Escaping Syracuse
the city I love with unconditional hatred
with brothers born and created
and sisters too

On the road
like Kerouac in a new Beat Generation
not following stars or even the sun
My own code

Out of the state
and into a new one of mind
leaving all of my comfort and discomfort behind
The future looks great

Erie to Cleveland
Good-bye orange cones, hello rock n' roll
getting ever so close to the end of the tolls
A one man band

Taking the El
through Chi-town's sexual and ethnic diversity
the size of deep-dish pizzas my only adversity
more to tell...

Rush and Division
Jim Beam and Coke are wearing on my shoes
throwing and mixing peanuts with our liquor and booze
avoiding decisions

On to Milwaukee
watching my gods play in their green and their gold
Dinner with relatives while stories are told
Much more to see

Detroit Lakes
Minnesota is cold with its frozen lake villages
with ice-fishing houses far from shore's edges
Falling snowflakes

North Dakota on 94
wayfaring over moving clouds of drifting snow
lack of acceleration making it difficult to go
Desire to soar

Car brought back to life
Barren beauty surviving in the frigid dark
Prarie dogs and bison in a president's park
and on past Glendive

Oh these Great Falls
Residing here is a born brother
where when people walk by, they look at each other
Broken down walls

Border patrol
No entry to Vancouver until they search us for drugs
microscope revealing drug-free jobless slugs
and free souls

Space Needle small
The music scene being Seattle's Maid Marian
and Leavenworth perfect as a city Bavarian
rising more tall

Ocean foam
Impressive dunes are consumed by a falling sky
Astoria concludes single rocks standing high
the Goonies' home

Union Square
Frisco brings liberals from all over the place
to challenge the government's crucial mistakes
for a world more fair

More hippy living
at the three sisters in Boise, Idaho
unfairly characterized as a giant potato
while the people are giving

Mormon capital
needing a membership to get at the bottle
easily obtained, and they hit it full throttle
A life not dull

Making their mark
barefooting through canyons cut very deep
traversing the cliffs of mountains so steep
in Utah's many parks

Vegas slot machines
turning and feeding their hunger with money
destroying these people and finding it funny
I come out clean

A Canyon is Grand
Hiking it means going down first
then coming back up with reckless thirst
as more of a man

Back East
Through the night we sweat our way through New Mex
avoiding the asshole cops I've heard of in Tex
Killing the night beast

Camp with armadillos
Through the forest in orange to avoid getting shot
for a beautiful view from a carefully balanced rock
Arkansas signs full of holes

B B King
invites us to Memphis, land of the blues
and home to Elvis in his blue suede shoes
of which he sings

A natural formation to brave
Kentucky brings gorgeous girls with comforting accents
exploring extensive tunnels with other ladies and gents
in this Mammoth of a Cave

Virginia West
Sleeping in the car, it was a sleep so much lighter
same night in a nearby car, police caught the sniper
stopping that mess

Love Baltimore
Drinking with friends over dueling keys
dancing on the floor with dirty knees
then off to the core

Walk through DC
after hearing Sarandon, Sharpton, and Jackson
a quarter million people in the streets taking action
so others can see

The city that never sleeps
Enjoying our time on the island that borders a sound
much quieter than the twins hitting the ground
It's back on its feet

And so am I
Never settling in one place until it gets stale
From one location to the next as often as mail
Life on the fly

And the road continues
I don't bother to look at what lies ahead
I'll be living my life until the day that I'm dead
and it will show in my shoes

My morning coffee break
takes me away from the pressures of the real world
but allows me to see the intangible
and it smears onto my fingertips in black and white
Yet for the first time
the intangible is well within reach
as I see myself bringing color
to something so blinded by the main subjects
who aren't really subjects at all
It's as if my skin is left on the front page
with my clone in the corner
two fingers in the air
A badge on blue behind
keeping things "in order"
for the main characters of this tribune

My lunch has no taste
cheese melted on chips
really a higher thought clouding minds
If it sits long enough
judgement becomes soggy with imposed ideas
and I'm overcome by nausea
because this is the real world
So why do I fight to keep this meal down?
I guess I'm afraid to let it come up
My body is telling me that it just doesn't feel right
but I'm more afraid of trusting myself
than I am of feeling sick
and my food for thought struggles to digest

My afternoon tea
brings wisdom into my grasp
The ancient teachings in these leaves of green
settle my stomach
and I get verbal with others in this cafe
Many like what I say
Others strongly disagree
because they are stuck in black and white
and they exist in the smear
that merely lives on some fingertips
easily washed away
or else fading with time
while more people are adding color
to pages never forgotten
and revolutionizing the flavor
of this food for thought

My Pana

As I approached Huxley's caldera
I passed ladinos and gringos
then came upon Pana
So perfect I thought
even with her rough edges
and no longer distraught
with those who invaded
using fire and dredges
creating terrible waves in the beautiful lake
Indigenous men found dead in its wake
and it wasn't just there
The General had much at stake
but DC didn't care of the lives that he'd take
He was just a pet
An evangelical Christian snake
feeding on innocents and rebels
in the midst of his quake
A stain of blood
that the Wash could have lifted
but the UFC pleaded and then they insisted
and although the beautiful wardrobe resisted
the stain went in deeper
and the disaster persisted
But my Pana survives
though her mentality shifted
after many lost lives
Her face changes every second
as do her thoughts in the sky
Yet I see not a tear
even begin to form in her eyes
and they speak volumes
Pana is stronger than one could surmise
and so are her sisters
who surround Atitlan
and border a lively yet inactive volcan
Atitlan, San Pedro, or Volcan Toliman
and farther away
her sisters dispersed
And like Pana
beauty has risen from situations so flawed
the Tenangos and Leus, Flores and ruins
Antigua, the coasts, and the grand ciudad
And I see the magnificence
in the face Pana wears
More refined in each wrinkle
and in all her gray hairs
With the stains in her shirt
that she solemnly wears
In every scar and healed wound
that Pana and her sisters have shared

In the Moment of a Chance

Well if I happened to fall upon a chance
I swear I'll make that moment last
Because opportunity is the only spark
That can create some light from dark

I can smear the lines and colors mix
Forget the situations I'll never fix
The ups and downs that I hold true
Shift me towards a different hue

What is to come in months ahead?
Moments I've dreamed of awake in bed
Full of guesses and short on luck
And then I think, who gives a fuck?

There's no time for song and dance
The time is now to live this chance
Past and future, certain unknowns
As unpredictable as skipping stones

Memories fade, dreams inspire
But both add logs into the fire
That more often than not create hesitation
To take true control of the inspiration

So I consider myself an opportunist
Living in the world of an unknown cartoonist
Always refusing retreat and advance
And never surrendering this special chance

Precipitate

I am in the midst of the coldest winter of my life
Not that I didn't know it was to come
I paid attention to the forecast
But who can ignore such an obvious strife
Between those who want a blizzard and those they shun
Making up for a father's failed past

Arrogance above, with ignorance under
With our disowned brothers predicting the blunder
That even with global warming, we're creating a tundra

Our meteorologists tell us to expect a warm summer
And they're the only ones in place to tell us so
Well my dog can't stop howling as he senses reality
These media puppets must be blind to the numbers
While pushing the goals of those running the show
And my dog starts yelping at the conforming mentality

A storm cloud pounded us while passing by
So when temporarily blinded by the snow in our eyes
We fought back, and we punished the sky

But the cloud survives and it continues to snow
And clouds that once faded away have returned
Not by their own accord
They were re-created by those that we know
Because of some evidence we're told that they learned
And on that day it poured

Our eskimo leaders say oh what a pain
In the middle of our winter, what's with the rain?
Our coat of ideas is covered in stains

Well what the world really needs is more than a drizzle
These downpours can not turn into mist
There is power in each drop of water
A monsoon must occur to make winter fizzle
A snowman with tied hands can not shake his fist
No coal for eyes means no vision for slaughter

Rain can bring summer by first bringing spring
The bald eagle will listen to other birds sing
And not cut off, but repair its own broken wing

The sky is cold and grey where it once was blue
Many dark clouds scattered about
Full of moisture and smoke
Our air is polluted, but we're part of it too
With all of this "evidence", I'm still full of doubt
So full of rhetoric in the words that he spoke

Nothing new to change my mind
Spring and summer fall farther behind
And we tell our cloud to destroy what we can't find

When we look at it we see various shapes, shades, and forms
Of course there are differences in what each of us perceive
But most of us need to open our eyes
If you look you will realize that dark spots are not the norm
That is just what we're taught to believe
An avalanche is coming, a collapsing mountain of lies

Thinking for yourself really is not grounds for treason
If you believe in good weather, then you have a good reason
To stand up for the rain and a change in the season