The world is dead

As we pile into the truck cab on Sunday morning
You ask me how I'm feeling...are you sick?

I say no I'm not sick, I don't feel anything
I'm dead...the world is dead, all is numb

So we go on to church with all the other dead people
Some say hello and some go about their way

Later on you ask me why I don't talk to other kids
And I can't really give a good answer, not now

But if I could it would go something like this
Because there are times when the world is dead

Johnny and the other boys always seem happy
They play with other kids and don't know why

Most folks don't step away and take a look
But then, some of us are always a step away

Being a step away is a catbird seat when things go well
Yet a prison cell when you just can't get a groove on

It is the latter times when the world is dead, because,
People have agreed that being uninspired equals lonely

Especially for those who don't consciously become such
Although it has a way of leaving a cavernous void within

So the world expires and green foliage yields gray stone
The lush banquet table withers to dry cold toast

You can't stop it and you can't change it
Because the world is dead, until further notice

plasma

visceral eruption
all heaven exploding

fireball screams
consumes us both

lethal heat envelops
anion satellites

expelled from orbit
of planet atom

surging raging
passion devours

wild free unstoppable
yet so divinely ordered

life's very fluid
pulsing within us

molecules bombard
why don't we make some

new unique substance
radiant true love

Life is not

Life is not worrying that the pastor's wife will see your kid with a finger up, inside, or anywhere near his or her nose.

Life is not shielding yourself from certain forms of mass media, from certain personalities, from certain racial groups, from certain lifestyles, or whatever, JUST BECAUSE that's the good person mold that has shaped you.

Life is not concern about how well someone else's house is furnished.

Life is not just what YOU make of it; it's also what you allow others to help you make of it.

Life is not staying in an unhealthy relationship because you're insecure or feel it's your duty to start what you finished.

Life is not always what you think it is.

Life is not - in the biological sense - guaranteed.

Life is not grabbing all you can while you can.

Life is not necessarily jumping out of the way before you sense lightning may strike.

Life is not in the truest sense, after all, a thing, but rather, a Who.

please

please

please tell me

please tell me that look on your face

doesn't mean what I think it does

you're way too fine

to be caught up in me

it almost makes me lose respect for you

but then

how stupid of me

to reject a blessing?

no good clinging to outmoded ideals

that give no room to grow

and enjoy

even if only the fact

of your sweet creamy existence

so

if i may make one request

go easy on me

because

i perceive that you are strong

in many ways

yet...delicate

and so am i

One of *those* deals

Set off for home in my dad’s old truck
With four warn tires an’ a charm for luck

They’d shown me how to fix it up real nice
Now it was up to me to go pay the price

Drove north I s’pose for an hour or three
Found the place nestled there in among the trees

Well, squatters been sleepin’ there in my house
Even firin’ a gun wouldn’t get ’em to rouse

Dreams like this make me stop and ponder
Am I old enough to be on my own and wander?

Or am I just too old to make a new start
Oh Lord, You’ll show me; change this ol’ heart

24jan08

I saw a man as he stood between two buildings
Dressed all in black
Seemingly in control of the situation
Whatever it was
There was no one else around
I tend to think he's better than me
That he may be your alpha
But not your omega
Then I hear EJ sing of a space trip
Launching out into nowhere
Where no one else is
And I can't help but wonder
Would you go with me?
Will you be there?
Do I need you beside me?
OR is it just silly dreaming...

Tribute

This is something in my family's cedar chest, written on the back of a coal miner's union memo dated 1957. I wanted to post this while it's still the 50th year of when my granddad Robert Ellis had some fun at the expense of a famous radio preacher:

Dear Rev. Roberts,

Once I was so puny I had to be led out to water, like a horse. I could not sleep or work at a position I like best, "Baking Sweet Bread". But one morning after a hard night I was listening to your healing broadcast over a local radio station and laying my hands on the radio I began to feel like a new person. I started to jump and my wife clenched me for fear that I had lost my buttons (as some people call crazy). I continued to jump, sway, and roll. However, after a spell of silence, I raised up and led my wife out to water.

I cannot thank you enough Rev. Roberts for your wonderful healing methods.

Your pal,

E. Pluribus Unum