Shouting Silence in a Crowded Theater

[Lightning Rod]

Shouting Silence in a Crowded Theater

This theater is so crowded
you can't even think Fire
it's in the cloud, it's on the wire
the paycheck worshippers
the stinking liars
who put the numbers on the line
numbers of the ticking clock
lonely for a bomb
it looks like tomb should rhyme
but I'm not that much of a poet

the voice of reason has laryngitis
the opium won't stay long
at least not long enough
to assuage my sausage
you can't sell the truth
or I would be in business

No, you can't even give it away
it's like an ugly girl or a bad smell
or a limp lay or
running into someone
you once knew in hell
don't want the news until it's washed
clean as oxygen
like brandy sloshed around
a fat-bottomed glass
and you can bet your ass
the one that's toasted black
that your job is on the clothesline
and yes, it's crowded in here

Fear knows this and smiles
knows you have miles and miles
and maybe you can style your way through
even if you can't decide between
the oxygen and the opium
your oars flipping in air
and the scarier it gets
the closer it gets
yes, crowded in here
this morbid theater
I pray for fire
won't say a word
I promise
I promise

[saw]

one would expect that in this oppressive political environment dissent would be sustained and loud, yet barely a whimper......the Foxes from fox news, the tea party and the like are the only ones squawking.....I think the voice of reason has more than laryngitis clay, they must be cowering in the basement somewhere.... promoting fear has worked well for tyranny in the past, it raises it's ogre head when it realizes there is no public outcry.....
Dissent is democracy at work, without it we just wait around to see what they will do to us next......true patriotism ( the opposite of fox ) is developing a substantial culture of resistance ......the artist, the poet, the singer has an important part to play........fine work my friend.....

[hester_prynne]

Indeed a fine work Lrod...
Bravo
H

[joel]

I pray for fire
won't say a word
I promise
I promise

And your comment on laryngitis...

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw, I love it!

Fire and silence, a quiet burning...

if (un)common sense has lost its voice, perhaps it's taken up sign language--
speaking wordlessly through dance and shape and movement
in a world that isn't naturally and beautifully blind,
but arrogant in a close-eyed senselessness...

maybe we'll feel the heat and get out of the hellish kitchen.

Love it. Love you for setting us -- me -- on fire.

[mnaz]

change is coming!

[jim turner]

Needs saying! But there's a price. Watch what happens to Assange and WikiLeaks. If our "leaders" said it or did it why should they care if we know? Scream "FIRE!" and you're the one who'll get burned. jim

[stilltrucking]

you can't sell the truth
or I would be in business

Thinking about that, if it was for sale would it still be the truth?
Who would sell the truth?

"Buy the truth and never sell it" Old Testament, Book of Jackadiah i think.

Thanks for the excellent poem
I would buy your poetry any day Clay.
my sausage assuaged for another day




Speaking of Wikileaks:


I am watching what is happening to a twenty-two year old PFC named Bradley Manning who yelled silence! Who shouted enough!

Change is coming
always is.

[dadio]

Well spoken and made art at the same time. Very good.

[dadio]

I bumped it up so I can remember this fine poet.

[WIREMAN]

He was the personification of poet and a real life friend of mine

[cmoore]

We will not see his likes again, great poets are rare.

[saw]

L-rod and Dino were such profound losses to me....thanx for resurrecting this for another spin around the block,,,