perpetual jam!!!!!!!!!

[the mingo]

birds down to the year-rounders now
and not all of them
are gonna make it

much rain past week
river is up
i mean UP
the stairs that go into the water
have 6 feet of distance
between them & the shore
this morning ...

... minkya, jo-jo

[saw]

if it keeps on a raining
the levees gonna break
if it was cold, we'd be buried in snow
but we're gonna set the all time high
tomorrow, Christmas Eve
on the warming planet
and oh there are still deniers
knuckleheads that only listen
To Brer Fox
Rush was King for a Day
a regal bullshitter you might say
but he grew old, his red-faced lies
grew lame as tits on on a horny bull
but the FOX goes on
runnin' his sly mouth
St. Hannity is just a plain liar
gotta sugar daddy, that boy
so he spews it out, like holy vomit

[WIREMAN]

the eve of
off today
and lazy
sounds in
the hall
nail lady
clomp-clomping
world on hold
hungry?
feel like some sake
later
ready to face
the world
breakfast time
oh by golly have a holly jolly
christmas this year

[the mingo]

yeah christmas
overcast here & chilly, not cold
grey days all around
river up high but i think
i saw it crest yesterday
listening to a lot of jazz lately
a lot -
coltrane, miles,
brubeck, desmond,
simone, krall,
on & on

[WIREMAN]

christmas time
alone sublime
1 bar open
cacique
spanish joint
probably more
will open later
silent day
holy day
earth still turning
all burned out
on love
life at a low....slow...hummmmmm!
cept'n the work
a continual buzzzzzzz there
i wanna write
but i jam
words of course
drizzly day warm
really not hungry
but i guess
its time to eat
goin on 1:30 pm.
families walking silent streets
some homeless ones
just hangin'
think i'll walk around
for awhile.....

[WIREMAN]

normality
back to
rain continues
temps temperate
sounds silent
a neighbor leaves
a gift, green glass
tree ornament
family time
little family left
art
planes
romance
grounded
lost boys
latcho drom
diaspora
fiddles fiddling
cigar boxes
ham cans
kalimbas
homemade
simple sound
fan moves
side to side
slowly
picasso fights
death
degas blinded
cezanne blurred
shut away
all of them
endangered
fighting back
with work
perhaps burnt out
like doused flames
endure
sell
create thru mind
images
textures
shapes
tap out words
reach inside
feel the day

[WIREMAN]

white wedding day
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
plucking the
krispy creme
cherry of
that garcia in a
container called
godzilla, put up
and shut kinda
existence waylayed
all dressed in
splendor for the
parade, a long hot
summer beneath the
wishing well reflected,
dissected, and eventually
neglected like so many words
nights she cried
times she wanted to
take me for a magic
carpet ride, knowing the
truth would hurt, "you
couldn't stand it." that's
the proof deep within
the pudding, a wedding
signed in the big book
everyone there in disbelief
an oasis at the dead end
side street, even though
the flow was in the air....

[the mingo]

rain ...
i slept for hours
last night
not my usual stretch
still coming up to speed
rain ...
wake up with the fantasies
& imaginings & memories rolling in
& crowding my mind
thinking Basho
what he said about the "wind-swept spirit"
in Journal of a Travel-Worn Satchel
yeah that's it - he nailed it there
i've been writing since
i was 11 or 12 ...
it ain't left me alone from that time
women have come & gone
wives have come & gone
friends have come & gone
dogs have come & gone
war & peace has come & gone
but the writing & scribbling
still here with me
half way thru my 64th year
sitting here by a rain-swollen river
waiting on dawn

[WIREMAN]

close encounters
w/2016
all those
landmark dates
that flew
by 1984
2000 to
name a couple
i read
i write
i sculpt
in wire
saw jane h.
at baltimore artscape
over 10 years ago
a woman a peace
very tranquil
still way warm here

[saw]

had a sweet bash here last night
so much interactive music with friends
we sang into today, every genre
was enlisted, 2 of my kids sang some
acapella tunes, baby it's cold outside
call and response overlay,
and my neighbor letitia vansant
her sweet americana original voice
stills lingers as I clean up the messes
all parties leave behind,
how will I ever eat all the cookies,
guess I'll wrap them up, give them to the kids
in the neighborhood, the music, the music
the 12 string clear as a shiny new bell
and the chorus always joining in
sometimes 15 and 20 deep, tomorrow is my birthday
so I always throw a jam between xmas
the new year...us christmas babies gotta find
a way to separate the red and green
from the blue eyes I was born with

[the mingo]

saw - Quit your whining ya ol' seadog, you're well-fed

[WIREMAN]

sun shine in
let it
change in
the weather
something
happening here
"It's all right!"
zatoichi says
save it for a
rainy day
sounds
perchance to
dream
the to be
that ain't
no question
resting
sleep
in slumber
I will rise

[saw]

well fed indeed
with family n friends
n music and love
what joy singing is,
you can feel your cells
getting younger
as the lyrics roll off
the tongue, and I am
blessed by energy that
surrounds me, tho I do
worry some nights about
those alone, homeless
without a single friend, and
even though I can't find a religion
that soothes me I totally dig
why they pray , begging in the rain
I gave a frazzled waitress
a 20 dollar tip the other night,
laid it down and walked out
tried to imagine the look
on her face on a 40 dollar tab,
hoped that it brought the tiniest
amount of joy to someone that
looked like she was coming apart
at the seams, my oldest son always
told me, from years in the industry,
sometimes a good tip would
get him through the night, and this
is no lie....no joke....no xmas story
because my other 2 kids were with me,
on the way to the car in the pouring rain
I looked down in the gravel and saw what
appeared to be a folded up dollar
as drenched as paper could possibly be,
it was floating toward the storm drain
I picked it up, kept running to the car
unfolded it when out of the deluge
it was a twenty dollar bill....no shit

[Arcadia]

gifts fever already gone
city just surfing heat vahos
of endings & beginnings

[WIREMAN]

thats too cool for words saw
lovin' it
magic
kismet
instant karma
all of it