I've been laid this low

Tongue tied to my toes

Now, I know

It’s been said

I say everything

From the heart

Of the truth

No censoring

But with you there’s something

Gives me harried mind

Fightin’ back a feelin’

One should never hide

Oh Oh Oh Oh

How’d we get so

Far

Gone?

That ain’t love baby

That ain’t love, darlin’

I know he mighta meant somthin’

But if you don’t know

That ain’t love

There was a time when I let you know

My mind and where it goes

But a spark that we left is catchin’ all we were

And my heart is beset with the possible

'Cause when we are talkin’

Oh, it's more than words

I know you were sensing something

By the way you turned

Oh Oh Oh Oh

Turned your love light on me

That ain’t love baby

That ain’t love, darlin’

I know he mighta meant somthin’

Aw yeah, that ain't love baby

No no no, that ain't love darlin'

That ain't love baby

You ask me how I know...

It don't come from me.

Regret Revisited

2011-04-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

At the advice of a friend I shortened and revised an old poem into a song. The full version is also on this blog.

Queen 'o' the Wisp

I can recall it even now

It was a Blood Red

summer moon

I caught a light down at the banks

Though it rained steel chains

from Peter’s Gates

Oh her light, it seemed

To beg me into embrace

Drawn, hypnotized by the Queen o the Wisp

She kept her hair pulled back in flames

Speaking in tongues with no need

to explain

I watched her lift clear off the ground

Over that Delta blue

with a starry crown

Oh how her light, it seemed

To pull my hand to her waist

Moving in time would be

the distance that we

never could close

Lost to the wilds with the Queen o the Wisp

I don’t expect you to understand

After all, how could you,

if not this man?

And I don’t speak her name no more

It’s a dark room

with a locked door

Oh I’d be lying if I

Told you of no mistakes

But sometimes those words become

the very thing

we need to move on

Burnin’ alive with the Queen o the Wisp

Merry X-Mass!

2010-12-08T17:16:00.000-08:00

…too late…

I could feel rumblings already, in the marrow of my bones,

how dreadful a cause itched my frosty red nose.

Scotch taped trappings shivered down from stained walls,

as a chorus of carols rocked sadly decked halls.

It starts just like this, hints of peppermint & pine,

flashing red & now green,

flooding rum & mulled wine.

Bundled up joys pushed by Teflon wrapped cotton puffs,

strolling aisles of ruin down rivers of mud & slush.

Rubber souls squeak like high school gymnasiums

but no race held here, more a maniac maelstrom.

It’s “Jumpin Jehovah’s X-Massive Bonanza!

Rock-bottom prices for whatever ya git yer hands on!

There’s the Ever Evolving Electronic Squares,

them Bright Shiny Circles come cheaper in pairs.

We got Mistletoe rugs fer kissing sum ass,

about a million Little Cheapos, come already in the trash.

Our Flashy Noise Popper’s a big seller so far

but the winner, as always,

The Johnny Jinglestep Pocket Bar!

Paper or plastic, to pay or for bags,

don’t forget gift-receipts and removing price tags.

Now, always remember, keep it fresh in your mind,

you have to stampede, YYYEEEEHHHAAAWWW!!!

or prices will rise!

Pay no mind to:

fingers, small children, ominous strangers or emergency phones.

Check all “Communi T.V.” lists twice for new “Sanityze Zones”.

Now listen up folks, your attention please…

…no, over here…

For the first time anywhere, legalized this year,

made famous by headlines, due to popular demand…

last item homicides are encouraged,

and!

there will be a band.

All weapons will be checked…

for defects at the door.

Creative kills win points,

points discount items more.

Televised world wide, 24/7, Pay-2-View,

watch from home, home office, or all Fallen Church pews.

Aluminum foiled Rabbet ears or true-balls HD,

black & white, color projection or LCD.

This television broadcast does not discriminate.

Oh! And a friendly reminder, the raffle drawing’s at 8!

Tickets can be found absolutely anywhere you could be.

Non-participation is unacceptable,

punishment - dealt out swiftly.

Though official state curfew extended ‘til 12,

Still not recommended: Quad 4 in New Hell.

Your friendly “Social Eyes” will be out in full force.

Fully armed, fully fueled, fully prepared for the worst…

standards

for your “Eyes” can be read on The Wall,

General Lee warns strongly to not read it all.

If you find yourself placed in a “Social Interaction”,

please lie on the ground, await further instruction.

Injury and life-loss are common complaints,

though, no need to worry, “Social Eyes” learn from mistakes.

Anything not covered, you’ll surely find out.

Best not be in the open when the shop clocks run out.

All stipulated rules are subject to change

without prior notification or attempts to explain.

Everyone is in play, no boundaries save one,

cross through the white gates, your holiday is done.

And with that, the horn screamed from all wall mounted speakers.

My rag covered smile running sideways from ether.

Spilled out to the tunnels with our GI red sacks

“Ho-Ho mother fuckers…X-Mass is back!”

Lonely River

2010-09-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

I wrote this one at a bit of a low point. I felt I had no one to talk to. Like I had been forsaken, even by god. With no one left, I wrote the song to my only friends around....words. I begin each verse with the word I'm addressing but I feel in the end it is just a prayer.

Forever,

Seems we’ve been here all along

I know you’ve been runnin’

beside me all these years

Now I’ve fallen

and you know how hard

I can be

but it’s left me here bleedin’

set me on my knees

Forgiveness,

when are you comin’ back to me

I gave you away freely

never to return

I’ve been dancin’ with sorrow

but I know there ain’t nothin’ she can do

On the banks of this river

I’m waiting for you

Caught in the fire and rain

am I keepin’ or quenchin’ this pain

I feel so

so alone

Always been a penitent man

God help me

understand

Am I lyin’

Show me sign

Promise,

sing me a sweet lullaby

A tale of a new day

as darkness fills my eyes

I’ve been runnin’ from shadow

and you know just how cold

he can be

But if you keep me dreamin’

I know I am free

Tomorrow,

oh you’ve been comin’ for

too long

See we’ve been fightin’

praying for the dawn

Oh, but I’ve seen you hidin’

behind that smile in the night

Led me to this river

set me on my knees

Take me Lonely River

Take me back to Sea.

Coffee Please

2010-07-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

I've been workin' on the railroad, all the live long day!...I've been......huh....you know, actually...I've been working at a computer...for all of...3 hours!!??? Oh god please grant me a blessing in the form of a steam locomotive, bursting through the walls and washing over these fluorescent halls like a sea of serenity that carries the carrion far away from copied facsimiles of repeated dictations, regurgitated gesticulations, mental prostration and alliterate assholes bored full bore, singing, "blah blah blah blah, shut the front door."

Unsung Zero

2010-05-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

So this is quite possibly the cheesiest song I've ever written...well cheesiest one I have ever completed and shared but hey, sometimes life gets cheesy. As was proven by my carpet this weekend...don't ask...or do. Enjoy! Also, I promise to not post a song next time.

We're no Criminals.

This consequence don't fit the crime.

We were blind to it.

Shone so bright, only we couldn't see

the wake of our revelry.

And

so it goes.

It's the kind of thing some sing about.

Who the hell goes and lives it out?

And the story's old,

you only get so far 'til the zero's been swept out to sea

in the snares of a tragedy. So

tell me love,

teach me of,

make me up

a world where we won't make perfect sense

somewhere I won't remember this.

You ran to me.

Held so tight

it's hard for me to believe

that isn't how it's gonna be

but given it,

these days once more

I'd play them all in a line,

stop here and hit rewind.

And

so it goes...

It's the kind of thing most dream about,

write it down so you get it out.

Oh, the story's old.
Hey, I know

when the zero has his final scene.

Shot down from the mezzanine.

So tell me love,

teach me of,

wake me up,

I'm in your arms,

still wrapped in your memory,

baby could you finish this one for me?

So it goes...

It's the kind of thing I can't think about,

for the fear that I'll let it out.

And the story's old,
you only get so far

'til the zero's made his final plea

but I know that you'll remember me.

So tell me love,

teach me of,

you're gonna have to wake me up

'cause I'm in your arms,

still wrapped in your memory

you're gonna have to finish this one for me....

Refiner's Fire

2010-03-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

This is the silence before a bursting out of life.

Calling all around,

gather all around.

I’m watching the calm

of nothing at all,

now we burn so bright.

Leading black then white,

follows day and night

Gravitational force,

an orbital course

and a molten sea

flowing up and down,

forming shape and sound.

While in the darkness, as in light,

you’ll find every

colour

waiting.

Funny how we find ourselves alive

with only two promises,

to be here

and die.

See how merely words seem to confine?

Try to find the feeling that brought you here

tonight.

Now here is a man,

he fucks and he stands

and he tries so hard,

to watch it all fall down,

yet coming back around.

He’s checkin’ it out.

He screams and he shouts

with the stars above

he measures short and long,

weighing right and wrong.

While in the darkness, as in light,

you’ll find every-

body

waiting.

Funny how we always seem to lie

when it’s coming down to how we are here

and why.

See how merely thoughts seem to confine?

Just try to find the feeling that brought you here

tonight.

Funny how we find ourselves alive

with only two promises ,

to be here

and die.

See how merely words seem to confine?

Just try to find the feeling that brought you here

tonight.

This is the silence before we’re bursting back to light.

Chuckles & Herschey - Part 1 of X

2010-03-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

Earl Pritchett -

“Charlie Pratt is a rat bastard sunovabitch. You can take that any damn way ya like an’ you can tell ‘em isme that said it too! I bet he give ya a big ol' laugh. I betchyu’d be standin’ at the front porch, tellin’ em what it was I said an’ he start chucklin’ like a damn goon, flashin' them piss stained Chiclets a’his, all jammed up in that ass-hole he kiss ‘is momma with. Him an’ that mouth breathin’ Herschel Maybelle carryin’ on. Oh, I bet they’d have a real time of it too…on me! Laughin’ ‘n’ jokin’, jawin’ back ‘n’ forth ‘bout what they done. Yeah, I’d betchya.

‘Bout all I got t’say ‘bout that is, good…real good. Only fittin' it’d be me givin'em a smile.

Herschel…I guess Herschel ain’t got nuthin’ ta worry ‘bout. Shit, ya can’t blame that boy anymore n’you could blame a shadow fer hangin’ ‘round. If you don’t know ‘bout Herschey, I ain’t gonna be the one ta tell ya nuthin’ ‘cept, you want gossip, you can drag yer ass t’town an’ stay there. I don’t spread rumors an’ I don’t wanna hear ‘em neither. You can save that mess fer them trash whores in town, Cheryl Timms and her like.

You ever wanna see a beat up ol’ catfish squawk like a chicken, ya take yerself down to Jude an’ 1st. I bet she’s down at Carl’s right now, preachin’ dirt ta that yappy flock ‘a’ crows followin’ her around all day. I bet she ain’t peeled her ass offa that stool since the sun come up. Sippin’ black coffee and spewin’ out filth. I swear, them booths is more crowded than a church pew on Sund'y. Pastor Lewis cut his sermon down to 16 minutes now so’s he can get over an’ catch the whole town dumpin’ they garbage. Don’t matter t’me none, he ain’t never said nuthin’ I couldn’t read maself an’ I don’t go t’town no more anyway. Can’t even move ‘round there without an eyeball on ya. That Timms witch is ev’rywhere, castin’ glances an’ I bet that ain’t the only thing, her an’ e’rbody gone that same way.

Ain’t nobody done a thing since that mouth an' her come t’town. Talkin’ back ‘n’ forth, e’rbody worried ‘bout e’rbody else, ain’t nobody worried ‘bout they own stink…an' I smell ‘em all! Hell no I don’t want hear ‘bout what Jim Cedars done last night. What the hell Jim Cedars got to do with me? ‘Less I need some ‘shine or some roofin’ done. She even got that snake tongue stuffed down the Sherriff’s ear, must be true ‘cause he ain’t heard shit I said yesterday.

Ev’ry night them hell fires been kickin’ on an’ all that trash gets ta smolderin’. Timms an’ her lot start runnin’ ‘round the streets, stokin’ up fires ‘til the whole town gets swallowed up in smoke an’ soot. Maybe Sherriff’s right, maybe I can’t see through that smog, but I ain’t dumb an’ I ain’t never seen a cloud that black ain’t gotta storm brewin’ in its belly. ‘Sides, come sunrise, the wind sweeps the valley an’ sends that dust cloud barrelin’ up the mountain walls, straight over my doorstep an’ I can smell what they been doin’. It’s hot ‘n’ musty an’ creeps up an’ burns yer nose like sulfur, smells like…smashed bottles an’…shame...rotted shame. Soon’s it blows by I gotta get down t’the stream and rinse it offa me.

Uh now, see! Lookit there, you got that same dumb-ass look th'Sherriff was wearin' when I said the same to him. Well, I ain't got the time or the care ta esplain maself again. Fall’s runnin’ out an’ I ain’t runnin’ down t’the god damn stream all wint’r long. An’ after yesterday, I ain’t livin’ through another day without makin’ it right. If nobody’s gunna do nuthin’, then it’s gunna be me do sumthin’ ‘bout it. So have yerself a drink an’ a smoke, soak up that sun an’ polish off that full Christian name, Chuckles. ‘Cause Charles Archibald Pratt……you gon die t'day!”

Charlie Pratt -

“Huhhuhuh huhuhuh, oww man! Huhuhuh! You tell that old man, Charlie Pratt says good luck and tell him I’s wonderin’ if that sow’s been keepin’ him warm at night? HahaHAAA......!

Herschel Maybelle -

“Charlie says he worryin’ ‘bout yer hawg Mr. Early. Charlie says he give ya good luck!”

Friday Night

2010-02-26T17:03:00.000-08:00

She puts on her shoes ‘n’ dress,

grabs my coat and hat,

we head out for the night.

And although we’re running late

and it’s all my fault,

I know everything’s alright.

I say, “Baby baby, I’m not too sure but I think my life, it runs ten minutes slow.”

And she says, “Crazy boy, now don’t you know? I love ya so, get in the car let’s go.”

Side by side,

ooo,

world rolls by

We pull into the drive,

I lean and squeeze your thigh,

we get eye to eye.

“Girl let’s go on in”.

You take my hand,

pull it to your side.

I hold you to my chest,

steal a little kiss,

something worth the crime.

Light a cigarette,

lose our bet,

pass it to the right.

Side by side,

oh!!

We’re walkin’ through the room,

hear our favorite tune,

our legs come alive.

Now we’re dancin’ hand in hand,

“Lady, understand, I’m leading you this time.”

Then she says “Babe it’s getting late, I want stay, but then who’s gonna drive?”

So it’s goodbye to our friends,

make some future plans,

step back into the night.

Side by side,

ooo,

world rolls by.

I’s dreamin’ ‘bout your face,

woke up in our place,

you’re tuggin’ at my side.

“Lover come to bed. I gotta show somthin’, been feelin’ it all night.”

And we hold a deep embrace,

freezing time and space,

locked up in your eyes.

End a perfect day in our favorite way,

slip into delight.

Side by side,

ooo,

world rolls by.

Soul Shaker

2010-02-18T15:39:00.000-08:00

Name: He's
Occupation: A Sole Shaker,
Descriptives: Rattlin' bones.
Hobbies: He's a love taker,
Interests: Throwin' back stones.
Fun Facts: He's got a picture of you, painted it black and white.
Comments: He got a limited view, pushin' you wrong from the right but he's always the same. Don't care when ya came, it's always the same.

Name: She's
Occupation: A Heartbreaker,

Descriptives: I know ya heard it before.

Hobbies: She's a toll taker,

Interests: Keepin' up score.

Fun Facts: She love makin' a fool, cuttin' 'em down in a fight.

Comments: I'm sorry for who's takin' her home at the end of the night. 'Cause she's always the same. She's an off-rail train. It's always the same.

Name: He's the Love maker,

Occupation: Quakin' the floor.
Name: She's the Life giver,

Occupation: Pushin' back the shore.

Interests: They got a vision of you burnin' a hole in the night.

Fun Facts: You hear them talkin' to you, pushin' the dark in the light and you're never the same.

Comments: It's a whole new plane, you're never the same.

Office Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Newb

2010-02-04T18:42:00.000-08:00

Today a sprig of straw fell from the sky. It surprised me to see such a thing fall from the clouds. Surely no dove nor blue bird could have dropped it, this piece of straw most certainly had no relation what-so-ever to that bleached-white emerald city beyond the rainbow, no monkey flipping way. This thing had been where no life can go.

"Forged in the balmy depths of a molten core where heat and pressure are the sole survivors. Together too long and twisted as rivals. A place where quicksilver screams for the apex of chapels, ‘neath the constant oppression of atoms and apples."

This was not your normal shard of dry, golden grass, no this fragment was special. The seed must have been sown and reaped in the fiery pits of hell. You know…the pits right next to the Steamy Sauna & Day Spa of Hell. It’s the only place I could imagine its origins. This "Little Piece of Cow Feed That Could" had surpassed supercritical mass, gone super massive and produced an exact replica of itself, totally constructed of antimatter.

Now…during the normal course of a day, if I happen to spy some form or another of antimatter passing by, I would usually point it out to anyone near. I mean, it is a fairly dangerous thing to have around but as it fell I was completely absorbed. I was riveted to my seat, only able to focus on the thing itself. Not its path, its destination, its purpose.

Only the fall.

It was an ever changing piece of performance art. One moment, stuttering through the air with Chaplinesque slap-stick & pratfalls, the next...carving the wind with the grace of a figure skater. It disarmed and pinned me to the ground. My mouth agape in true Cro-Magnon fashion, eyes nearly crossed and Hoovering into my lungs every nasty infinitismal spec of don't-matter wafting by. Small bits of harmless nothings, casting magnified apparitions of pestilence and disease on my cranium walls. Particles, bacterium, who knows, maybe even teeny-tiny people like in that movie Innerspace. Time seemed to slow down and so did I. Not "moving slow" kind of slow, that’s inherent if time is slowing down, ass. I’m talking about getting more stupider..er. As if the whole thing, start to finish, was a diversion so someone could sneak up from behind and steal my brain cells.

Someone like...Meg Ryan and that Quaid guy...Randy?

No...Dennis, Dennis Quaid.

( "...like freakin' diamond cutters...")

Randy would be much scarier to think of running around inside me but I wouldn't be pumped about Dennis either. I don't think Meg Ryan would bother me, she seems like a peach. Not straight-haired Meg Ryan, Version 2.0 with all the upgrades and that Joker smile.

I'm talkin' 'bout care-free, curly haired, When Harry Met Sally, Top Gun Meg Ryan.

These were the kinds of things going through my mind.

Like I said...I was getting dumber by he second...

Well, I wish I had had my wits about me. Perhaps I could have saved the poor thing but in my miniature-movie star trance I could not even help my self. The task proved too much for such as I and the effect of my non-action will forever be tattooed to the insides of my eye lids.

No one deserves to go out the way that camel went, animal or no.

Science says that when antimatter meets matter, the resulting occurrence is much like when some couples I’ve known get together…they devour each other...annihilate, to be more technical. Some may tell you that for antimatter to touch a living thing would be painless, a moment too fast for nerves to react. For these fools I ask...how is it that the scream, emitted from that desert thoroughbred, echoed with such a sound as to be undeniably sure to frighten my grandchildren and their children’s children?

Scientific disputes aside, the actual event that sent me reeling was the final movement of this insane end game. After all the smoke and debris cleared, in complete cliché “gone full circle” BS story mode, I saw the true alpha and omega of our tale. There, center stage of a crater some 20 feet in radius stood….

…Newb Johnson. That’s right, Newb…with her hand in the air asking for a repeat tutorial on the ins and outs of copy & paste. To which the gallery clenched their mouths in uncurved smiles, shaking their peanut heads with a resounding downward, “Ohhhh Newb.”

Of course, with the camel now gone, I no longer know what is going to lead Newb back to our florescent halls. I sense adventure and travel beyond my vantage in Newbs near future.

…more to follow…

The Sure to be Brief Chronicles of Newb Johnson

2010-02-01T17:09:00.000-08:00

Today someone…let’s call her…Newb…Newb Johnson...yes! Today Newb asked me, for the second time in as many work days, for guidance in putting a cardboard filing box together.

One with a diagram drawn on the bottom and giant A, B, C’s to show the order of folding.

Tomorrow, if Newb postures the same query, not only will it be a tremendous leap forward in science's understanding of the boundaries of human stupidity but also, my head will implode instantaneously and I will reappear in a cloud of fire and smoke doing my very bestest Donald Trump impression.

...more to follow...

Visions of the Third Kind

2010-01-29T19:01:00.000-08:00

So the legend goes…

…nothing like this...

One not so ordinary day, let's call it a Wednesday, Parvati stepped out from a morning shower, her feet softly patting the flowered mosaic intricately laid across the bath house floor. Reaching out for a towel, her hand returned empty, grasping only steam and lavender mist...again. An impish grin crept across her face and she shook her head laughing. This was beginning to become a common occurrence but for obvious reasons, leading to obvious results, she really didn't mind. Her husband, Shiva, had recently taken to sneaking through the ceramic landscape while she soaped and sang and like a pick-pocket in a street market, he would snatch that towel and scurry off down the hall, chuckling to himself all the way. Of course, he knew that she always sang in the shower and he also knew that whenever she sang, her eyes would close. It wasn’t like it was a difficult task but never the less, each time he would stealthily creep in as if getting caught would produce some dire consequence. It added to the fun of the whole thing so she never did let on that, for the most part, he was a terrible theif.

A brisk wind drifted in through the windows and she moved over to the therads of light falling through the vaulted ceiling. She thought, “I may as well warm up and dry off for a bit. No reason a little early morning fun should begin with a chill and end with me and a towel, wiping up puddles all over the house.” So with a kiss from the sun she set out through the house, channeling a wary detective, searching for her hidden Moriarty.

While Parvati was spending her extra time bathing in the sun, an impatiently hiding Shiva was getting a cramp in his leg. Being all hunched over and crouching beside the dresser like he was wasn’t exactly the ideal position to be waiting for extended periods of time in. He slowly stretched his body upwards, arms in full reach letting the pain and relief shoot through and fill his cramped joints. He reached further into the sky, lifting up onto his toes and clenched all of his muscles as if he were to explode from his skin but releasing only a long breathy, “Ohhhhh maaaaan."

Looking out the double doors and past their balcony his eyes soaked in the scenery. With the Ganges at his feet, he could see clear across the Deccan Plateau, straight to the Arabian Sea. A sea blue rivaled only by his own skin and holding the same infinite view in it's depths. He breathed deep, the moment, into his lungs and was filled with an overwhelming sense of peace that warranted further exploration. It seemed Parvati had grown tired of his game so he decided to take some time to meditate and stepped through the doors.

Still very much involved in their little “cat and mouse”, Parvati quietly stalked the house peering around corners and skidding passed doorways. She knew precisely where he was, it had been the same spot every time but again, all part of the game. As she ascended the seemingly unending marble staircase, her excitement rose with the elevation. She imagined slipping in through the bedroom door and crawling over top the dresser, maybe this time she could surprise him. Much to her disappointment, once through the door she could already tell he wasn’t in his usual hiding place. As clever as he thought he was, his knee always stuck out a bit past the dresser. “Maybe he’s smartened up and found a better spot,” she thought but scanning the sparsely decorated bedroom, there wasn’t really any other place for him to hide. They liked to keep the house the same as they lived their life, uncluttered.

She thought she might grab one thing or another from the armoire and wait for him but as she divided the room she saw him out on the balcony. He was sitting atop the patio table in the lotus position, facing out towards the ocean. Playfully she moved ever so quietly 'cross the room and posted directly behind him. She brought her hands around both sides of his head to cover his eyes and in an attempt to scare him she bellowed in the manliest voice she could muster, “HEYWHATAREYOUDOINTHERE!!!!??”

No sooner had she covered his eyes than did the whole world drown in an ominous blackness. Cries reached their ears from above and below, something wicked indeed was coming and with speed! The wind ripped down from the Himalayas uprooting all in its path and hurtling it towards oblivion. They were caught in some bizarro spin on "it's all fun and games until someone puts an eye out” and she could scarcely believe what was going on. Yet, faster than the charging disaster had threatened, a flame burst from Shiva's forehead. It flashed red, then green, across the horizon like a tropical sunset with a nuclear twist, engulfing the darkness and flooding light once more over world.

Shiva rose from the table and turned to embrace his lover, as you do after skirting certain universal destruction but her expression caught him off guard. The past few moments had been intense to say the least, yes but this look…this look she was giving, it just didn’t seem appropriate. It was more like a, “Hey, uh… you got some food there on yer face,” look.

Slightly taken aback Pervati stumbled into the room and reached for the small vanity mirror on the dresser, holding it up to Shiva’s face, which now matched her expression like a funhouse mirror. He saw what she could not stop gawking at. There, dead center in his forehead, a third eye.

Uh…yeah, I was going to copy and paste the standard story of how Shiva happened upon his third eye but…I don’t know…something else happened. Anyway, it was just a preface for a new song I wrote. Wanna hear it? Here it goes...

Visions of the Third Kind

I've been waiting for
the sun,
rise on me one day.
Melt away my soul,
burn away control,
leave me naked
in the rain.

Penance for
a life
I led astray.
Given unto me,
deafening pleas,
still I turned away

How I long
for night.
Set me free.
Blacken out my lies,
lay to waste my pride,
open my eye.

Set me free.

Love is Easy

2010-01-27T17:09:00.000-08:00

Aside from just random musings and prose, from time to time I will be posting lyrics of songs I've written. A song pretty much is a poem set to music anyway so it's not too far of a stretch. Plus, if you never come to see me play, you'll never get to hear the words...but maybe, just maybe, if you like the lyrics, you may need to see it performed! Regardless…once I’m done writing them, unless I share, they’re pretty useless to me so perhaps you or someone else will find them useful.

In honor of my birthday I am posting a song that details a large portion of my life and the people responsible for it. If you’d like to submit a complaint, write me and I’ll give you their address. While I am only referenced twice in passing, if characters and stories have arcs, then our two protagonists and this story are the sun that revolves around my belief in / capacity for Love. It may delve into the dark at points but Love has never and will never be easy, erase that fairy tale from your mind immediately or suffer your own wrath. Love is not a fix-all or a destination you finally arrive at. I’d liken it more to…the best umbrella you ever saw. It may be the greatest damn umbrella known to man but let’s face it, given the storms you are going to have to weather, you are still going to get wet, you’re still going to get cold and every now and then the wind is going to blow that thing inside-out and you’ll have to get a new one, can’t be helped. Expectation, at the feet of fallen intentions, quickly turns on everyone in the vicinity like a family dog gone rabid. Love doesn’t make the bad disappear, it gives you an elevated view of it.

Now that I’ve sufficiently slathered you in metaphor, enjoy!

Love is Easy

Oh, she held tight her eyes
tryin’ to hold back sunrise.
She say’s, “I can’t tell who you are going to be today
and I don’t know where I will be tomorrow.

I’m in love with a man,
woh oh
if he’s not here,
I don’t think I can.”

Sunrise to starlight,
the whole house goes dark,
save
a nightlight.

She was hearts, he was wild
out on the Dixie port tiles.
He wore a heart twist with rage t’keep him spinnin’ round.
One touch of her grace…
he slowed down.

Bridge-

“I know everything changes
but nothing
on the walls
warned of this day.”

Refrain-

“I’ll try to make it easier
to love me like you wanted to.
It’s just that I never bend,
it’s always been
the part of me that’s true.

But, I promise you
these changes we are going through.
They’re as real as I’ve ever felt.
I never fell
as hard as I’ve with you.”

“I’ve seen 20 years go by
since you first filled up my life.
Oh, the world for your smile,
while we lay rest with our child.

I’m a hard man I know
but worth fighting for.
I was drowning inside,
my heart’s still on fire.
Oh, I would never let you go,
I could never make you stay.
I wanna give love to you darling.
Don’t know what else I could say…”

Bridge-

“…but
oh, I know everything changes
but it doesn’t
work
right!
If you’re not with me.”

Refrain-

“I’m gonna make it easier
to love me like you wanted to.
It’s just that I never bend,
it’s always been
the part of me that’s true.

Oh,
I promise you
these changes we are going through,
they’re as real as I’ve ever felt
and I never fell
as hard as I’ve with you.

And if you want me to
I’ll tear down these walls for you.
You held me in my darkest night,
here comes the light,
I shine when I’m with you.”

“It’s gonna be easy.”

I took this picture at the Sutro cliffs trying to catch the sunlight and ended up with the old couple by accident. Awesome accident....that should be a band name!

Duality

2010-01-22T17:16:00.000-08:00

They was all…wham, bam, slam & jam but they was more like...hush, shush, whoosh & swoosh. Needless to say, neither was willing to budge an inch, a likely effect of running extra miles for fair weather mobs. After all that posturing each walked away confused, with a greater sense of how much they truly did not understand the other. Which is quite lovely given that confusion & frustration play nice-nice in the sandbox like Abel & Cain…brothers til’ the end.

Regret

2010-01-21T17:54:00.000-08:00

I can see her, even now.
Dancing in that summer storm,
starry eyed and reckless,
chasing rainbows in the dark.

The moon hung low,
gazing out with a macabre red glow.

Rain hissed like steel chains crashing down from Peter’s gates,

refracting the lunar hue ‘til all we knew was awash in rose.

Traipsing ‘cross those Louisiana river slopes,
I spied her from the hillside:
A fleeting sprite, drenched in white,
illuminating our hallowed nook in the Mississippi.
The crabgrass and clay were soft, warm against my bare feet,
sinking slowly into the earth with each step…

It’s difficult to find yourself at a moment like this.
Expanses of time when you’re grasped and held firm,
Wholly present on the cusp of an eternal zenith.
All that was, is, will or won’t
culminates here in plain sight -
the event horizon,
our Opus Infinitum.

Of course, this is true of every moment really
but to actually feel it,
to recognize and cherish it…?
I don’t believe I have ever felt so real.
Before or since.

Which is oh-so-funny now,
considering...

A lantern hung beneath the old willow tree.
Its branches stretched out over the river with grace and care,
our only hope of solace from the storm.

The rain pounded that rusty beacon,
scattering drops of gold to the wind.
Twirling about she seemed to lift clear off the ground,
swept up in a cyclone of lights.
The Queen ‘O’ the Wisps,
charming her court,
wooing princes
and beckoning a fool.

I have never witnessed such rage and wonder unfold in a dance.
It was hypnotizing.
Like she was speaking in tongues and I understood every word,
I could hear her hidden tune.
A sirens song played for only we two.

My god she was alive!
Truly living.
With such intensity that, even in the downpour,
her hair set aflame,
caught the night and shot out across the sky,
wild laughter in tow,
filling every space left between us
& echoing still.

I remember how my eyes felt,
beaming in smile, ready to burst.
As if I held some secret surprise,
waiting to reveal,
teasing the notion.

But between us there were no secrets.
I had none, anyway.
She told me once,
in that slow drawn out drawl of hers,
“Ya know how…some people,
they wear their hearts on their sleeve
or maybe they got a…a chip on their shoulder or sumthin like that?
Well, you’ve got everything
right there on your face.
Christ, every time I look at ya
I gotta wade through it all before my eyes even see you!”

She always did though…
maybe.

It’s a funny thing, truth.
People like to get philosophical about it.
What a joke!
What could they possibly know?
Stumbling around, fact and fiction swirled up like oil and vinegar in their fishbowl brains.

Now, I’m not talkin’ about silly things like where you been or who with.
No…I’m talkin’ REAL truth.
The kind…
The kind you’d rather bury 20 feet deep and pour a cement foundation over,
build a house on top and burn the whole cursed thing down while still inside.
…So no one ever goes near it again and you do not have to live with it another day.

Life is a spider web of stories,
one strand over another,
connecting us all.
True or false they are the only things we actually find interesting about each other.
You can keep yours,
let me keep mine.

The Dixie heat wrapped and held us,
closing in from all around,
words & bones, entombed in a moment.
Beautiful though it was,
if not that day,
then every moment since,
I drown in that river.

We had stripped ourselves down,
bare to all the wilds,
disarmed and earnest.
Our midnight debut,
a tragedy,
anything but new.

It’s strange, the things we remember,
often false,
incomplete renderings of faded images and ideals.
Reality is so impermanent,
vapor trails, dissipating in air.
Dreams are the true monoliths of time,
stalwart beacons, towering above the fog.

Her name I’ve not spoken for what has seemed a lifetime.
Though the void left to me was more just…time,
faceless, countless time.
An endless crevasse I could never cross.

I don’t know if I could tell you what became of us,
I’m not sure she would’ve approved.
But I am very certain I wouldn’t tell you,
even if she had,
for I’ve torched every corner of this house
and am lying.

Finally.

Greetings

2010-01-21T17:29:00.000-08:00

Have you ever stopped to watch two acquaintances greet each other? The rapid unfurling of non sequitur customs, instinctual reflexes & hilariously weird hang ups, it really is a strange happening…but then, what doesn’t turn strange before our eyes? Have a look for yourself.

It all starts with eye contact, the loose thread at the cuff of this whole situation, once made you’ve got no chance of escape short of some crazy about-face and tearing off into the foreground. But who the hell’s gonna do that? Perhaps the sprinter owes the other a considerable amount of money, but I did say “two friends” and you did just start reading so it’s kind of implied that we’re going to see this thing through…so, back to it…visual contact.

Now, It’s very likely half of this pair wants nothing to do with the impending, impeding encounter but those folks are going to need better peripheral vision because it’s way too late now. You see, it takes exactly .0025 seconds to recognize a person as someone you know. Once that knowledge is acknowledged, one or both of you is going to start toward the other. This is, of course, in response to the untaught, unspoken rule and incredible driving need to stand before people we know and make noises and hand gestures. What’s most unfortunate is that it takes somewhere between .0027-.0029 seconds to filter this person through your memories and realize that indeed, you did want nothing to do with Bobby today but as stated, it’s way too late now.

Depending on how well one of our two knows the other one and the amount of time since last they met will directly correspond with the volume and length of our next topic, the vocal and physical parts of a greeting. Typically these will start simultaneously. A short burst of touching along with a prolonged period of conversation. Neither person will begin until hands have touched, shaken, hugged, kissed or patted some part of the other. Regardless of how…you can bet yer bottom yer gonna be touchin’.

Although, as if there wasn’t more than enough going around already, here’s a bit of confusion for the stew, what if they don’t touch? This could mean one of two things and both are just as likely.

1) They are at odds in some way. One fears the other or themselves. There’s some kind of unresolved issue, hopefully the very reason for this meeting. It’s never good to let these things fester, sooner than later everyone will smell it.
2) One or both can’t stop thinking of the other and they want nothing more than the physical contact, mirrored with emotion, that they are presently and purposefully denying.

Weirdos...every one.

Next comes the race. This part is all about sharing but both are going to be in a fast paced game of story trading, experience peddlers, haggling with each other. Back and forth, back and forth, trying to relate, attempting to teach, trying to inspire, congratulating, feigning interest, exclaiming appropriately. This whirlwind of communication, is the preface to a new story. One involving the both of you, unwritten and untold, yet doing so as it happens. This one doesn’t need to be shared because you are sharing it and I hope you both passed kindergarten because its outcome will directly affect the amount of time between now the next possible meeting, as well as the length of time and conditions of this alluded meeting.

Funniest to me is how this communication and motion…ahuhuh…commotion, is usually followed by the complete absence or at least calming down of those very things. As if all of it was just one’s prerequisite for allowing the other to sit or stand close and quietly while they share some time. Really I shouldn’t say “as if” because that is what it is. These are the steps we take before allowing someone front seats to our movie. Not only that, but for a time, you’re stepping back from the lead and allowing a co-star in your show. It’s important stuff. It’s what makes it all worth while, nothing feels quite so real as sharing the world with friends…for whatever amount of time you are able to remain so.

Luckily, we don’t have to go through this ritual …you can read and I don’t have to be anywhere near you. Still, right now we are sharing a moment…time traveling together really. The moment I wrote this it became my past. While my points of view may have changed, the feeling and emotion of these words are locked in them forever. So when you read this, it's a future you communicating with a past me. We cross time and space to be here now. Yup, I just bleeew yer freakin' mind maaaan. That’s the true nature of art or more simply, creation. It's a window to wherever the creator wanted you to go and is the purpose of this blog. It’s my custom tint for others to look out through. Proof that for a span of time I was somewhere, disrupting the world in my own small pseudo-original way.

We truly are a curious bunch. Lunatic navigators out mapping a storm, chasing the day and burning our nights alive moonlighting as all fallible gods. A freegun miracle of survival. A better muse? I've yet to find one...greetings.