Strut your stuff

Got no education
you ain't gotta plan
 so you better make some moves to scratch out what you can
 your job ..... don't pay  enough
 and if you want money, honey,
 better learn to strut your stuff
     
 Your mama doesn't like you
 your daddy doesn't care
 they just want you outa here, but you ain't got nowhere
 to go....yeah life is tough
 so if you wanna eat sweetheart,
 better learn to strut your stuff
     
 You got a pretty body
so dress up like a freak
part your lips and glance around and hike your skirt and give the boys a peek
make sure they see enough
cause if you want baubles, baby, just drive the men all crazy
girl you gotta learn just how to show your stuff
     
Remember daddy's buddies
remember what they'd do?
remember how you'd be alone, the lights were out and they'd come in your room
they'd get in the buff
they'd say you want fancy fashions; just turn on all your passions,
sugar, let me show you how to share your stuff
   
Turn off all your feelin's
turn on all the charm
hide your tears, and let a rich man smile at you and take you by the arm
now that weren't so rough!
cause if you want glamour, honey; baubles, rags and money
all you gotta do is be willing to se--eh - eh - eh - ehlllll your  stuff
        Waaa,uuu,uhhhhh,uhhh,uh,uh,uh,uh,uh,uh,uh,uh,uh,uh_mmmmmmmmmmmm

        --30--

Mona Vota

On a corner in north Auburn stands a woman
and she's bundled up against the bitter cold
and she tries to catch the eyes of the commuters
with words on card stock stapled to the stick she holds

Will your sign attract a voter, Monda Lee, dear
will they pay heed to your political art?

Motor cars may pause at the stop light
soon they move on
soon they're long gone

Will they vote, will they turn out,
Mona Lee, dear
And will the punch that spot, beside the name, Burkhart?

Mona Lee dear,
will they vote here?

--30--

Movin' into Haggett day

I'm sittin on the bumper and the sweat's drippin offa me
In the basement of a building and the bowles of the dormitory
There's a cute girl over there,
see the frosh with the long blond hair
Got her name on the list
So she won't be missed
And  breathing the same stale air as me

You probably wonder what we're all doin here
With our TV's, jammies, boxes, CDs and all our outoor gear
With our shoes and slacks and skirts
word processors, pens and flannel shirts
This is get your stuff together, movin into Haggett day

Nice boy at the gate held out his hand, to say
If you take your time you gotta pay the man, today
And while you son goes to get his keys
If you wouldn't mind too much please
Park round the bend, the road comes to an end
You coudn't be more'n half mile away

When we finally drove on over to the dorm
There were five kids there to show us where
I guess that's just the norm
In T-shirts and buttons, hey,
We're here to help, they say
Rooty toot toot, your buns are cute
But would you please move 'em outta my way?

You reach the elevator by a line through the furnace room
In a chain link tunnel with a muggy sense of gloom
Then you stop at every floor
The operator's seen it many times before
It won't do nuthin, so
She bangs on the buttons
We finally move on when it closes the door

Now that I have made my getaway
There's just one more thing that I think that  I had better say
Gonna get down on my knees, pray to the good Lord please
Don't wanna go through another Movin inta Haggett day!

--30--

Crocodile tears

When life is rough and tumble, really need a friend like you.
When life beats me down and double, really need a friend like you.
Cause when you come knockin baby, I don' feel crazy feeling blue

Put your arms around me baby, cry those crocodile tears
Yeah, put your arms around me baby, cry those crocodile tears
Say you're my buddy baby, and you'll just bite away my fears

I go to shake your hand, and you hug me and you smile
Yeah, I go to shake your hand, and you hug me and you smile
And I listen to you talking, and I know you full o' guile.

You're so sincere, baby, you're so full of sympathy.
Yeah you're so helpful baby, and you so full of sympathy.
It helps you get lots closer, and take a nibble out of me.

Hold me honey baby, tell me it'll be all right.
Yeah, comfort me my baby, say it's gonna be all right
I love the way you do that. I'll keep my billfold out of sight

You so kind and helpful that you oughtta be my wife
Yeah, you want to be so helpful, that you oughtta be my wife
But when you get that helpful, gotta watch out for that knife

To get you here beside me, just gotta let you smell my blood
Yeah, to get you here to help me, just gotta let you smell my blood
You'll sniff that knife they slipped me, and you'll give it one more shove.

It's when I'm feelin helpless, that's when you fill me full of cheer
Yeah, it's when I'm feelin helpless, that you tell have no fear
And it's when I quit my lookout, you drip those crocodile tears.

Cry those crocodile tears, it's great to have a friend like you.
Yeah, cry those crocodile tears, it's great to have a friend like you.
Cause with you beside me baby, I got good reason feelin blue.

Cryin on the outside, but you're smilin' underneath
Now you're grinnin' on the outside, I can see them gleamin' teeth
As those tears run down your cheekbones, I see them chompers leave their sheath

Know a business woman, she got color in her hair.
She's an enterprising woman, an' she got color in her hair.
This woman she's all business, she do her business everywhere.

Cry those crocodile tears, it's great to have a friend like you.
Yeah, cry those crocodile tears, it's great to have a friend like you.
Cause with you beside me baby, I got good reason
I got a real good reason
I got the best damn reason in the whole damn world
to be feelin
blue.

--30--

Tabloid publisher bossman blues

My editor tol' me
Like he done in the pas'
Use computer spell check
Or this day'll be your las'

 Cause he the boss man!
 Heart as cold as Nome
 He the bos' bos' boss man
 Left his soul at home

Ad manager told me
You shoulda heard him shout
Get your ads upon that page
Or I'm gonna leave 'em out!

Cause he the boss man!
Makes me toe the line
Yeah, he the big, bad boss man
He wants my work on time

Layout forman tol' me
Cut that copy straight
Don' jam up those headlines
Or you gonna meet your fate

Cause he the bossman!
Heart as black as coal
Yeah, he the bos, bos, bossman
Tell him to sit on a pica pole!

Supervisor calls me
Leans back in his chair
Says Boy, you do it my way
If you wanna get somewhere

Cause he the boss man
Wanna bust his neck
But he the big bad bossman
The one who writes my check

Gonna leave this outfit
That ain't just a whim
Problem is the next place
Got another just like him!

Yeah, he a bossman
Heart as cold as Nome
He the bos, bos,  bossman
Left his soul at home

--30--

Pelican Sky

The brown belly of the hombre in lime green trunks,
a jiggling pregnancy from too many enchiladas,
pendulates as his foot stiffly arrests the ball.

Plodding the sands,
the mestizo beneath a column of sombreros,
swarming in a frenzy of basketry,
somnambulates a dream that the diners above will buy.

Fish mongers offer americanos in the open pulmonias their octupi.

No-one to sting,
a dejected jelly fish slimes its life back into the sand,
while waders, shorter than the lumbering swells,
dare the rest to find them.

An overcast of frigate birds meanders like riff raff on the updrafts.

While the tireless surf sparkles a symphony to the gathering nightfall,
mists of the soft, warm rain to come
pause at the distant wet line
where the sea falls off the edge of the earth.

Steamy air clouds the camera's newly-uncapped eye.

The lean, dark youth at the precipice
makes the cross,
considers the surging froth,
hears the jagged call of the rocks,
and, arms outstretched, plummets,
a human pelican that flirts with the passing granite,
diving for el dolero turistico.

A smirking ballet of weightless pelicans
skates on reflections that shimmer over small seas of glass –
graceful, scrawny, smoothing the breakers,
beatifying flight as they loft, then swoop to weave the crests.

The weary, sweating sun seeks rest.

Pelicans endlessly follow.

— Mazatlan, 3 de julio 2005

Arena del amor

Soft and gentle as love,
the sands of Mazatlan
are without limit.

And, like love,
they slip silently
through your fingers
and vanish into the beach,
gone—in plain sight.

—Mazatlan, June, 2006

Suave y apacible como amor,
las arenas de Mazatlan
estar sin límite.

Y, como amor
se deslizan silenciosamente
a través de tus dedos
y desaparecer en la playa,
ido, in pleno vista

—Mazatlan, junio, 2006

--30--

Her feet

     
Her feet
Were like tiny creatures
Wrapped in gossamer.
And I rubbed them while the children passed.
Then, lazing in my morning bed,
With the soft sound of rain at the glass,
I thought of rubbing
Those tiny feet,
And impressing those silly children.
And, with eyes closed,
And head tossed back on pillow,
I realized
I was smiling. . .

--30--

The pallbearers

They couldn’t make it to the funeral,

so they came to the death.

No time to scatter tears on the already wet freeway

There’s traffic to control and axles to dodge, which separated

from the multi-ton truck, that, riding on raindrops,

clambered over the jersey barrier

and created a new definition for sub-compact.

The mourners were like all the others,

except there were more of them.

Bunched up here, spread out there,

some with headlights on,

They reached from the offramp, back around the bend, up across the valley,

over the hill, and on and on beyond what the eye could see.

Cars and trucks, every color and make, even

the long haul truck with the Hostess Cupcakes --

all lined up and paid respects.

They stole past the concave bowl of crumpled foil,

taking furtive glances,

paying mute homage to an unknown someone,

who abruptly and concisely glimpsed death

on behalf of  the 6 O’clock News.

Queued for miles, they jockeyed to slip

into other lanes that didn’t move,

unable to see beyond 10 carlengths that the road

home would reach past dinner, and they would miss the movie.

We must have cared.

Every motorist’s death diminishes me,

for I am involved in commuting.

--30--