Soliloquy

I have misplaced my friend
or maybe I am the one who's lost?
Ray's been away for days/it feels like months.
The keys just lie there, untouched.
Part of me has retreated,
like it does when I've lost someone I love.
Part of me knows how he feels-
The other part?
That is what's missing.
Come back, brother.
The music can be replaced,
but the friend cannot.

When the Natives Emerge

Washed ashore
in some strange and barren land.
Will the natives emerge to greet him,
gliding across the white hot sand?

Thrown into the boiling pot-
not here, but at home-
Wanting, in the least,
to get away-
wanting, not a feast,
but to be left alone.

The natives emerged
to face the day,
wandering out,
and finding Ray.

Thrown into the boiling pot-
not here, but way back there-
Hoping to heal his wounds,
hoping the natives won't care.

During

I didn't know he was gone at first-
Silently, he slipped out.
The bass player told me-
"Man, he's gone..."
"Where is he?
"He's finding out where the sun goes every night-
Less dark, more light."
"Hey..."
"What?"
"Will he ever return/ What went wrong/
Is he alright?/ Will he stay long?
Will the natives emerge to greet him?"

Interlude 1

What happens now?
Too many people know
but don't care-
I'm not sure if I am
supposed to know.
The world is messed up,
and so am I.
Soon I will be okay,
but what about the world?

Before

Naggings-
Something that came often for him
Why?
He had no answer-
But at least he had his girl.
Man, without her he'd hardly have anyone to talk to.

He went to see her-
Wait, something's wrong.
No, nothing dear.
Don't tell me that. What's wrong?
She spoke, but gave him no answer.
Then he tried to talk to her,
but she payed him half a mind, if that,
and it left him confused.

"I want to go," he told me,
"where there's no rain- just sand and sun and
silly bathing suits. Where there's no roads impassable
by foot-no snow falling on my green land.
Mine is the land of freedom; here, I am behind bars."

The next day, she told him she wanted to wait awhile.
Almost a tease-
It brought him to his knees.
Then the light changed color
and his mind followed emotion...
and he left.

When two sides collide...

When two sides collide
All hope has taken flight
And love has deserted thee
like a hyena with the meat it stole from the pack,
cackling all the way.
Then California breaks away from the rest of the world
and is swallowed up by the sea.
"Nothing is left but that which lies below. Bags are packed,
it's time to go."

Out With the Old Year

Well, it's late in December
with one sick and sleeping-
He has his guitar in his hand,
out the back door he is creeping.
They don't know where he's gone to,
they've looked their very best.
But there's one secluded spot they missed,
and that's good old Key West.

He's gone out with the old year.
Will he come back with the new?
Now we're short another keyboard player
who's caught them winter blues.
He's gone out with the old year.
Will he come back again?
Doesn't know where he's going to,
Does he know where he's been?

Well, it's early January,
and still not a sound.
We're not sure yet if he's lost
or if he has been found.
He won't get hurt, might wear a grass skirt,
He'll be back in a little while (I hope).
He won't get hurt, won't wear a grass skirt,
because that is not his style.

All of us here wish you the very best,
Frying your brain while sitting in the sand
On the island called Key West.

Letter to a Killer

I can't believe she's gone,
your own sibling flesh and blood and look- it was so easy, just like you bragged it would be. The bottle, the gun, your whole family's next and you are the epitome of today's youth-
you are misunderstood (nobody understands you, god help you), nobody pays attention to you-
Now they will, you fucker. You got your wish, you got your life, you got what you wanted- now get what's coming to you. Nothing is too good and nothing is too damn bad (it's too damn bad)
and now you feel remorse, do you?
Only the press has has the answer. Only they write the endings-
and you thought you did.

Contemplating Rat Boy (The Legend of Rat Boy)

Rat Boy
Legend in his own mind
Rat Boy
Seek and ye shall find
the useless-ness and absurdity
of a legend in the proximity
of sourthern swamps and Bayou country
Rat Boy
Legend in his own mind
Rat Boy
Seek what lies behind the lies
He's really a grocery clerk
filling grocery shelves doing grocery work
receiving benefits and grocery company perks
Rat Boy
He serves not the public- he serves himself
He is bad- he is a badass
He serves noone but himself
Rat Boy
Pointed nose and coal black eyes
Look beyond, it's no diguise
See the truth Skip the lies
Rat Boy

Relationship...or commitment?

We want a commitment in a relationship, right?
By doing so, we need to know the person.
Yet to know the person, we have to commit ourselves.

What about all the people that want to have a relationship,
but don't want to be committed?

I remember...

It seems like a dream, but it really happened about 25 or 26 years ago...
Next to the house where I grew up there was a vacant lot that had a footpath through it. The city planners, during their layout of the streets, decided not to run a street between the lots my parents own and the lots the neighbor owned. I guess enough people travelled through there to get from one street to the other that they wore a footpath. I even saw a car drive through there once. Anyways, my dad used to let the grass grow high in that lot because he didn't own it (therefore he felt that he shouldn't have to mow it). I certainly don't blame him. As we were returning from eating out, I remember my mom and dad talking excitedly, but not in a good way. Dad was looking to the left as he was turning into the driveway, so I sat up in the backseat and stretched my neck so I could see out the window to what dad and mom were looking at. I saw smoke, then flames. And then an image that etched itself into my mind so vividly: the frail old man from next door was in the middle of that lot between the flames with a shovel, trying to spread dirt around to smother them. Dad ran out to the shed to get a shovel to go help the old man. Mom took us kids into the house. I remember feeling afraid that my dad was going to get hurt. Surely the old man was burning up. But shortly after, dad returned, a bit dirty, and said that the old man's actions had surely saved our house from burning to the ground (the old man wasn't burned alive by the fire, either). I had told my parents, up to that incident, that I was going to be a fire fighter. I guess I changed my mind after that.

Just a feeling?

George W. Bush has been reelected. I realize that in the larger cosmic scheme of things this is supposed to happen. Why? Because Bush is to be president when his karma comes back around.
The tide is turning...