Steven J. Reimer

LOCKDOWN

  (for animal)


The words are locked down

Unavailable unavailing

Held hostage

Victims  of daily terror

I'll get them in a minute

Any time now

John Ashcroft will really hate this

I know

Positive

Freedom a cat up a tree 

Trembling for its life

Justice a girl running away from home

Knocking on my door

Brotherhood a refugee behind an iron fence

There  were troubadours

They had the words

Before I found them

Safe in their care

Guineviere with golden sighs

Behind maidenly curtains

Trembling knights waiting for their chance

Today the tv  screen flickers

Girls in their prom dresses

Smoking a joint

No one waits

Not now or ever

Words are mainly unspoken

No troubadour no poet

Whitman , emerson , pound & eliot

All a waste under lock & key

Locked down in their own penitentiary

Arms hanging out of bars

Words spoken by the old north bridge

In manhatta  , in exile

Are whispered to the guards

Guinevere in a golden gown

Blushes as she walks dreaming the courtly

Romance 


Part 2


To be a singer in an old man's choir

To sit comfortable next to the fire

To breathe in moments

To sleep under cover

To wrest the tune from god's fertile mind

To be somewhat less than blind

To dream a perfect vibe

The rainbow comes and goes

We stay mixed in the gray green mist

A perfect night a perfect hour

Stop here or gently pass

Please the mother in your soul

Please the father in your eyes

Please your brother whom you despise

Please the sister of your hopes

Perfect the time perfect the place

Perfect the human perfect the world

The rainbow comes and goes

We stay mixed in gray green mist

Stop here or gently pass

A singer in the choir

Patiently waiting amidst the fire     


part 3


life is warm as brandy going down

all the sights all the sounds

all the midnight glaring conversations

all the morning kisses soft good-byes

all the rivers of drifting time

everything you presume

everything you assume

placed at my disposal

your presence is not required

to win

to lose

your presence is not required at all

close your eyes it all disappears

its all still there

anyway

like the bombs at a moments notice

able to arc over the green space

missile dismissal

your presence is not required

a room several generals

a briefcase no prayer

or the farmer in the real estate office

mulling it over

no more fields of green

just endless houses waiting to be burned

happy suburban faces

your presence not required

he signs the paper

just another happy wanderer

leaving for the coast

life is warm as brandy going down

all the sights all the sounds


part 4


pardon us the band is late

let me take this opportunity

to say a few words

liberty

is not found under the flag

is not found under the gun

is not found under the sun

equality

is not a measure

is not breathing

is not moving at all

brotherhood

has died in a flaming ball

has disappeared behind a barb wire fence

has wandered away dreary and alone

the words are locked down

unavailable , unavailing

held hostage

whistling  through the bars



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