OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Unlock the door, remove the velvet ropes, the Balcony is open for business for 2007! Ho hum! You can wander over to YouTube and watch real people star in their own movies, so why the hell would you want to climb my creaky stairs, sit in these smelly old seats, and read the ravings of a rehabilitated madman? And hey, doesn’t the new season of American Idol begin soon? Can’t miss that. Or Gray’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty, 24, Dr. 90210, Rachel Ray, Oprah, or Dr. Phil. Lots of choices in this entertainment wonderland, this Kingdom of Distraction. The world hisses and burns as it always has, blood and tears run in the gutters, toilets clog with the excrement of kings. Saddam is hung, Jerry Ford’s in the ground, reunited with Tricky Dick Nixon, two-headed mermaids row leaky boats while ghost cloud ships sail past the moon and Captain Fantastic swings from the Big Dipper. The faces on Mount Rushmore come to life and belt out a rousing rendition of 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.

No matter what, we’re all bit players.

But the clock ticks and our hearts beat, the phone rings, the dog yelps, the garbage men arrive on schedule, the Post Office brings the bills.

Take a couple of poems and call me in a week…the Doctor is in every day except Wednesday afternoon when he plays billiards with a Cantonese midget. Ciao!

FAST TRACK

More, more, bring me more
Put it on the fast track, strap it to the wheel
No second to lose
Hyper-evolution
Here at sunrise, gone by sunset
Out of date, obsolete, ancient at birth

BlackBerry tyranny
Wireless chains
Multi-task madness
Digital delirium

We’re running blind, with Starbucks
Sloshing in our guts,
Ephedrine tickling our brains
Slow down, world
The race is to the wise, not the fast
And the finish line still reads:
D
E
A
T
H


REMINDER

Midnight
Full moon
Stars
My 5-year-old daughter wants to know
Who hung the moon
why the Earth spins
And what happens if it stops?

The genius of small children
Is to remind grownups
Of forgotten mysteries