perpetual jam!!!!!!!!!

[sasha]

1969
end of my 1st year at UNH
block party
Stoke Hall, 6th floor
someone knew someone
who had a friend
whose older brother
could buy for us
the night wore on -
cheap beer, cigarette smoke,
and tunes -
Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel -
Steppenwolf's Magic Carpet ride -
Cream's White Room
my first drunk
passed out on my bed
woke up around 4:00
bedspins
got the window open just in time
hurled
left a puddle
on the windowsill of the room below
and streaks down the side of the building
starting at mine
so I grabbed a mop
leaned out the window
and scrubbed the exterior wall
so no one would ever suspect
that the spew on the windowsill below
had come from me

[winddance]

got a bartending job
for my landlord
new years eve doing fine
until all the ladies wanted to see
how to straight shoot tequila
lick salt, glup the tequilla
suck the lemon
of course I had to show them a couple(?) times
still holding my own
until midnight
everyone gets a glass of champagne
to toast the new year
bam, light out for me
I never even knew
you could have a 3 day hangover

[saw]

1968
we are off to Ocean City Md.
a long time ritual for every cool teen
guitars looaded into Joe's Bronco...
planned to play some popular tunes
in the sand, our chick magnet go-to
Skip sez let's hit Brownie's Tavern first
so eleven pm we roll into the parking lot
and proceed to start sucking down Rolling Rocks
those cute little green pony bottles that make you
lose count....you could order a bucketful ...and
get a real metal bucket full of ice with the beer inside
a clever way to sell a lot of beer, and I must admit
very convenient if your playing competitive darts
and do not want to be interupted....so 3 hours late
we hit the road for big O.C., stereo cranked, the joints
passed around and well I hate to really admit I did dumb shit like this
but it was another time before MADD and the roads were empty at 2am
but I guess Joe was weaving a little...No he definitely was weaving a little
and a State Trooper was entering the highway, with gravel flying everywhere
so Joe pulled off on the shoulder, and the trooper was very polite
said I'm sorry boys, but I'm going to have to confiscate all that beer
and one idiot friend started complaining, so I gave him an elbow
sharp to the ribs, and whispered, he's going to let us go
and he did
he took our beer, and said be careful, stay within the lines
Ocean City is five mimutes down the road
I'm going to follow you to your cottage on the beach

[sasha]

rest assured
we've ALL done stupid shit...
1968-69
sometime during my freshman year
me'n Bruce Buck tossing back a few
(only a few - but enough)
wandering the campus late at night
railroad tracks
wonder where they go?
let's find out
(ever notice how railroad ties
are too close together to step comfortably
but too far apart to take two at a time?
I mean
you can do it,
but either way it's like work...)
anyway
we're maybe a quarter mile out
raised causeway, marshland all around
and up ahead - a light rounds the bend
the 12:35 from Dover
headed our way
no time to retreat
so we jump -
he to one side, me to the other
seconds later the 12:35 roars past
inches away from my hands
too scared even to wonder
if Bruce is ok
or riding the cowcatcher to Boston
hours later (it seems)
the last car flashes by
and I poke my head up
just far enough to see across the tracks
where Bruce is looking across them towards me
we get to our feet
and without a moment's debate
stumble back to the safety of our dorm

[saw]

days like today
I can arrest 10 gallons of water
from the air inside my house
if I choose to not run the AC
and just use my ceiling fans to cool off
with this little device called a dehumidifier
if I had my garden up and running
I could keep all the plants happy
without wasting metered water from the city
but alas, I'm too tired to get said garden going
these days, and well,it's all i can do
to pull my socks on, or lace my boots
energy conservation is important

[sasha]

house needs a coat of stain
just like it did last year
and the year before...
sheetrock in the back room
still riddled with bullet-holes
fired by squirrels...
bathroom needs an upgrade
as does the kitchen...
been too wet to hike...
I've been down with the writing bug
mortality calls
if these stories don't get written now
they never will be...
at least
I got off my ass long enough
to arrange for someone
to power wash the roof...

[saw]

I'm so good at beating myself up
the old one-two to my head
I should do more, what a brainwashing
the system does on us. my european friends
think I'm nuts....they actually understand it's ok
to relax and not feel a shred of guilt at my age
but, but, but...I was groomed to work hard
and I thought that meant forever no matter what

[winddance]

this thread reminds me of an old doc watson song, written by carson robison

"Sun comes up and the sun goes down.
The hands on the clock keep goin' around.
I just get up an' it's time to lay down.
Life gets teejus, don't it?

Cows gone dry an' the hens won't lay.
Fish quit bitin' last Saturday.
Troubles pile up, day by day —
Now I'm gettin' dandruff.

Grief an' misery, pains an' woes.
Debts an' taxes, an' so it goes.
And I think I'm gettin' a cold in the nose …
life gets teejus, don't it?"

I was lucky enough to see doc watson twice in concert. once with his son merle, and once in a double header with taj mahal.