This is a tribute to the late great poet, James Douglas Morrison.
Let us revel in the beauty of his poetry, a legacy and a gift that he has so generously bestowed upon us. Listen closely as you read and you may hear his voice, dancing on the wind...
AN AMERICAN PRAYER
Do you know the warm progress
under the stars?
Do you know we exist?
Have you forgotten the keys
to the kingdom?
Have you been born yet
& are you alive?
Let's reinvent the gods, all the myths
of the ages
Celebrate symbols from deep elder forests
(Have you forgotten the lessons
of the ancient war)
We need great golden copulations
The fathers are cackling in trees of the forest
Our mother is dead in the sea
Do you know we are being led to
slaughters by placid admirals
& that fat slow generals are getting
obscene on young blood
Do you know that we are ruled by T.V.
The moon is a dry blood beast
Guerilla bands are rolling numbers
in the next block of green vine
amassing for warfare on innocent herdsmen
who are just dying
O great creator of being
grant us one more hour to
perform our art
& perfect our lives
The moths & atheists are doubly divine
& dying
We live, we die
& death not ends it
Journey we more into the
Nightmare
Cling to life
our passion'd flower
Cling to cunts and cocks
of despair
We got our final vision
by clap
Columbus' groin got
filled w. green death
(I touched her thigh
& death smiled)
We have assembled inside this ancient
& insane theatre
To propagate our lust for life
& flee the swarming wisdom
of the streets
The barns are stormed
The windows kept
& only one of all the rest
To dance & save us
W/ the divine mockery
of words
Music inflames temperament
(When the true King's murderers
are allowed to roam free
a 1000 Magicians arise
in the land)
Where are the feasts
we were promised
Where is the wine
The New Wine
(dying on the vine)
resident mockery
give us an hour for magic
We of the purple glove
We of the starlight flight
& velvet hour
We of arabic pleasure's breed
We of sundome & the night
Give us a creed
To believe
A night of Lust
Give us trust in
The night
Give of color
hundred hues
a rich Mandala
for me and you
& for your silky
pillowed house
a head, wisdom
& a bed
Troubled decree
Resident mockery
has claimed thee
We used to believe
In the good old days
We still receive
In little ways
The Things of Kindness
& unsporting brow
Forget and allow
Did you know feedom exists
in a schoolbook
Did you know madmen are
running our prison
w/in a jail, w/in a gaol
w/in a white free protestant
Maelstrom
We're perched headlong
on the edge of boredom
We're reaching for death
on the end of a candle
We're trying for something
That's already found us
We can invent Kingdoms of our own
grand purple thrones, those chairs of lust
& love we must, in beds of rust
Steel doors lock in prisoner's screams
& muzak, AM, rocks their dreams
No black men's pride to hoist the beams
while mocking angels sift what seems
To be a coolage of magazine dust
Scratched on foreheads of walls of trust
This is just jail for those who must
get up in the morning & fight for such
unusable standards
while weeping maidens
show off penury & pout
ravings for a mad
staff
Wow, I'm sick of doubt
Live in the light of certain
South
Cruel bindings
The servants have the power
dog-men & their mean women
pulling poor blankets over
our sailors
(& where were you in our
lean hour
Milking your moustache?
or grinding a flower?
I'm sick of dour faces
Staring at me from the T.V.
Tower.
I want roses in
my garden bower; dig?
Royal babies, rubies
must now replace aborted
Strangers in the mud
These mutants, blood meal
for the plant that's plowed
They are waiting to take us into
the severed garden
Do you know how pale & wanton thrillful
comes death on a strange hour
unannounced, unplanned for
like a scaring over-friendly guest you've
brought to bed
Death makes angels of us all
& gives us wings
where we had shoulders
smooth as raven's
claws
No more money, no more fancy dress
This other Kingdom seems by far the best
until its other jaw reveals incest
& loose obedience to a vegetable law
I will not go
Prefer a
feast of Friends
To the Giant Family
~~~~
(II)
Great screaming Christ
Upsy-daisy
Lazy mary will you get up
upon a Sunday morning
"The movie will begin in 5 moments"
The mindless voice announced
"All those unseated, will await
the next show"
We filed slowly, languidly
into the hall. The auditorium
was vast, & silent.
as we seated & were darkened
The voice continued:
"The program for this evening
is not new
You have seen
This entertainment thru and thru.
You've seen your birth, your
life & death; you might recall
all of the rest-(did you
have a good world when you
died?)-enough to base
a movie on?
An iron chuckle rapped our
minds like a fist.
I'm getting out of here
Where're you going?
To the other side of morning
Please don't chase the clouds
pagodas, temples
Her cunt gripped him
like a warm friendly
hand.
"It's all right.
All you friends are here."
When can I meet them?
"After you'ver eaten"
I'm not hungry
"O, we meant beaten"
Silver stream, silvery scream,
impossible concentration
Here come the comedians
look at them smile
Watch them dance
an indian smile
Look at them gesture
How aplomb
So to gesture everyone
Words disemble
Words be quick
Words resembl;e walking sticks
Play them
They will grow
Watch them waver so
I'll always be
a word-man
Better than a birdman
But I'll charge
Won't get away
w/out lodging a dollar
Shall I say it again
aloud, you get the point
No food w/out fuel's gain
I'll be, the irish loud
unleashed my beak
at peak of powers
O girl, unleash
your worried comb
O worried mind
Sin in the fallen
Backwoods by the blind
She smells debt
on my new collar
Arrogant prose
Tied in a network of fast quest
Hence the obsession
Its quick to admit
Fast borrowed rhythm
Woman came between them
Women of the world unite
Make the world safe
For a scandalous life
Hee Heee
Cut your throat
Life is a joke
Your wife's in a moat
The same boat
Here comes the goat
Blood Blood Blood Blood
They're making a joke
of our universe
~~~~
(III)
Matchbox
Are you more real than me
I'll burn you, & set you free
Wept bitter tears
Excessive courtesy
I won't forget
~~~~
(IV)
A hot sick lava flowed up,
Rustling & bubbling.
The paper face.
Mirror-mask, I love you mirror.
He had been brainwashed for 4 hrs.
The LT. puzzled in again
"ready to talk"
"No sir"- was all he'dsay.
Go back to the gym.
Very peaceful
Meditation
Air base in the desert
looking out venetian blinds
a plane
a desert flower
cool cartoon
The rest of the
world
is reckless and dangerous
Look at the
brothels
Stag films
Exploration
~~~~
A ship leaves port
mean horse of another thicket
wishbone of desire
decry the metal fox
Copyright 1990 by Wilderness Publications
THE CELEBRATION OF THE LIZARD
Lions in the street & roaming
Dogs in heat, rabid, foaming
A beast caged in the heart of a city
The body of his mother
Rotting in the summer ground.
He fled the town.
He went down South
And crossed the border
Left the chaos & disorder
Back there
Over his shoulder.
One morning he awoke in a green hotel
W/a strange creature groaning beside him.
Sweat oozed from its shiny skin.
Is everybody in? (3)
The ceremony is about to begin.
Wake up!
You can't remember where it was.
Had this dream stopped?
The snake was pale gold glazed & shrunken.
We were afraid to touch it.
The sheets were hot dead prisons.
And she was beside me, old,
She's, no; young.
Her dark red hair.
The white soft skin.
Now, run to the mirror in the bathroom,
Look!
She's coming in here.
I can't live thru each slow century
of her moving.
I let my cheek slide down
The cool smooth tile
Feel the good cold stinging blood.
The smooth hissing snakes
of rain...
~~~
Once I had a little game
I liked to crawl back in my brain
I think you know the game I mean
I mean the game called "Go Insane"
Now you should try this little game
Just close your eyes forget your name
forget the world, forget the people
and we'll erect a different steeple.
This little game is fun to do.,br>
Just close your eyes, no way to lose
And I'm right here, I'm going too
Release control, we're breaking through
~~~
Way back deep into the brain
Way back past the realm of pain
Back where there's never any rain
And the rain falls gently on the town
And over the heads of all of us
And in the labyrinth of streams beneath
Quiet unearthly presence of
Nervous hill dwellers in the gentle hills around
Reptiles abounding
Fossils, caves, cool air heights
Each house repeats a mold
Windows rolled
A beast car locked in against morning
All now sleeping
Rugs silent, mirrors vacant
Dust blind under the beds of lawful couples
Wound in sheets
And daughters, smug with semen
Eyes in their nipples
Wait! There's been a slaughter here
Don't stop to speak or look around
Your gloves and fan are on the ground
We're getting out of town
We're going on the run
And you're the one I want to come!
~~~
Not to touch the earth, not to see the sun
Nothing left to do but run, run, run
Let's run, let's run
House upon the hill, moon is lying still
Shadows of the trees witnessing the wild breeze
Come on, baby, run with me
Let's run
Run with me, run with me, run with me
Let's run
The mansion is warm at the top of the hill
Rich are the rooms and the comforts there
Red are the arms of luxuriant chairs
And you won't know a thing till you get inside
Dead president's corpse in the driver's car
The engine runs on glue and tar
Come on along, not going very far,
To the east to meet the Czar
Run with me, run with me, run with me
Let's run
Some outlaws live by the side of a lake
The minister's daughter's in love with the snake
Who lives in a well by the side of the road
Wake up, girl! We're almost home
Sun, sun, sun
Burn, burn, burn
Moon, moon, moon
I will get you soon...soon...soon!
I am the Lizard King
I can do anything
~~~
We came down the rivers and highways
We came down from forests and falls
We came down from Carson and Springfield
We came down from Phoenix enthralled
And I can tell you the names of the kingdom
I can tell you the things that you know
Listening for a fistful of silence
Climbing valleys into the shade
~~~
For seven years I dwelt in the loose palace of exile
Playing strange games with the girls of the island
Now I have come again to the land of the fair
And the strong and the wise
Brothers and sisters of the pale forest
Children of night
Who among you will run with the hunt?
Now night arrives with her purple legion
Retire now to your tents and to your dreams
Tomorrow we enter the town of my birth
I want to be ready
Copyright © Doors Music Co.
POEMS FROM DRY WATER
The velvet fur of religion
The polish of knife handle & coin
The universe of organic gears
or microscope mechanical
embryo metal doll
The night is a steel machine
grinding its slow stained wheels
The brain is filled w/clocks, & drills
& water down drains
Knife-handle, thick blood
like the coin & cloth
they rub & the skin they love
to touch
the graveyard, the tombstone,
the gloomstone & runestone
The sand & the moon, mating
deep in the Western night
waiting for the escape
of one of our gang
The hangman's noose is a
silver sluice bait
come-on man
your meat is hanging
on the wing of the raven
man's bird, poet's soul
~~~
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
the thin rustle of weeds
the voice comes from faraway
inside, awaiting its birth
in a cool room, on tendril bone
The insane free chummy cackle
of infants in a ballroom, of a
family of friends around
a table, laden w/feast-food
soft guilty female laughter
the bar-room, the men's room
people assemble to establish
armies & find their foe
& fight
~~~
Clustered in watchful terror
by vine-growth, the hollow bush
dry cancerous wells
We awoke before dawn, slipped
into the canyon
Noon schoolyard screamed
w/play, the lunch hour ending
ropes & balls slapped hard at
cement sand, the female land
was bright, all swelling to degree
most comfortless & guarding
A record noise shot out
& stunned the earth. The music
had been bolted w/new sound.
Run, run the end of repose
an anthem has churned
the bad guys are winning.
~~~
Silver shaken in the gloom
I left her
Trees waste & sway forever
Marble porch & sylvan frieze
Down on her knees
She begs the spider-king to wed her
Slides into bed
He turns her over
There is a leather pouch
that's full of silver
It spills like water
She left
And took the coins I gave her.
~~~
As to the drowning man
hoarse whisper
invokes, on the edge,
an arroyo
Sangre de Christo
Violence in a time of plenty
There is one deaf witness
on the bank, the shore
leaning in finery against
a ruined wall
as Jesus did. Red livid lips,
pale flesh withdrawn from
ragged dress, pit of the past
& secrets unveiled in the
scarred chalk wall
When, often, one is not deluged
by rain, 3 drops suffice
The war is over there
I am neither doctor nor saint
Christ or soldier
Now, friends, don't look at me
sadly ranting like some
incomprehensible child
I know by my breath of what
I speak, & what I've seen,
needs telling.
~~~
Please, freeze!
Danger near.
A message has started its path
to the heart of the brain
A thin signal is on its way
An arrow of hope, predicting rain
A death-rod bearing pain
~~~
I will not come again
I will not come again
into the swirl
The bitter wine-soaked
stallion eats the seed,
all labor is a lie;
no vice is kindled in
these loins to melt
or vie w/any strong
particulating smile.
Leave sundry stones alive.
Now that you have gone
all alone
the desert to explore
& left me here alone
the calmness of the town
where a girl in black
gets in a car
& searches numbly
for her keys;
Now that you have gone
or strayed away-
I sit, & listen to the hiss
of traffic & invoke
into this burned & gutted
room some ghost, some
vague resemblance of a time
Off-on, on and off,
like one long sick
electric dream.
This state is confused
state. Out there everyone
is greedy for love.
They will drain her life
like warm connectors,
plug into her soul
From every side & melt
her form for me.
But I deserve this,
Greatest cannibal of all.
Some tired future.
Let me sleep.
Get on w/the disease.
~~~
In this dim cave
we can go no further.
Here money is key
to smooth age. Horses,
givers of guilt. Great
bags of gold.
I want obedience!
We examine this ancient
& insane theatre, obscene
like luxuriant churches
altars.
I confess
to scarves
cool floors
stroked curtain
The actors are twice-blessed
before us. This is
too serious & severe.
Great mystery!
Timeless passion
patterned in stillness.
~~~
was thread
which binds
us even now
on this pale
planet.
To the poet
& cover-girl,
photo in color,
to armies
that join,
out on a desert
& to Samson
& all his
generals
bound quiet
now w/exotic
arch-angels
of dusk, in
Sumarian
& N. African
slumbers.
The bazaar is crowded
as dancers thrive.
Snake-wreaths & pleasures.
I take you to a low cave
called "Calipah".
~~~
Stand there listening
you will hear them
tiny shapes just beyond
the moon
Star-flys, jarts,
dismal fronds
stirring ape-jaws striving
to make the morning
mail call
Cry owl.
Hark to the wood-vine.
Suckle-snake crawls, gnawing
restive
I know you.
The one who left to go
warning.
Wishless now
& sullen.
Transfer deferred.
Steal me a peach
from the orange tree
grove-keeper
She fell.
What are you doing
w/your hand on her
breast?
She fell, mam.
Give her to me.
Yes, mam.
Go tell the master
what you've done.
They killed him.
Later.
Going up the stairs
handcuffed
to his cell.
A shot-gun blast
Behind the back.
~~~
(I)
Untrampled footsteps
Borderline dreams
Occasion for sinners
alive if it seems
given to wander
alone at the shore
wanton to whisper
I am no more
Am as my heart beats
live as I can
wanton to whisper
faraway sands
(II)
My weary westward wanderer
Faraway is as it seems
& so alone shall shelter
Come along unto my sails
as weary islands go
prosper merry as I went
I shall no more the sailor
Shall I ho the sailor
(III)
Where were you when I needed you?
Where indeed but in some sheltered
Sturdy heaven; wasted, broken
sadly broke & one thin thing to get us thru
(IV)
Urchin crawl broke
spenders bleeders all
brew North
stained lot
he was lost
out on an aircraft
high above
long awkward brewer's
shelters breed
this ugly crew
our poisoned jet
god get us love & get
us speed
To get us home again
love
Crippled by people
cut by nothing
Public housing
the incredible damage
can be cured
(V)
She's my girl friend:
I wouldn't tell her
Name but I think
you already know her
Name
is
Square fire insect
marble saffron intro
demi-rag in flames
it's the same game
whether you call it
by her real name
(VI)
She lives in the city
under the sea
Prisoner of pirates
prisoner of dreams
I want to be w/her
want her to see
The things I've created
sea-shells that bleed
Sensitive seeds
of impossible warships
Dragon-fly hovers
& wavers & teases
The weeds & his wings
are in terrible fury
Copyright © 1988 by Wilderness Publications
AS I LOOK BACK
As I look back
over my life
I am struck by post
cards
Ruined Snap shots
faded posters
Of a time, I can't recall
~~~
I am a Scot, or so
I'm told. Really
the heir of Mystery
Christians
Snake in the Glen
The child of a
Military family...
I rebelled against church
after phases of
fervor
I curried favor in school
& attack'd the teachers
I was given a
desk in the corner
I was a fool
&
The smartest kid
in class
~~~
Walks in D.C. in
Negro streets. The library
& book stores. Orange
brick in warm sun.
The books & poets magic
Then sex gives greater stimulation
Than you've ever known &
all peace & books lose their
charm & you are thrown
back on the eye of vision
~~~
History of Rock
coinciding w/my
adolescence
Came to LA to
Film School
Venice Summer
Drug Visions
Roof top songs
early struggles &
humiliations
Thanks to the girls
who fed me.
~~~
Making Records
Elvis had sex-wise
mature voice at 19.
Mine still retains the
nasal whine of a
repressed adolescent
minor squeaks & furies
An interesting singer
at best-a scream
or a sick croon. Nothing
in-between.
~Road Days~
fear of Plane death
And night was what Night
should be
A girl, a bottle, & blessed sleep
I have ploughed
My seed thru the heart
of the nation.
Injected a germ in the psychic blood vein.
Now I embrace the poetry
of business & become-for
a time-a "Prince of Industry"
~~~
A natural leader, a poet,
a Shaman, w/the
soul of a clown.
What am I doing
in the Bull Ring
Arena
Every public figure
running for Leader
Spectators at the Tomb
-riot watchers
Fear of Eyes
Assassination
Being drunk is a good disguise.
I drink so I
can talk to assholes.
This includes me.
~~~
The horror of business
The Problem of Money
guilt
do I deserve it?
The Meeting
Rid of Managers & agents
After 4 yrs. I'm left w/a
mind like a fuzzy hammer
regret for wasted nights
& wasted years
I pissed it all away
American Music
~~~
End w/fond good-bye
& plans for future
-Not an actor
Writer-filmmaker
Which of my cellves
will be remember'd
Good-bye America
I loved you
Money form home
good luck
stay out of trouble
Copyright © 1988 by Wilderness Publications
This is a tribute to the late great poet, James Douglas Morrison.
Let us revel in the beauty of his poetry, a legacy and a gift that he has so generously bestowed upon us. Listen closely as you read and you may hear his voice, dancing on the wind...
AN AMERICAN PRAYER
Lions in the street & roaming
Dogs in heat, rabid, foaming
A beast caged in the heart of a city
The body of his mother
Rotting in the summer ground.
He fled the town.
He went down South
And crossed the border
Left the chaos & disorder
Back there
Over his shoulder.
One morning he awoke in a green hotel
W/a strange creature groaning beside him.
Sweat oozed from its shiny skin.
Is everybody in? (3)
The ceremony is about to begin.
Wake up!
You can't remember where it was.
Had this dream stopped?
The snake was pale gold glazed & shrunken.
We were afraid to touch it.
The sheets were hot dead prisons.
And she was beside me, old,
She's, no; young.
Her dark red hair.
The white soft skin.
Now, run to the mirror in the bathroom,
Look!
She's coming in here.
I can't live thru each slow century
of her moving.
I let my cheek slide down
The cool smooth tile
Feel the good cold stinging blood.
The smooth hissing snakes
of rain...
~~~
Once I had a little game
I liked to crawl back in my brain
I think you know the game I mean
I mean the game called "Go Insane"
Now you should try this little game
Just close your eyes forget your name
forget the world, forget the people
and we'll erect a different steeple.
This little game is fun to do.,br> Just close your eyes, no way to lose
And I'm right here, I'm going too
Release control, we're breaking through
~~~
Way back deep into the brain
Way back past the realm of pain
Back where there's never any rain
And the rain falls gently on the town
And over the heads of all of us
And in the labyrinth of streams beneath
Quiet unearthly presence of
Nervous hill dwellers in the gentle hills around
Reptiles abounding
Fossils, caves, cool air heights
Each house repeats a mold
Windows rolled
A beast car locked in against morning
All now sleeping
Rugs silent, mirrors vacant
Dust blind under the beds of lawful couples
Wound in sheets
And daughters, smug with semen
Eyes in their nipples
Wait! There's been a slaughter here
Don't stop to speak or look around
Your gloves and fan are on the ground
We're getting out of town
We're going on the run
And you're the one I want to come!
~~~
Not to touch the earth, not to see the sun
Nothing left to do but run, run, run
Let's run, let's run
House upon the hill, moon is lying still
Shadows of the trees witnessing the wild breeze
Come on, baby, run with me
Let's run
Run with me, run with me, run with me
Let's run
The mansion is warm at the top of the hill
Rich are the rooms and the comforts there
Red are the arms of luxuriant chairs
And you won't know a thing till you get inside
Dead president's corpse in the driver's car
The engine runs on glue and tar
Come on along, not going very far,
To the east to meet the Czar
Run with me, run with me, run with me
Let's run
Some outlaws live by the side of a lake
The minister's daughter's in love with the snake
Who lives in a well by the side of the road
Wake up, girl! We're almost home
Sun, sun, sun
Burn, burn, burn
Moon, moon, moon
I will get you soon...soon...soon!
I am the Lizard King
I can do anything
~~~
We came down the rivers and highways
We came down from forests and falls
We came down from Carson and Springfield
We came down from Phoenix enthralled
And I can tell you the names of the kingdom
I can tell you the things that you know
Listening for a fistful of silence
Climbing valleys into the shade
~~~
For seven years I dwelt in the loose palace of exile
Playing strange games with the girls of the island
Now I have come again to the land of the fair
And the strong and the wise
Brothers and sisters of the pale forest
Children of night
Who among you will run with the hunt?
Now night arrives with her purple legion
Retire now to your tents and to your dreams
Tomorrow we enter the town of my birth
I want to be ready
Copyright © Doors Music Co.
POEMS FROM DRY WATER
The velvet fur of religion
The polish of knife handle & coin
The universe of organic gears
or microscope mechanical
embryo metal doll
The night is a steel machine
grinding its slow stained wheels
The brain is filled w/clocks, & drills
& water down drains
Knife-handle, thick blood
like the coin & cloth
they rub & the skin they love
to touch
the graveyard, the tombstone,
the gloomstone & runestone
The sand & the moon, mating
deep in the Western night
waiting for the escape
of one of our gang
The hangman's noose is a
silver sluice bait
come-on man
your meat is hanging
on the wing of the raven
man's bird, poet's soul
~~~
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
the thin rustle of weeds
the voice comes from faraway
inside, awaiting its birth
in a cool room, on tendril bone
The insane free chummy cackle
of infants in a ballroom, of a
family of friends around
a table, laden w/feast-food
soft guilty female laughter
the bar-room, the men's room
people assemble to establish
armies & find their foe
& fight
~~~
Clustered in watchful terror
by vine-growth, the hollow bush
dry cancerous wells
We awoke before dawn, slipped
into the canyon
Noon schoolyard screamed
w/play, the lunch hour ending
ropes & balls slapped hard at
cement sand, the female land
was bright, all swelling to degree
most comfortless & guarding
A record noise shot out
& stunned the earth. The music
had been bolted w/new sound.
Run, run the end of repose
an anthem has churned
the bad guys are winning.
~~~
Silver shaken in the gloom
I left her
Trees waste & sway forever
Marble porch & sylvan frieze
Down on her knees
She begs the spider-king to wed her
Slides into bed
He turns her over
There is a leather pouch
that's full of silver
It spills like water
She left
And took the coins I gave her.
~~~
As to the drowning man
hoarse whisper
invokes, on the edge,
an arroyo
Sangre de Christo
There is one deaf witness
on the bank, the shore
leaning in finery against
a ruined wall
as Jesus did. Red livid lips,
pale flesh withdrawn from
ragged dress, pit of the past
& secrets unveiled in the
scarred chalk wall
When, often, one is not deluged
by rain, 3 drops suffice
The war is over there
I am neither doctor nor saint
Christ or soldier
Now, friends, don't look at me
sadly ranting like some
incomprehensible child
I know by my breath of what
I speak, & what I've seen,
needs telling.
~~~
Please, freeze!
Danger near.
A message has started its path
to the heart of the brain
A thin signal is on its way
An arrow of hope, predicting rain
A death-rod bearing pain
~~~
I will not come again
I will not come again
into the swirl
The bitter wine-soaked
stallion eats the seed,
all labor is a lie;
no vice is kindled in
these loins to melt
or vie w/any strong
particulating smile.
Leave sundry stones alive.
Now that you have gone
all alone
the desert to explore
& left me here alone
the calmness of the town
where a girl in black
gets in a car
& searches numbly
for her keys;
Now that you have gone
or strayed away-
I sit, & listen to the hiss
of traffic & invoke
into this burned & gutted
room some ghost, some
vague resemblance of a time
Off-on, on and off,
like one long sick
electric dream.
This state is confused
state. Out there everyone
is greedy for love.
They will drain her life
like warm connectors,
plug into her soul
From every side & melt
her form for me.
But I deserve this,
Greatest cannibal of all.
Some tired future.
Let me sleep.
Get on w/the disease.
~~~
In this dim cave
we can go no further.
Here money is key
to smooth age. Horses,
givers of guilt. Great
bags of gold.
I want obedience!
We examine this ancient
& insane theatre, obscene
like luxuriant churches
altars.
I confess
to scarves
cool floors
stroked curtain
The actors are twice-blessed
before us. This is
too serious & severe.
Great mystery!
Timeless passion
patterned in stillness.
~~~
which binds
us even now
on this pale
planet.
To the poet
& cover-girl,
photo in color,
to armies
that join,
out on a desert
& to Samson
& all his
generals
bound quiet
now w/exotic
arch-angels
of dusk, in
Sumarian
& N. African
slumbers.
The bazaar is crowded
as dancers thrive.
Snake-wreaths & pleasures.
I take you to a low cave
called "Calipah".
~~~
Stand there listening
you will hear them
tiny shapes just beyond
the moon
Star-flys, jarts,
dismal fronds
stirring ape-jaws striving
to make the morning
mail call
Cry owl.
Hark to the wood-vine.
Suckle-snake crawls, gnawing
restive
I know you.
The one who left to go
warning.
Wishless now
& sullen.
Transfer deferred.
Steal me a peach
from the orange tree
grove-keeper
She fell.
What are you doing
w/your hand on her
breast?
She fell, mam.
Give her to me.
Yes, mam.
Go tell the master
what you've done.
They killed him.
Later.
Going up the stairs
handcuffed
to his cell.
A shot-gun blast
Behind the back.
~~~
(I)
Untrampled footsteps
Borderline dreams
Occasion for sinners
alive if it seems
given to wander
alone at the shore
wanton to whisper
I am no more
Am as my heart beats
live as I can
wanton to whisper
faraway sands
(II)
My weary westward wanderer
Faraway is as it seems
& so alone shall shelter
Come along unto my sails
as weary islands go
prosper merry as I went
I shall no more the sailor
Shall I ho the sailor
(III)
Where were you when I needed you?
Where indeed but in some sheltered
Sturdy heaven; wasted, broken
sadly broke & one thin thing to get us thru
(IV)
Urchin crawl broke
spenders bleeders all
brew North
stained lot
he was lost
out on an aircraft
high above
long awkward brewer's
shelters breed
this ugly crew
our poisoned jet
god get us love & get
us speed
To get us home again
love
Crippled by people
cut by nothing
Public housing
the incredible damage
can be cured
(V)
She's my girl friend:
I wouldn't tell her
Name but I think
you already know her
Name
is
Square fire insect
marble saffron intro
demi-rag in flames
it's the same game
whether you call it
by her real name
(VI)
She lives in the city
under the sea
Prisoner of pirates
prisoner of dreams
I want to be w/her
want her to see
The things I've created
sea-shells that bleed
Sensitive seeds
of impossible warships
Dragon-fly hovers
& wavers & teases
The weeds & his wings
are in terrible fury
Copyright © 1988 by Wilderness Publications
AS I LOOK BACK
~Road Days~
fear of Plane death
And night was what Night
should be
A girl, a bottle, & blessed sleep
I have ploughed
My seed thru the heart
of the nation.
Injected a germ in the psychic blood vein.
Now I embrace the poetry
of business & become-for
a time-a "Prince of Industry"
~~~
A natural leader, a poet,
a Shaman, w/the
soul of a clown.
What am I doing
in the Bull Ring
Arena
Every public figure
running for Leader
Spectators at the Tomb
-riot watchers
Fear of Eyes
Assassination
Being drunk is a good disguise.
I drink so I
can talk to assholes.
This includes me.
~~~
The horror of business
The Problem of Money
guilt
do I deserve it?
The Meeting
Rid of Managers & agents
After 4 yrs. I'm left w/a
mind like a fuzzy hammer
regret for wasted nights
& wasted years
I pissed it all away
American Music
~~~
End w/fond good-bye
& plans for future
-Not an actor
Writer-filmmaker
Which of my cellves
will be remember'd
Good-bye America
I loved you
Money form home
good luck
stay out of trouble
Copyright © 1988 by Wilderness Publications