Ralph had used her as a transitory scapegoat throughout life.
Feigning to dissipate the almost daily, inurbane strife,
capricious Rikki could always flatter his malignant pride.
A perspicuous grace note, she overlooked each time he lied.
Seemingly, his constant intention was to alienate;
Ralph was that turncoat to whom Rikki was game to gravitate.
written September 4, 2016
SHORT HYMN FOR MY DAUGHTER
Bursting with young energy on her adventure,
Wearing a sense of humor for her coat,
She sings with an optimistic grace note.
From the end of her bridge let her venture
To the middle and meet her young man,
As he crosses to meet her gladly.
O may they never sing together sadly;
Let them love one another across the span.
May she be excused all suffering or pain.
Make straight her way; let her succeed;
Allow her to ascend the hills easily; indeed
Let her be free to sing her own refrain.
(how well I could play)
in a straight forward way;
simplifying it, making it more pure
in a clear sound, turning it up
and bearing down...
there'd be distortion, red-anger, punk-blue,
get it up tough, keep it going,
'cause I didn't know what else to do.
at fifteen I was unreasonably accomplished
with those long dynamic echo-delayed riffs;
at eleven I was sleeping in the back of a car
surrounded by books an amp and a guitar,
rolling around with the sound of
a welt chord, a grace note, Henry Miller and Nietzsche;
laying-down these upholstery-songs in the summer of seventy-eight
where reverb was explored beyond the return of counter-culture,
going 'round the bend, headed in a back-words direction again
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