Toreadors in vermilion capes,
The stench of pork chops and chuck steaks
Hankering on the grill, and they are waving
The dirty linen sheets of all those many sordid neighbors
That you scared all through the night
As you drank away their bourbons and danced clear of their haze
And put your second-hand notions on their electrical clothes lines
To dry away the tears.
After fifteen clear-eyed beers, the thought awakens
Like a train in the bruised tomato of your brain
That you are forsaken, shake and bake Jake,
Now the jets have overtaken
The crumble cake of city, the brute necessity
Of an ordered society, the saliva like the plot
Thickens, and spreads its silver slime in gamy pockets
Where the sun don't shine. It's all sublime or nothing at all, the savage said
Before he took the knife to his head
And made it all worthwhile for an instant —
The clairvoyant winced, but she couldn't disclose where she was last night,
When the bullshit vapor hit the fan
And solidified down the chain of command
To end up where they were, it was easy for her to forget
At that moment, and remember that it wasn't her dream,
The fire truck screams, all awake that's going awake,
It's nosebleed season, and the drivers are putting all they don't have aside
To say it's all in a day's work, every dog must have his day job
And bask in the afterglow as if it is all something
That someone could do or know, no,
This time no freight can stop here,
No paisley hankies, no edible underwear, no bottomless cups of underarm detergent,
No tug on my cape for a friendly copper,
No swaggering cowboys on some weasel's lasso
Payroll fetching me for a tug on my noggin,
A silver bullet on my heart strings,
Climbing some mountain I really can't see,
But I will pretend to go to in the oblivion of my stolen dreams
For lack of better, and nothing thereof,
The place is indifferent except for the gong
That hits when you forget where you are
And remember who you are,
When the silver thunder nabs you hole in one in a million
And you're speaking like ash from a flame.
There's a thunder somewhere off, and maybe you can hear it.
