tape

i'm sorry i didn't mean it but you said i know i said but i didn't mean it but you said i have it recorded right here you said it i know i said it but i was just saying i didn't mean it you're a liar i don't believe you you said it you are what you say i was just kidding i didn't mean it honest honest? what do you know about honest? you have to believe me i didn't mean it i know you you're a sociopath i read a book about you sociopath? isn't that kind of a big word for a conversation like this? go away i don't like you any more i never liked you how can you not like me "any more" if you never liked me? there you go again being a smarty pants as well as a sociopath i know you now i always knew you how can you know me "now" if you always knew me? get out get out so all this stuff about the tape and the book about the sociopath is just an exercise in style right if you never liked me i said get out but it's my room yes, mine you don't believe me i have the rent receipt right here in black and white that's just the kind of thing a sociopath would say like what i have on the recording i have the receipt you have the recording i guess there is nothing more to say i guess not sociopath you should find a new insult "sociopath" is kind of sterile all right i'll leave now see you around no you won't i'm glad that's over with

just one

billy, is that you how are you it's been a while yeah think you can give me some sure like the old days when you were my number one remember how you used to give me ten, twelve fourteen at a time wow just thinking about it sixteen, seventeen those were good times right i hear you how about four or five i could really use about four right now no how about one or two one billy one for old times come on i remember you gave me twenty one time remember that yeah you're right things aren't what they used to be that's true time goes by but some things don't change what, like desperation i'm desperate i'm begging you just one can't you give me just one i see yeah all right all right i understand so long, billy it was great talking to you again later

echoes

i was born around here there were none of these brick buildings then these antique shops and wine and cheese shops old sam had his news stand right over there he sold the racing form i'd come every day and say have you got the racing form sam and he'd say of course i have the racing form, what else would i have - there was a place over there, where that greeting card shop is, sold hamburgers and hot dogs it didn't have a name so we called it the place with no name

the confidence man

hey! you made me spill my coffee! but that's all right i'm just a bum, so who cares, it took me all day to get the money, what difference does it make - oh hey thanks pal thanks hey sure you can afford it?

shore

i think i'd like to go far away where no one has gone before over the farthest mountains along an empty shore and walk along forever but never round the bend where the ocean meets the river the river that never ends and stop beneath a shady tree to listen to the rain that plays on the leaves a melody that will never be heard again

stop me if you've heard these before

lord humphrey had a pet white mouse and when he wasn't shooting grouse he whiled away the night and day engaging the rodent in repartee in the parlor of his ancient house lets go sit in the park all day until it gets dark it it rains we won't care it's the answer to the flowers prayer and it won't even leave a mark sister sophie, a modest young nun decided to soak up some sun when her discarded habit was eaten by a rabbit she cried 'i'll be a daughter of a gun!' a temperance lady named june busted up the local saloon with her mighty truncheon she destroyed the free luncheon and the drunkards warm cocoon a postal inspector named sage was on the lookout for gage when a package came by he said, if this only contains some good spliff i could make a living wage a bear and an antelope went into the park to grope when an evil park ranger named murdock t granger sold them some very bad dope josie's kitty climbed a tree because it wanted to be free perched below the topmost leaf it looked down with pure relief at josie's weeping misery all humans are the same all humans are insane they pretend to be civilized but that is just a bunch of lies as they walk in the devils rain mary jones washed rich folks sheets and her daughter walked the streets and made more money in fifteen minutes than mary in her whole life - that's sad isn't it? listen to the rain as it beats listen to the rain as it beats on the windows and in the streets it swirls and falls it murmurs and calls listen to the rain as it beats

poem from an old typewriter, with translation

jtrew kirw o;pt vey u ynn ge u gtp liujtre bytrew t i juntr eqwq hytewqo ytr dseiu gtre poy e h r njhytrews poljuytred wsoyr4cdsaq ik t poiltrewq cfpiuytr gyh kiuy ,iu7gbfewr p ku wqb miyte iy oitreqbu ly te i threw a potato on the part of the omelette that needed help you younguns need to get a grip the future will be held hostage by truth the junta will hide the jewels among the elephants your true desires have long necks every hollow representation bestrews the news pollination - that's the word why, so your four cadets have deserted the good cause there's that word again - very chewable get your kinesis here - not there i understand there will be seven fewer for dinner please correlate your walpurgisnachts mightly likely i thought i heard the overpass call my name

outside my window

please connect each dot but suppress all evil thought though you be deaf dumb and blind the master can read your mind and knows who you are and are not a mathematician named mope surveyed the world without hope when he added up the sum his brain grew numb and he fell down a slippery slope a necromancer named nowling was fond of candlepin bowling when the game grew obsolete tears fell at his feet and the dark streets he began trolling an orotund opossum named ole could not escape a wormhole as he waited to lose weight he bewailed his fate and wished he'd played a better model role a panda named prester john surveyed the parthenon pondering its ancient graces and vanished noble faces he could not suppress a yawn a queen named coralie from a distant galaxy was allergic to living creatures and on planets without features she quietly sipped her tea a robust rover named roy was a very boisterous boy he crashed through jungles and savannas and mopped his brow with silk bandannas as he jangled with juvenile joy the sultan of s---------- was slow to develop witty bon mots he stood at his window for hours sadly surveying the flowers because he had nowhere to go a wily warmonger named wedd each night when he went to bed put a nuclear warhead or two inside his boot or his shoe so he wouldn't wake up dead letters form into words and fly away like birds over an endless expanse of high adventure and true romance and restless wandering herds

blues in the night

i awoke to the words in my head and they said we are only words and words are only memories and memories are only stories and stories are all the same and are all untrue a rag a bone and a hank of hair a mothers prayer a step upon a crea>king stair a whisper to beware a princess in a tower a guardsman at a gate a messenger arriving a moment too late the panhandler you ignored on a rainy night who turned out to be jesus christ but he forgives you it's what he came for the water is deep go back to sleep the army of light will defeat the forces of darkness do they not do it every night? a new princess will wait in a new tower more beautiful than ever with a more faithful guard who will try so hard to repel the invader next time

value

the monkey chased the elephant down the empty highway he finally cornered him in the back lot of an abandoned walmart you have cost me a lot, said the monkey and i hate to do this to you but you have too much value what is cost, asked the elephant and what is value as the monkey brought the ruby encrusted statue of the virgin (or maybe it was vishnu or lenin or sarah palin) down on his head the elephants last thought was but i'm bigger than he is