CUT-UP, DRAWN ON FOR ETERNITY, THEN KNOCKED OUT AT THE BAR by Doc Honey
here's another book of poems. and an andy shauf song. read at yr leisure. don't stress.
1. cheetah print bowtie
She stayed in
So I stayed out
In a cheetah print bowtie.
Television fishtanks
in shadowless
seizure-lit light.
Long ago
strange
at the start
the whole deal.
The bed,
although strange,
always
grinning.
flash driven,
compound love affair
Television fishtanks
Lost
in cellophane plastics
Freezing
in frightless fright
Temporary tactics
fallen
from soul-shaped baskets
Muttering ageless language
Waving
their hands
In attempt to frame
all the unseen
in the hole
of formless,
immeasurable
time.
2. tomorrow saved them yesterday
I’ve got problems for
tomorrow
Saved them
yesterday
Don’t ya know babe
You talk
with words you don’t say
Goes to show babe
you never caress moments of the day
Can’t find my love,
think she’s gone missing
Thought I saw her on the street
It was just the television
Can’t sing my song,
something seems missing
I see alright
but she’s seeing in television.
Everything’s addictive
& cut.
Scenes lost
to a perception of time
Obliged
Taught to measure
since birth
Daily journey
to unlearn
Gather insight
of the passing
or lack thereof
of time
that
time
deconstructs
or
demonstrates.
3. opal alladin
A distraction
upon myself.
Steer the ship
Hammock’s flipped
Tardy to the party
in the parking lot
But I brought my halo.
Lime in yr teeth
lies on yr tongue.
Shell shocked
& infinite
Loose
& rhythmic
Opal Aladdin
with open heart
Stimulant laden
Falling
& sullen
Sulking railroad tracks
pray
with eyes closed.
Hear them snicker
laughter fills the room
But where goes yr face
when you hear yr name
In the mouths of babes
denying their energetic age
It’s just a party
they’ve had too much you tell yourself
But where’s yr self?
where?
4. tupelo east
Rearranging tables
contemplating heaven
White table cloth spirits
or only their reflection
During arrangements
for tupelo east
A local feast
for thought
Thoughtlessly clinking
of silvery
in a thoughtless
quiet room
Time to shamrock
in the last tomb.
5. ruby maude
She was blissed
& blessed
At around 8 o’clock
In a pink fleece,
bless her heart
Ruby Maude.
& at last
she feels fine
Empowered
in her human form
How quiet
the sun shone
on the desert floor
Chimes
& shadows
chase yr mind
back & forth
Til in the coastal chateau
Spirit widening
on the shore
Til you’re scattered ash
Floating
a wandering oceans pounding roar
How light goes
little by little
letting darkness
even the score.
Slow the night goes
creeping
by love’s living room door
Consolidate!
Like smoke
in the sun
as the heat comes
unannounced
& like light
through the canyon trees
I was given
to this earth.
6. situationally drunk
Situationally
sizably
drunk
up
In Austin, Texas.
Woke up
concerned
on the first day
of August.
Bless
the road
& guess
the time.
I took off
my wristwatch.
7. earth forgets
I hear shuffling of some sort
though it’s just the front gate
Of an abandoned place
Swingin
back n forth
in a dry wind
Sweeping
across
with devotion
Before making love
on the red desert floor
Owl hoots
in the middle of the day
Across the street
from the cemetery
In the sun
with wide open graves
Spirits left,
dancing
to the south
in the mountains
Dressed as orbs
in the clear light
of the darkest dusk of day
Some say mystery lights,
alien,
heavenly aid,
While I,
lazily nursing life’s lemonade,
Listen
for the lulls
of nightfall
in the belly
of the canyon’s promenade
& slowly spoken
neath mercury’s shade
I invite all the letters
of the alphabet
in to play
While smoke
from my cigarette
renders
what earth forgets to say.
8. turning the moon into water
Turning the moon
into water
I drank my god under the table
While the starlight
in the daytime
is getting tuned up
There are ghosts
in the bamboo
& the figs.
The kind of day
that lasts all night
With names changing,
rivers rearranging,
judges blaming,
Sunshine shaming,
moons a waning.
Sweet little sugar bush
never harmed no one
Saw her once
long
on the run
Flowers kicking up
in her dust
& pictured
by a dove
perched
someplace above
With speck spectacled
black beady
eyes
It was a shadowed town.
Tropical storm style emptiness
When she blew out
The storm blew in.
9. crocodile tears in Mobile, Alabama
She found her
crying in the circus tent
She found her
in her dreams
I found you
there
neath the elevated train
as the day began to wane
Looked like
you & I
were searching
for the same damn thing
When you found me
there in the corridor
Talking to the molecules.
10. ithaca sunrise
Sweet
contemplative
little raven
with the face
of a goddess giant
I wake up
in a rush
Shiver
in solitaire circles
Dressing
& making the pot.
Cleaning the cups
Ithaca sunrise
persuading my plight
Rolling down
cayuga lake highway 34
Life in the bird’s song
Blind hoofbeats
& bird flight
Wing flap
critter patter
all thru the night
Where I slept
on the carpet
in the parlor
Situated
in your purple vest
& dress
Wondering
if you look your best
in your birthday screen-test.
The glass of wine in yr hand
never shakes
The glassy eyes in your head
keep me awake
Scattered ashes
across the books
& empty postcards
Beer cans,
cigarette butts,
& amulets
scattered
across the tombs
Out of the ground
back up the tree
on down the tree
Back in the ground
Where were you
last Christmas Eve ?
I was upside
down for years
Strewn like a nest
Left far behind
Seems like
only thing I get right
now
is flying by.
11. new candles
There’s a frightened rainbow
attempting to breathe
through a brewery’s smokestack
& it took me 17 years
to walk
to California.
my left heel moans the blues
croons
like a balladeer
& I’m in need of new candles
been burnin mine at both end
Sleep
in the daytime
work
in the nighttime
I may not ever get home
I saw your name
in the jukebox, mama
Fell asleep
in the icebox drama
starting a band
call me Soda Pop
First I have to cross the east river
walk down the bowery
smoking
the whole twelve blocks
boot heel metronome
Manhattan mantra
walking on stone
convincing my poor heel
salvation comes swiftly
lookin for a love
Lucid
but I limp
alone
On down the bowery.
xo.
Doc.
P.S. I’m now out of candles
Please send more
So I no longer must write in the dark
Wearing sunglasses
Secret stash in my harmonica
Legs always numb
Chest always full
12. howlin' parade
Don’t take your guns to town, Patti.
Patti kissed my cheek
On Saint Patty’s sundown.
Irish songs
delta blues
family
& friends.
trumpet howlin’
parade down 3rd ave
flagging the sun to set
& celebrate
in a bullet proof vest
Lost my golden earring
lost my true love
drinking water
wishin’ well
bring me whiskey
Dance
til you break
The high heels
on your new shoes
blow your trumpet, babe
don’t lose your mind
on the mountain
I won’t let them hide
my morphine in Mexico
& I promise
to apply
sunscreen
But only
If you promise me
you’ll always deliver
& PLAY every song
you ever feel
Like
you should be
singing.
13. drunker horses
tonight
my sunglasses
are made
of
lucky clovers
when I’m standing
up straight
I’m laying
down flat.
Drunk women
Drunker horses
strong beer
strange,
arrested curses.
Eagles
drinkin guinness
& pluckin’ harps
off the side
of the landslide
they used to call mountain.
Osprey Hawks
strummin’
their sunburst mandolins
Singin
about lost jubilees
same shit, different day,
Says the fisher
Man.
14. black napkins
Black napkin
junk
cats named
Nightlife
curled up
in a forest green,
faded
pot of gold
hiding out
& layin low
on sixth avenue.
the army tried to shake me down
once
they found out
I was calling you
on haunted American evenings
misty
in the middle
of the month of march
Cinematic eyeshadows
spotlights bizarre
flickers off
red ruby tassels
diamonds
in my limp
hat held
in my drunken
& flower hand.
my captain
turned
pale green
on a tempest voyage
Over
a Black Sea.
remember ol’ Molly McDonald ?
Her Vincent black shadow ?
Leather
& whiskey ,
leaking
from her famous
trombone .
her dog gnaws
on a crowbar
like a dog’s bone
paper lanterns ambush
the mourning river
pinatas dance
with hammerhead shadows
on holidays
& funeral celebrations.
15. shy shamrock
shy shamrock
alone,
standard,
& stranded
half-step down
sweating
in the footlights
pregnant distortion
spendin’
everyone else’s money
dancing
in everywhere’s neon
sleeping
with lazy dreamers
3 sheets wild,
light sleepers.
Wily
& devilish
in desert sun.
one pair
of honest lovers
swaying
like charity
in the clenching ,
melodic ,
pearly,
chattering,
silver ,
teeth
of the only spinning
disco ball
left
burning
down the bowery.
Barrel-housing
on broken knees
I kissed
her disease.
16. an eternity of remodeling
Bourbon
in your mohawk
medicine
in your bowtie
silver
in your smirk .
Coca Cola
in your glass eye
poison
hiding in your wristwatch.
Quick!
roll over Beethoven,
play her piano
with a pitchfork.
while locomotive butterflies
crying
crocodile tears
sip absinthe
on rusty barges
reverb banquet.
free drinks
Keith moon plays my ear drums
every night
my name’s always on the list.
an eternity
of remodeling.
17. short halves of wishbones
brush your teeth
with a microphone
fake your death
buy a nursing home
send all the patients
on a boat to Rome
ship em out
packed
with music instruments
& the short halves
of old wishbones
I was cryin
with her dog
in her sacred bed
& she was naked
with a Debbie-Harry-wanna-be
in her bed.
always another poser
backseat driving
on the next best
shortest
ride
on half-hearted
hand-me-down
coattails.
18. mesmerizing as a train wreck
Mona’s as mesmerizing
as a train wreck
in cowboy chords
calloused
campfire crowning
crystalline
mysticchannels of dove-tail eternities floating forever up on nicotine highs wasted love & postage stamps forsaken cherry pies tart. feels good to have a face. yr pal doc andy shauf song.
