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