Imma Be [Gil Scott-Heron]

Imma Be [Gil Scott-Heron] (Black Eyed Peas 2010) 11/30

Crossed the globe and seven seas

Sat my ass down in the crossroads and stared the devil in the eye

Livin’ life, feelin’ free, that’s how it’s supposed to be

He asked me where I’ve been where I aim

I told him everywhere and again

Crossed the globe and seven seas

I walked in the pathways of kings devil

You cannot claim this body devil

Livin’ free, feelin’ free, that’s how it’s supposed to be

He said he didn’t believe in me

And I said I didn’t believe in him

Crossed the globe and seven seas

I’ve seen too much to believe in anything

Too little to not understand that this body is going to cycle around

Livin’ life, feelin’ free, that’s how it’s supposed to be

Everything becomes more itself devil

Even you, you either renew or end

Crossed the globe and seven seas

Livin’ life, feelin’ free, that’s how it’s supposed to be

Right Round [Minos]

Right Round [Minos] (Flo Rida ft. Kesha 2009) 11/29

I am out of control

Raging down hallways – reaching for anything

We build castles made of sand

My wife – my deformed child in his prison

Take all the sacrificial youths I send down their paths

I am out of control

If I said I was sorry – returned everything I have taken

Unbuild the tomb of this house

We build castles made of sand

I spin my wheels – turn – turn – turn – find nothing

Worth touch – the tide comes in and takes

I am out of control

Pouring tankards of alcohol across the asses of my lands

My wife – she is not idle in this – not untouched

We build castles made of sand

But I –

Here is my arm – split it along the meridian – see the wool

pour forth like the ocean along a shore

I am out of control

We build castles made of sand

Love In This Club

Love In This Club (Usher ft. Young Jeezy 2008) 11/28 

On the couch on the table

the air is thick it might be daylight

on the bar on the floor

Even the walls are sweating

the air is moving is alive

on the couch on the table

Life is inventing itself in time

with whatever this song is

on the bar on the floor

The people become bodies

become silhouettes become silent

on the couch on the table

Noise is background white space

everything is erasing itself

on the bar on the floor

There are eyes only staring out

from your darkness and from mine

on the couch on the table

on the bar on the floor

This Is Why I'm Hot

This Is Why I'm Hot (MIMS 2007) 11/27

They ask me how I do it

Where my mind comes from

I got that fire

In my belly I see the ocean : the sun is setting : everything is going

from liquid to solid : the caps are shifting emerald : foam everywhere

They ask me how I do it

I pull that into me : take the caps of the sea and breathe it

Here is the salt in my veins staining my heart : here a fish-bone knife

I got that fire : split my chest

Let is pump on the table a moment : the mirrors will reflect only blank

light and empty rooms : the curtains are limp broken skin

They ask me how I do it : I take hostages of myself

Roam the sand bar and count the threshing grasses : how many were

green and how many were bleached white ?

I got that fire

And it consumes me more then it could you : ocean thick

breaking : particles float satellites about the earth of my brain

They ask me how I do it

I got that fire

You're Beautiful

You're Beautiful (James Blunt 2006) 11/26

My life is brilliant,

amazing, incandescent

‘cause I’ve got a plan

I have a backpack full of food

A tent, canned food, books, but the first reason

my life is brilliant

is that I have bombs,

lots of them – The second reason: a shotgun

I’ve got a plan

From this water tower

I can pick you off one-by-one and

my life will be brilliant

See, I’m not going lightly – I have chains and cuffs

This isn’t because I read some book

I’ve got a plan

I want to take you down – I want zombie pets

I’m starting with the neighbors

My life is Brilliant

‘cause I’ve got a plan

Candy Shop

Candy Shop (50 Cent ft. Olivia 2005) 11/25

We are going to sip until every bubble in every bottle is gone

It’s late and neither of us will leave this room

I'm a seasoned vet when it comes to this shit

See this steady hand that doesn’t tremble with the glass

The gaze in my eye that is the steady gaze of determination

I’m a seasoned vet when it comes to this shit

Have more you are floating

I’m floating

We are going to sip until every bubble in every bottle is gone

I can hardly think when I’m sober

We are going to sip every bubble in every bottle

Gone

The CD is skipping

I’m a seasoned vet when it comes to this shit

Hit it on the side by the blinking light

Every bubble is gone

Sip

Well seasoned

Shit

Yeah!

Yeah! (Usher ft. Lil Jon & Ludacris 2004) 11/24

She’s saying come get me, come get me

and the phone goes silent. I’m standing in the bar, the music is loud and

next thing I knew she was all up on me screaming

She was outside trying to get me to leave the bar, the music,

it’s some Usher song and the place is dark, sweaty. I’m stuck to the stool

She’s saying come get me, come get me

as she leaves the bar, her mascara running her eyes raccooned

I follow and the night is close, it’s still 80

next thing I knew she was all up on me screaming

about the other day, the other night, I’ve done wrong, something

about a friend of hers and how I tease her too much in front of everyone

She’s saying come get me, come get me

She wants me to save her, or I want her to want that

or I want her to save me, she is all fear and fists

next thing I knew she was all up on me screaming

hitting. Nails into skin. I’m bleeding and she is running

away throwing her purse into the air, leaving her shoes.

She’s all come get me, come get me…

In Da Club

In Da Club (50 Cent 2003) 11/23

20 deep            20 knives

Jungle of edges

If the roof on fire            Let the motherfucker burn

Like reeds on the river            Bow

In the wind

20 deep            20 knives

All out the long ways                        This incantation

Here in the circle of light

If the roof on fire            Let the motherfucker burn

Melting iron is mud on your tires

This is London burning

20 deep            20 knives

My eyes            Yours                        Are silver disks

Quick            Light                        We eat this bitch world up

If the roof on fire            Let the motherfucker burn

The secret jungle            We play the reeds fluted

We couch in the dark spaces            You best get the fuck out

20 deep            20 knives

If the roof on fire            Let the motherfucker burn

Ain't It Funny

Ain't It Funny (Jennifer Lopez ft. Ja Rule 2002) 11/22

I'd live a thousand lives

Life can be cruel in a way that I can't explain

And I don't think that I could face it all again

Through the years the world has changed

And standing at my start I’d never guess

I’d live a thousand lives

Wake each morning new and clean

End each night old and failed

And I don’t think that I could face it all again

Here I stand on the edge of time

Facing the world crumbling and I wish

It would live a thousand lives

But everything is eventual

And the universe collapses in cycles

And I don’t think that I could face it all again

I dream of a darkness of a death

Oh, I wish this could be real

I’d live a thousand lives

And I don't think that I could face it all again

Stutter

Stutter (Joe Ft. Mystikal 2001) 11/21

You told me, with yer friends, hanging out late last night

Talk to me, tell me, where you were late last night
You lying, cuz you stuttering, now where were you late last night
Stop lying to me, cuz you're ticking me off.

I called you, on your cell phone, no answer. Tell me why.
So I paged you, on your two-way, still no response. Tell me why.
I took care of you, I loved you, and you played me. Tell me why.
Stop lying to me, cuz you're ticking me off.

It's funny to me, when you lie to me,
You start stuttering, tripping.

I smell cologne, how'd you get it on. I'm not done.
He messed up your hair, makeup's everywhere. I'm not done.
Girl you're crying cuz you're lying to my face. I'm not done.
Stop lying to me, cuz you're ticking me off.

Why did I?

I hear you lying, I hear you st-st-st-st-stuttering.
You should have left me alone, get the hell on.

I can tell you're lying, because when you're replying,
Stutters.

Amazed

Amazed (Lonestar 2000) 11/20

And it just blows me away

The sight of 5^th Avenue rolling

Forever and ever

Down the length of Manhattan

With all those people cars rats etc.

And it just blows me away

This is a place in time and it exists

And here I am in it

Forever and ever

I want to spend the rest of my life

Being always amazed by this

And it just blows me away

That everyone ignores it

Goes about their business

Forever and ever

Locked in a straightaway of blindness

I’d compare them to ants but ants have purpose

And it just blows me away

Forever and ever

Believe

Believe (Cher 1999) 11/19

Because I've had time to think it through and the night is the breeding ground of philosophers and lovers

Because I’ve stood at the edge of the world watching daylight come up from below the ocean and thought I want to live where the sun sleeps

I need time to move on

I need time ticking in its ivory casements on the nightstand in the churches I need time signaling out itself but contained

Because I am afraid of death and in love with its blackness and forever and ever

Because I've had time to think it through I understand the scythe and understand that it will feel like ice melting in my chest

Do I believe in the eternal in any way is it the place of peddlers of ass to say what they believe in any category

Here is a small word that means nothing and here is my thought on it and here is a flashlight to illuminate the darkest corners of your own mind

I need time to move on

From this from myself from the ache of wanting to expand forever

Because I want to be the universe stars swirling over my flesh making me glow like I am bathed in semen under UV lamps

Because I've had time to think it through I am ready to admit that I fail

I fail in being the universe as we all fail in being the universe I am nothing if not a flesh bag full of life and that is it

And in this death which is the death of the younger idea that I could be all things to all people

I need time to move on

But in that time and in that moving I find the faint seed of growing

Because I am still nothing if not fertile and young and fire in someone’s belly

Because I've had time to think it through and I may not be the universe – yet – but I may someday bang my way there

I need time to move on

Gettin' Jiggy With It

Gettin' Jiggy With It (Will Smith 1998) 11/18

On your mark ready set let’s go

All of you want to be me

Living that life some consider a myth

It’s all castles clouds naked chicks coke

Parties by the pool Miami it’s the loudest

On your mark ready set let’s go

I’m ahead of you son I can’t help but be

Number one burning brighter then a pheonix

Living that life some consider a myth

I roll up that hill like Theseus break stones

Like Herc and light fires like Prometheus

On your mark ready set let’s go

Like to see you win this try to outdo this

I’ve got the body of a horse and a course like Nautilus

Living that life some consider a myth

I’m a Disney movie all happy by the end

You can’t even try to move from the start to the finish

Living that life some consider a myth

On your mark ready set let’s go

Wannabe

Wannabe (Spice Girls 1997) 11/17

If you want my future, forget my past

It is a book, locked in its case, forgetting itself

Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is

You could, smash open the gates and release this

Library of evils, could manage to overlook everything

If you want my future forget my past

The dark corners of history, the beliefs held then dropped

At the first sign of wind change

Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is

We do this to ourselves, check and mate

I was once a Nazi a murderer a robber a mass of heat

If you want my future forget my past

Swirling in the ether between us

Is this idea : and then…

Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is

I absorb your atrocities, and you will take on mine

Is this not what love is?

If you want my future forget my past

Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is

One Sweet Day

One Sweet Day (Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men 1996) 11/16

Never had I imagined

The severe clear of June

‘Cause you’ve flown away

All pinioned snow-white

Tips and coal eyes that

Never had I imagined

Before or since

I wait in the silence of wind

‘Cause you’ve flown away

Like the eye of a storm

That will never touch land

Never had I imagined

The breaking seas on

The lighthouses of the eye

‘Cause you’ve flown away

And because away is far I am content

With thoughts of breaking earth

Never had I imagined

‘Cause you’ve flown away

Take A Bow

Take A Bow (Madonna 1995) 11/15

There’s no one here

across the empty field the lights blink out one by one and

how was I to know you’d break

apart in reentry

and scatter like confetti at New Years

There’s no one here

the lights are low and the fireflies are rising like shadows

In slow motion an eye blinks then twice

How was I to know you’d break

apart in reentry

That you would shed skin and eyes like clothing

There’s no one here

Somewhere an organ is breathing

the rasping lungs of a church no doubt a gray-haired choir –

How was I to know you’d break

apart in reentry

That I would be standing in this field glowing

There’s no one here

How was I to know you’d break

The Sign

The Sign (Ace of Bass 1994) 11/14

No one’s going to drag you up

No one’s going to feed you the answers

Where do you belong?

Such a boring question – you belong wherever you are

you belong to the moment you belong to

No one’s going to drag you

kicking and screaming into any new century

give you a suit and sack of cash make sure you’re

where you belong

Mortality is – there is a period after that

You have you end you go on or don’t

No one’s going to drag you up

from your grave and prop you in a room

dispense tales from your undead mouth

Where do you belong?

Tell yourself every day – Here

then kick your own ass until you believe that

no one will drag you up

where you belong

Informer

Informer (Snow 1993) 11/13

Now they blow down my door, these aliens

They look up my bottom, they need answers, they ask

through my window

if I know the secrets of man

I do not, I say so, I laugh, tell them that they cannot be aliens

Now they blow down my door

Apparently their costumes should fool me. They are not kids

pretending, they are full-grown men. They toss me

through my window

I land on grass, another in bug eyes probes me

points to others dressed in black

Now they blow down my door

I hear them shuffle my things and scare my cat

what do you do naked in the cold with tweezers up your ass

Through my window

I see them light it all on fire

to rid evidence of abduction, now I’m in a car, blindfolded and tied

They blow down the door

through the window I went

To Be With You

 To Be With You (Mr. Big 1992) 11/12

Little boys that talk too much

are a dime a dozen

Waited on a line of greens and blues

just for you to kiss me off

tossing your nails and cigars at me

Little boys that talk too much

would say that I was asking for it

calling you a whore and such

Waited on a line of greens a blues

like some fucking book doctor

like some paparazzi to your star

Little boys that talk too much

will tell of everything you do

a dime a dozen but there are dozens

waiting on lines of greens and blues

just to be the next to get kicked

I fucked ‘em all you your

little boys that talk too much

waited on a line of greens and blues

Someday

Someday (Mariah Carey 1991) 11/11

Might be coming back to own me

Take my hand the night is longer these days and I lost my gloves

You’re never satisfied with any other

type of light anyway these burning street lights

are that orange color because they have sodium in them

Might be coming back to own me

I can hear them cycling back up the arc will hit and we will all be yellow

I know what you’re thinking and my hands are cold

You’re never satisfied with any other

and you’re rarely satisfied with me

When it’s like this this just beginning winterness I forget that you

might be coming back to own me

that you really just want to own something and my gloves

are just another thing that I’ve lost that you have to hold

You’re never satisfied with any other

You’re rarely satisfied with me

Here I’ll put my hands in my pockets this was a bad idea

You coming back to own me and all because

you’re never satisfied with any other

And I’m too silly to remember that I’m too satisfied with any other

Escapade

Escapade (Janet Jackson 1990) 11/10

As we go along

there is a skip – eye blinking

            endlessly blinking

And break them all

the frames that is – push on this

            black colloidal edge

As we go along

there is that need to hold again

            fight that

And break them all

paint this wall black and that

            one will be green

As we go along

there is that fire – much smoke

            endless mirrors

And break them all

hold this to your face see if

            you are still breathing

As we go along and break them all

Lost In Your Eyes

Lost In Your Eyes (Debbie Gibson 1989) 11/9

When I’m lost I can’t let go

There is a party going on and I’m gouging cookies

Knowing what I’m headed for

I pay for sex in apartments full of life-sized photographs

These black and white faces are edged in spokes

When I’m lost I can’t let go

I writhe on a table a horror movie victim

This party is for some guy I barely know and want to fuck

Knowing what I’m headed for

I listen to Radiohead and think about melting

I rethink my stance on poetry

When I’m lost I can’t let go

The sky is a myth it rains like watercolors turning puddle

Spotting the sidewalk like some period panties

Knowing what I’m headed for

I arch my back and think about cats

Then I turn my mind over and the party spills on the floor

When I’m lost I can’t let go

Knowing what I’m headed for

Never Gonna Give You Up

Never Gonna Give You Up (Rick Astley 1988) 11/8

And if you ask me how I’m feeling

my stomach is turning on itself – I feel green

Inside we both know what’s been going on

You’re leaving – right? – go

I will molt will go on in some form will turn to bug

Ask me how I’m feeling

and I will tell you about a grave man

Here is my St. Sebastian bullet hole

We both know what is going on

You fed me poison – made me eat glass

Pusherman – your cock held love

And you ask me how I’m feeling

I have this bellyful – and I’m not euphemistic

Green is as green does and I house an alien

inside – we both know what’s been going on

I’m turning into you and you’re lost to me

this is a despicable love

And if you ask me how I’m feeling

inside we both know what’s been going on

Jacob's Ladder

Jacob's Ladder (Huey Lewis & The News 1987) 11/7

I met a fan dancer

I told him that I didn’t believe in god

Now he’s trying to save me

He presses hands on stomach

Says he can take out this cancer

I met a fan dancer

I told him I had no time for tumors

That my hands ached and

Now he’s trying to save me

“From what?” I asked and he smiles

Smiles and presses into my flesh

I met a fan dancer

Somewhere in an airport

And his hands up inside me

Now he’s trying to save me

He says and I watch the blood well up

And he pulls this black thing from me

I met a fan dancer

Now he’s trying to save me

Sara

This poem is composed of lyrics from three separate Sara's.

Sara (Dylan, Nicks, Starship 1986) 11/6

No one could

Hear the sound of the Methodist bells

Go back in time

I can still see the shells fallin’ out of their hands

You never told me about the fire

No one could

And now it’s gone

I can still see them playin’ with their pails in the sand

Go back in time

There’s a heartbeat that never really died

The sound of the Methodist bells

No one could

Hear the sound of the Methodist bells

You never told me about the fire

Go back in time

The shells fallin’ out of their hands

I can still see them playin’ with their pails in the sand

No one in time

Could go back

Can't Fight This Feeling

Can't Fight This Feeling (REO Speedwagon 1985) 11/5

Throw away the oars forever

drift – close your eyes – you are

grown – I only wish I had strength

When I walk I think run – there

that passport on the nightstand –

throw away the oars forever

Drift – sister I cannot stand it

anymore – this is all that is done

Grown ? I only wish – I had strength

of mind – My fingertips burn

with the memory – what shore did I

throw away the oars forever

Did I ? There is a dream – where

I drown – it plagued me ‘til I was

grown – I only wish I had strength

to go back to that room face water

I am not the man I think I am

Throw away the oars – forever

grown – I wish – I had strength –

Jump

Jump (Van Halen 1984) 11/4

I ain’t the worst that you’ve seen

I’m holding this sparrow I snapped its wing like twigs it didn’t cry out the way I thought it would and there isn’t any blood anywhere but in my body and in its body

You’ve got to roll with the punches to get to what’s real

There are these dancers in India the Kathakali it’s all hands cutting through the story all body and heat applied to the surface of air

If I jump three times and scream in gibberish

I ain’t the worst that you’ve seen

There’s no way I could cut apart this room in the time you’ve given me

This broken sparrow is a transplant like me it hid on ships like rats or in cages in the hair of British royalty it came over the ocean carried not on air but on water

You’ve got to roll with the punches to get to what’s real

If I flap on the floor in the dirt if I end up covered in soot what of it if I leap out a second story window and land on my feet

On Broadway the other day there were fires and a building allowed itself to let go its roof

I ain’t the worst that you’ve seen

There are plenty of things I’ve done plenty and I count them like beads on necklaces strewn about like fictions like stones I will hold up a feather from this bird and I will allow it to fall to the floor

You’ve got to roll with the punches to get to what’s real

This is a fit I am flailing against the wall and suddenly I can’t tell if I’m standing upright or not anymore my face is bright red with white streaks and that means I am a devil

If I let this all go to pieces and just drop it here on the floor on the head of whomever

I ain’t the worst that you’ve seen

You’ve got to roll with the punches to get to what’s real

Billie Jean

For this one, I just let the lyrics do the talking. I think they are weirdly haunting.


Billie Jean (Michael Jackson 1983) 11/3

Who will dance on the floor in the round

For forty days and forty nights

Be careful what you do cause the lie becomes the truth

Who will dance on the floor in the round

This happened much too soon

For forty days and forty nights

The smell of sweet perfume

Who will dance on the floor in the round

Be careful who you love don’t go around breaking

For forty days and forty nights

Who will dance on the floor in the round

For forty days and forty nights

Centerfold

Centerfold (J. Geils Band 1982) 11/2

Does she come complete?

I’m looking at these pictures thinking of lips

Floating in space : disembodied voices

My memory has just been sold : these are phantom women

The pages from my mind stripped bare left for dead

Does she come complete?

A part of me has just been ripped : in a desert of audio

Tape and magnetic hush floating in space

Disembodied voices are popping off the pages

Of my memory which is of a face in a fog

You are this woman : magazine woman you : But

Does she come complete?

Am I to order you back into my book?

Out of the cloud of history : COME HERE NOW!

Floating through darkness : disembodied desire

Pushing out from pages : pressing the fabric of everything

Tell me are you more then lips?

Does she come complete?

Floating space-like embodied lips?

I Love A Rainy Night

November is going to be a month of change for me. I will be finishing up a long stay in northern New Mexico and returning jobless to New York City. In an effort to stay upbeat about this I have dubbed it PHASE 2 of my so-called long term life plan.

So. I am changing the format of the poems!

For November I present a series of villanelles based on the songs that were #1 on my birthday each year so far. The repeating lines are actual lines from the songs and I will link to the music video or live performance where I can.

I think the songs say something about my life, personality, relationships. The poems...

I Love A Rainy Night (Eddie Rabbit 1981) 11/1

Watch the lightening

Count until the thunder hits

Taste the rain on my lips

And taste it again

Resist looking in my eyes

Watch the lightening

I’m soaking you are too

There may be some dry over here

Taste the rain on my lips

What would it take

Get you out of your clothes

Watch the lightening

Down on the ground

In this muddy grass

Taste the rain on my lips

Take the dirt into mouth

Lock fingers in orgasm

Watch the lightening

Taste the rain on my lips