wild

i used to be wild, i used to be free i loved everybody, and they loved me i was the king of the road and the queen of the may and woke up with a song in my heart every day i had a message of love in my heart and took to the highway the message to impart friendly strangers in volkswagen bugs gave me rides and i gave them hugs it was time to turn the page and greet the dawn of a new age war and hatred belonged to the past the new kingdom of love was built to last life was one long celebration of the gathering of the tribes and nations one night in the throes of ecstasy i passed out on the shore of a shimmering sea how long i slept i do not know but i woke up covered with snow the night was dark and covered with clouds i sat up and cried aloud where have all my comrades gone where is the rainbow, where the dawn what is this ice that covers my bones where is anybody - am i alone? i forced myself to get to my feet rain fell on me and then sleet i had no hat upon my head and wondered if i was not dead then i saw a light in the distance and summoning some persistence and a desperate flicker of hope through the darkness i did grope to make a long story short i ended up in court charged with murder in the first degree oh what, i thought, will become of me i saw and heard the judge from afar as he cried, o prisoner at the bar what have you to say in exculpation of your exercise in widespread desolation will you show a sliver of repentance before i pronounce sentence? but i had no reply except to hang my head and cry poor boy you’ve got to die poor boy you’ve got to die dawn lights up the jailhouse and rain falls from the sky

true story

by horace p sternwall

everybody has a story to tell everybody has something to sell a story has a beginning and an end that does not mean you are my best friend i was mistreated as a child and so i started to run wild and took up with a bad crowd but then i heard a voice from a cloud saying, ————, you are unique a fate-appointed freak you are not like others you have no sisters or brothers of the universe you are the center it is your kingdom they must enter if you decide that they can live that is in your power to give this message gave me hope that i was not just some mope that people were right to despise and to fame would never rise i proceeded down the street with a new bounce in my feet but suddenly i was not alone a gentleman with a microphone said, i don’t want a nickel or a dime but just a moment of your time if you could spare a few words for the members of the human herd now that you are the ruler of the world with your teeth so white and your hair so curled will you allow humanity to flourish or do you in your heart still nourish an implacable hatred of the miserable race that has punched you in the face and knocked you down and on your face put a permanent frown or will you find it in your heart to give the planet a new start - as the man with the microphone continued to blather a crowd around me began to gather and then the people in the crowd started to chant my name aloud and all their faces began to blend into a road that had no end and i was walking down the road toward a sun beginning to explode and then awoke to my true story - a rat in a laboratory professor smith smiled down at me little fellow, i’m glad to see you looking bright this happy morn are you not glad that you were born?

ars poetica

by horace p sternwall

take a piece of paper write some words upon it look at what you have written - it’s a poem, doggone it! mary had a little lamb johnny had a panther alice did the crossword puzzle but didn’t know all the answers it rained on billy’s birthday mary didn’t go to his party henry wanted to drink champagne bur settled for ale most hearty the world is filled with humans and also cats and dogs some folks climb up mountains others fall into bogs that is all the wisdom i have for you today meet me on the sabbath morn and we will kneel and pray

the truth

by chuck leary

listen, my friend listen! no, don’t run away stop! i have something to tell you something very important something that must be said it is just this - just this - life has no meaning! life has no meaning! life has no meaning! yes, you heard me - i said it and i am glad the truth is out now i am sorry, deeply sorry if ii have destroyed your life and forced you to face reality but i could not help it i have had it burning within me all these long years i could not hold it in any longer i just could not and now it is out and you will just have to do the best you can

the four passengers

by chuck leary

a dead bird blows down the street in the wind a styrofoam cup follows it in the same wind a leaf shakes on a branch above a park bench but stays on the tree night falls and a bus arrives with three passengers on it one looks out the window another reads a newspaper the third stares at his own feet the new passenger takes a seat and takes a snickers bar out of his pocket and begins to unwrap it as the wheels of the bus roll over the dead bird but miss the styrofoam cup

the void

by chuck leary

a bird flew across the sky then another then another a pigeon landed on the roof then another then another juan delivered a pizza then another willie delivered an american grinder with fries maurice got up then went back to bed then maurice got up again maurice remembered carol i’ll kill hat bitch, he said to himself actually he said it aloud, but nobody heard him down the hall jack got up then he went back to bed a pigeon landed on the roof then another juan delivered another pizza willie took a break and called charlene a bird flew across the sky and then another an ant crawled across the sidewalk and then another this is just a small sample people say life is mysterious but what is so mysterious about it?

kitten up a tree

by chuck leary

o mother mother must i die yes my child and here is why birds no longer fill the skies and the seas begin to rise kittens no longer climb up trees or butterflies float on the breeze grandma’s recipe for cherry pie is lost and forgotten (sigh) i fear that since i saw you last the present has destroyed the past humans have run out of room and are ruled by an empire of doom i have to say this makes me sad you were the only child i had living in the only universe and things are steadily getting worse i can’t remember, though i try if i was the kitten or the butterfly if you were the tree i climbed or only the blue sky i left behind