You look around you, listen, and read,
Bit by bit you've come to your senses
You are much smarter than everyone else
You see more and wished we all got this
To think you can learn from anyone,
Yes, everyone that you meet
So why don't we roll tape and listen
They all have something to teach
All of them. all of them, all of them.
(Listen carefully)
Do you ever feel like this?
Do you ever have days like this?
All the time, Bill, all the time
Who else to understand?
All the time, Bill, all the time
Wear the colors of the banned
Most people struggle uniquely
Chasing some time-scattered meaning
If they bother at all (and think)
Looks like the way you are leaning
Yet others among us explore
A thousand ways to let it all out
Are you a mirror or a lamp (or sink)
You'd like to think there's no doubt
Dry the salt and crystallize
Can you ever close your eyes?
All the time, Bill, all the time
Who else to understand?
All the time, Bill, all the time
Rip their hearts out on command
The sweet smell of rotting flesh
Makes a festive aftershave
I scarred some people by saying this
A few days before Hallow's Eve
Strange they didn't quite connect
With my words the way I'd expect
Does emptiness feel like this?
Whether "no" or "yes" it's a miss
All the time, Bill, all the time
Who else to understand?
All the time, Bill, all the time
Do you think I had this planned?
Clearly this whole written language thing
Hasn't worked out the way we had hoped
And all of the people relying on pictures
Show such limited scope
Lost in a sea of sarcasm
Compliant with cheap slangy thought
Butchers of language and idiom
Can anyone tell what we bought?
We wanted, we wanted, we wanted
We wanted, we wanted, we wanted
We wanted, we wanted, we wanted
Clever repartee
See the anger in their pride?
Do you take all of this in stride?
All the time, Bill, all the time
Who else to understand?
All the time, Bill, all the time
Strangers in a strange land.
11/5/21
(A compendium of five essay fragments
and the lost art of conversation)
