All of these will be copyrighted by someone or some company somewhere but all the mistakes are my own.

SORT OF

JUST A CONVERSATION

It was just a conversation
In Grand Central Station one day
I'd lost my occupation
Didn't Have no destination anyway
When it all got too boring
I gave you my shoes
And you left me there with the Barefoot Blues

PARADISE EXPRESS

Sho is nice
Ridin' the rails to paradise
Watch dem sleepers
Starting' to rise
Hey, you don't need no ticket
You just sign on the line
Early in the morn'
Gabrielle give me some horn
Well there aint no need to worry
Cause everything's fine

I GOT EVIL

I got evil inside me
You got evil inside you
I got evil inside you
You got evil inside me
I got evil
You got evil
Inside Us

LITTLE GIRL'S WORLD

Flags unfurled
Streets uncurled
It's too much
Too touch
It's a little girl's world
Magazine
Fairy queen
She's too sweet
To eat
On the silver screen
Get down on your knees
And sing for me
You've had your fair share
Of Sympathy
Wont you come upstairs
And play with me

TUTANKHAMUN

Ribs wrapped in ribbons
And his eyes full of clay
Tutankhamun's comin' for his summer holiday
Walkin' down the road in his chevrolet
Better never git in his way
Common folk are hummin'
Cause Tutankhamun's comin'
Ribbons wrap his ribs
He remembers what he gives
Tutankhamun lives
Cause the gibbon never gibs
And it's his word
That you just heard, oh yes
He looks so great but what is the matter with his eyes

MONOPLANE

Monoplane
Lost in the artic
Monoplane
Lost contact
Passengers and crew
Gettin' frantic
Monoplane
Will never bring 'em back
Are ya lost
Little monoplane
Are ya lost
In the wind and rain
The Polar Circle
Will never be the same
Up there
In the are
Scarin' shit
Out of a polar bear
We're fallin'
We're fallin'
Fire in the cockpit!
Fire in the cockpit!
Oh oh whaterwe gonna do
Don't get mad at me
Don't get mad at me
It's just a law of gravity
Seven eights of an iceberg
Seven eights are always hid
Don't say you ever saw one
Cause I know you never did
Oh God
Sweet God almighty
Hear my prayer
Don't leave us stuck
In the middle of the air
We're fallin'
We're fallin'
Who dat callin'
While we're fallin'
Who dat callin' my name
Dere's a little girl's face
On the window pane
I hope I never
See dat face again
Oh we're fallin'
Funky
Is monkey
With an "F"
Lead with your right
And follow with your left
Here we go
I'm hittin' land
I'm hittin' land
The others are frightened
But I'm cool
The others are frightened
Cause they didn't bother
To follow the rules
Are you lost
little monoplane
Are you lost
In the wind and rain
The Polar Circle
Will never be the same again

BLUE FLOWER

Waitin' for a sign from you
Waitin' for the signal to change
Have you forgotten what true love can do
Is this the end
Can we still be friends
Walkin' through the city
Your boots are highheeled and shining bright
The sun was sparkling on the shaft of your knife
Blue flower in the morning rain
Dyin' in my hand
It was all in vain
Superstar in your own private movie
I wanted just a minor part
I'm no fool I know you're cool
I never really wanted your heart
Before the dice were cast
I never would have dared to ask
Your eyes are windows to another world
Is this the end
Can't we still be friends
With a cheetah on a chain
No one dared to put you down
It's not that cool with me around
Blue flower in the morning rain
Dyin' in my hand
It was all in vain

I'M ALL ALONE

I'm all alone in the world
I don;t really mind
It could be worse
When will you see
What's happening to me
The world gathers round
Gathers round

WHO'S GONNA HELP ME NOW?

Who's gonna help me now
Who's gonna help me now
He left me alone
On the aerodrome
Who's gonna help me now
He never told me a lie
He never told me a lie
He swore he'd be back
In a Cadillac
He promised me pie in the sky
Promised me pie in the sky
I'm down to my very last dime
I'm down to my very last dime
This flight is the start
To the end of my heart
You're nowhere and never on time
Breakin' this poor heart of mine

SMALL HANDS OF STONE

Small hands of stone
All on my own
With the glow you gave
The sound of the snow
As beams stream between us
See my hands grow
In a spoon
By your window
Can't catch me
Cause I'm on my way now
Any day now
You'll make the change
From day to day
If I had my way
Oh babe, I'd stay here forever
But side by side
We could never be together

HEADING FOR KYOTO

Sunlight catchin' on their glasses
As the train negotiates them mountain passes
From across the fields I see them
In their saffron gear
Drinking cups of coffee and the occassional beer
Sittin' in the restaurant car
Heading for Kyoto
They're coming back from their holiday
Two wise men who are following the way

JUMPIN' JONAH

Oh get down Mother Mary get down Mother Mary
Mother Mary please get down, yeah
Well get down Mother Mary get down Mother Mary
Mother Mary better get down
**** Well you're too ??????? just admit to a child ****
Now get down here well get down
Get your coat and your hat
Let us show you now where it's at

Well now get down Jumping Jonah get down Jumping Jonah
Jumpin' Jonah please get down, yeah
Well get down Jumping Jonah get down Jumping Jonah
Jumpin' Jonah better get down
Well before you set sail you shoulda thought of the whale
Now get down here now get down
Get your coat and your hat
Let us show you now where it's at

Well get down Doubting Tommy get down Doubting Tommy
Doubting Tommy please get down, yeah
Well get down Doubting Tommy get down Doubting Tommy
Doubting Tommy better get down
They're gonna send ya to Mars just for feeling the stars
Well get down well get down here
Get your coat and your hat
Better me show you now where it's at

Well get down well get down
 

ACNALBASAC NOOM and CASABLANCA MOON

CASABLANCA MOON

He used to wear fedoras
Now he sports a fez
There's cabalistic innuendoes
In everything he sez
Sucking at a cigarette
Picking up a thread
Underneath the Casablanca Moon

He lurks behind a paper
In the shadow of a mosque
He can't count all the continents he's crossed
Trailing party-member leaving
Footprints in the frost
Underneath the Acnalbasac Noom

His cover was broken somewhere in Hoboken -
the man said his Case was lost.
He was sent to the Orient, a
Double agent double crossed.

There's a cocaine stain on his mustache
The pieces of his puzzle just don't join.
People in high places want to stamp his
Many faces on a trans-caucasian coin.

He'd better watch his steps 'cos sooner or
Later they'll find his headless body in
A ventilator.

Lines of sweat like tinsel starts to smart his eyes.
Neurosis seeps like semen through the cracks in his disguise.
In a dark bordello cracked a mirror with his cries
Underneath the Casablanca Moon.

Yesterday evening he finally lost his mind,
The walls fell in & all mankind
Was standing before him all raising their hands
In a significant gesture which hi didn't understand.

ME AND PARVATI

Me & Parvati In Paris, France
Surrounded by musicians, dressing to dance
On the tomb of acquisitions
Where bloomed our positions
Scattered like scars on the skin of the stars
Needing celebration we entered a bar
The conversation centered on conservation
She dropped a tear for the frozen deer in the forests of upper Thailand (tigerland).
Out on the street, blazing with light we threw back our heads
Crazed with delight, then she asked "Who do you really think you are?"
Seeking sudden treasure on the Rue St. Jacques
The delicate creation of a bruise on her back.
Struck down form behind by a process in the back of her mind
Time well tell if her spell was cast or improvised
- on the curve of disaster I never dare to ask her
She made her name on the exit lace of the famous Stella Highways (hide-a-way)
Out on the street Blazing with delight
I asked her a question & she got it right
- (the answer was the question she asked me)

MR RAINBOW
 ["Jeune Goinfre" by A. Rimbaud]

Casauette de moire,
Quéquette d'ivoire,
Toilette trés noire,
Paul guette l'armoire,
Projette languette sur poire,
S'apprête baguette et foire.
His silhouette rancid with diamonds
Splinters like cone in the balm of your hand;
He's rigged with a nebulae's sine qua non
A festival of gas on a table of sand;
He's jerking like an angel on the ladder of crime;
Diluting syrup ditties at the peak of their prime;
He's spun like a ghost in the radio cool;
He's everybodies child but nobodies fool;
He's cook like the breast of a radio ghost;
His name is Mr. Rainbow etc. etc. ...

MICHELANGELO

Lying back to paint upon the ceiling
No, he never used black - just the colours of his feelings.
He delineates saints on a sepia ground,
His temper like his paints is albumen bound.
Work & toil, well he ain't no dilettante,
He conceives in oil & vatican chianti.
The rumour's out, his hobby is dissection,
& there ain't no doubt he knows the body to perfection.
Fourteen lines, that's what make a sonnet
& it even rhymes - Buonarroti's working on it.
Through the streets, stricken by the urchins,
Wrapped in sheets, round the town he's lurching.
Lurching to the church, heavy with a vision,
Continuing his search through they come with their derision.
All his works, you just gotta see'em -
Ask the clerks at your neighborhood museum
Pope's on the phone, calling Buonarroti
But he's not home, he's gone a little potty.
He's off again, waving paints & brushes -
Round the bend, to wind up in the rushes.

THE DRUM

Get in line, keep in time with the Drum.
& don't forget you're nothing yet but water.
Are you coming to or coming form
the understanding that I'm handing it to you?
Or is that a job you don't dare do?
Hey, my sweet potato, there's a letter for you (you'll find it on the shelf)
- Though it was posted in Calcutta I know it's just another that you written to yourself.
We watched a distant drummer flashing on the beat in all his parrot fashions.
Get in line keep in time with the Drum
- don't forget you're nothing yet but water.
Don't move your feet until the next beat comes - one of the laws says pause between
- Though I would hate to make the game seem mean...
Hey my pretty flower can you guess where I've been?
Can you guess at all?
I've been to your rooms & learned you have all the mirror turned against the wall.
I've watched a different drummer flashing on the beat in all his Parrot Fashions.
Listen now to the sound of the Drum - & don't forget we're nothing yet but water.
It won't be pleasant when the present time is done
- testing nightly 'neath a sprightly sum - jelly in a spoon .
Hey my jolie fleur there's a cat in the room & it's not the type you're used to.
Though I think I led it to the sink & tried to make it drink it refused to.

A LITTLE SOMETHING

Here's a little something for all you lovers
- snuggle deep down inside your covers
- make yourself at home & I'll sing you a song about love.
It can start with just a chance encounter
- he doesn't know a single thing about her
- a casual thread, but Lo! it led to love.
It takes too long to see what it takes two to love for it's soon to be.
And you could easily forget to get upset & set it free.
Sitting in a window at a table alone
Watching dancers circle to a saxophone
- they get up to go, now they know it's love.
It couldn't be a nicer situation,
Setting off on a long vacation
- the passage is booked & they're both hooked on love.
From the tip of Alaska to the edge of Spain
- same - put one & one together & you're not to blame if it's love.

THE SECRET

There he goes, my hero in wonderful clothes
- passing me by, giving me the eye
- he's my guy & he really keeps a secret.

From the start his message went straight to my heart & over my head
- heavy as lead
- I'd tell you what he said, but I swore I'd keep it secret.

There's something hypnotising 'bout the way he walks -
There's something supernatural 'bout the way he talks -
Coming from another world I know he doesn't find it easy -
Keeps me up every night telling me the same old story -
I told him it's alright no matter what he does he never really bores me.

strike a light he's making my days into night
- mercury man does everything he can
- and my only plan is to keep his secret secret

There's something hypnotising 'bout the way he walks -
There's something supernatural 'bout the way he talks -
Coming from another world I know he doesn't find it easy -
Keeps me up every night telling me the same old story -
I told him it's alright no matter what he does he never really bores me.

DAWN

Dawn he's in a postcard of the dawn,
Where the knives of light 
have left the dark night tattered & torn
The firmamental cars 
on the highway of the stars are doing ninety
(for your love) - He's in a corner on the right,
the sole survivor of the night - 
& it's you he's thinking of.
And you, you only think of him,
dropping him a line 'cos he's got no time to swim
They're closing all the doors to his existential shores
- they'll leave him naked & alone
- & you can't help him now, he's in the waters of the south
- sinking like a stone...
Running form the snapping jaws,
You knows he ain't got time to pause
- there's one last door between him & you
- look out babe, he'll be coming through
(as soon as you admit that you're the cause).
Gone, with a squad of crooked creatures -
You saw a film of his escape
But you hardly recognized his features.
His seer's sight had lied about the other side
No one was waiting when you arrived.
You dared not hesitate - even so, you got there late -
Who takes who for one last ride??

HALF-WAY THERE

He's only half-way there, he's only half-way there.
Told me my fortune was enough for me
- that I would rather be lying lonely in the houses that stand along the river-side,
wearing nothing but the ruby bequeathed to me by him when he died.
He's only half-way there, he's only half-way there.
One look at his visage will tell you so
- all you need to know is there in black & white, printed o his brow.
He has told me why when where but he never told me how -
He's only half-way there, he's only half-way there.
First time I turned and ran away from him -
I could not begin to feel the feelings that I felt he felt then.
If he hadn't disappeared in spring that year I'd have sent him home again.
He's only half-way there, he's only half-way there.
A large courtege of mourners all agree that it was really he
- huddled in a blanket, chewing on a ball-point pen.
They stood him up against the wall & set him off again
around the karmic wheel ... big deal - you can't get me that way.
I read between the lines of the notice in the times & this is what they say:
He's only half-way there, he's only half-way there, half-way there, etc.

CHARLIE 'N' CHARLIE

Charlie'n Charlie are twins.
You can never tell where Charlie ends & Charlie begins -
The search is on; Charlie looks for Charlie in vain, no game,
'cos Charlie'n Charlie are the same.
Collecting driftwood down by the shore,
Charlie thought he'd open a store...
Across the sands his first customer approaching on his hands, (tin can) -
Charlie faced Charlie like a man.
I saw Charlie jump & holler
when Charlie dropped a dollar down his collar -
"You spoiled my neck! It'll never be the same again - (no blame) -
'cos your neck & my neck are the same."

HAIKU

We’re chippin’ at the moon with an old bone
Issa and her sister chip until the moon is gone
An endless row of wagons in the snow
Issa grabs her sister says c’mon let’s go ‘cause
Yeah, I think I’ll write a haiku
Well, you know as well as I do
You gotta, gott have a high IQ
So eat this and have a cup of tea
Widow lighting lamps at cock crow
Sengai stamps to help his blood flow
From his brush figures rush
In the middle sits a poet
Almost smothered, almost crushed, crying
"yeah, I think I'll write a haiku..."
(Systole, diastole
Dealing with the parts but
Feeling with the whole.)
Yo!
Han Shan's tears, small worlds
In the wood a drop of blood
Hits an inky pond which ripples as it should...

SLOW MOON'S ROSE

Now that the slow moons rose On a silver trellis grows,
Where arctic rivers froze, Now that the ocean is frozen in motion,
Snow morning comes. And the birds on the wing
Have nothing left to sing Blown in blue glass like a schooner held fast on the ice.
Besides that river where I picked, the slow moons rose –
I watched the evening wither with a jewel at the end of my nose.
Tell-tale snails leave their trails, Running from hunters' black blunderbuss under the sun.
 

DESPERATE STRAIGHTS

Some Questions about Hats

Can one wear uncanny hats?
Can one weather hats?
Can one wear feather hats?
Concentrate o iterate hats.
Radiate form hats.
When sated, vacate hats.
Doors of open water elicit ooh & aahing.
Can the wet attract a hat?
Can hats favour fire?
Can a hat aspire to higher things?
Can one pit hats against vicious things?
pernicious things?
liquorice fist with wings?
Can one dismiss hats as simple things?
vapid things?
scant, evanescent things?

The Owl

When the day has gone see him waking
From now until the dawn (???? sits)
And from the bough he starts his silent glide
From the ??? into the ground
With ???? ???? ???? ?????
and taunted call
climbs ??? on a hill
??? ???
Wends through an archway settles on a a step
See the marble in the moonlight
??????
?????? (french)
??????
Seek your home
And o' the valley in the misty morn
See his shadow weep a sigh

A Worm is at Work

Holding forth on a topic of no worth,
a pissy myth about birth of War*
& as for those "Hats" -
they're a bore, not amusing anymore.
Dare I ask myself that it's for?
A worm is at work in the core.
No no no no no no no
Stop that cynical line!
Mind, cease your spinning & unwind!
At stage right -
Good counsel dressed all in white;
Temptation, black as night, stage left,
(& I've hunch his hooves are cleft!)
Between'em am I, bereft.
Like tempter's hoof my mind is cleft,
divided I fall, nothing's left...
No no no no ...etc.

Bad Alchemy

I dream Hemaphrodite & I sit up
all night our eyes on the horizon
of a wobbling bowl.
Heads in hands we ponder dregs
the bowl contains,
a liquid's left putrescence
after being drained.
(WHAT WE FEEL WE HAVE TO SOLVE
IS WHY THE DREGS HAVE NOT DISSOLVED).
When I wake I wonder what it means;
am I bad alchemy? It seems
I image Self unmixed, a risk,
in a dish for drinking,
fluid with a strongly stinking
sediment - is that what it meant?
Am I hemaphrodite?
Neither one nor quite the other?
(WHAT WE FEEL WE HAVE TO SOLVE
IS WHY THE DREGS HAVE NOT DISSOLVED).

Europa

Europe open weary eyes;
all her pretty cities levelled lie.
Sweet continent, courage, don't cry.
The occidental Accident,
concerning Reason's acts of treason,
has shot to Hell what Heaven sent.
[centered on playthings, turning round toys,
our shaman drank fucks blood & drove a Rolls Royce.
We entered the circle, a map was described,
we recognized Europe! We broke down & cried.]
She cannot call her myths her own:
lupine nipples squirted infant Rome,
but Reason turned the Beast to stone.
[Stone, when struck, released a spirit.
From a spire spirit sang:
"A vitamin glimpsed in a mirror
might exorcise Europes dilemma."]
Europe let me thank thee for these -
Minds unravelled travels: memories.
'twas sweet to picnic
'neath thy trees.

Riding Tigers

We're not well, dear.
Toll the bell, dear.
As our lives dissolve we revolve
Lonely & uninvolved.
Pencil thin, we're near done in, we're masticating maize.
An empty gaze, sitting like that for days.
Try as we may, calendars are scattered, furnaces go cold,
wardrobes flap in tatters, you & I grow old.

Apes in Capes

Harken child by life beguiled,
it's said that some come unsung,
sorry, no song for some, sing-song's ham - strung.
Seasoned with lies, hardboiled
but still calling all of the tunes he's donned his garb, the costume
of a buffoon - we rise to applaud his disguise.
Tho miles of smiles will greet your wiles,
it's sad that some come unsung,
sorry, no song for some, sing sad song sung.
If lady luck remain unstruck or run amok aah!
What can he do?
Shunned, he's sure to come unstruck.
Wrapped in white silk,
antelope's milk for soothing his eyes.
Apes traipse in capes,
it is unfortunate to see them rise to applaud one's disguise.

Strayed

All my dismembered, half-remembered yesterdays,
snowing sour rays,
interfere with clearly being here today.
I'm sorry to say I think I've strayed.
She said "say it - go ahead & at a planet bay it,
bay - it's the same today as any other day."
I've gone astray.
I confess it, why should I repress it?
Unless it's wrestled through it grows on you,
When you've strayed.
Gone into hiding, can't abide the latest tidings from the tribe.
It's reported hopes are thwarted, nothing of the wonderful survives.
It's resurrection is the purpose of our lives.
but who can rise?
How thick the lids lie on my eyes...

Giants

She says she has known moments
When an outer bright & varied world appears.
"Spots of time" in which infected perception of a sudden clears.
Mindful of time she repairs to her room at the top of the stairs.
Pestered by Giants who bend to her window
with a will to win her hand & turn her head,
she slipped out of her bed in dread of what her Father said:
"Giants exist to deceive,
They retreat if they're clearly perceived."

Excerpt From "The Messiah"

He gave his back to the smiters
He gave his back to the smiters
And his cheeks to them were pluck-ed of their hairs
And his cheeks to them were pluck-ed of their hairs
His cheeks to them were pluck-ed of their hairs
He hid not his face from shame and spitting
He hid not his face from shame 
From shame and spitting

In The Sickbay

Still awake as day is breaking
my spirit's broken too.
Fed, one leaks, by now too weak
to speak when spoken to.
Nannies, fussing with flannels
feeding the spaniels celery (??).

These be sickbay days.
Slowly the sacred caul decays.

Above the bed the virgin's head
perspective all askew.
On the rail a grail of pale
medicinal gruel.
Nurses, whispering verses,
click shut their purses and depart.

These be sickbay days.
Slowly the sacred caul decay