totally fucked up

 I’m totally fucked up

it’s more than an excuse

it’s symptomatic

I’m totally fucked up

but I’m not alone.

the whole world is fucked up

as is everyone in it

we’ve all been damaged

beaten and abused

draw your own conclusions

everywhere you turn you lose

coz this old world plays rough

you know how people talk

people love to talk

of life and love and liberty

but the world has heard enough

the world don’t care who you are

or how big you dream

they’re gonna monetise you

they’re gonna monetise you

if they have to crush your soul

anecdotal

 

thanks for the coffee

and the stories too

in a world of actors

you hold your own

but I aint buying

I’m selling

I’m not a consumer

I’m purely product

this shit doesn’t just happen

I had to stitch each piece by hand

it took some time

and a little imagination

but just feel the quality of the material

my fiction has an unlikely provenance

a thousand hands sculpted its features

with brute force and ignorance

but the lies contained herein

were honestly acquired

 

no excuses, no regrets

 I’ve seen the action replays       from every conceivable angle       my life was a catastrophe     a comedy of errors      but if you could see the world through my eyes       you’d know why I’m laughing     let me turn you on     this world is a pantomime        the players only fools    and I’m the greatest fool of all      I walked through the fire     four sheets to the wind     and given the opportunity      I’d do it all again     I make no excuses        and harbour no regrets       I try to live in moment      every once in a while      I’d stop to count my blessings       but it’s simply not my style    

greed

 

money makes the world go round      and I could always use more      does that make me greedy?      the whole world is greedy       obscenely greedy     don’t put yourself on      the name of the game is greed      the devil makes his home     in the avaricious heart     so how far would you go       to get the things you want?       would you sell your soul?      would you stop to count the cost?        do you want what you need?     or do you need what you want?     you can’t take it with you when you die       there is no wealth but life

 

the man who knows nothing

 

back and further back      back in the best forgotten          I once knew       yes, I once knew      but I’m now inured to knowledge       coz I roll up empty     yes, I roll up empty      more often than not     coz I screen my calls      yes, I screen my calls     so no-one burns my ears     with yesterday’s bad news      I share my dreams with ghosts     only ghosts know my true station       I’m the man who knows nothing      and the man who knows nothing      is more blessed than cursed 

hip philosophics

 

I’ve been talking with my shadow      and he seems worldly wise      but  it’s a question of dynamics        all relationships are based on power      I’ve known that from day one     so I’ll never be his hostage     he’ll never bang my drum      you may think I’m crazy    but once smitten twice shy     it’ll take more than blind faith       to unlock my locker        coz I pumped a lot of pain       and now I want concrete guarantees          I lent my instruments to a wiser fool      and he tells me I’m doing fine         he rejects the phony work ethic      he never slogged a day in his life        he says we each choose our own burdens      in our efforts to break even

Abattoir

 

I was there.  Were you?  When the stupid turned cruel and cruelty was celebrated as a virtue.  They put a price on life.  It wasn't very high.  You won't get a nickel for your ounce of solid soul.  Mother, look at the troubles we wrought.  We are dropping bombs on children.  Nothing is sacred in our philosophy.  We have made an abattoir of our beautiful world.  She is stained crimson from all the lives we have rendered meat.  There's no absolution for our crimes.  Our tears will not cleanse our bloody hands and our prayers will not stave our certain defeat.

the great lie

 

punch a hole in the great lie    punch a hole for me     all government is based on lies     some more so than others     we choose our own oppressors     thank you very much      it’s the best of all possible systems      the leader told us so    he likes to keep a high profile      he’s always on TV   kicking butts and taking names      keeping us safe from our enemies    he’s the champion of fixers     a man of uncommon sense    the nation’s beset by villains    he’s going to sort them out     and in the final refinement of evil     he claims that god is on his side      

criminal energy

 the game's a bogey

they cheated again

they always do

I'm not a criminal

but I have that energy

so I know a crook

when I see one

and I see them everywhere

some of them are pretty lush

so powerful they embody the state

their prices have just gone up

they were always pretty high

they can't lock you up inside

for possessing a criminal mind

but they can give you the keys

to the medicine cabinet

and the access codes

to their doomsday device

year zero

 

you’d better look sharp     you’d better stand tall      you make yourself a target        if they see you crawl      you know where we’re at     it’s not your first bloody nose      and it won’t be your last       smell that?      that’s the stench of fear     I can smell it everywhere      it’s that year zero fragrance    a bitter concoction     that’s been a long time brewing      in this war between ideologies    you’d better choose your enemies       before they choose you       they got your name and number      there’s nowhere you can hide      coz revolution is fomenting       in the universal mind

critical thinking

 

all news is fake news in this phony babylon    legacy media    alternative media     they are all products of dodgy rhetoric as far as I’m concerned    no-one tells me what to think     I bang my own drum     I think for myself and no-one else    coz it’s a mugs game     towing the party line      for those parasitic heroes who are in it for the blood     little men cast giant shadows before a setting sun      in their world of silhouettes and chinese whispers      it’s hard to get your facts on straight      don’t believe what you’re handed on a platter   do your own research     it’s not just what you think that matters      but how you think for yourself      

Jonah and the whale

 

“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah…”

I know an allegory when I see one. This is a tale of redemption and forgiveness.  You better obey the Lord, because he can fuck you up. I empathise with Jonah.  I have been fucked up. When my friends cast lots against me, the world swallowed me whole. My three days and nights lasted an eternity – until I finally discerned the truth. You can take that fishy story with a pinch of salt. Don’t take any text literally. Call it poetic licence. Sometimes fictions make more sense than facts. That doesn’t make them true, they just come disguised like that. The truth part is up to you.

There are fictions we choose to believe. There are fictions we can’t see.  We might as well be blind if stories have us crouching in the dark. We might as well be deaf if we will not hear the truth screaming in our ears.   We are only as honest as our curiosity.  It’s curiosity that wields the blade with which we dissect ideas. We were gifted with minds, so that we could think for ourselves. That’s what makes us human beings. That’s what being human is. If there’s a spark of divinity in that, it was born within our minds.

music for parties

 we’re all about the night      so go on      give it a little extra     stick the boot right in    we’ve been waiting on something special       it’s time you took your turn       let’s get out of our skins       we can celebrate together      puncture the night with song      tonight will live forever    coz the party never ends      where young hearts run wild and strong

precious

some cats take the hump      at the slightest provocation      they expect to be offended      in fact, they must be offended      it’s a form of self defence       something they learned when they were young        they think they’re pretty tough       because they make a fuss       but then, everybody’s tough      until they take a kicking       the knowledge of certain death     will concentrate the mind     on the important things in life    

some cats cultivate an air of sobriety     it’s not so easy to offend a sober mind      I have spilled some wine      but I was diving for pearls     I used to think I was precious         until I stepped off the edge of the world     now I have nothing to defend     I no longer take offense      it’s a queer kind of freedom      that sets a man against himself     but  I see every aggravation as  a personal test    coz my enemy lies within     if that makes any sense

anthem of the heart

 is this my reality?    did I bake it myself?     or was it imposed on me?      I have to know where I am     or I won’t find my way home     and I’ll have no place to sleep       when there’s sleeping to be done       I have to know what’s mine and leave the rest alone      whatever path I take     I’ll keep a piece of myself apart      coz I was born a singular being      nothing changes that      but everything I do    becomes a part of me     so I never steal more than I can carry     

I followed the ideology of sex, drugs and violence       but nothing gulfed the chasm I felt inside     love was supposed to cure me of that      but there’s no honey in any philosophy that advocates slavery     I march to the sound of a different drum     the freedom I seek lies within    where a revolutionary heart ignites my conscience       I’ve heard many different singers     interpret this same song     they often change the lyrics      but they seldom get it wrong

love the sinner

 I’m not really tired       but they say a rest is as good as a change     so, I’m off upstairs     where the stars might anoint my eyes     with a billion kisses     that hopefully sew my eyes shut     and send me happy dreams       I’m rolling over into tomorrow       when I might get some relief

I made a deal with god     at least, I think it was god     it was dark      and he didn’t speak     but I’m holding him to it      or I’ll cancel my subscription      my demands were quite reasonable      I need a little peace     I’m working on my memoir     the diary of a thief     in part a work of fiction     it outlines my beliefs

I’m not a holy roller      I don’t really believe in god      I don’t believe in little green men     or anything supernatural     but it’s part of my naïve charm     to believe preposterous things      I believe that words are magical      that music is sacred      that facts are often fictions     and fictions are as powerful as facts    I believe that love is the only agency      that can save humanity

I can love for no real reason      without knowing why     or when    or where     or if it is proper     or even appropriate       I could open up      as an ever blossoming flower     to love in my imagination     or with my flesh and bone     the universe conspires to bring me love     for there is madness in love     that’s why madmen make the best lovers

you have to love the sinner    even if you hate the sin      I have previous convictions    I have loved too much     and I have loved too little     I paid my debt to society     my heart’s been broken     I bled out for a bit     but I learned to love my enemies      and I’m prepared to loathe my friends    love can turn you inside out     there’s no room for caution with love     I’m ready to let it kill me      because everyone will take a piece     but some are worth the pain

all change

 today is not the day       but it’s closer     I can feel it       we’re on the cusp of change      everything can change       we shape the world we live in      it changes with our thinking       if we do not cast our skins we die      and so we must continue       we discarded our humanity today        we will reap our tears tomorrow

a time of monsters

 in a time of monsters       I’m struggling to stay sane       things are all fucked up     and make no mistake       we could wind up anywhere      and I fear we will      folks who live in glass houses      are gathering their stones      they plan to fight alfresco       in the streets and city squares      the first denunciations have already been logged     it’s just a matter of time       the death of society      is only a heartbeat away       it’s every man for himself       in this cruel new economy

 

individual

I know your game     you’re trying to drag me in       but you can’t get next to me    coz your words are just fireflies      they flash real pretty        but I can’t get a grip of them     you say your crimes were circumstantial         that you’re older and wiser now      and you’ve served your time     but still can’t catch a break      you’re in a rut      and your cage isn’t getting any bigger       you say we’re shaped by experience      maybe     I don’t know    I’m just another layer of fiction      I’m not my daddy       or my daddy’s daddy       I’m the child of intent        the one who committed the crime      I want to take the stand      I know  which words to say      I struck a match in my life      and burned the bastard down      but I rose from the ashes      gloriously formed       a trenchant individual       who swims against the tide

rodeo

this is not for me      the autumnal rust of gradual decay      I want another bite of the cherry please     call me greedy     call me immature      but I’m willing to adopt an attitude here      I’ll show you something you can understand      they ripped the wings off my guru      for flying too close to the truth      they won’t do that with me    coz I tell too many lies       I’m ready now to live   straightjacket calm      and tooled up with mental dynamite      but this ain’t no goddamn rodeo       no, this is a fucking zoo       there’s chaos in the monkey house    and I can’t get with that      I think I’m going back     to a simpler place and time      to treasures I once buried      somewhere in my mind