Category: Music

Ages

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It’s been ages since you came around.
How’s that west coast treating you,
now?

Been through stages you wouldn’t comprehend.
Let’s just say things are different.
How?

So you’re back in town? For how long?
For good like the rest of us?

Yes I’m back in town, just for now.
Ain’t no finer place to rust.

It’s been ages,
more than awhile.
Got a past and a future
to reconcile.
Trees are taller
or is it just me?
Kids are younger
or could it be
since I made my
last farewell
I wore myself in
some myself?

You look familiar. Tell me your last name.
Say hello to your folks
for me.

I’m unfamiliar with myself out here
on the front step of my home.
Strangely….

I scan the faces out on Main,
look down and pray to slip away
without a trace.

Do I know what I need?
People, purpose, a city?
Oh the waiting.

It’s been ages,
more than awhile.
Got a past and a future
to reconcile.
Trees are taller
or is it just me?
Kids are younger
or could it be
since I made my
last farewell
I wore myself in
some myself?

Re-make yourself at home.
Mirror, mirror, off the wall.

(8/20-8/26/2018: Irish Acres, Mount Horeb, Wisconsin)

Get Used To It

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Well, well, well-come
to another non-fictional
American morning, 2018.
Ready, fire, aim…
Get used to it.

Loose cannons, loose lips.
Ladies & gentlemen:
Get used to it.

“I can see it very well…
Take my word
he’s a madman
don’t you know?”

It’s all part of the plan,
I swear.
Get used to it.
We’ll take it from here.

Keep your TV on
with the sound off.
Get used to it.

Who’s a role model anyhow?
My way or none at all.
Keep ’em guessing, yeah we’ll throw ’em off.
Maybe we’ll think about it over a round of golf.

Stay seated
where you are.
We’ll keep you entertained
another hour.
Your role in this is critical.
Another day,
another curtain call.
Get used to it.

(3/11/2019 – Adams Point, Oakland, California)

Can’t Explain

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Sunday morning,
learning the hard way,
“What goes up must come down.”

Hallowed be thy
nameless, natural causes.
Social science can’t explain.

Got the blues, yeah
I could use the color.
Ready for a change yesterday.

20-something
sardines in square tin canisters.
Laws of nature can’t explain.

Exit stage left…
Enter stage right.
Don’t look down.
Hold on tight.

Ain’t afraid yet
ain’t courageous when it
comes to big decisions.

Trust my gut and
trust my guru ’cause
mathematics can’t explain

why you left and
why you came back and
why you stayed. Thinly veiled.

Now we’re going places
heretofore uncharted.
Cartography can’t explain.

Exit stage left…
Enter stage right.
Don’t look down.
Hold on tight.

(2/23-3/3/2018 – Adams Point, Oakland, California)

As the Crow Flies

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As the crow flies east, so do we.
Deciding when to say goodbye ain’t easy.

Since I was a boy, I dreamed of California.
Back when I was twenty couldn’t imagine it could come true.
Then I was twenty-five, arrived and never dreamed of leaving.
Since yesterday I knew we had to.

We came, we saw, we conquered our-
selves & all this golden state had to off-
er us, it was abundant. We’ll
be back again.
(You’ll see)

Loving hard for a time’s just fine.
So’s heading out when the time is right.
Import now, an export then.
Prodigal stranger in a once homeland.
Bringing that which can’t be left behind:
Sierra blood, Pacific mind.
Oakland heart, wild San Francisco nights.

We came, we saw, we conquered our-
selves & all this golden state had to off-
er us, it was abundant. We’ll
be back again.
(You’ll see)

On the wing.
Riding on thunder & wind
through the plains in dark of night.
East we go, as the crow flies.

(11/14-23/2017 – Adams Point, Oakland, California)

Firewood

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Modern matters
of the midnight mind.
Chill in the air,
lights out time.
Ain’t it funny
being part of a crowd?
You go in.
You go out.

Firewood.
Firewood.

Domino theories.
Four letter words.
Go ahead,
your own terms.
California
clock it ticks.
Chaos theories.
Seeker phase.

Firewood.
Firewood.

Should I stay?
Or should I go?
Add a log?
Stir the coals?

Where you are,
close your eyes.
What you see –
whats that sign?
Palm trees nod.
World slows down.
Give your love a kiss
soon as she’s around.

Firewood.
Firewood.

Giving is
letting go.
Are you leaving
for the other shore?
Outside sources,
let them be.
Concentration.
Gradually.

Firewood.
Firewood.
Embers last ’til the light of dawn.

Firewood.
Firewood.
Embers last ’til the light of dawn.

(10/22-23/2017 – Adams Point, Oakland, California)