collab

Monday, September 2, 2019

LOOKING FOR THE MAN WHO RAN











Thursday, August 29, 2019

FOOLS ON A GRAY AUTUMN DAY






















Fools On A Gray Autumn Day


Standing here in the silence of a gray, lackluster day
We briefly glance into somber eyes, then turn and look away
You clear your throat and smooth your coat
Your body blocks the sun
I wait to hear your footsteps retreat; I expect to hear them run
But they don't walk and you don't talk
No words spill from your mouth
But heartbeats break the silent roar
That the heart cannot pour out.

Your big hand reaches for my small
That's buried in my pocket
And with the other I undo the clasp
On the sterling silver locket
That holds the picture of the love we shared until today
I put it in your empty hand and still I do not say
Unsaid words that serve no purpose; for they cannot change a thing
And the unshed tears bring no release but blind us by their sting.

Goodbye, it is a joke and lie, it expresses no sincere thought
For what is good about the bye? Just another moment bought
An autumn leaf falls on your shoulder from an almost barren tree
And I think the bright red leaf is you and the barren tree is me
We watch a V formation of snow geese on the wing
Flying through the skies above to find another Spring.

One last throat clearing, one last hand clasp
Your lips meet mine once more and last
The saddest smile I've ever seen touches your eyes with tearbright gleam
Hands pull apart, eternity ends
Eyes close on memories of there and then
We walk in different directions now and don't look back, somehow, somehow.

The tears held back, now fall like rain down heartbroken faces that drown in pain
And each, we shout  unsaid words then and hear them stolen by the thieving wind
At the edge of the park, I think I'll turn to see if you're there ( I never learn))
I pray that you're running on swift feet to me but I never turn and I never see
And you walk on toward the ocean of blue
And wonder if I am now running toward you.

Your heart beating fast as the locket you grasp
With it's picture of you and of me
But I'm walking and crying and waiting for you to follow
As the locket is thrown into the sea.






























© by Voo
November 19, 2005
3 p.m.























Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Storm on the Tip of My Finger








STorm On THe TiP oF My FInGeR


Rage flashed through me like a river overflowing it's bounds
The rage of life that sometimes takes me when I least expect it
The rage of love that carries me away like an unmoored boat on a defiant tide
And breaks me there upon the rocks, mercilessly pounding and pounding
Until I disintegrate into shards of heart and mind and soul
It caught me just now and blew me away with it's ferociousness
I wanted to hate something but I didn't know what to hate
I wanted to kill something but I didn't know what to kill
I wanted to love somebody but I didn't have anybody to love
I never felt so alone.

For some crazy reason, I flashed back to Christmas time
And the wreaths that hung upon the door and the holly in the window
And the carols filling the kitchen air like the flour from the cookie dough
The soft, sweet smell of pine tree wafting through my impatient dreams
As I slept, one eye open, for the first crack of sunlight to beckon me down to paradise.

Then I found out there was no such thing as Santa
 And I haven't trusted a damn thing anybody's ever told me since! 
There wasn't any Easter Bunny either and no Tooth Fairy and no Thanksgiving Turkey
(Well, there was a thanksgiving turkey but everything else was a pack of lies!)
I get so tired of being lied to. Don't people get tired of lying?
That girl promised me we'd be together and love each other and hold each other
In the midst of the baddest storms and nothing could ever change that
And nothing did. 
She just stopped loving me and walked away. And what could I say?

Oh, I see! It's Christmas time all over again, right?
 Just another myth and fable to fill up the hearts of the innocent 
To make them feel special and not forgotten
It was a Lie!
And now this lie that makes all other lies pale in comparison! 
The ultimate lie. The lie of love
But no matter, I'm over it. It's done. Finished.
 Everything's all under control now. Calm.

But the rage came again today and covered me in memories and mistletoe
 And kisses in the snow
I wish it'd let me go. Just let me go for as I type this, 
I feel a storm beginning in my fingertip and I
Try to hold it back but all I really want to do is point it at the world
 And burn it down like it's burned me down for years
 The storm rages on and I let it lead me and I follow
 I don't know where it's taking me but I'm going. 
Maybe I'll just put it in your face 
And let you feel the terror I feel now that I am alone And unloved.
 Maybe that's all I'll do.

 Just put that bad boy in your face and say "See! See what you did!"
Then I'll walk away and keep walking till the rage runs out and I feel ok again
 And I'll go home and sit down
And be myself until the next time that I think of you or Santa or the Tooth Fairy 
And how I fell for all that......
I don't know. The rage knows. The finger knows.
 The finger with the storm brewing in it's tip. Lightning flashing 
Like a hurricane on the ocean. But it's just emotion.
 And It doesn't hurt anyone but me.






Sept 15, 05 
3 a.m. 
©by Voo
for Mark

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

AND I SEZ, BABY








And I Sez, Baby…………….


So I’m settin’ in ma pickup truck
Tha fancy new ‘un I picked up last Sundy
Off an unattended lot
Eatin’ a hot Mary Calendar’s Turkey Pot Pie
Fresh outta tha microwave
That I done run a long cord from to the carport
Of a house that’s dark
Cause the owners done gone to town fer a bit
And my taste buds are a lovin’ it
And I’m a lookin’ for the salt shaker
Shaped like a crowin’ rooster
When I looks over at my baby
And I sez, Baby, what say we hit tha road
And ease on down to N’awlins
And go dancin’ on Burbon Street
And git our fortunes tole?
I thank I see us a gas can a'settin' over thar
By tha shed. I betcha it's full.
Whatchoo say, Baby?

And Baby, she sez,
(Stretched out somewheres
Between tha seat and tha steering wheel
With her feet out tha window
And her long red hair almost in my pie,
She’s a swattin’ mosquitoes
And wrigglin like a crawdad in a crawdad hole)
And she sez: Now, Rascal.……
We don’t have ta go nowheres like Burbon Street
To do no dancin’
Y’know we gots a whole bottle a’ Jim Beam
Up under tha seat……..
And I kin tell ya right now whut your fortune is
And that is that, you ain’t got no fortune
Cause you done spent it all
On that stupid Mar-ee Call-an-dar Pot Pie
Back yonder at that grocery store!

And she sets up and puts her face out tha winder
And turns her back to me and sighs
And I go on and finish my store bought pie
And takes me a big drank a’ grape Kool-aid
(That we done made in a Ziplock bag)
I wipes my mouth with tha back of my hand,
Throw tha pie carton and tha spork out in tha bushes
And I taps her on tha shoulder and I sez:

Hell, Baby, what you want from me?
Don’t I provide you with a roof and a shelter?
Don’t I steal or kill enough fer us to eat on
When we’s hongry?
Don’t I love you enough fer twelve men?
Don’t I sing you to sleep ever night
And keep tha mosquitoes off ye part of tha time?
Don’t I give you back massages while you drive?
Don’t I take ya places and show ya thangs
And give ya an excitin’ life?
What more do you want from me, woman?
I mean…… Hell Far, Baby!

And she’s quiet-like fer a spell
So I go on and pull tha lectrical cord
Out the outlet and roll it up and put it away
And put tha Kool-aid in tha ice chest
With tha orange popsicles and tha cheese and baloney
(Dadgum, a man gits tired a cheese and baloney all tha time!
Sometimes he wants a good hot dinner
Like Turkey Pot Pie er somethin, for cryin’ out loud!)
I make sure no body’s lookin’ and I hightail it across tha road
And swipe that red gas can which turns out ta be full
And I put it under tha tarp with tha microwave
And tha television and various and sundry other necessities
And gits back in tha truck.

Let’s git on outta here while tha gittin’s good, I sez
And she starts tha truck and we vamoose down that dirt road
Doin’ forty mile a hour till we hit tha county line
And kin breathe a little easier…………
Finally, she slows down and turns ta me and sez:
Look, Rascal, look, lord knows I love ye and everthang
But sakes alive, man, I’m a grown woman and I have needs!
I needs me a nest and a place ta call mine and everthang
I can’t be a livin’ in no ole truck tha rest of my life!
You hear what I’m sayin?

And I nod ma head and look out tha winder
And I sez: Yeah, I hear ya, girl, I hear ya
I just don’t know whut to tell ya right now
Seeing as how I am financially humiliated at tha moment
And ain’t got no fortune as you has already pointed out ta me
Just as clear and plain as tha nose on my face,
But I promise ya, I will find a way ta work thangs out
Just as soon as I kin find a way ta work thangs out!
Meantime, let’s us just head on down ta Louisiana
And see what the Good Lord has in store fer us thar
And I will see whut me and Him can come up with. Alright?
And she sez, Alright and we head on down tha road.

She drives all night while I sleep
And then tha next day I sleep all day while she drives
And between tha two of us
We gits all tha way down into Cajun country
Where we stop and hunt craw fish and squirrel and camp out and barbecue
And have us a dandy high ole time
Dancing to Zydeco music on tha radio
And drankin’ Jim Beam and grape Kool-Aid
(But not together, lordy, no, not together!)
And I look at her a smilin’ in tha sunshine
And gettin’ tipsy on Beam
And I gits me an idea.

Tha next three days I let her sleep
While I drive
(Which I don’t like to do
Cause I ain’t got no driver’s license)
(And no permit, neither)
But I figure nobody does down in tha bayou country
Lord only knows. I don’t know
But I keeps my eyes open and my head clear
And I prays fer guidance…………….

Bright and early on Thursday mornin’
Baby wakes up cause she been real tired
From our big night on tha town
And she stretches and yawns
Like a yeller cat a wakin’ in tha sunlight
And she looks around and she looks around
And rubs her purty eyes and frowns
And she sez: Rascal, where are we?!
And I’m a standin’ there by tha side of tha bed
Just a smilin’ and a grinnin’
Happy as a hound dog with supper up a tree
And I look down at her
And I sez: Welcome home, Baby Bird
I done got you a permanent nest!!

And she’s so excited and happy
And takes off a runnin’ round tha whole house
Lookin’ into thangs and openin’ doors
And a squealin and a hollerin’ to beat all heck
Then she goes to tha kitchen
And looks at tha sink full a dirty dishes
And looks in tha closet full a ball caps and overalls
And sees Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans
Throwed up all behind tha couch
And a autographed picture of Doug Kershaw
Up on tha wall over tha tv set
And she comes over and stands thar, hands on her hips
Lookin’ at me like she ain’t never seen me before
And she sez: Rascal, whut in tha Sam Hill have you done?!

I got you a home, Baby! I stammer out, all bumfuzzled
My lips a’ quiverin’ like a little ole baby’s
I made all yore dreams come true
Just like you asked me ta do! I done done it!
Me and you’s can settle down now
And have ourselves that big famly yur hankerin’ fer
And we can do all tha thangs you said you wanted ta do
But right now, Baby, we gots to go………
Y’all git on back in tha bed now
And I’ll take care a everthang, you’ll see!
And I tucks her in and tells her ta hush
And I go outside and close tha door
And gits in ma truck that is hitched up to tha trailer house
And I pull us off tha shady creek bank
And out up onto tha highway a headin’ back towards Arkansas.

And that is how
I ended up a deevorced man
Wanted only by the po-lice
With no wife and no future
Just a pickup truck full a microwaves and television sets,
Three ice chests full of Mary Calendar’s pies,
A hound dog I picked up somewheres ta keep me compny
And a fairly nice trailer house full a somebody 
Else's stuff
That I had hitched up to tha back of tha pickup
Down in Louisiana, just this side of N’awlins
'Bout six month ago in tha middle of tha night
Right after I had took my baby to Burbon Street
And let her git her fortune tole…….


Ain’t no need fer me ta tell you fellers
That that thar fortune from that ole fortune teller
With her shiny gold tooth and her big empty hand
Was not no where in my favor
No siree.

Dadgummit!!
Hell Far and Damnation!!!!






©by Voo
Dec 9, 2012
8:06 p.m.