Elephant beer #3

elephant beer
elephant beer
you get it there
you get it here
make you stand
twelve feet high
give you jaundice
of the eye
get you up
get you down
make you smile
make you frown
in the jungle
dark and green
the elephant view
is always seen
elephant beer
is firm and stout
get you in
get you out
elephant beer
will let you hear
the mystic music
of his ear

1996

Fallen Idol

there is a crooked man
who mumbles as he plods
he contemplates the future
with all the angry gods

he casts his eyes around him
looking for the light
is it clearer from the left
or brighter from the right?

he passes through the day
judging all in sight
everything looks murky
like the middle of the night

the crooked man is learning
a solitary truth
that the future has no meaning
with our leaders so uncouth

the crroked man is yearning
for a fundemental rule
a thing he can believe in
and to be a happy fool

he knows down deep its useless
the sky contains no pie
just a sharp stick falling
to stab him in the eye

still he mopes along
and stumbles as he goes
looking for a hero
whom greed will ne'er depose

2010

Downhill Skier

Downhill skier
woman wild
downhill skier
speeding child
flying down
the icy track
never ever
looking back

Downhill skier
fearless girl
downhill skier
in a whirl
downhill racer
flashing speed
daring woman
daring deed

2010

Brothers of the mountains

Call my brohers 'round me
give them food and drink
they are a laughing human chain
and i'm the missing link

Call my brothers over
give them what they need
they are a happy band of freaks
and sometimes do stampede

Call my brothers to me
light that campfire smoke
they are a ragged gang of rats
that like to kick the yoke

Call my brothers near me
they're everything i am
in the deeps of Arkansas
no one gives a damn

1989

Tne Indigo Orb

Cobaltum excentrix 2010

Celestual humanumisticus

people together
never forgotten
people in common
like blossoms on cotton. . .

people are people
but differ in manners
some are deep dreamers
some are just planners. . .

people existing
wherever they are
they try to be normal
but seem so bizarre

people are people
locked in belief
one feeds their pleasure
another their grief. . .

people are mountains
some tall and some cold
people of gravel
people of gold

people are people
a crowd in dismay
obsessed by tomorrow
instead of today. . .

people are huddled
in separate cliques
some for the safety
some for the kicks. . .

people are people
standing around me
waiting to hear
the astral calliope. . .

July 1977

Schoolfishswarm

Schoolmentality

foregone conclusion

not a matter of seclusion
in sturdy castle walls
just a case of deep confusion
in pinched neurotic halls. . .

not a false or lost illusion
steeped by freedom's wings
just a tangent from intrusion
pursuing many things. . .

not a distant tight reclusion
abyssed by mental shade
just a chance for full transfusion
to halt the masquerade. . .

not a hurtling dark delusion
like the shock of a comets breath
just a hope of cool conclusion
before we meet with death. . .

July 1978

Tattoo

A fish out of water 2010

armorskin

the ironclad man is walking by
sometimes brazen
sometimes shy
his cast iron eyes can see no wrong
his days are short
his dreams are long

the ironclad man is standing there
sometimes common
sometimes rare
his plate iron ears can hear no ill
they never have
they never will

the ironclad man reclines at peace
his thoughts are strange
and will not cease
his chain mail skin is metal tough
stainless steel
is tough enough

his anvil tongue will never wag
his toolsteel heart will never sag

1972

The bride of Arcturus

Arcturus, the brightest star in the sky of Zeus

TheWizard of the Cosmos

and like a silver bullet flung
a spinning dream did fly
and like a golden arrow sprung
a sparkling thought did sail
and in the distance gathering
a far off nebula did sport
and in the future faraway
might be a peaceful port
and with the ebon shades of night
a wind was heard to howl
and with the comet loose at last
the mystic orb does prowl
and as the night retreats the morn
a misting rain has fall'n
and as the weight of time is borne
the Wizard bears it all
and then the world is at his feet
he offers all his hope
and then he views the universe
through his jeweled kaleidoscope

2009

Rin Tin Tin 1947

Drawn at the age of eleven

The Tangerine girl

beware of the tangerine girl
she swears she will get you
will hold you and love you
but she's in a desperate whirl

beware of the tangerine girl
she swears she will have you
but will rip you and tear you
since her mind is a fanciful swirl

beware of the tangerine girl
she stands like a statue for you
but nothing about her is true
you are only her tassel to twirl

the tangerine girl is romance
she's the prize of the very last dance
you think she's your very last chance
but its all just a shadowy trance

2001

The Inner runner

From whence that spark eternal gleams

The wisdom of Sigmund Freud

The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain
playing in the sun and falling back into the great
subterranean pool of subconscious from which it arises.

Color minstrel

give me laughter
give me smiles
clothe yourself in rainbows
they are the latest styles

give me music
give me songs
sing them to the multitudes
they stand in puzzled throngs

Give me summer's morning dawn
when muted colors rise
Give me sunset's brilliant hues
that rise into the skies

give me moonlight silv'ry pale
and zephyrs warm and soft
give me time to sit and think
of all the lights aloft

1979

The Collidescape

Falling in and falling out . . . . 2010

Koi with bubbles

Surreal goldfish with bubbles wafting 2010

Time traveler

passing through the future
doing double-time
headed for the vortex
talking like a mime. . .
imitating others
copying their style
watching for the Sandman
with his confidential smile. . .
passing through the flat place
where the empty people dwell
sinking to the whirlpool
ringing like a bell. . .
sliding by in silence
riding on a day
weaving like a needle
through mortal stack of hay. . .

1993

(on working with knee pain)

Bulldog on guard

The bulldog creeps 2010

Song lacking music

in the lightness
or the dark
the madrigal has
the magic spark
winging through
the sullen sky
in the flashing
of an eye
a trailing glimpse
of afterthought
a glowing glance
of never-naught
a heavy rush
of common chill
always wanting
but never will
always giving
in a smile
a sudden change
for just a while

1999

Woman with blankets

Colors in a dream . . . 2010