fading
away on the dark streets of decay
why
do we fall for the hope of a better day
been
wasted so much lately
i
feel sick all the time
not
as strong as when i started
these
after midnight rhymes
this
is my kind of reality show
on
these streets replete
of
any human kindness
the
cast and crew keep changing
but
the outcome is always the same
and
i won’t be the last contestant standing
passing
a café with outside speakers
i
hear a familiar song
high
as a kite i stop
close
my eyes and get lost
like
a kitten in the desert
the
song ends and i return to
the
lifestyles of
aimless
atheistic artists
i’m
not a surreal darwinist
there
are those in dark alleys
who
are not looking for
the
avenue of lights
housed
in a hangover
i
look like a guy
who
has been deep fried
i
maintain a disguise
with
sunglasses
but
nothing can mask
the
memory of me
so
often i have tried to be
someone
else
a
levitating leviathan
that
awes and amazes
while
everyone grazes
on
the sweet nectar
of
my leaves of grass
my
misery multiplies
under
their molding
and
i make my way
back
to me
dilute
the water
give
up the struggle
and
remember that nothing is real
only
perceived
stopped
at a food truck
you
know you’re high
when
a greasy egg sandwich
is
the best meal you’ve ever had
i
think a person’s sexuality
is
deeply rooted in their psyche
i
am not repulsed by what
men
do with other men
but
i’ve never met a man
i
wanted to court and woo
quite
simply because
he
didn’t have the anatomy
of
a woman
now
that motivates
even
as lousy as i feel
as
i pass by a group
of
laughing asian women
i
lust
where
ever i go my notebook goes
i
often stop to jot
in
l.a. no one pays attention
the
seed of the apple tree
grows
twenty feet high
but
last time i was in orange county
i
didn’t see a single orange tree
a
lone wolf lingering in a last stand
garbage
cans strewn across sidewalks
daring
to share how no one cares
in
l.a. its point a to point b
unable
to see
this
master of the moment
setting
the cans upright
against
a wall
this
doesn’t make me ten feet tall
nothing
we do makes a difference
things
that matter are an opinion
i
just felt like cleaning up
organizing
the clutter of my mind
i’m
laughing at the liability of your lies
hangover
evaporated
i
wrestle with the cosmic question
“whiskey
or beer?”
i
steer into a liquor store
shudder
at the sight of whiskey bottles
(like
i said
i
don’t really feel good)
walk
out with two twenty-four ounce cans
of
miller lite
and
quickly put one in me
now
i have to pee
where
oh where is that back alley
i
passed out in one time
way
back at the beginning
of
these rhymes
before
the time
i
quit lifting weights
lost
thirty pounds
and
started getting high again
after
decades of rescind
why
are the cigarettes always gone?
back
in the liquor store i purchased
yellow
american spirits
had
a twenty
and
told the guy
he
can keep the change
if
i can quickly use his bathroom
a
nod confirms what i came to learn
there
was an empty cereal box
in
the bathroom
even
in l.a.
things
can strike one as odd
i
defraud my body
with
another unnatural substance
even
if it is natural tobacco
only
a wacko smokes
don’t
most men still hear their
mother’s
voices in their heads
the
woman who knew
how
long it really was
before
you stopped
wetting
the bed
in
my youth
there
weren’t any diagnoses
and
the cure was always a belt
momentum
and impact
backside
bare
you
tried to hide
but
she was witness
to
your nudity
and
pain and love was the dove
that
delivered the olive leaf
you
acquiesce as an adult
to
the determinations of your wife
skirting
the suspicion
that
if she told you
to
assume the position
you
would bare your bottom
and
grab the arms
of
the kitchen chair
daylight
faded and created
the
lighting on tonight’s stage
but
the play is not all the rage
and
won’t be winning any tony awards
the
doctor cut the chord
but
even atheists worship
the
goddess as divine
these
women are so fine
one
of them even gave me
an
approving look
that’s
all it took to tickle
the
feet that fancy love
habituating
a hope for happiness
breasts
never go out of style
men
are not influenced by anemic
images
in magazines
and
fill their little black books
with
names of full figured females
no,
you won’t find philosophy here
just
another guy drinking a beer
the
everyman edit
giving
credit where credit is due
we
misconstrue the memory for meaning
and,
no, we don’t know what you need
even
when you tell us
although
i do help out sometimes
with
the laundry and the dishes
it
starts to get light around five
these
days
this
town becomes a different world
i
stand out like black eyes
on
a porcelain doll
but
no one notices
amid
their rushes
daylight
crushes the dead of night
resurrecting
corpses to
another
zombie apocalypse
metropolis
was a good film
but
even those who have seen it
remain
cogs in the wheel
listening
to “animals” by pink floyd
avoiding
the consideration of
which
song am i?
maybe
i was mystified by the mention
of
your scream
but
with me you only whispered
and
for years after i had
disintegration
by the cure
on
a continual loop
trying
to recoup
letters
lost in the mail
last
week i made my first trip
to
applebees
ordered
the american burger with fries
portions
were small
it’s
an l.a. thing
but
it was the best burger
i’ve
ever had
in
the next booth were grads
excited
about the future
i
wanted to tell them to
always
be that way
and
never read any of my books
especially
anything that contains
within
the title the words
the
dark streets of decay
***
