Scarcity

I don’t mean to alarm you now
Make you tense or paranoid
But there is scarcity
Don’t say the word too loud
Keep it to a whisper
Out of the ether, below the clouds
But watch out for scarcity
Electronics are abundant but they only go so far
Watch out for scarcity
Keep it low, keep it cool, but
Scarcity
Scarcity of love, scarcity of thought,
Scarcity of anything not managed, sold, or bought
Scarcity of water
Scarcity of time
Scarcity of tenderness
All falling fast behind us, and up ahead is
Scarcity

Z

Compared to all his alphabetic cousins
Z is such a lazy bird
Let me snooze and think about it
Who says, "Catch some Cs?"
Here’s the answer; it’s a breeze
Z is Alcatraz and Mayaguez
The Zulus in Zaire
Zsa-Zsa, Scott's wife Zelda
Farmhand Lopez who doesn’t move
Excuse me while I sneeze
Britain appropriated half Z’s power
Analysed and seized
He’ll take ten points in Scrabble
With his quizzical mate Q
No wonder saved for last in line
Z, what do I make of U?

The Magic Island

The place I am writing about here would be a mysterious isle in the Caribbean, not too far from the mainland, the same one referenced in this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK2BEOLESDk
Not so far away, ay, compadre?

She doesn't speak
She doesn't sing
She doesn't look like anything
I've seen or heard
In this tired world
She is from the magic island

Her eyes are flames
That call my name
These secret stars in silence came
To light my nights
To warm my days
Came from the magic island

The magic island lives inside
This embattled heart of mine
Though the water overflows
She's the only one who knows
What's buried on the magic island

Another dawn
Will come to pass
Another race will run too fast
And only loneliness endures
Till she returns upon these shores
For she is from the magic island

You Didn't Finish

We had a project here
You didn’t finish
Went your way
We hang upon your every word
No one whispered, no one heard
Not like you—
You didn’t finish
High and dry
We laugh and cry
Point to the sky
We had a race
You didn’t finish
Left us at the pit stop
Back behind the racing track
Not like you—
You didn’t finish
What do you have to say

Call It Music

One year after the death of Michael Jackson, here's a lyric for a new song that's a commentary on the sorry state of the recording industry today.

Call It Music

Get a synthesized drumbeat
Long wild hair
Slick vixen video
Get something there

Husky voiced baritone
Deep in feigned pain
Sounds just like angina
Sounds just like rain

It’s a business venture
A bankable kid
Good till thirty
Keep the skeletons hid
And call it music
And call it music

Automatic voice fix
Sellable smile
Big bold sponsor
Take us for miles

It’s a business venture
A bankable kid
Good till thirty
Keep the skeletons hid
And call it music
And call it music

Got a franchise coming
Posters and toys
First we take Montana
Then the girls and boys

It’s a business venture
A bankable kid
Good till thirty
Keep the skeletons hid
And call it music
And call it music

We need a cable channel
And a show for her
Fake some scandal
Create a stir

It’s a business venture
A bankable kid
Good till thirty
Keep the skeletons hid
And call it music
And call it music

Child

I would walk in your footsteps
Puppy at your feet
Smile your smiles
Light the people you meet

I would trace all your pictures
Study each line
Live in each story
Holding back time

But time has been subtle
It took me away
Caged me in darkness
While you breathe the day
I’m here in the moment
That hypnotized me
So all I can do
All I can do
Is love you

I would hold your hand gently
And walk on the shore
Then ride every wave
Till the ocean brings more

I would paint the horizon
And give it to you
Tangerine sunsets
On deep azure blue

But time has been subtle
It took me away
Caged me in darkness
While you breathe the day
I’m here in the moment
That paralyzed me
So all I can do
All I can do
Is love you

Nine Lives

I am not in a box
To be opened and eaten
A chocolate throwaway thing
Alive and attuned to all passions
I savor the end
Of the buy and discard
Way of life
And recycling the wrapper
Fails to salvage
My dreams for I am
Aware of my fate, Number Eight
This is the karma
Of all of my kind
We learn to love all
Who would hate