51: Showcase

Throw me down a line, pull me off the streetplay the role of judge to the green little kids.

From stage to stage and coast to coast
most are the same, I beg you to boast
about one little band that is the secret,
Lying alone in the whispering trees
with the smoke signal warning -
reviewers are pacing -
racking their brains for the metaphor racing.

Songs glittered with struggle, did they not know
what more there was to come?
Oh my brothers, it has only just begun.

50: Nest

Disease ridden basket case paints pictures on the asylum wall.
drips black-bird paint on the ways of the hall
makes murals on the cage.

Tiles stained with melody colours
ink splats there go two-by-two
they conform to the floors, and hug it well
enveloped in these blending shades
of emerald blue and topaz silver
polka-dotted-striped
delivers explosions of plaid
and written words
painting on her hair and shirts.

Quiet white slippers tread across their floors.

This can't be sent -- it's only visted
to stand on the realm of visualistic catharsis
before the tragic hero trips
and falls into oblivion.

49: History

you don't deal well with the living crisis,
do you, sister?

this candy's stale and ancient
like those dead civilizations we trod upon.
cowboys and indians
bows and arrows
black and white
slaves and non-slaves
compare, contrast, reflect, review.
Open your textbooks, and listen to what we have in store for you.

48: Neccessities

Ego booster shots should be necessary
I'm getting the narcissist flu. The world revolves clockwise
and all else follows, down those stairs.

Overestimated guesstimates and presumptuous wishes,
hopes thrown up into the air,
let the leaders catch them all
we're filled up to the brim with the likeness and luck
and fame of a chance in a lottery win.

The platform's set with the stage lights bright
heating up lines under that harsh candle
bring down the spotlight laser beam
pinpoint fame not to be seen.

The audition tape is fraudulent,
yet talent comes across like heaven sent.
Always, we strive to prove ourselves,
to nobody, to noone.

47: ballroom dancing

Commence awkward silence when we stand for The Songfaking our way through the normal procession.
Outside the cigarette smoke lingers its way back in
on the five-hundred-dollar blazers of
the ghostly heartless suits.

Then the patronizing speech tries to be revolutionary
tries to steal our time and throw it back
on our tired, expressionless faces. We study the ceilings,
ornate decorated vomit,
distract ourselves by moving in those certain ways.
Follow the music, follow the standards.

46: those aryan girls

Hair sweet like honey, strolling through the forest.
Creating everything themselves, their own reality.
Painting stories on their nails,
knowing the difference between us and them.
Bathed in riches while knowing nothing of the sort.
Perfection was a lifestyle, we studied them for mistakes.
And we thought we couldn't find any.

45: Academics

They stride through hallways and corridors.
They're down the ravines
while we climb to the top.
See them looking up at us and then they all stop.
Since then, clouds of decay and all that is drained
of recycled emotions and thoughts and of old feelings
are not a surprise to the lovely old skeptics.

When everyone's a hero
is it hard to decipher
the love from the hate,
endurance or suffer?

They swallow their words, I examine them.
Thoughts manifested, ideas blooming in the night.
And still I sleep during these days.

44: Lone Listen

Seal off noise pollution except for what's yours,keep it to yourself.
Put a barrier to those soundwaves, souvenir records.
Let's make a toast to the
antique love songs
that weep of violins and make flowers wilt and bloom.
Like a well-done summer, soft and tender,
where days tread on
with gorgeous L.A. heat, and the bitterness soon.

Like the best sort of jail with isolation,
nothing but sounds to wake up the soul.
Stuck with the thoughts that run across time,
jumping through time's hoops
and catching memories in baskets. Plant them in the soil,
water them daily. Tend to that which you created.