SAN FRANCISCO BLUES

by A.D. WINANS


Suicide bombings, rape
ethnic cleansing
Bill Gates, Ted Turner
and the Pope
all selling their own brand
of dope
a mayor who is a joke
a bus system that doesn’t work
head cases set loose on the streets
punk rockers with rainbow colored hair
women with pierced genitals
viagra for the disinterested
ginseng for tired blood

my illusions are fighting a duel
with my delusions
the last time I picked up
a white courtesy telephone
the voice on the other end
was mine

the dates on my calendar are blank
the pinball machine has no flippers
there’s no prize in my crackerjack box

my radio plays nothing but commercials
my hand holds my cock in contempt
my love life is an unread resume
with one too many references

I dreamt
I was a gun runner trading
hardware for software
I want my photo
on a cereal box
not a milk carton
the IRS is a legal shakedown
the Pentagon a slaughterhouse
Jack the Ripper sliced
and diced his way through life
and he wasn’t even a chef

Freud was impotent
but put on a good show
Monks know the truth
but won’t share it
you know you’re in trouble
when your shrink deals in fantasies
and leaves you with his reality

retirement is never boring
for a poet
at least not in theory
each month the government
mails me a pittance check
compensating me for the
life of blood they took
and did you know when you turn 60
the blood bank doesn’t want
your blood?

It’s like playing the stock market
you have to know when
to buy low
and when to sell high

my life has become a distraction
no additions and subtractions
when it becomes an abstraction
I’ll know I’ve found success.



Mystery Island Bottled Message No. 3
"SAN FRANCISCO BLUES" by A.D. Winans. Launched: 6.21.05 by Mystery Island. 2005 © Copyright Mystery Island Publications. All rights reserved.


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