100% Organic

I saw a hobo in your shirt
no doubt the one I gave to you
punk band logo caked in dirt
tattered threads a fading blue

Isn't it like you to be so selfless
giving up memories to those in need
dispatching things from when we were us
nipping the bud before hearts bleed

Still I thought of the shop we almost started
Rebel Wool: Clothing For Black Sheep
the idea died when we departed
but the ideals still tease me in my sleep

An organic store stitched together with love
is a dream I still wish to live
So perhaps with help from above
we'll get a second chance; learn to forgive

We could be partners in this vocation
or rebuild ourselves from that foundation.

Status Quo

Wake up, Read RVA,
Sit on the crapper,
Start the day,
Coffee, Tobacco,
Itunes play,
Fold some shirts,
Take a shower,
Off to work,
Track the hours,
Run home,
Race to show,
Drink foam,
Find new low,
Puke, Rinse, Repeat.

Ten Dollars From The Edge

Today starts with an appraisal of my current rations. After a depressingly short head count I find myself with 11 packages of beef Ramen, 1/2 pound of coffee, one loaf of sandwich bread, 3/4 of a jar of JIF extra-crunchy, 1-1/2 boxes of pasta noodles (assorted), 3/4 of a jar of pasta sauce, 1/4 of a tank of 87 octane unleaded petrol (10% ethanol), and ten dollars in the ol' bank account.

You see, most people thrive in financial security. It feels safe and allows the comfort to freely function. I, however, enjoy week 3+. Week 3+ is the period following two weeks notice at a job. How resourceful can you get to stretch the last minimum wage paycheck? It's exciting never knowing where the food and money will come from next. It's exciting to see where you will find joy and comfort when you absolutely cannot use money to find it.

I'm ten dollars from the edge and I've never been happier.

Not Too Helpful

Picture this. You're in a cramped, over-packed car in the middle of the night heading for the beach when your roommate asks you to help him with a writing exercise for class. Something to do with his experiences and beliefs about 19 years of formal education. You're tired and hot and not about to receive any compensation for your contributions. What do you write? Here was my answer.

"What is learning? The accruement of knowledge? The experiences of our pitiful days on this earth? Perhaps, but that is only part of the equation. For one to be a truly enlightened individual, you need to share your experiences with others. Knowledge, self-contained, is selfish, wasted, you must unleash your learning on the world like a rottweiler. Then that rottweiler of knowledge will take on the bear that is this world, and only one will survive the cage match, but if knowledge prevails, it will take a doggy dump that will fertilize the flower of change."

I know I'm not a very useful resource for academic endeavors but you get what you pay for.

P.S. In retrospect I feel that I would not have used the cage match metaphor if i hadn't been living in Richmond, Virginia during the Micheal Vick trial. Sad.

6 word memoirs

I have been asked twice in my life to write a story in six words. This is the one I like for personal reasons, perhaps you have one.

Longing for direction, I sought none.

Missed Connections

On my morning walk I feel lyrical

and I leer at girls, out on the street.

Hoping that our eyes will meet

so that she will chance a glance through these portals,

to see that I am no mere mortal.

I will take her where she’s never been,

to a passion unreached with other men.

That is the truth I hold to be true,

but she will never try something new,

because random looks between strangers

are taught to us to hide dire danger,

and not my brand of sultry reflection

that is meant for more than a “missed connection”.

But, this is how we communicate,

through anonymous dispatches of love and hate

where I must resign myself to this

one pendulous

electronic kiss.

(Yes, I did actually write this and I am aware that it appeared on the Richmond, Va Missed Connections. I did, after all, post it there myself.)

Rough Draft

I wrote this for a poetry slam. Not that I plan on going to one or know of any. So, really, this is just what happens when I'm bored and alone with a pen and some bourbon.

Baby, when we are long gone and nothing is left but roaches.

Will our house’s collapse in the forest make a sound?

I hope not, we’ve disturbed this earth too much!

In fact, I hope a bear shits right where we used to fuck.

You know, in that sunny, southeast corner

only 8 feet and a wall from my truck.

And I hope the pickup is a home for rattlesnakes.

It just seems fitting.

I hope that the oil is gone from the lakes.

I want it to be as beautiful as it was!

Like that view we paid for

before they built that other house in front of the window.

A house that looked just like ours.

And another, and another, each with a street light

to wash out the stars.

Rejoice, as they Crumble!

By wind, lightning, floods.

Goddamnit friends, let’s be more humble!

This is not our land alone.

Respect the streams, the ferns, the stones,

Because no matter how comfy you make your life,

Just know that a bear will shit on your grave,

leaving fertile seeds.

And the roots of weeds will wash away your deeds.

Rejoice and embrace your peril!

I know I will.

Captain's Log: 2!

Back in action and a little more grown up.

Captains Log: Entry #1.

So here it is, my first blog. I hate to get off on the wrong foot here but this feels pretty dumb. Shouldn't middle age women who wear mumus, hate children and love cats do this during the winter months when there aren't any craftsfairs to go to? Well, I'm going to update this from time to time with news, lies about me, and conspiracy theories about the world. Maybe people will fall in love with my self inflated ego as it radiates from my words and give me some greater purpose in life. Actually, I'm just too cheap to pay for a real URL. I am not an expert when it comes to grammer and spelling so don't expect great things out of this blog. Just take it for what it is worth, at least it's free.
Today was a snow day in Northern Virginia, which meant no school. So, I was forced to turn to the only forms of education the youth have left, T.V. and internet. The History channel took a break from it's all Hitler all the time programing to teach me about trucks. That is really the extent of my day.
By the way, my dial-up internet connection is slow tonight so this post is going up without spelling or grammer check. Sorry.

Your House Sucks!

Housing in America is unimaginative. It is cheap. It is ugly. As a draftsman it is my duty to draw the homes that you people pay us to create for you. I have not seen a single house that stands out from any other for the past 12 months. This makes me hate my work. I want to believe that i am leaving a mark on the world but now I just want everyone to stop building tasteless structures. People move into these developements for a great view, only to have another house plop down in front of their bay window. the only reason i keep going to work is the amazing paycheck and the hope that someone will ask for something that will challenge me and be nice to look at.

Please have some sympathy!

Is This Treason?

I'm really tired of the "Christian Right". Hey, I'm a Christian but that doesn't make me better than a Muslim. We both have one God who is based of the same teachings from a long time ago. Is Jihad so different from taking the teachings of a guy who wanted peace and useing it to cause trouble all over the world?
Am I really going to go to hell for my beliefs? Or do you have the same probability as me. We are both made of molecules and atoms. These building blocks of life have only so many variations they can go through. Purhaps God set these atoms up to limit our behavior, perhaps science can prove fate. Perhaps I'm tired and It's late.
No that would just be a cop out to writing about this. But it is true. I am tired. I'm tired of one lady's crusade to make dancing like it was in the fifties at my high school. I'm tired of people telling the school down the street that they can't do a play about a gay kid.
Breaking news everyone! God did not choose George W. Bush to lead America. You did. God's plan would not have involved the destruction of a national surplus and the destruction of our social security. Just because SS is the only program that could turn a profit didn't give him the right to take money out of it for and unpopular war and then claim that the system needs to be fixed.
Yeah, I support the troops. That is why I want to bring them home!
i'll edit this later and try to give it more reason and logical flow, my thoughts are to fast for my typing.

NUKE GAY BABY WHALES FOR JESUS!

NASCAR is for Rednecks! By the way, I am a white southern kid.

NASCAR is for Rednecks! The first step for the American public to better themselves is to acknowledge that NASCAR is the worst sporting event on television and is targeted at an uneducated southern market known as the redneck. The second step is for those who fall into the catagory of redneck to stop taking pride in it. Come on, the Confederate South is really not the greatest thing to celebrate. Read "Confederates in the Attic" by Tony Horwitz and you will be able to really see the stupidity of it.
Anyways, the real point i'm trying to get at is that NASCAR is pretty lame. They turn Left for four hours while pushing the pedal to the floor. Is that really impressive to you? Plus, all the cars look the same. Their extensive windtunnel testing has proven that the bigass American car can only take one shape to be aerodynamic.
Now, I offer some alternatives. World Rally Championship is the best driving in the world. The drivers pilot 4 wheel drive sports cars at 120mph on roads around the world. These roads are the same everyday roads that the public might drive. Some are gravel, some are tarmac. Some have gaurdrails, others don't. These guys cover thousands of miles with the aid of a co-driver whose job is to read a description of the turn that will pop up after the next two turns because they are traveling so darn fast.
American LeMans Series- Maybe you don't support the foriegn autosports, so now you can watch a motorsport that we stole from the French!!! The ALMS is a series where sports cars of all shapes and sizes battle it out on road courses for hours on end.
Australian V-8 supercar challenge- Essentially the Australian version of NASCAR, but ten times better because they turn both ways and every car is different.
Formula 1- if you never heard of it you should leave your cave.
Race of Campions- It ain't the American IROC, the ROC is a race that puts drivers from around the world against each other in cars that are identical. They use several different kinds of cars to make it fair for everyone. Here is a fun fact, Rally car drivers have won every time except for last year when a formula 1 driver won. Two NASCAR drivers are invited every year and they always come to try their hand at it. A NACAR driver has never even come close to winning the ROC since it began in the 80's.