Graveyard In the discomfort area there

[WIREMAN]

good long life
i'd take 89
anytime
been readin
bout the howlin wolf
recently
you know after his
last show, all he
wanted to do is stay
and hear BB play
instead of gettin in an
ambulance, and he did stay....

[the mingo]

some go
some linger longer
in the end nobody can stay
another day of pulling parts
& hammering rust
whatever is in it
cannot be grasped

[WIREMAN]

watch them lungs
was a sandin man last year
right about this time
repurposing wood to make
a little art gallery up
on market and 5th
the mask a bitch in the heat
kept gettin sores in my nose
they left when i got back to
the rebar, but i had to work
nobody gettin outta here alive
thats a fact

[the mingo]

trying to get
salt-rusted bolts to loosen
in the backcountry of an upstate junkyard
these bolts & nuts over the years
have become one with the frame
they are attached to
so ya see i am fighting nature herself
if Basho were here
i would hand him the breaker bar,
the helper pipe & the socket
& say: "When you get it broke loose
you can write a 'ku about it"
while his back was still cramping
and his knuckles still bleeding
just to see what
he'd come up with

[WIREMAN]

torch time

[the mingo]

i couldn't agree more
but ...
at this particular pick & pull
no torches allowed
no power tools either
not that the junkyard has a primitivist agenda
but they have no use of lawyers
screwing up their business
so ...
it's done now - the rearend is here
on the plateau and i don't want
to live this day over again
- in the words of one Wireman,
UGH

[WIREMAN]

feel for ya
a pipe on the handle
is theonly way
plus some serious weight and leverage
ugh
we're breakin bolts daily
with a compressor n impact gun
aint easy work
specially by hand
like u had to do

[the mingo]

sunrise
the day about to
bring everything
it's funny what light does
even in words
even in uneven proportions

[WIREMAN]

uneven words
preferring amped
blues harp
soulful wail
train runnin
a little late
sun rising early
shinin thru the
windows @ dawn

[the mingo]

first thing in morning
and there's a problem
ain't outta bed ten seconds
life's right there with
the first conundrum of the day
it shouldn't happen to a dog
but it does
then the woman of the house
says she has made me coffee
i thank her & she asks me,
" How about a quick round of parcheesi ? "
- there are plenty of things
that can't be solved
by going back to bed -
i try to hold life off
until i have had that first cup of coffee
it's a kind of sacred space thing

[WIREMAN]

problem 1st thing too
power cable defunct
on ipad
being my main drug
i take a cab to
the dreaded walmart
cause mac store is closed sundays
expensive fix, but i need
that puter drug...now for some brunch
watched movie mr. turner yesterday
kinda weird bio pic bout jmw turner
one of them movies thats bizzarly
interesting with awesome cinematography

[WIREMAN]

3daze off
ending
breezy
damn near 90
sour beers and
BBQ
didnt get a dang
thing done
satisfied

[the mingo]

working with the landlord yesterday
the ol' Korean war vet is
a haiku all to himself
he sprays a bumblebee nest
because he don't want 'em up under his roof
gets a backsplash of insecticide
in his eyes
i tell him he better wash out his eyes
and he agrees but he don't do it
spent a year in a foxhole in Korea
82 yrs old
and ya wouldn't guess it
married three times - all of them dead now
he don't stay still
i can't count all the tractors he owns
there will be no nursing home for this guy
he's a bona fide act of God
helped him clear brush and trim trees
next to his house on Memorial Day
in the bugs and the heat
he lives next to the Little Salmon River
he says, " I want to see the river,
what's the sense of living next to it
if I can't see it ?"
when we were done
he could look out his window
and see the river
he said - " There, that's better."

[the mingo]

the 28th of May already
ain't hardly done any riding to speak of
since i been back to work
double damn shame
landlord has a junk pile
out back (he used to run it as a junkyard)
saw an old bike out there
that i thought the handlebars might fit my hybrid
but that bike has been
rocking out there with the weather & climate
for who knows how long
probably since before Nixon beat his retreat
& those handlebars had become one
with the stem -
along with my tools
i had to use power words, spells,
and various dark incantations
to break that bond
could have used the help
of a samurai bodhisattva but
there weren't one to hand
the work turned out to be
worth it - they fit my bike and gave me
about a one inch rise in height
more upright riding stance
which i prefer since becoming
an old man

[WIREMAN]

ride like the wind
chk out Alash from tuva
if u already havent
theyre teaming up with
baltimore hip hoppers
creating some wild stuff
its on youtube and amazon mp3
all hail mongolia...tuva...and b'more!