minstrel

by wiggly jones, "the little hippie boy"

i wrote a poem to the moon and it did not turn its face to me and smile i wrote a poem to the sun and it only shone on me like everybody else i wrote a poem to the stars and they hid behind a mountain i wrote a poem to the mountain and it did not move i wrote a poem to the road and the dust rose up and choked me i wrote a poem to the rain and it turned the road to mud i wrote a poem to the highway and the cars and trucks passed me by i wanted to walk the roads with li po and walt whitman but would have settled for robert service and joyce kilmer i wanted to hear people say, hail wandering minstrel you make the earth a better place but all i heard was silence and only the sky showed me its face and the face had a smile of snow and the hard laughter of driving rain i sought shelter in an old barn and heard the roar of a passing train i realized i had nothing to say and no one to say it to dawn came, and with nothing else to do i wrote another poem

the river

by wiggly jones, "the little hippie boy"

i dreamed i saw walt whitman alive as you or me i was walking down a dusty road he sat beneath a tree i pointed to the sky above the tree neath which he sat and said, tell me o whitehaired sage what do you make of that? i sit beneath this tree, he said because it blots the sky i would fain sit here forever or at least until i die how negative is this, i cried quite property aghast come, let us fly the flag of hope and tie it to our mast the road turned to a river and i found myself afloat with li po and joyce kilmer in a leaky little boat the clouds were white, the sky was blue the ocean loomed ahead i could have flown to heaven but wanted a drink instead my mother’s name was adelaide my father’s name was fred my sister’s name was susie and my dog was old red we lived beside a mountain in a little hut of wood please pass me that bottle if you would be so good everybody has a story everybody has a tale everybody gets a letter from the government in the mail i left my mountain cabin and wandered through the hills high above the city with its flickering lights and thrills i ran from civilization and its roaring metal teeth and watched it burn and crumble but it gave me no relief i came down to the valley and walked the empty roads robots stumbled past me but i could not punch their codes they said the war was over and peace was now at hand but i saw a different message in the fog and burning sand i saw no happy gardens i saw no bubbling brooks i saw vultures in the sky above giving me close looks i saw omar khayyam in paris with a straw hat on his head i asked for words of wisdom and he told me, roses are red i saw rimbaud in samarkand and verlaine in timbuktu i asked for words of wisdom and they said, violets are blue i saw wiliam blake on broadway with a tin cup full of wine he threw his arms around me and we sang sweet adeline i roamed the whole world over looking for jesse james i found him in the bank of london but he did not know my name i wrote a sonnet to abraham lincoln and a letter to the pope i met ambrose bierce on clark steeet and he said, do not lose hope i was captured by nebuchadnezzar a pyramid to build we were marched past cleopatra down by the old mill moses threw me a nickel and joshua a lousy dime the movie started at six o’clock but i was not there on time the show went on without me because all things must pass the river to the ocean and the whiskey to the glass

in the grass

by wiggly jones, "the little hippie boy"

the lamb eats the grass the grass has a bug in it and the bug escapes before the lamb eats it the lion eats the lamb the human shoots the lion, with a gun he did not make himself which shoots a bullet he did not make himself the human does not eat the lion instead he goes to a restaurant and eats the roasted flesh of a cow killed six thousand miles away by a human other than himself the head of the lion is removed and made a trophy for the human the rest of the lion is processed into food for dogs the human has a dog - the only creature besides himself that he much cares for he gives the dog, whom he has brought with him to the restaurant, a small slice of the cow the dog is grateful that he gets to eat the roasted cow instead of the processed lion the human eats a salad along with his roasted cow flesh he finds a bug in it the same bug who escaped from the grass as the lamb was eating it before being eaten itself by the lion that the human shot the human is angry at finding the bug in his salad he summons the manager of the restaurant and demands that the cook who prepared the salad and the waiter who brought it to him both be fired the manager complies with the request and fires the cook and the waiter the cook goes home and watches a television show about an intergalactic war in the year 10 million a d the war is between the forces of good and the forces of evil the forces of good are commanded by a beautiful young woman the forces of evil are commanded by a man with the head of a dragon the waiter goes home and gets drunk and falls asleep and dreams in the dream he is a lion a lamb. a cow, a dog, and a bug are his best friends, and they go in search of a lost city and have wonderful adventures

so long at the fair

by wiggly jones, "the little hippie boy"

last night i had the strangest dream i went to the county fair and there were many curious things at which to stop and stare i saw genghis khan with a lizard that he spoke to as a friend and omar khayyam with a poem which he had recently penned i saw salome with an ice cream cone that was dripping on her hand and she caught the attention of robin hood who was there with his merry band i saw st paul and peter palavering with karl marx but their discourse was desultory and produced no shining sparks i saw pontius polate with a parrot and good king richard in a cloud and bad king john with a secret that he dare not speak aloud i saw sinbad the sailor and the wandering jew playing three card monte with a horse matthew, mark and luke were the cards and st john won the game of course i saw nebuchadnezar and jesse james playing tennis with the sun and moon florence nightingale walked right past them whistling a melancholy tune i saw houdini and kaiser wilhelm exchange a secret shake i saw mata hari and eleanor roosevelt pop out of a wedding cake i saw hitler buy the winning ticket to the lottery of space and time he said he was sorry to confucius and would not throw him a lousy dime i wanted to see the bearded lady and the dance of the seven veils and get a beer and a bag of pretzels to console me when all else failed instead i saw an endless stream of the conquerors and confused saying things that made no sense playing games that had no rules all i wanted was to be myself and have everybody be my friend instead i wander this dusty road with no beginning and no end