Lackadaisical

its such a sunny day today
just the kind of day to play
but here comes life in all its
heaving and sighing uncertainty:
what to do what to do
I do not know and cannot say.

so off with you all you sportive children
that set about with your laughter
to dismiss all cares of more important things

I have important things
I have my time and my place to concern me
yesterday that still I don’t understand
tomorrow that hurries toward me before I’m ready
what to do what to do
I do not know and cannot say

the sun will set
the dark will come
the minutes turned to sand
and here I sit
don’t understand
what should I do today

Oh gods that used to breathe
the life into your petty men
where have you gone
you leave me here
alone in the dark
quiet
don’t understand
what should I do today

Nighttime

quiet
standing in the night air
the crickets chirp and a breeze rustles the leaves
in nearby trees

the streets are empty

the parking lot stands in pools of light, still and devoid of movement except for the dance of insects near the lamps

time is stopped and I have no faith that it will ever start again or that the light will ever come

Rose

I saw a rose
by the way
by a wall
of flaking, brittle, cracked and soot-stained stone

I saw a rose
by any other name
that smelled so sweet
with dew drops in its hair

I saw a rose
by dawn’s early light
pale and wilted by the night
in tangled, dense and twisted underbrush erect and standing tall

I saw a rose
I saw a rose
I saw

but that was yesterday

Ode to Technology

Things,
       beauteous things

Washers and dryers and microwaves
Toasters and roasters and stereo
How would I ever get through the day
Without a walkman radio

I don’t need God
I need a repairman!
I don’t need Love
I need a good salesman!

I got my
     quadraphonic stereo modular surround-sound cable ready
    home theater unit
     to keep me company

I got my triple-rated videos and vibrators and wicked wicked toys
and there ain’t no risk of stds with these
like there is with stupid boys

I worked all day and shopped till I dropped
and now I need some eats
but there ain’t much time
an’ I don’t need sublime

I’m cruisin’ the city for a drive-in restaurant

it’s got long lines and the food’s not hot
but it’s quick and it’s cheap and it’s all I got
my gas is low and I hope I make it
O God won’t you get me to the drive-in restaurant

When life was simple and you knew what to do
there wasn’t much but people near to you
But I don’t care for people
You can hang ‘em from a steeple
for all’a me
and that’s just history…
I got things to set me free

Things,
         beauteous things
I got things to set me free

come sit by the fire
with molly and dwyer
and lets talk of things that we desire

I got my car (it’s really wunderbar)
but it’s much too old, the a/c won’t get cold
and it needs a new front tire—
let it go

I’m going to get a new one
a bright and shiny new one
to sit in my front yard
with options and accessories
and all the luxuries
who cares about the payments if they’re hard

I got a microwave with features quite sublime
It doesn’t work right, though
the door is broke and there’s no chime
it’s time to get a new one–
let it go

O God, I love these things
I work all day and dream all night
of how to pay the credit cards
because I know these things
Will make my life just right

Things, beauteous things
The things that love me, in the night
The things that make my life just right

I got things to set me free