Sleight of Hand

Sleight of Hand

The magician keeps to his illusions

Though few are fooled anymore

Seems the crowd is wise to his act

For they've seen these tricks before

Sawing a girl in half just does not cut it                                        

When compared to today’s special effects 

Innocence and wonder so hard to find

When you know in advance what to expect

Social Contract

Social Contract

Monotony is boring,
Monogamy is too

And don’t roll your eyes at me!
Because you know that it’s true

Of course YOU are the exception     
(Now I’m the one rolling my eyes)

Not that we follow our straying impulse
This life of ours is one big compromise

A string of necessary concessions
The individual needs to make

In order to function in society
We all play the game of give and take

Panic A La Mode

Panic A La Mode        

The news exploded like a bomb
Blowing our best laid plans away

Hitting us before we were ready
The future arrived early today

Now we find ourselves in hysteria,
Everybody running around 

Scared little rabbits ducking for cover

Seeking out any solace that can be found

Absorption will take some time       

To soak up and analyze

The impact yet to be determined,

As we commence to rationalize

Why we were not better prepared

And which convenient scapegoat to blame

All the usual asses will be properly covered

For in the end, coverage is the name of the game

I Torched

I Torched

This hand held device flashing red
Is not cooperating with me

Not behaving as it was designed
Doing things it did not do on QVC

How can something that looks so simple
Be so operationally confounding?

All of my tricks have been applied
And still this mutt is not responding!

My ignorance has been exposed      
My patience has reached an end    

 Time to admit I am a dinosaur          
And seek the aid of techno friends

Drone Nation

Drone Nation

The faithful come together
At the designated place

To get their instructions
From the voice with no face

They do as they are told
Think with one mind

Solid as a rock
And also as blind

Head Case

Head Case

Sometimes things flow, sometimes they don’t
It’s all a hit or miss proposition      

The right words can so be elusive,
We carry so many inhibitions

Pre conceived notions cloud our thoughts
Making us prisoners of our pasts 

Sometimes better to just let things fly
And not over think ourselves

Executive Downsizing

Executive Downsizing  

The stooges in three piece suits                 
Corporate criminals are they

Taking a leave of absence
Doing the perp walk today

Part of a legal resource action
Rebalancing Lady Justice’s scales

Prosecute the persecutors       
Deploy them to the nearest jail

Time to cage these greedy birds
And make them pay for their crimes

Just think of the cost reduction
To the almighty bottom line    

Butt Seriously….

Butt Seriously…. 

These be serious times! 
Mass grimness ordained

Smiles have been outlawed,
Laughter fully restrained        

Jokers shall be locked up   
Along with their clown friends         

Fun is now restricted
As darkness descends

Time to exit this glumfest    
As we refugees trudge out

Seeking comic salvation
From these serious times 

Unabridged Version

Unabridged Version

The crowd gathers by the river bank

For today’s big televised event        

Copters buzz round the scene 

To witness the descent  

They’re blowing up the bridge today

That span no longer in demand

A relic from simpler times

When people wanted to be together

 

Played Out

Played Out

The yarn master recites the story
He’s spun many times before

An epic tale that should be heard
But no one listens anymore

Because repetition killed the message
Diluted it beyond recognition 

Now he’s annoying background noise       
Blasting static in all directions        
 

Fall Out

The bystanders not so innocent

have seen enough carnage for today

The media mob moves on to the next thing

Emergency crews begin to drift away

The sanitation brigade marches in
and commences to clean up the mess

How the victim got up that wall
is anybody’s guess

The forensic team is baffled    

Was he pushed or did he fall?

Or perhaps he chose to jump
and put an end to it all?

Tragedy upon more tragedy
sometimes more than we can bear

Like Humpty Dumpty all down and out

Scrambled and broken beyond repair 

Solvency Mystery

Crunching the numbers

before they crunch me...

Always gotta pay

our debt to society..

Money flows outward

in every direction..

Creative accounting

offers no protection

from financial peril...

The howling dogs of debt

extracting their pound of flesh

on expenses not yet spent

FLOCK IT !!!

 

Strolled onto the scene

semi disheveled...

Feeling self conscious...

My ego was bruised

when the critics pointed out

my ensemble was weak...

Then I remembered

I don’t care what they think...

So I dropped my pants

and took them to the moon

serenaded by a symphony of disapproving gasps..

Muttering their group disapproval..

Freedom can be quite unnerving 

to the sheep in the herd  

Creation Uplift

Creation Uplift   

Going to construction,
Building things up        

A thought, a vision,
A relationship     

Need the right tools
Need to pre plan 

A dash of inspiration

A touch of stimulation

Some sort of  blue print

To complete the erection        

Sure the process is hard,

But it’s well worth the effort   

 

Mad Mannered Man

Mad Mannered Man

Mr. Angry Pants 
Hates everyone

Constantly agitated
Forever on edge

Takes all kinds of pills
To level himself off

Looking for answers
He will never find

Because you can’t think clearly
When you’re always pissed off

And you can’t be happy
When you hate everyone

Dead Spin

Dead Spin 

The proud warrior once great 
Lies weakened on his death bed

Friends and family gather round
And speculate when he’ll be dead

It’s not that they want to rush him
Just that there are arrangements to plan

He had wanted to leave this life on his shield,      
But instead will depart on his bed pan        

Escape the Brackets

Escape the Brackets

Laid out on the landscape before me
I reflect on the choices I have made

My selections reek with the scent of defeat
Cause I didn’t know how the game was played

Amidst the ruins of my current state

I run scenarios with a winning slant

Where happy endings are still possible

If we can just lose the philosophy of can’t 

Collision Assurance

Collision Assurance

The raging river 
Surges into the sea

Salt and fresh water clash
A churning calamity 

Night and day
The battle for supremacy

Desperate struggle
Demanding victory

This timeless conflict
As constant as the tides

Will settle down eventually
And the tempest will subside

Timed Out

I had a deep thought

that was quite profound

but now it escapes me

like a rocket gone down.. 

Looked in my pockets

for inspiration misplaced..

All I found was loose lint

and a rare chance for insight erased

Tí dýskolon? Tò eautòn gnônai.

No one seems to get what I say
I may as well be speaking Greek

Such the clever wordsmith am I
Hiding behind language oblique

Tis all a verbal shell game
That can only be taken so far   

 Before you can let others in
 You have to know who you are                                                            

Semi Committed

Semi Committed

Sometimes I try to hard
To say the perfect thing

Sometimes I think too much,
Try to pull my own strings

Sometimes I bore myself,    
For I know me all too well

Sometimes I am not real,
There’s just no way to tell     

Drum Banger Beat

Drum Banger Beat  

Little Miss Boom Boom,     
The belle of the ball

A party machine,
She's always on call

Please do not judge her,
Or call her bad names

Living life on her own terms,
We should all do the same   

Theme Park U.S.A.

Theme Park U.S.A.

The line goes on to infinity,
Wrapped all away around the world

Anticipation stirring everywhere
Flags from every nation unfurled  

They assemble here to be entertained
And to make their donations

To the tourist trap we have become,
A honky tonk side show nation        

Ghost Story

 Ghost Story        

 Where are we going after we’re gone?                 
 Lost is the feeling that once burned strong

 Can’t seem to recall how we got here

 What will happen when we disappear?

 Time is a wasting on our little game

 Like a candle running out of flame

 Players performing without a stage

 Scraps of memory on a faded page

All About Doubt

All About Doubt

Living on the edge of oblivion,
The Marginal Man exists

Content in his obscurity,
Yet the feeling persists

That he could be a player
If he chose to make a play

And conquered the uncertainty
That things may not go his way

Topsy Turvey

Topsy Turvey      

This virtual circus all around us,  
Our high flying perpetual show    

Where we are all performers,
Playing a variety of roles 
   
Part improvised, part scripted,
A series of unrehearsed events

But always us when the lights go dim,       
Even after we flub our lines          
     

Stuck in the Do Do

Stuck in the Do Do

The poor fly caught in the web        
Wonders how he got this way

Never saw his fate coming
Hopes things will turn out OK

The spider spins constantly   
Because that’s what spiders are into

Hopes there is more to his life
Than just doing what he’s suppose to do 

Retread Nation

Retread Nation

We classify them as bums
Because they have no jobs

We call them vagrants
Because they have no homes

We label them drains on society
Because they fell through the safety net

We wonder how they got this way
Because there are more of them every day

We see right through their existence
Because they make us uneasy

We know deep down they could be us
Because we are all disposable

Plug in Outlet

Plug in Outlet     

Boys and girls dancing without touching
While tickling each others fancy

Playing flirtation ping pong   
Bouncing around sly innuendos   

The tension is purely sexual  
Just beneath the surface

No harm with a little oral titillation 
Because every entendre needs an outlet 
 

Insider Values

Insider Values    

Took a trip to the Fantasy Mall       
To pick up a few loose dreams

The Pleasure Palace was open, 

Temptation bursting at the seams

Whatever you need is in stock,

Inventory of every vice

But the cost was just too steep

And I could not afford the price       

So I returned to my morality,  

My life in a cardboard box

Packed away with my inhibitions

Wrapped up tight with bubble wrap locks

 

Making Believe

Making Believe

The High Wizards of Hyperbole

Gather round the neon fire

Chanting the ancient incantations,

Seeking out souls to inspire

Mass communications are required

To spread the prepackaged word

Truth is in the eye of the believers

Even when their vision is blurred

Inside the Gelded Cage

Inside the Gelded Cage

Tell me what I can not do
And I’ll do it anyway    

That was me way back when,
Keeping conformity at bay

Now I’m fully civilized 
House broken and well trained

Boring to my very core
Living a life restrained
 

Self Construction

Self Construction  

The storm of my own creation         
Finally begins to subside   

The damage can now be assessed, 
Clean up procedures applied  

This cynical dam I constructed, 
My wall of rationalizations    

Can no longer hold back the fact
I need to build a stronger foundation
      

Calculate and Mystify

Calculate and Mystify

Like a persistent rain cloud
This problem hangs over me

Alternatives are carefully weighed,
Logic applied in every direction

But the equation is fractured,  
Nothing seems to tie out neatly

Not every mystery has a solution
Even when you have all the clues

Moving Up

Moving Up

These feelings arrived uninvited,
Now they won’t go away

The twins named Dread and Depression
Growing stronger every day

Emotional bail out is required
Flush away the gloom and doom

Inject a healthy dose of joy
And upgrade the current mood         

Sold Out Blues

Sold Out Blues

        The spotlight cuts through the dim

    Into it the salesman swaggers in 

 Another day, another pitch,

            All for the cause of bait and switch

     Not easy selling when no one is buying

           The dinosaurs had no clue they were dieing

     So it goes for the salesman once great

 Extinction will be his inevitable fate

Mute Points

Mute Points    

Trying so hard to be relevant,   

Escaping my obscurity 

I wished I cared more about

What people think of me

Way too much useless pride,

Stubborn to my very core 

Shouldn't be so self critical,   

Put myself back on ignore

Blue Harmony

Blue Harmony

     The chorus dropped down from the sky,

     Singing hosannas and lullabies

     Everywhere we went they were around

     We heard the music but not the sound

     They asked us to join their harmony serene,

     But people don’t always sing what they mean

    While our ship was sinking the band played on,

A dirge for us all, a requiem for the gone

White Noise Lullaby

White Noise Lullaby

Welcome to the wreckage of me       
Beneath my smoldering monotony  

Trapped deep inside myself    
Seeking an escape from this destiny  

    And yet things could always be worse

    As I soothe myself with that cliche

    Pain is the beast to be restrained       

    Even if living numb is the only way

 

Tripping Up

Tripping Up

Taking the feel good train just to go
Because the motion trip is the thing

The bells ring out and the doors they do open
The masses enter and bring what they bring

A messiah look alike sits down next to me
Sipping his salvation from a brown paper bag

We be the angels seeking the light,
A blessed escape from gravity’s drag

Ode to the Guru

Ode to the Guru

From his perch high up in the clouds
The man with the theories contemplates

The meaning of life and all it’s mysteries
In search of truth and ever elusive faith

A girl named Epiphany drops by
Bearing the gift of sweet revelation

That the older we get the less we know
And every day is a unique situation

Goody Two Pair

Goody Two Pair

The hollow man of high virtue
Lives his life morally contained

Yearns for a love he can never share,

Desires suppressed and restrained

The object of his untapped affection,

Forever in his line of sight

Does she share his silent regret?

A prisoner of doing what is right

Mirror Mirror

Mirror Mirror

We are all defined
By the perceptions we wear

Reality is a travesty
Which is really not fair  

Went to the complaint department
To rectify my situation

They gave me a blank form to fill out         
A tragedy of my own creation

Conformity Reality

Conformity Reality

Welcome to the Church of Tomorrow
Please leave your humanity outside

For we worship at the alter of the machine
Take a walk on the automated side

The priest will now read from the Book of Tech
So plug yourselves into the group outlet

Good little robots one and all
Your future course has been cyber set        

True Drops

                                             

Submitted for your approval

a trip to the Buffer Zone

Where reality and fantasy

are separated by a wall of stone

Messy desires are restrained,

or suppressed if that’s your view

So step inside a safe alibi

and deny what you know to be true 

                                                  

  

                                                 

Circle Meets Square

Circle Meets Square          

Struggling to make this puzzle work  
Odd pieces that never seem to fit

Patience replaced by frustration,       
Mired in the futility of it    

Decided to swallow my pride,
Gave Puzzle Support a call

They handed me a sledge hammer
And proclaimed “One size fits all”   
 

Wither Jerusalem

Wither Jerusalem         

Deep within this blaring intersection
Hangs a man from a blood drenched cross

He's part of the scenery nobody sees,
Melded into the mosaic of a society lost

Just another annoying obstacle
We step over and around

Nobody bothers to take the time
To help this wounded soul down 

Individual Portion

Individual Portion

The elusive enigma   
Defies classification 

Constantly analyzed 
Subject to interpretation

Analytically categorized  
to be conveniently defined

The curse of the individual
Who is uniquely inclined

Living Mini

Living Mini                                                     

                                               

Gotta go out                                                                  

Earn a living                                                       

Never enough                                                       

Feeling sucked out                                                         

Today has been spent                                          

Future sold off                                                     

Where do I go?                                                  

What’s left to do?                                                                

Pour myself a drink                                           

Climb into the bottle                                           

Get lost for awhile                                                        

Come back tomorrow                                          

Start over again                                                   

Replay the sorrow

Poached Rotten Eggs

Poached Rotten Eggs                                     

I had a solid thought,                                           

Turned into an idea                                            

Became a concept                                               

And then a fad                                                     

Became overplayed                                                   

Now a cliche                                                         

Tried to reel it in,                                                

Too far gone

                                                                             

Had to sue myself                                                

Seeking an apology

                                                                            

Trespassing on my lost                                       

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