Friday, September 14, 2012

The Rumble and the Crack

The rumble and the crack
5 day thirst and whip on my back
Livin' under a random point of impact
The shells leave nothin' intact

Movin' forward, lookin' back
I attempt to correct my contempt
I look to reconcile my denial 
And I find I can't
Lookin' through a view of bars and no regret
The blood on my hands take me to the days I'll never forget
The days of the rumble and the crack

Things taken away that can't be brought back
Buildings crumble and the bodies burn black
And then its
Stop
Rewind
and Play it again, Jack
Again, and again, and again

Facing an iron fist
built by years of our complacent ignorance
We play a game of chance
challenging the devil's stance
Unified rants fall on deaf ears
and eyes blind to circumstance

Day in day out
The women scream and the men shout
It's Ready. Aim? Fire!
We gotta light the fuse, cut the wire
The rumble then the crack
more rubble as the bodies stack

Living in a living hell
When the only question is
"How many papers can it sell?"
Black, white, and red
How many fell?

The reports for profit
doin' nothing to stop it
Just a story to tell
of unguided shells
of the anger in our city and how it swells
Readers compelled by the violence and a funeral bell

So we face the havoc they wreak
Our future grim and bleak
When ya hear these words
does your anger peak?
Do they touch a rebel streak?
Use your ears and open your eyes
They will provide the answers you seek
Turn the other cheek?
Nah, They sowed the seeds they reap

Facing the rumble and crack
Where death and destruction meet
It's lock, load, and repeat
Oil the machine
Grind the meat
The devil bent to level
The people on every corner
of every street

It's attack and counter attack
as our cities burn black
Gone too far to turn our back
Firm in our defiance, the violence won't force our silence
As we face the rumble and the crack

Living on the Evening News

That doesn't sound right?
Whats that alarm?
What's broken?
Man, tell me you're jokin'
Say you were chokin'
Maybe a word misspoken?

The gates are open, so much for hopin'
Don't you know, that's when the oil spills?
Call, the boss. He'll say "It's fine, really, never mind"
He'll just cover it with dollar bills
It'll give us time to run for the hills

The people still don't know the score
What harm is there?
Only animals live on the ocean floor
Yeah, open the door
We'll spread it
We'll call it Corexit
Then we'll head for the exit

Ehh, nevermind the currents
But those people one shore
may wanna find health insurance

Well, for now we've dragged our secret asunder
Hiding our blunder
from their eyes
Facing black magic demise
another slice of the world dies

Well, at least for now
no one knows
And we can ride the profit flows
I mean, who knows how long it will take
for everyone to see what was at stake

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Over and Over, Each in a Different Place

Every three years we take a year off
To decide, if you will, a grand run off
of two men who stand face to face
Each without his plan
or eyes to see future time and space
Saying the same things over and over
Each in a different place

An entire year we waste on this superfluous race
12 checks for the rent, nothing gets done, but the money gets spent
The people watch the circus and even play along
between bits of idle chatter
We cast our votes as if we matter
But so it is as we see, the last laugh always goes to the hatter

I don't mean to forget about the years between
Nothing really gets done then either, it seems
But the people really lose it every three
Like they're stuck in a fantasy, a dream
A sequence of flashes that make a perfect scene

A campaign of misdirection
Err. I mean an historical election...
built with a message ever repetitious
driven by a greed surreptitious
A process downright vicious
Yet on it goes
with another spending record shattered
By the end
Your ears and eyes shredded and tattered
A message embedded and a brain splattered

The months pass and the bullshit piles on
But that might be the point all along
Dontchya know? It's what they use on the Lawn.
Call it recycling because the money's gone.

Speaking as one, appearing as two
Each asshole on that stage is looking out boy, just for you
And in another 300 days you'll get to choose
Just not until you've heard the same thing 300 times from the evening news

I know it's trite, but we see
Another bicker, another fight
Everyone's wrong, everyone's right
Flip floppin' like the days turn to night
And can I add, if I might, I see irony in the labels left and right
Each side towin' the line "It's a battle between the darkness and the light."
 
Hear the truth crunch and grind
Facts twisted and maligned
Lines signed and dispensed
Nothing but nonsense
"You'll starve!" One says
"No, they'll go hungry!" replies the other
It's like watching an only child fight his brother
And the whole thing happens while people actually suffer

Yet every three years we take a year off
To decide, if you will, a grand run off
of two men who stand face to face
Each without his plan
or eyes to see future time and space
Saying the same things over and over
Each in a different place

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Only Another Victim of Just Another War

Can't feel the hole, it doesn't hurt
Soul, fresh from the desert
Senses heightened, still alert
Don't feel the sand, the mud
Hands stained with innocent blood
Try to remember,
How'd it go?

The Humvees roll
Machine gun hand takin' his toll
No time to stop, one by one makin' the bodies drop
As the fifty sings its song, Pop, Pop, Pop!

Back at base, count 'em up
Pete got three, Dave bagged a few
and we see Wheelman got one too!
The tires, the grill, all covered in human goo
and Private, it's you who
gets to clean the dead from the tire tread
Now get to work maggot, you heard what the commander said

Seein' things you never thought you'd see
No longer blind to reality
This is no game or commercial on TV
Out here the people bleed
To survive is to succeed
in the land where the devil feeds

It's clear they lied
Said all they said so you'd sign, (Fuckin' dotted line...)
Now you're fighting with hands tied and eyes blind
But the money isn't bad and the training was fine
Just fall in line, one more year and you'll have done your time

Hearing critics say,
He's just,
American, proud, and brave
A tool of the trade
A peasant, a pawn, a slave
The wrong end of a bet somebody made
Another son buried in an early grave

Next run, you're on the gun
A city burns in the desert sun
and before you know the sniper's work is done
A hole in your chest
the taste of blood and all the rest
The commercial never gives a clear view of the mess

Never quite clear what you signed on for
But that was all, there is no more

Now you're just
Another body on the floor
Another tally on the score
Another unfinished tour
Another knock on the door
Another mother who can't take it anymore
Another lesson we'll ignore
Another victim of
Another war