their merry way

                                             
                                                 
                                                                 under
                                                             a city moon
                                                                    
                                                                    in
                                                            a parked car

                                                       a rental due saturday

                                                        they parted friends
                                                               apparently
 
                                                                   then
                                                                   went
                                                            their merry way
                                                                

Ali vs Spinks

15Sept78
friday night

Round 1.
Ali looks both serious and slow.
Spinks is the aggressor.
Round 2.
Ali is moving....better.
Spinks is wild.
Round 3.
Ali is missing a lot of punches.
Spinks is crazy.
Round 4.
        is Spinks round.
Round 5.
Cosell calls it a " flurry " of lefts and rights.
Round 6.
Ali is 36yrs old and it shows..... but he's still
                 The Louisville Lip
                   the draft-dodger
                     The Greatest
             not Cassius Clay anymore
                     the truth-teller
                       Muhammad
Round 7.
Ali is a boxer.
Leon Spinks uh-uh.
Round 8.
Ali is puttin' a whuppin' on Spinks ass now.
Round 9.
Ali is slowing down.....still winning.
Round 10.
Ali !
Round 11.
Battle fatigue.
Round 12.
Ali gets a second wind.
Round 13.
The Ali Shuffle.
Round 14.
Ali just can't Knock Him Out.
Round 15.
They go the distance.
Muhammad Ali wins a unanimous decision.
10-4-1
11-4
10-4-1

It's been over 30yrs since i watched that bout on
ABC-TV friday night fights.
There was a pencil and paper nearby so i
took notes.
Deb and i had rushed home from a funeral wake
on the northside.
A sad affair involving someone on her side of the family.
A 40ish guy with a family.
A lawyer.
They thought he was healthy.
He wasn't.
A heart-attack, maybe.
Who knew?
We paid our respects and got the hell out of there.
It wasn't right
and Ali was fighting Spinks on tv at 8pm.

15Sept79
friday night

They thought she was healthy.
She wasn't.

busy listening

There's a soundtrack to
my life
playing.............. not audibly , so i guess that it's just me
listening
to these particular songs.
Songs that cleanse and sanctify.
Protest songs and lullabies.
Songs of joyful
  heartbreak
       or
    elation.
Mersey beat or Motown incantations.
Songs that interrupt whatever i'm doing
or thinking
or yammering on about
and suddenly...
     a soundtrack of rhythmic artistry.
The soundtrack to my life is playing inside of me.
Songs that leave me up-lifted and
 free-falling. 
Sorry...  i couldn't hear you.
I was busy listening.

Trouble like a puzzle missing 50 pieces

They felt bent and busted because
        In God They Trusted
while in Washington D.C.
 they's singing Born to Run blue-sy.
You hear em?
They's singing Born to Run, Bruce-y
from behind those black-iron security gates or traveling the interstates
 in Ford
 or Dodge.
 Some in camouflage.

Known trouble is brewing and it's on the way in 50-something shades of grey.

Trouble not Allah.
Trouble not Jesus.
Trouble like a puzzle missing 50 pieces.

dust

                           
                                                         1.
                                             We're here now.
                                We know someday we'll be dust.
                                             We're shiny now.
                               We know one day we're gonna rust.
                                             People get  quiet
                                    after years of being shushed.
                                 So they whisper it  " life's so big "
                                   So big they think they'll bust.
                                                         2.
                                              We're here now.
                                     The 2 of us... tried and true.
                                              You're radiant.
                                           oh baby " parle vu? "
                                       People get quiet, did you
                                              notice that, too?
                                        Dust covers everything.
                                  That's what time and gravity do.
                                                          3.
                                              We're here now.
                                        Lets take a walk around.
                                              We learned how
                                    to keep our feet on the ground.
                                Still, it gets so damn quiet when the
                                               lord only sound
                                       is a crescent moon rising as
                                            our dust settles down.

on birthdays and bandages

   She squeezed longevity
    into a very
    short life
    and stuck me with
    the blunt end
    of a very sharp knife.