The city folds in on itself,
pouncing on switchblade sunsets
with eager twitching and nervous hands.
Alleys race under fire escapes;
laundry writhing on backyard wires
like fish in salty buckets.
Each square of sidewalk rolls past dusty shoes
of winos and barflies.
Some squares are baptized
by chalk drawings of children;
others marred with dried blood and gum-blisters.
Somewhere the sounds of a funk bass
are dancing under dim lights and cigarette smoke.
With coat flung over shoulder,
a local girl flirts with stranger under disco ball mistletoe.
Curly black hair is plowed by her hand.
She giggles and probes at biceps and past,
but his smile fails to alarm her.
She hears only the drums
bending the night
into rivers of sound and silence.
5/11/95 Jeremy David Kaufman
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Born Insane
Sometimes the people you love they are loyal and true
And sometimes they're waiting to bury the dagger in you
But it all comes down in the end
Enemies lovers and friends
The strangers you meet on the street
And the house you were born insane
Sometimes the things that surround you are shiny and new
And sometimes you worry your things are more happy than you
But it all comes down in the end
Fashion and phases and trends
The gossip you buy that will help you deny
You were born insane
It doesn't matter what you think you know
Or what they told you on the radio
When you go, you gotta go alone
That's all we know about the Great Unknown
Sometimes the things you believe in turn out to be true
And sometimes it's just make believe and the joke is on you
But it all comes down in the end
Jerusalem, Mecca, Stonehenge
The pyramid's tall but it's still gonna fall
We are born insane.
2007 copyright Jeremy David Kaufman, slumberbird music
And sometimes they're waiting to bury the dagger in you
But it all comes down in the end
Enemies lovers and friends
The strangers you meet on the street
And the house you were born insane
Sometimes the things that surround you are shiny and new
And sometimes you worry your things are more happy than you
But it all comes down in the end
Fashion and phases and trends
The gossip you buy that will help you deny
You were born insane
It doesn't matter what you think you know
Or what they told you on the radio
When you go, you gotta go alone
That's all we know about the Great Unknown
Sometimes the things you believe in turn out to be true
And sometimes it's just make believe and the joke is on you
But it all comes down in the end
Jerusalem, Mecca, Stonehenge
The pyramid's tall but it's still gonna fall
We are born insane.
2007 copyright Jeremy David Kaufman, slumberbird music
Smile
Night and Day
It's always been this way
When one is done
Another has begun
But soon you'll see
The only thing you'll be
Is just another memory
That no one can recall
And it's one last shove of the gravedigger's shovel
One last turn of the screw
One last plea to the hanging tree
But the branch won't break for you
And it's one for the road and one for the bottle
One last honk of the horn
One last squeal from behind the wheel
And you might as well have never been born
Work and Play
It's always been this way
When you have fun
There's work that must be done
But soon you'll find
The life you leave behind
Is nothing rare or precious
Just a moment lost in time
And it's one last shove of the gravedigger's shovel
One last turn of the screw
One last plea to the hanging tree
But the branch won't break for you
And it's one last glance at the face of the doctor
One last chance to know why
One last twitch of your cerebellum
Bleeding out of your third eye.
And you know nothing lives forever
And there's nothing you can do
Everyone you've ever loved
Will disappear from view
But you're no different when you're sleeping in the dirt
You'll be trading in your trousers for a wooden shirt
And it's one last shove of the gravedigger's shovel
One last turn of the screw
One last plea to the hanging tree
But the branch won't break for you
And it's one last push of the big red button
One last flash in the sky
One last scream when it's not a dream
As we blow the world a kiss goodbye
2004 copyright Jeremy David Kaufman, Slumberbird Music
It's always been this way
When one is done
Another has begun
But soon you'll see
The only thing you'll be
Is just another memory
That no one can recall
And it's one last shove of the gravedigger's shovel
One last turn of the screw
One last plea to the hanging tree
But the branch won't break for you
And it's one for the road and one for the bottle
One last honk of the horn
One last squeal from behind the wheel
And you might as well have never been born
Work and Play
It's always been this way
When you have fun
There's work that must be done
But soon you'll find
The life you leave behind
Is nothing rare or precious
Just a moment lost in time
And it's one last shove of the gravedigger's shovel
One last turn of the screw
One last plea to the hanging tree
But the branch won't break for you
And it's one last glance at the face of the doctor
One last chance to know why
One last twitch of your cerebellum
Bleeding out of your third eye.
And you know nothing lives forever
And there's nothing you can do
Everyone you've ever loved
Will disappear from view
But you're no different when you're sleeping in the dirt
You'll be trading in your trousers for a wooden shirt
And it's one last shove of the gravedigger's shovel
One last turn of the screw
One last plea to the hanging tree
But the branch won't break for you
And it's one last push of the big red button
One last flash in the sky
One last scream when it's not a dream
As we blow the world a kiss goodbye
2004 copyright Jeremy David Kaufman, Slumberbird Music
Let Me Sleep
Yesterday was good to me,
But then I broke her heart.
We tried to stay together,
But I always come apart.
And I know that I've done wrong,
But there's time to set it right -
Lord, let me sleep tonight.
Today withdrew the dagger,
But there's still a gaping hole.
Now my blood is full of poison,
But I'm empty in my soul;
So I smile like the future,
But inside I'm so uptight.
Lord, let me sleep tonight.
Let me stagger in the beauty
Of a night so vast and deep.
Let me stumble through the city streets
When all the world's asleep.
Let me linger at the window
Of a dream I loved before...
Once again I'm dragged from slumberland,
Awake and out the door.
Tomorrow tears her bitter rags
Of guilt and shame and tears.
I would say it's all in fun
But I've been wearing them for years;
And I know I've walked in shadow,
But I'm reaching for the light.
Lord, let me sleep tonight,
Lord, let me sleep tonight.
08/28/05 copyright Jeremy David Kaufman, Slumberbird Music
But then I broke her heart.
We tried to stay together,
But I always come apart.
And I know that I've done wrong,
But there's time to set it right -
Lord, let me sleep tonight.
Today withdrew the dagger,
But there's still a gaping hole.
Now my blood is full of poison,
But I'm empty in my soul;
So I smile like the future,
But inside I'm so uptight.
Lord, let me sleep tonight.
Let me stagger in the beauty
Of a night so vast and deep.
Let me stumble through the city streets
When all the world's asleep.
Let me linger at the window
Of a dream I loved before...
Once again I'm dragged from slumberland,
Awake and out the door.
Tomorrow tears her bitter rags
Of guilt and shame and tears.
I would say it's all in fun
But I've been wearing them for years;
And I know I've walked in shadow,
But I'm reaching for the light.
Lord, let me sleep tonight,
Lord, let me sleep tonight.
08/28/05 copyright Jeremy David Kaufman, Slumberbird Music
Transmission
It’s strange, isn't it?
Sitting with a pad and pen,
Finding you have nothing to say?
A lifetime of memories, a treasure chest
Of untapped emotion, a perfectly active imagination,
And yet, nothing.
The sword is finally pulled from the scabbard.
No target in sight.
It is inconceivable that writer’s block
Would ever happen to anyone.
Okay, so no pretty prose.
You’ll never carve a single passage of true poetry.
But do you not have something to say, anything at all?
It is not so simple.
Writing is an act of divination.
You feel the joy of relief,
Or it’s still in there, thrashing around and breaking the furniture.
What do you want to say?
Tell the world a story?
Reveal the divine in our comic and trivial endeavors?
Go for the big revelation,
The "what’s it all about?”
And how do you plan to do any of that with words?
There will be no lotus sutra -
No sequence of words I can string together
Will open up your mind,
Like a prisoner set free at last.
They are just words.
They may become a toy that no one plays with
Or the rope that hangs me.
Ha! Losing sleep over writer’s block!
Are misery and exhaustion their own rewards?
Invaluable slumber bartered for blank page or a blinding screen.
All I have to show
Are these clues you use to track me down.
These pages contain hints and traces:
Smoke from extinguished campfires - butts in the ashtray - footprints in the snow.
Read, and you’ll know where I’ve been.
You already know where I’m headed.
I will meet you
At the exact moment late at night
Before you realize that it’s morning,
Or when you stare at the stars
And receive only silence.
BEGIN TRANSMISSION:
Through the vast reaches of blackest space,
Can you hear me?
From the first gasp to the final sigh, you’ve been with me all this time.
Please don’t leave me with nothing to tell you.
I’ve waded through the centuries to do this, to write these very words!
it’s me my dear / again / like i’ve always done / a simple thank-you letter / nothing more.
07/22/05
Sitting with a pad and pen,
Finding you have nothing to say?
A lifetime of memories, a treasure chest
Of untapped emotion, a perfectly active imagination,
And yet, nothing.
The sword is finally pulled from the scabbard.
No target in sight.
It is inconceivable that writer’s block
Would ever happen to anyone.
Okay, so no pretty prose.
You’ll never carve a single passage of true poetry.
But do you not have something to say, anything at all?
It is not so simple.
Writing is an act of divination.
You feel the joy of relief,
Or it’s still in there, thrashing around and breaking the furniture.
What do you want to say?
Tell the world a story?
Reveal the divine in our comic and trivial endeavors?
Go for the big revelation,
The "what’s it all about?”
And how do you plan to do any of that with words?
There will be no lotus sutra -
No sequence of words I can string together
Will open up your mind,
Like a prisoner set free at last.
They are just words.
They may become a toy that no one plays with
Or the rope that hangs me.
Ha! Losing sleep over writer’s block!
Are misery and exhaustion their own rewards?
Invaluable slumber bartered for blank page or a blinding screen.
All I have to show
Are these clues you use to track me down.
These pages contain hints and traces:
Smoke from extinguished campfires - butts in the ashtray - footprints in the snow.
Read, and you’ll know where I’ve been.
You already know where I’m headed.
I will meet you
At the exact moment late at night
Before you realize that it’s morning,
Or when you stare at the stars
And receive only silence.
BEGIN TRANSMISSION:
Through the vast reaches of blackest space,
Can you hear me?
From the first gasp to the final sigh, you’ve been with me all this time.
Please don’t leave me with nothing to tell you.
I’ve waded through the centuries to do this, to write these very words!
it’s me my dear / again / like i’ve always done / a simple thank-you letter / nothing more.
07/22/05
Kill Me
She walks with me in darkness
And never gives her name.
I know she isn’t human
But I love her just the same.
You’ll always be the madness I adore
Kill me like you did the night before.
Her nails are painted daggers
Carving patterns on my skin
I know she’ll strip the fear from me
And tear away the sin.
Tie me to your bed and lock the door –
And kill me like you did the night before.
I wonder who’s that screaming?
Are those bloodstains on the wall?
I hear my lover’s laughter
As she drags me through the hall.
Bury me beneath the basement floor –
Kill me like you did the night before.
I’m feeding worms and spiders
The weeds all overgrown
Then the wall of sleep comes crashing down
And I find myself alone.
How could you just leave me wanting more?
Kill me like you did the night before?
Won’t you kill me like you did the night before?
9/22-25/8 copyright Jeremy David Kaufman, slumberbird music
And never gives her name.
I know she isn’t human
But I love her just the same.
You’ll always be the madness I adore
Kill me like you did the night before.
Her nails are painted daggers
Carving patterns on my skin
I know she’ll strip the fear from me
And tear away the sin.
Tie me to your bed and lock the door –
And kill me like you did the night before.
I wonder who’s that screaming?
Are those bloodstains on the wall?
I hear my lover’s laughter
As she drags me through the hall.
Bury me beneath the basement floor –
Kill me like you did the night before.
I’m feeding worms and spiders
The weeds all overgrown
Then the wall of sleep comes crashing down
And I find myself alone.
How could you just leave me wanting more?
Kill me like you did the night before?
Won’t you kill me like you did the night before?
9/22-25/8 copyright Jeremy David Kaufman, slumberbird music
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