Tiger Palms

 He said that God will provide it

this feeling of abundance

of peace

He said that God will demand it

this commitment to 

society's release

He said that the bandits will hand it

over, this treasure that they stole

when you became convinced

salvation was in rock and roll

He said that God will revise it

this edited Bible of verse

when spoken from the pulpits

of voices tense and terse

He said that God will reverse it

this pain and this woe

and like a child and a lamb

together you will go

but I know 

he just wants guitars

hanging on the walls

raining from the skies

painted on the trees

tiger palms beckoning

The Old Days

Package of letters

sent from Mississippi

came by rail

and stage coach too.

Don't know what I am about to do,

I've got the Blues so deep

I need a shovel and a tool.

I don't know what I am a gonna do. 

Played

Let my hands touch your drum 

Let me play you let me sway you 

let me run for cover take away you 

Let me run

Let me become 

your solace your leafy glade 

Let me be your finally made 

Your damnation saved

Your piano jammed and John Caged 

played.

Time Will Tell

Time will tell

or will it shout

loudly at night 

in the rain

when I am locked out of the car

screaming,

"you're not innocent!"

There's a story there,

but you will tell you in time. 

Valuable?

If I wrote of diamonds or oil, would it be valuable?

If I wrote of money, trinkets, and feathers, would it be novel?

If I wrote of big skies, roaring clouds, and fierce horses, would it be of value?

Would it stir something in your heart,

more valuable than gold?

On My Bookshelf

In the rustic attitudes of my history books

There is a party of fun flowers and light

masterfully played against the linen and the shack

The Impressionists and the dirt of the American South

are totally disconnected except

on my bookshelf.

The Bible sits next to Deepak Chopra

and titles like "Human Destiny" 

are next to a book from the 1990s about Feng Shui.

Let's not forget all the photography books from my uncle

and one book in plastic called "Lyrics for Song Hits"

which is from the 40s approximately

and is hard backed

and the ideas of those songs being hits

is what makes it a gem.

Perhaps I will open it, and write one.

Calendar Day of No Rain

Mark this day on your calendar with a red pen

full of love and solace

It wasn't exactly smoke from the peace pipe

But we stood here on horses together

Watching the prairie

and there was no rain

Bastions to the Future

The Earth began to spin as if it had stopped then started 

and engine in the rare earth minerals the field rocks after frost

Caterpillars crunched themselves forward

the stems of leaves bastions

to the future

Vinegar After Ravens

I crave simplicity

I seek to nullify the complications

To desalinate

To pick the seeds from the hay

and the pearls from the water

I crave a good cup of tea

Chamomile and honey

I will wash the floor with vinegar

after the ravens fly.

I will spot the cardinals

in the pine trees

the hare in the snow

I will look under the hood of the old Chevy

I will chop wood.

No More Wars

No more panic

No more awful obliterations of the truth

No more rewiring of the neurons

No more chimney soot

painted on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday

because we missed supper on Tuesday

and forgot the trash on Monday

No more apple cores

hurled out the windows of passing cars

No more wars

I Saw a Door

I saw a door and it was a two-sided coin.

It was welcoming and curious, allowing entry.

Yet at the same time it was a

a shield as it was a barrier.