PAINT THE NAVY
how was it we got caught?
standing spill in one spot?
shoes have left the clothes a mess
drop a shot with your address
don't get put on the spot
don't say you're something you're not
don't tell them what you want
don't forget what you got taught
shame--isn't that the way they said to say it?
shame--isn't that the way we're s'posed to play it?
loyalists--this document is brimming with indictments
swimming without lenses gets you sightless
turn in your keys
turn in your badge at the door
it's revoked
well--drop your blood and napalm down like Barrigans
well--just like Old Bull Connor did with firehoses

UNDER THE MAPS
up in the trees
up in the treehouse
what can you see?
over the trees
over the picses
watch it unfold
light up the sky
it's our reward
for all our dry and burning eyes
kick down the ladder
just kick it all down
this whole thing's made no sense till tonight
the more you look at the codes, the more you go blind
what keeps the rink in order when
the ice is cracked in half?
look up from your lap and see the atlas
big as hercules
and every state will get two north poles
one for me and one for you
on down the line for all our clones
under the maps . . .

LEMON JUICE OR VINEGAR
think how unpleasant to have your chump lopped off
your head goes 'plop' wiithout a drop of blood in the bucket
where your soul can rinse in something
down the lemon juice or vinegar
how could it be? how could it be
that we go space in rockets and fly faster than bullets
while i get paid to lose my sight while counting all my money?
my Nancy Drew knows who did who
think of how proud our great-grandparents would be now
now that cows can grow huge udders, even big as dishwashers
and there's too much to begin to taste, and everybody's vomit
just bubbles with intelligence
one cup of lemon juice
one cup of vinegar
either one can do the same job
either one can do the same.

TDPK
what do you call a little itty bitty
brain cell stuck inside a bone head?
what do you call a rider on a rocket
ship with a definite death wish?
who put the brains in the knuckleheads?
who climbed aboard with the explosives?
who can look back up the magnifying lense?

STAY HOME TONIGHT
we need a head count
...six seven eight
hey guys, we made it
but the crowd is still outside
they wanna know some things
like how to do a double flip
we're here to save our moms and dads
from crashing...drowning...burning...
trying to perform a double flip
if you run too fast you'll slip
and never get the smell out of your hair
i embraced everyone at the
wreck
stay home tonight
there is nothing out there
that hasn't been done before
you should stay at home tonight
you're not a pioneer, you ain't got nothing to fear
they won't think any less of you
if you stay at home tonight
wait for explosion, the apples soon ripe
the march and procession, the drum and the fife
even after years and years you know that nothing is revealed
even after years and years you know that nothing is revealed
and when the leaves turn upside down
you know it's get indoors and call the boys
shut the windows, turn off the tv
listen for spares and strikes
you gotta count it just to check
it goes a one one thousand, two one thousand
three miles away and closing
the mutt is underneath the sink
the sump pump's holding up alright
you wanna say "goodbye, beginning of the end?"
you wanna shave a minute from millenium?
you're spinning on your back and head and wrist and fingertips
we got a name for that but we can't tell you what it is
you gotta listen for the details in what's goin' on
you blinked an eye, we built a planet; blink again, it's gone
hangin' swingin' shinin' lookin' like a million dollars
a million dollars that we rolled out in the basement

AMERICAN MALL
mammon lead 'em on
short stack with his eyes pointed down
he dug a whole big as new york's tall
he broke ground on american mall
he's gonna shovel where he wants and what comes up
the brown and black he stacks up and says "come on in"
the ground is rich with ninety-nine cent indians
the ground: the shaft from which we raise magnificence
no windows--we got a heaven in the well
we close the place down every single night
our cars are fireflies
they feed on juice from underground
we take it on the interstate
where the lights will never go out
look below!
look below!
the rocks, not the sky, guy
it's made for us inside
and now you know the bottom is up on the tip-top there
in the valu-city beside alladin's castle
mammonn drives a thick, white, waxed shell
the yolk is broken and it drips out of the tail
we can lick the tail he's dropping
no tears straight to shoe man's carnival
cuz he'll shovel where he wants, he's got the blueprints
the kid with cigarettes in tow won't cop to it
the ground is rich with ninety-nine cent indians
the ground: the shaft from which we raise magnificence

PINHEAD
consonants will save us
from the amiguity
of e's and a's and
o's and u's and those who
attempt to abuse
the baby cries, oh
why oh why i don't know
his thought's disguised
or, more precise, i can't decypher
those secrets come from his insides
tiny
there's nothing in this world too small
we're all giants
a pinhead hosts a scope
big as everything outside
but nothing there is for your eyes
i want names i want names
i want the names behind the names
of all the little shits
i want names i want names
i want the names behind the names
of all inhabitants
hey train--you're unnatural
who gave name to your big black engine frame?
in another world are you the same?
do your pistons pump and wane?
did they pull you from a vein?
say:" i am a hunk of stone
i am a hunk of stone"

THE STRAIGHT SHAKER
flashing on and off
flashing on and off
flashing on and off
graffiti in place
a call from outer space
a call from outer space
people keep your eyes peeled
just in case it's for real
two balls and a rod
inspect it up and down
are we found? i repeat:
we are found, we are found
siddhartha is ours -because the icon will reappear
a classic picture - the ghost of a straight shaker
the syracuse madonna wept real tears
and our own sydney saint charbol secreted oil
(we are found, we are found)
look up in the sky, the moon averts her eyes, we're not alone tonight
this country's in a fix
we carry sticks, we're lookin' out for miracles
you got the right idea
head down, eyes straight ahead
let me turn the lamp on
so i can show you what i mean

MAN THE DAM
oh we're swimming in a bowl
these flowers they don't grow
the sun is on the floor in ohio
and you're moving down in slo-mo
down below
oh the streets and fields are soaked
no A4, just a couple hundred feet of water
bring us to our knees
the puffer fish blows me a kiss
as we walk hand in hand down lanes of
seashells, stores, and potted plants
we've got bags because we own the land
and everything is green
and when i get a bowl of rice
, it floats around my head as day-glo creatures
eat the crumbs we spread
why do they call my name out, why?
eight hundred feet above
we float and look down on it all
the stars and the sonar, hear it
bounce right off the sky
man the dam

INTO THE RIVER
sidelined indefinitely, centigrade to seventeen
pick is the parentheses, it's one-on-one geometry
cotton sack around the body, chains and lock around the sack
razor's in the rubber sole, pick is stuffed behind the mol'
callin' for you to resign, pentagon's a shoe shine
they announced the cutbacks, but i won't be left behind
into the river with 'em all
in apartment forty two you'll find the golem, he's in a quite a bind
the duke of alba knows the pope and he is here to sanitize
he's noah leading two by two, back to back into the stew
down to the worms who weave the tombs--first born and first consumed
into the river with 'em all
the press is on their feet with blizzard in Tikrit
summoning the recon, be gone
calculate/triangulate the hideout in the land of sand
the rolling rolling rolling ruler
oh, the masterpiece!
the color: bit lip red
tie 'em down, tie 'em down
into the river they go
bivouacs are dug down--i heard it up in downtown
papers falling from a plane, pick 'em up and they explain
the word from pluto: "hand the people to the crows"
the pick is just the right size and razor cuts the letter "o"
into the river with em all
this town can hold out for just seven months
in bunks, eat leather or the rats
plug it in and hit konami code
oh, we need the lives! we need the thirty guys!
tie 'em down, tie 'em down
into the river they go

THE WORLD'S FAIR
they stare at the screen because ink isn't clean
and the click clack tapping of the horse on the street
to the west past the breasts and the boulevard knees
where the bricks all be and your mother conceived
well don't you see the sign?
it says to go away
the city's all lit up
the river's all ablaze
put your babies in these boxes
i know that you can't afford them
we'll buy you a ticket to the opera
and wipe the soot off your face
oh, in geneva, honey--we'll burn it down
come, to chicago now, boys--we're gonna build it back up again
they stare at the screen because ink isn't clean
and you wanna know more, like where does it lead?
to the west, past the crest of the old rockies
where the air is free of industry and
debris--feel the steam? it's pumping out dreams
of a back and forth and back and forth machine
you'll see it all in gay paris
i mean an iron and aluminum thing

GET PEELED
the nankai
we tap the mantle
we spill our drinks
it goes way down
get to the heart of things
chase earth back down the hole
waves up and core below
up the pump comes glowing database
the trough shrugs, land shakes
let the world know
the world below is slow
the second hand swings low
some things need time to heal
some things just happen
some crust is ripe for cracking
sometimes the world gets peeled

THE HOODOO SEA
edward's brain was like the books
you could not answer when he looked
he's a frozen-in-the-act man, sour too
take off your pads because he likes the wounds
he said that some dung-eaters were not news
i know that isn't true
the sidewalks are flat and so are the streets
but the dirt below is under where they lead
it's moving like the waves of The Hoodoo Sea
the boulders are mist the networks don't exist
i'll let you know if there's something you missed
i know he said your problems are not new
i don't think i'd complain if i were you
he flies through the skies and telescope mirrors
but your date with him is in 500 years
he'll wonder what's happened to his old sib
who flattened her out and gave her a trim
it happened outside of formula's whim
and the columns of water will be 7000 feet high
i'll tell you right now i figured it out
i don't know a thing and that's alright with me
this suit is coming off someday, you'll see
the forests will burn and the sparrows will sing
the midway can be found right down the street