CliffSongs

  Pigeon Parade   See the pigeons parade before your eyes, Begin the tax-free enterprise. You watch them stumble in the dark, How long does it take to make your mark?   Slick talk, schtick walk, get them to gawk, You’ll be gone before they take stock. Line ‘em up and knock them down, You just might be the worst game in town.   Long game, insane, It’s a wonder anyone Knows your real name. No shame, bad strain, It’s a wonder anyone Allows you to maintain.   Is there to be a public offer? Is there to be a peek into the coffer? Prepare the distracting display: You do best when they look the other way.   Shuffle them up, where is the queen? You are the best they have never seen. Keep them guessing and you keep them in play. Keep them impressed and you keep them prey.   Long game, insane, It’s a wonder anyone Knows your real name. No shame, bad strain, It’s a wonder anyone Allows you to main...

  The Grey Company   Grey cloaked, grey eyed, Toward doom they ride. To the West the fell beast flies, And thus fear and Shadow rise.   Forth! you Ranger! And no courage lack! From the Dark Tower nine ride in black. Soon even the safest lands are overrun, And all minds bent to the One.   Forth! you Ranger! The sun shines still! Against the Shadow you must pit your will. Now the darkest path will you roam, And yet the Evenstar shall call you home.   Grey cloaked, grey eyed, Toward doom they ride. To the West the fell beast flies, And thus fear and Shadow rise. Grey cloaked, grey eyed, To battle they ride! Ever the Shadow they pursue, Grey Company hard and true.   Forth! you Ranger! Traitor makes his plan! On the stern face of the rock you stand. Soon the Grey Company arrive, Among the Dead you will soon stride.   Forth! you Ranger! The black ships sail! Under the Shadow the sun will pale. ...

  Bullets and Bread   Nightly the great one took to his bed. He did not sleep there but proclaimed instead. About persecution and new bloodshed, And the guns started firing and no one was fed. And the news guy asked as the war spread, “What is going on inside your head?” And to the newsman he smiled and he said, “See how we exchange bullets for bread.”   Oil and water, Prayer and war. Getting bled dry at the grocery store. Pride and fear, Secrets and more. Who knows what’s next in store? Home and hearth, Worry and dread. Where have the brutish boots tread? Grease and gore, Awake and brain-dead: They would exchange bullets for bread.   Daily the great one is pried from his bed, Taken to the great hall, he’ll sleep there instead. There the cowardly circle his head, While to him only the best lies are fed. Down the poison primrose path he is led, That he may open his eyes and lose the thread. But should the peo...

  The Benefits of the Doubt   Everything is a lie. That’s the bottom line. Everything is a lie. Every word, Every move, Every choice. Everything is a lie. But what is he afforded? The benefit of the doubt. Who benefits? Certainly not you. Certainly not me. “He doesn’t know what words mean.” An easy out. “He has dementia.” A soft cell. “He doesn’t read well.” “He isn’t intelligent.” “He gets worse every day.” And he slips through the cracks. Again. He slips through the cracks. Everything is a lie. I doubt the benefits. I doubt the performance. An adjudicated liar. A thief. A pretender. An escape artist. You’re buying it. I don’t. Is he crazy? Like the fox, as they say. How better to get the soft cell? Cultivate sympathy. No bunker bullet here friends, No, This fella has chosen the house option. Everything is a lie. You know this. You’ve said this. And then you give him the benefit. He isn’t ...

  The Rain Again   Does the ocean need the rain? Does not the river fill it again? What lesson is learned from repeated pain? Does the ocean need the rain?   Consider this and explain: The miller does not sow the grain, It is delivered to be ground again. And yet the wheat does not complain. Nor does anything constrain, Nor does the wheat refrain, It simply grows without disdain, And we consider this mundane.   Consider man in the same vein: Unchecked power without restrain, Only interested in more gain, And the ever growing domain, Acquired by the more forceful campaign, And mowing down what he can’t contain. Into the ground the soaking bloodstain, And the wheat is fed and grows again.   Does the ocean need the rain? Does not the river fill it again? What more need it obtain? What lesson is not learned from repeated pain? Are not the sky and the sea but remote twain? Is it something beyond explain? W...

  The Better   Sitting in the high seat I am closer to the sun. The lofty perch I occupy Affords me so much fun. I hear your moaning squabbles, But nothing gets me done, Like the smell of counted money And the sound of the gun.   I sit so much higher On my overstuffed billfold. I am the seller and the buyer, And you are what’s been sold. Try to survive me if you’re able, But may I make this statement bold: If there’s no food on the table, There’s no way it can get cold.   Don’t judge me, I am better than you. Can’t budge me, What do you plan to do? Don’t grudge me, I am one of the few Granted all that I can ask, Don’t judge me, I am better than you.   I need not fear the newsroom, They’re here in my pocket. Likewise the courtroom supreme: The good old shadow docket. And what about the departments-in-law? I’ve got them on lock-it. And if I need some chaos stirred up, There’s the man with th...

  Detached   The constant companion, The final fadeaway. The surprise abandon, No more dark in the day.   A loss insubstantial, A trailing sorely missed. So silently cancelled, The loss of the tryst.   My shadow has left me, I know not the cause. My shadow has left me, Under the sun all on my own. My shadow has left me And I am not who I was. My shadow has left me, And I am alone.   Eyeless gray reflection, Or shade sinister underfoot. Some unknown dissection, Something has come unhooked.   My dark silent accomplice, How far have you run? I am unmoored without compass, Unaccompanied under sun.   My shadow has left me, I know not the cause. My shadow has left me, Under the sun all on my own. My shadow has left me And I am not who I was. My shadow has left me, And I am alone.   Did I behave badly, Why was I disowned? Can nobody save me, Must I walk alone?   ...

  Dreamy   One-trick mirror and the long reflection, See myself clearer in vivisection. Fearing an interior misdetection Always getting nearer where the dark dreams beckon.   And here I am again, Found at the dark dream dead-end. Here I am again, Impossible to unattend. Here I am again, Less and less to recommend, More and more to apprehend, Dark dreams beckon like a friend – And here I am again.   The long forbidden corridor, Not quite so hidden as before, Forgotten horror kept in store, I am my own conspirator.   And here I am again, Found at the dark dream dead-end. Here I am again, Impossible to unattend. Here I am again, Less and less to recommend, More and more to apprehend, Dark dreams beckon like a friend – And here I am again.   With what do I contend? What reality to unbend? Some fantasy to amend, Hallucinations to defend, Or self-delusion that I tend. Still downward I desce...

  The Café of Discipline   Straight on, straight on, How else to greet the impossible dawn? Is it not enough to carry on In the Café of Discipline?   Enter friend, you’ve time to spend, All your fears we’ll soon transcend, Prepare for your unknown dividend, In the Café of Discipline.   Step in, step in, Where to begin? Come in, come in, Be filled to the brim, Check in, check in, Find yourself all unpinned, In the Café of Discipline.   More than a now and then, This hospitality we extend, Allow normality to upend In the Café of discipline.   We’ve sights and slights, remain upright, Requires quite the merest bite, We are gonna get you right, In the Café of Discipline.   Step in, step in, Where to begin? Come in, come in, Be filled to the brim, Check in, check in, Find yourself all unpinned, In the Café of Discipline.   Where are you going? You’re already here. What are ...

  Clarity   The silent screaming darkness, Tunnel in, tunnel in. A release of the harness, The welcome spiraling. Clear-eyed and hungering, Shake off the cloying calm. Insensible encumbering, Release reason’s embalm.   The hesitation When you speak my name. I am no sensation, I seek the madness that you claim. What is this trepidation, I strain against contain - If I somehow don’t go crazy I will go insane.   The numbing shouting input, The silence of their eyes. The closeted output, The piercing in disguise. The poison in the comfort, The meaning in their ends, The scrabbling for more dirt, The nightmares one defends.   The hesitation When you speak my name. I am no sensation, I seek the madness that you claim. What is this trepidation, I strain against contain - If I somehow don’t go crazy I will go insane.   Echoes in the new dawn, Remnants of the night. Demons of a new spawn...

  The Real Fake News Fortnite Edition   Noting some rust on a personal vehicle, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has begun what he calls “a war on oxidation” in which he is calling for “excess oxygen removed from air and water which will also help prevent drowning in certain cases.”   RFK Jr. is also pressuring the FDA to investigate milk because of “invasive chemicals such as calcium and also vitamin D which seems to be causing a higher incidence of unwed mothers.”   President Trump today cancelled a dentist appointment as he “has many activities and golf tees to attend.”   Lauren Boebert cancelled her attendance at a local Colorado children’s event where her son Tyler was to be Master of Ceremonies claiming, “He won’t be Master of anything; this family has had enough trouble with that sort of thing in public.”   Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was asked directly if Donald Trump was the Messiah returned. “I ha...

  Rosy   In his opulence he sat, He had never wanted for a thing. Allowing himself to grow fat, A child that had been made a king.   He sat at his table grand His ministers spoke of the people’s woe. Yet he would but survey his land, He needed not be vexed so.   Blindly their court will stumble on, Wearing their shades of rosy hue. Someday the walls will tumble down, And they’ll wonder how they never knew.   Never had he done deeds bad, A just and noble ruler he would proclaim. If only they had already had, There would be naught they could complain.   And so the king took comfort, And then another bite, He would continue as he had done, For he knew folk grumbled but out of spite.   So blindly this court stumbles on, Darkening their shades in rosy hue. Soon the walls will tumble down, How is it that they never knew?   Beyond the walls the people groaned, They could buy no meat nor ev...

  Shinytown   There is a road that ends up almost nowhere, Around the next curve, beyond the sun’s glare. Is it a secret enclave or merely a safe snare? Not much is heard from those who have gone there.   Tales have been told here, yes, once or thrice: Of sugar and spice and everything nice. Abandon all anxiety and take our advice: Allow yourself the embrace of the velvet vice.   Shinytown! So far off the beaten track! Don’t forget your sandals, Don’t forget your backpack! Shinytown! Once you’re in you will never look back, Shinytown is the original switchback.   Lay your cares in the provided ditchway, Enter at your own speed no matter which way. Here it’s always find your own niche day, And maybe for the sales pitch, stay.   No altered allegiances you need to attend, No adjusted arrangements you need to amend. Just access the appropriate alleyway and You’re not prepared for what’s around the next ben...

  Near End   It is now very nearly the end, As down your rocky road you weary wend: Fallback positions you dear defend, Searching stony faces for a final friend.   The seeds of ruin spread in manure deep, Living off the backs of others, your return is cheap. You fear the judgement you will final reap, As off the precipices you created you leap.   Why don’t you remember where you came from? How will you answer the beat of your funeral drum? Your day of reckoning is approaching chum, Do you hear the beat of your funeral drum?   You show up in state in your soiled gown, While watching all your webs come unwound. See how your world goes upside-down, What an unwieldy fate you have found.   All of your plans go un-gelling, Every day more enemies need felling. Everything seems like it’s going helling, And yet you’re still the cat that needs belling.   Why don’t you remember where you came from? How will ...

  Flow   A standing stone, or just bare bone, A shadow beneath the trees. A fleeting song, we are not long, Merely faint notes on the breeze.   The rivers of time flow between the stars, Where are the islands of those streams? Though it seems in life we travel far, We may be merely our own dreams.   So, hurry, don’t worry as you scurry, Try to keep gaining in the chase! So, hasten, outpace them and outrace them, As the eons amass, we have but this brief taste.   Time erodes and thus leaves its mark. We so fumbling and eager in the dark. How will we manage the days we are given? We not so mighty under the infinite heavens.   We are moments that ripple barely leaving a trace. Years consume monuments, they erase the face. These aging hands, where does the time go? Nothing withstands the inescapable flow. Then hurry, don’t worry as you scurry, Try to leave a mark in this space! So, hasten, keep pace then a...

  Winner   What cold win have you got to now? Why does uneasiness still furrow your brow? How did the undercutting not work out as planned? Why has the victory left you this unmanned?   What are you chasing that never strayed? Was it yourself that you outplayed? What did you claim that would not belong? Was the knife at your back yours all along?   Who is inflamed with all your betraying? That is the shame of all your preying. Success you claim, but it’s loss you’re displaying, There is no game if you’re the only one playing.   What was gained at the end of day, Was it too little, will you not say? Are your actions too demeaning to defend? Was there ever a meaning to the end?   Why did the everything go sideways to the plan? You were the comic playing the straight man. How did the whole everything go so wrong? You were the fox in the chicken coop all along.   Who is inflamed with all your betraying?...

  Grapemine   Poison: The sweet perpetration. The societal sensation. A personal levitation. Poison ever the chronic conflation.   Venom: Some fearless flotation, Word of mouth mutation, Involved though no invitation, Your involuntary integration.   Prattle, tattle, What matter whose life is rattled? Chatter, ratter, Severed reputation on a silver platter. Hearsay, near-say, A small matter of peer-slay. Defame, inflame, The bodies lie shattered in the gossip game.   Scandal: Trade in titillation, Maybe fabrication, Some outright creation, Or oversimplification.   Rumor: Character assassination, Infamy without citation, Aspersion through fixation, Influence castration.   Prattle, tattle, What matter whose life is rattled? Chatter, ratter, Severed reputation on a silver platter. Hearsay, near-say, A small matter of peer-slay. Defame, inflame, The bodies lie shattered in t...

Loopback   Have you seen the sniping sabotage, Cryptic campaign camouflage. Petty plyings that go pale In the light of bared betrayals. Have you seen the misdirection, Self-inflicted prepared projection. Have you seen the galloping guiling Behind the superficial smiling.   Round and round, Who is it that you confound? Up and down, Isn’t the injury inbound? Pound and pound, Watch all the mistakes compound. Down and down, It’s just getting this lost… That you’ve found.   Treachery in ready residence, Capitalize on the captured confidence. Dare the duplicity dispense, Sellout is some sort of self-defense. Forked tongue duly doubletalks, Backpedal in sorry squawks. What more will you heavy hawk? Enough with the seedy schlock!   Round and round, Who is it that you confound? Up and down, Isn’t the injury inbound? Pound and pound, Watch all the mistakes compound. Down and down, It’s just getting this ...

  Player   The table was never level. Solitaire was never dealt. When the cards are shuffled, The losers ante in again.   The chips are soiled and broken, The players worse than that. The cards are marked but can’t be read, Until you already hold them.   Never asked and in the game, No seat at the table to reclaim. No winners, no hall of fame, Play or fold, it’s all the same.   Only the dealer touches the deck, Every player makes their own rules. Try to focus on the cards you have As the smoke fills the room.   Players drift in, players fall out, The drink passed around freely. You pay for the perks you never requested, The doors are locked, and how did you get in?   Never asked and in the game, No seat at the table to reclaim. No winners, no hall of fame, Play or fold, it’s all the same.   The cards are dealt in the endless night, The dealer has all the chips. You wait for the pl...

  Sorrowsong   I heard whispers on the spring breeze: A celebration beneath the trees. It was arriving as soon as soon, Under this spring’s fullest moon. The procession began late afternoon, And on the wind a nameless tune. I followed, wandered far from home, To spy this observe all alone.   And I sing my sorrowsong Beneath the smokestain moon. Of a world that may be gone, And is long past it’s noon. Still, I seek the fairy ring Once known on forest loam, And if I have to, I will sing And there will dance alone.     I trailed these animals both great and small, They gathered ‘neath trees stern and tall. Assembled in a faintly glowing ring, From the darkness I heard voices sing. Music as water cool and clean, Or visions of a world that might have been. I watched from cover lying prone, Though they were many, I was most alone.   Hear me sing my sorrowsong Beneath the smokestain moon. Of a world t...