I Shouldn't Be (And Never Was)

I got the whole world
served up
on a powder keg

Doin lines
of data
off a power strip

there’s the old joke
you told
about the miner’s chick

desdimonda

a coal girl
ya dig


This sofa
is so far
blown out

ain’t there
a winder
we could chuck it out?

mixin hohos
with sauerkrauts

aint that
a dish
you could live without?

Desdimonda

you came at me
with a
shiny butcher knife
but it was just a show
we put on for the neighbors

we made a pleasant house
if
slightly abridged
like a can   lit novel
missing key parts of the middle

I don't invest
i spend every penny
don't they make me
a good guy?

i always try
to do the right thing
cause i never wanna
let you down

isn't it fair
for the jester to pause
and every now and then
ask a spiritual question?

i always try
to do the right thing
cause i never wanna
let you down

Do The Right Thing

love runs through your body
like an std
from the penis to the heart to the head
and by the time it hits your throat
you'll be runnin' for the lifeboat
dreaming' you're alive, but they counted you among the dead
everything's spinning
and it's the bottom of
the second inning

love courses through your body like a chemo drug
burn in' up every joint at the bend
and by the time its done
you're lit up like a neon sign 
that reads we wish this was the end
but everything's spinning
its the bottom of
the second inning

love gums up your piping
like a mean hair plug
someone told you bout how death may occur
and when your head hits   the tile
love, you'll lay there with a smile
thinking something's brought you back to her
everything's spinning
it's the bottom of
the second inning
there's two outs
and nobody's winning

Bottom Of The Second

phony mark twain sites
in virginia city
can we do something
about this problem
nobody likes to be made a fool of
sicko 
cemetery love

most of the country is country
and most of the music
is country music
pick a fight with that
you'll probably lose it

fickle
as a dairy farm 

made it as far
as the mississippi
then my car gave up
every forty miles it needed a jump

it's six o'clock
and dark as fuck

waitin on a tow truck
needing' to piss 
when i finally comprehended
daylight savings    
as a thief of time
and while
you may be fine with that
well I ain't no
and neither's arizona

figured it out 
the farming life
would drive me nuts
so boom and bust

nobody you can trust

Mark Twain

Danny Pianny

boy you made your mama cry
lord you took like 20 years off that woman’s life
and the phonies are in good supply
and the only thing to do about it’s
put out your eyes

a paragraph’ll make you bleed
and the rest will leave  you terrified
        
boy you’re on the losing side
everyone that shares that view with you
has laid down and died
and everyone you know’s been rectified
and everything that you’ve become’s
something you once despised

but that’s not really what you believe
it’s just something   you surmised

Knowledge is Sour

Don’t pretend
you were
in control

you listen to
Chopin’s
Barcarolle

The mirror caught the end
of a 
pomegranate sunset

mayor of a ghost town
crumbled into second overall

dress me in the uni
of the counter 
revolutionary
corps

don’t suppose
things would be much better
if the rich were poor

two-faced roommate
every night’s a game
of peel or no peel

you caught me in denial
of some values
we midwesterners call core

schizo scherzo
turning corporate
we do it all under one roof
but if it’s too majeure we force it

Schizo Scherzo II

chewing sprigs of parsley
screwing softly
lemons from the front yard
garnishing your Mike's Hard

making blanket statements
over coffee
mattress from the Mission
never costly

beauty only sharpens
as it ages
trees that grow in winter
die in stages

or so goes the wisdom
of the sages
spring brings on the rains
that flood the plains

laughing at the wrong time
is a sign of
growing mental illness
shouting with a shrillness

sky's a perfect blue
but flecked with ospreys
as we travel west
part of the posse


standard data charges
may apply
but what they're charging for
you're better off not asking

walking through the town
with head held high
tree's split into true tunks
waving
bye

Lamentations

Spring Parsley

chose to kick the field goal
and lose by one
only tryna cover
that’s the minimum expectation

clock is tickin real slow
the settin sun
and the call is not reviewable      
comeback don't look doable
 that defense is inscrutable

noes is gettin longer
must be tellin lies
but that’s hardly a surprise
i’m a known prevaricator

joke is on a subject
i’d be wise to withhold
and the skin is gone
you’re seeing bone
everyone just leave us alone

let me brood in peace and get stoned

ball is on the 21
it’s first down and five
and the clock is on our side
and we’re gonna run a fake punt

cornerbacks in coverage
as we loosen the score
let me brood in solitude
turn the other cheek and go home

my whole career just went up in smoke 

let’s get out large sums of cash
and go for a walk
and talk trash at open mics
screamin “you better not  quit your day job”

actually on second thought
it turns out i’m broke
let me smoke and think things through
only modest dreams can come true

America what happened to you

Pearls Before Swine

An American Dream

armenian fortress
turkish impounder
too much
milk in the flour
pass on a bauer
lose foreign profits
starnbergerseean shower

Then it all came
tumbling down
that’s when the walls came
tumbling down

Vidalian onions
purchasing power
Told it was wine
it was basically water

carly contralto
prairie seductress
very empowered  

omg
how delectable is she?

that’s when
it all came
tumbling down
that’s when the walls
came tumblin down
somebody tore them down
and we barely got out

Johnny Divorkus
custody counsel    
basement fee
of a thousand bucks an hour
has telegnosis
open to barter
sold to the gold    mine
for a mess of pottage

Bryan Kelly

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