The "So Long" Song

(sung to "Love is a Rose" by Neil Young)

Refrain:
Halloween paraders on display

so throw some candy down

the trick is to treat yourself well

when friends are not around

signs at the crossroad blinking yellow

so stop look listen at the gate

wait until the big train passes

a good driver must hesitate

optometrist slips in a sharper focus

so for your world to clearly see

straightens out the stigmatism

rose colored lenses won’t suit 

Refrain:

minced words cut to deceive you

throw them in the soup

cook them til they're tenderized

or they will throw you for a loop

speedy bird rides a northern wind

so sucked into a churning jet engine of hope

i remain seated with perfect perception

trudging not down that muddy slope

Refrain:

it is not in your imagination

that innuendo slight

do not ignore it

nor stay to win the fights

against the grain of fatalism

you may have made your stance

to realize when trouble is brewing

and turn your head when witches dance

Refrain:

you should laugh not at the horror

of voters taking sides

one party mouth, and the other party asshole

do not be taken for a ride

blissful resistance to misfortune

comes to those who rebel

before you're thrown out the window

walk out just as well

Refrain: 
Halloween paraders on display

so throw some candy down

the trick is to treat yourself well

when friends are not around

Oct. 27, 2017
revised 2-17-18

Alternative History

erase my past
aim to clear
purge me from your gross neglect 
make irrelevant what got us here
movement in one big union
creating waves
swimming passionately on the picket line
anchor tethered to a dream 
landmarks recognized by heart
steering the course in the dark 
past milestone of slave harbors
avoiding sandbank traps 
along the swift riversides
intuitively near
so all is what it seems
there you go
in your mutiny
after coming and going with us
in a shared reality
witnessed mutually
whitewashed into an alternate story
here i am
a camouflaged chameleon 
without saying i left you far behind
i stand with these that share lives 
without resorting to
rewriting history 

October 17, 2017

A Portland Street in Pittsburgh

on the fringe of Pittsburgh
in a peaceful space
some adult's childhood
leaves yard toys artfully lain
upon golden pine needles unswept
among rows of smoked brick homes
from a brittle steel time 
distant like a train whistle blowing
from baron to gentry wind 
in an urban flower growth
through a crack in barren land
slipping bankrupted through our hands
but on a Portland Street 
there is one and only one  
crafting art and musica
into a living landscape painting
on board a bed of floating air
swinging from a front yard tree
necessarily retooled for infinity

October 4, 2017