America

where am i?
some hippie at least tryin town
middle of the high mountain desert
surrounded by rosy red rubber neckers

some sorta college town
sorta hipster ville
cafe' singer songwriter once lived here
in this land of masses of millions
in little towns blistering down sun
tattooed cholita
short flat builidings cactus trees in gardens
don't provide any shade
wide fuel drenched streets
in my A/C suv cloth seats

how can you live here?
middle america good love it here
as you should
love hot heat hot hot heat
under my flat feet

and people so many people
the more you know the better
in this here new age flipster
college town north of downtown
but its still suburbua
dry desert vast wasteland
America
to me

the journey

in the art world
plays said band
its members they change
but your core if you had it could stay the same

all i ever wanted was the same
art and details
a life long journey, for mankind
a game of mah-jong in a dingy underground kitchen
in chinatown near columbus, the 30 stockton
yes the members they change
but the core stays the same

but it all falls apart in Los Angeles
where everyone is seeking recognition. searching for fame
no one believes longevity is the way to win the game

make music for musics sake. art. for arts sake
not push push push like this is some Olympic gold medal to be won
members shall leave
throw their hands up in the air when fate doesn't acknowledge their ideals
and not accept people in their jeans. in their genes. blue

all i ever wanted was to wallow in some grassroots
working by day in a dark sallow country with bad sewage
while sitting on the porch with my cigar at night
art
we'd still be together come push come shove
not deterred because the members change
everyday riding the train for humanity
some come some go, but if you believe there should be no question

i guess i knew all along
that this wasn't the scene for me
i won't be pushed nor groomed
for a lifestyle of image and fame
life in the fast lane some industry game
that i refuse to play
that rises and dies
when my journey
is for humanity

veganism

i stopped eating meat so many years coming coming coming
i drink soy milk and spit out the tobacco sweat jeans
they beat down the people of this country
just like the way they do the animal.s.o.s.o.s
these people need help
with their weight
with their health
just ask Oprah

but it's in their brain the american dream
to consume consume consume everything in sight
and take it for their own
it's really their brain that needs help
and their soul has been lost to the land
the land which is in bad hands
clearly in the wrong hands

i walked through the valleys
smelled the flat lands of Bush-country
as he cried cried cried to me because he can't get out
get out get out
of the Texan badlands

as he ate that chopped chicken salad free of carbs
and i washed down my lentils semolina pasta with vodka vodka vodka
and followed it up with a cigarette even though i cough cough cough
every night

cuz it's the addictions they scoff, thinking me so vain?
why should i give a damn about my lungs
while the baby pigs and cows die the slow wretched American death
and the girls with their manicured manicures
think i do it for my health

unfortunately

waiting these slow days pass
but i gotta relish
these friends flurry

my fury and annoyance at ignorance
isn't going to go anywhere
unless i change
completely
unfortunately

where it all took place

are you serious?
as she tried to beg her way into the club
because of her looks
she's not even on drugs

is this what my life has become
where my life has come
this tainted ugly city and it's shallow standards
reminding me of that place i grew up
back to the days of high school in a town i never claimed

but where i really grew up and blossomed like a flower
yet learned that i was
still held prisoner in so many ways
by the mentality of the masses
where i just so badly wanted to embrace
where it all took place

although knowing still I am on the right path
doing the right thing
for such little retribution
and no money
cuz it doesn't matter, but it does

but religion it interferes
these people and their views
i really don't approve

and in this city here living quiet
setting the bricks up high to fall

i'm really just done and tired and all of the above
of having to forfeit the me i really love
it's all just passing time for the bricks to continue stacking
like a collector i am of art and books and people
simple minded or closed minded in my closet
let's just all go home

witnessing madness

witnessing madness within my mold
not a nice person
and would walk all over a kind soul
when they do nothing but love

working hard to be nice
to relax and chill out
accept yourself as a wild child
occasionally tamed by a sweet smile

but we've all got it in us
and we're all wild in our own ways
some just more blatant than others
some just wanting to prove it more than others
some getting the wild hair more than others

because me still frustrated after all these years
when i have to keep working to prove
because my eyes are wide open
and i need to get on that airplane
wearing the same t-shirt, dusty jeans, leatherboots
long hair a mess, with the locket that no one made
that cost you a million cheese
in the middle of the night
to write this mad little piece of white plight

while i sit in shorts and a robe
sipping wine on a sunday morning
in the los angeles desert rain
nails painted red
starving this ink

tomorrow a new day

life is lonely my love and somedays no one comes
some nights your phone won't ring and you children don't call
you sleep alone out on the lawn
thinking your progressive and all
and people think your strange and mean and go on about there business
forgetting about you they're all wrapped up in themselves

like you are my love all lonely and alone
skip the boisterous loud and obnoxious american sandinistas
i will for alone is alright tonight
even though you invite youll constantly and never be right
suckined into your corporate dreams i guess
i can't describe my hopes in my screams
my art and my color and denim and gender
i'll teach and i'll write probably another poem tonight
but words can't describe what I want from this life

sadness and sand both grab and their grip
pulling into a sand castle slip
i'll go for a walk
selling these hips
tomorrow a new day will settle these trips