Poems
An Evening at Home
Twilight reaches through my window
Ispiring small square patches of brightness below
A cloud of dust floats and rides
Obscuring my view of the goins outside
The world shaded yellow slowly fades to red
As I lie gently, pillows cushion my head
My room becomes darker, a bit less defined
i find this restful, its good for the mind
Outside my window, a tree starts to sway
My vision blurs into a dream far away
To places I visit when I am feeling alone
Places I once knew, or wished were my home
Where it is so overgrown, intensely green
That I can lie hidden, a person unseen
Exploring my feelings of love and fear
Telling myself things I never will hear
When the time begins to run cold
Then my visions no longer can hold
I find myself quiet, again in my bed
The moon there to greet me, cradles my head
9/28/90
10:00 A.M
I fear for my fate
I am sure I have waken much too late
Lost forever, the needed time
Stolen from me, most horrible crime
For eternal seconds I hesitate
A most ironic time to procrastinate
My muscles stiffen and my eyes glisten
I leap from my nighttime cover
My nerves are frayed, I feel afraid
As the air begins to smother
Blindly I dress, ripping my clothes
All thoughts are lost, I dwell on my woesbr> My voice stutters
as I begin to mutter
Hopig it will comfort my woes
I run out the door with my feelings in store
Imagining the punishment I surely deserve
Oh, too soon I will discover my plight I pick up my pace and am
soon out of sight
09/30/90
O | X | X
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X | O | X
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X | O | X
Bus to Nowhere
I nervously wait inside this bus
Driver says, "We'll be there soon, I trust"
But I don't believe him, he's so deceivin'
Been tellin' me that the last twenty miles
I'm riding on a bus to nowhere
I wonder if I can get back my fare
Next stop we make, that's the one I take
Most everyone looks pretty old
They all seem to be far too cold
It's no surprise, you can see it in their eyes
It seems that we're moving awful slow
But I don't really know, I can't see out my window
For it is tainted black and won't open a crack
I'm ridin' on a bus to nowhere
It's getting to be more than I can bear
Perhaps I am draming, I think I am screaming
10/04/90
Wheels spinning quickly over old ground
Sitting and sipping and spitting my beer
I jumped the ground once too often too near
The mirror shows me what comes from behind
I find the view restful, good for the mind
The telephone rings, distracting my gaze
From the whirlwind crosseyed flowerview maze
Fearing the worst I clip at the edges
Of the feverfew drops and bucktown hedges
Suckled in inside and stuck on the out
I feel the margins flip twisting about
Steady she roars from the tubledown nest
Harpooning the big one ignoring the rest
Oh don't worry I'm feeling alright
Oops I spoke back right outta sight
As Mercury rises to the uptown crest
I spin on my axis and put on the best
My hung winter coat with the rip on the side
Leaks the contents of the goings inside
How can you listen to the doddering form
Through the spanish in my holistic storm
Pouting the bread been baked been fed
I view it lightly, it comforts my head
Brian
Slamnecking farther to the left
My cavities turn upside up
What I cry upon my stride
Farther on through the sludge
Got emerald pansies down
Gripped burns sticky smudge
Springing talks into my mind
They slip on through the night
The glowing maze drips like
Intestines upon my gaze
The floating dead sweep and grin
In their slo-mo intertwined wicker
You ask a question to the boss
It takes a second to get across
Just what needs to come about
You ask a bit louder, you start to shout
The pigs in the back begin to play
Throughout the night, into day
Springboarding up into the gloom
Disturbing the dust inside our room
Of geometric scarlet and emerald storms
Distracting you from my norms
I begin to see through your eyes
Through the hellos and goodbyes
Take a poke, slip and smoke
Trip some folk into that joke
The eternal second to hesitate
An ironic time to procrastinate
Feeling chipper, bedtime slipper
Between Yehod and the nighttime dipper
Snap a toast, brag and boast
Flies down the moutaintop at a coast
Of Thefastestmanalive today
Takes a belt of what to say
That rubbernecking sidelong goon
Just cannot stay out of his saloon
Where agents throw suspecting darts
At Mt. Rushmore's dark brown heart
Amen
Brian
Look, all the colors are all
brand new
I guess God must have gone back to art school
Perhaps he convered a single eye
And said with this new blue I'll paint the sky
That building so square that
lumbers there
I'll paint it pink I think I dare
Those flowes I see beside that tree
With a crown of brown will now be free
A fuzzy shade of gray will now be
found
On every bird who makes a sound
A hint of color to contrast the sky
And a bit of light to go in your eyes
And with these words He picked up
his brush
Grabs an inkblot and with a squeeze of gush
He covers the world with drops of form
And that's where we came from, where we were born
Brian
Outside running in the street
Dark form hidden, dashing discreet
Slipping past my darkened home
Where I sat uncomfortably alone
Nighttime creeping with neighbors
sleeping
I stretch to see his face
A lamp goes flying announcing my spying
He sees me in my space
Standing frozen in my hall
My extended arm begins to fall
With a single look he grasps me hard
Leaving me staring into my yard
Brian
For Silence, who is unhappy
I figured you could use a better letter
One without the useless fetter chedder
Took a half-pint and then the rest
To figure out just how to make the best
First I asked Jimmy, the shoelace king
What makes the birds yellow, what makes them sing
He rubernecked his way to the local saloon
Where darts are thrown my darklit goons
He told me a thing, been said, been done
About how things are put, how they've begun
He told me a thing, maybe two, or three
About the things you miss, what you just can't see
It took me a second to come around,
Hit the nicklebag upon the ground
Sat up straight at the sound
I dare say it moved me, that's what I found
I wish I could tell you what I heard that night
Between the jukebox and the scheduled fight
But my good friend Jimmy sent me home to bed
Told me the things I think, go on in my head.
(smiles)
Brian
Another Poem for silence, who asked for help
Sometimes people just don't understand
The trouble it sometimes takes
To stay afloat from day to day
The little things start to matter
Tone of voice, the way that eyes look
Can send me into a hole
But don't fool yourself into thinking
That no one cares
Even though it is sometimes
Very hard to see
(smiles)
Brian
Sheep bleet
Thrice twice
Sprinkle Spackle
From Your Own Glass
With the Star on the Bottom
And the Twissles on the Top
Bring back Sad Sack
From Frame Three
Spit spatter
Sheep bleet
Sheep bleet
Back Blanket
At times is warm
But more often than
Tiny back draft of our life
Get a Coke from the freezer
Don't mind the rust
Or Teeny Fingers
Caps Clutter
Sheep bleet
Sheep bleet
Clacky clack
The old smelling
Man Sometime Calling
Wanting to Know Why I'm What
I'm Doing but not that Badly
Does not Ever Ask Me
I Sometimes know
Spliter Slant
Sheep bleet
Sheep bleet
Fifteen five
The angry Dollar
Pointing another day
Stopping yet before I'm Done
Brian
________
| |
| Throat |
| Butter |
| Shake | -- Stay in that box.
|________|
Brian
Thinking about me day
Swinging in the sea
Watching where we go
And what we are
Sit and bring along
A sweet lullaby sing
Walking along with me
All through our eyes
Brian
And the question to ponder, if
one is in a ponderous mood, can certainly not
escape the bounds of these here peephole sights! Point one being
made, taken,
brought back & bound like a book. Point two was a good grade,
a mistake,
brought slack & sounds like a hook. In conclusion, the podium
said, speaking
to the chair. Now I think it was I think I dare. With carrot in
hand and
soy in foot, quit leading the question and join the fray. We're
waiting for
answers, and waiting well done. Coming from you, I'd hardly
believe a
reincarnate of the Shell Answer Man Dan.
Brian
Would you let somebody named Rusty paint your car?
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 95 09:11:34 CST
What the thinker thinks the prover proves
Think I need some new
Moves
I didn't
think think
I couldn't
mean mean
I wasn't
mean mean
What the thinker thinks the proover proves
Fall into the same old
Groove
I couldn't
mean mean
I didn't
think think
I didn't
mean mean
Smooth
Brian
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 95 15:54:50 CDT
Got a universal flicker motion picture
I'll be your whatever you want
Floating free easy-squeeze
I can see you got no M.S.G.
Oral fix station clicks
I can be your opiate
Illusion harmonic wetware tonic
She was happy when I saw her tree
Dude, that's a really cool dress
Spinning tightly around this mess
Spent last night watching the moon
Drip thundersplash crash...
And she said fire fire fire
You pushed me out of bed at four
Wish I could tell you what you wore
But she said fire fire fire
Brian
Far away, hidden, in a land forgotten
Lies a castle of subtle proportions
No moat to guard, no walls to defend
Nestled warmly between the hills
It rests quite alone
Where mares run wild and eagles soar
Above fields that are so intensely green
Speckled with marigolds that glisten
Like stars in the most still night
In this castle only two reside
A princess of heart, but not of stature
And a boy in love, but lacking in cofidence
All else died a sudden death
Their faces forgotten and their incessant tongues stilled
For they could not see, nor did they look
As only a few, these two, could
She, only because of her innocence
Yes, oh yes, she had seen pain, love, and even death
But her heart remained open and kind
The treachery of conformity had not yet stifled her will
Neither had she let her life grow old and stale
He was wise, despite, no, because of his loneliness
Yes, he could see the light we often miss
The brilliant and multifaced stars that we crush and
suffocate behind cold bars of iron
And pretend it was but a fleeting fantasy, a whim
With nothing perhaps a passing sign or thoughtful cry
Except he in his wisdom
He had no one to say nothing to, he kept it all inside
He did not grow bitter or cry in dispair
But lived free in the knowledge that he knew truth
And let them speak their nonsense and cry contrieved tears
They shed their garments and allowed their light to blind
the world to a more lofty sight
Laid aside the shame and fear
Accepting the bad as well as the good
Warming each other in tender arms
The others could not see, could not heed the obvious
Therefore they are forgotten
Their mindless talk and strained composure
Does not fit in this newer world
Only the brave and authentic can remain in the light
Without disrupting the peace
Summer, 1990
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