Words by Wyatt

writing plays can be like
banging an empty drum
while a woman sits crying
in a coffee shop on the phone
some loss is going on

the keyboard in grey
shifts to reveal another plane
on my lap my fingers tap
obeying ghosts who speak in
loud and empty phrases

while a woman weeps
into her cup bends her head
beats the air with grief for
souls present souls dead
her loss must be a death

but what's this? the writer
finds she's not alone a baby sits
buckled up looking round months
before a question moistens its lips
why are mother’s eyes wet

she grabs the pretty quilt to wipe
tears running down her cheeks
her baby smiling eager open
not knowing how much pain
they're both sharing with me
the chronicler of this

eternal moment as they face
eternity together the mother
realizes I'm watching a writer
recording: she leaves tucking
child too tightly in disregarding
her baby's attempt to smile

their long journey has begun
leaving me to faint clicks
playing with lives lost and gone
story too small to drum
not loud enough to be heard
or please anyone


November 30th 2006












Free floating

In San Rafael
Sunny stuporific
Peaches oranges
Apples figs
Two or three seasons
Spoiling on the ground

Pick them up
Pack them in peanuts
Send them to Iraq
Start being real
Different from the rest

The temperature’s ninety-two
Parking meters kill you
On the street in context

A paradise contested



These are poems that have been put to music by PAUL CHI
\and released under the album title GOING PLACES.



words and music by Wyatt and Chi (that is Paul Chi, founder of Healthy Concerts)

Destiny had a little help from William Blake

Single Girls

my single girl can easily jump
over little town walls with
high ideals throw-away clothes
leaving behind factories, family cars and fantasies
coming down the mountain
on the crest of mysteries

and she belongs to no one


my single girl will bodly leap
old sleepy continents
with map in hand
she’s almost a woman
kissing the pillow writing the wind
guided by her angles
she’s no time for wise ones silent killers silver mirrrors

she surrenders to no one

dancing through the dreams of one who loves her
who cries waiting for her

my single girl
is ready to race the stars and the moon
high above
cruel seas
her picture in a magazine
not looking back to where she's been
walking through an ever changing scene
through lonely streets no one to lean on

she forgets to claim hearts she’s won

dancing through the dreams of those who love her
who cry waiting for her

my single girl


December 1998











Beloved




don’t lean on me
I’m a straw in the wind

don’t lean on a fool
in teacher’s clothing

I’ll soon run away from your troubled soul
and stamp on your toes to keep you from following

I’m not the strong wall you suppose


cliffs into changing shores
faces of sand slowly erode

nothing is whole

don’t lean on this reed in deep waters
and don’t lead me on with delusions of grandeur

though I might try
I can’t see the world through your eyes

I’m not that wise



March 1st l998




















Soldiers Song


mother pass me bullets I’m strong
and I have to learn how to shoot a gun

the time has come for me to leave home
I’ll soon be headed for the training ground

my helmet will protect your son
tell my sister where I’ve gone

wife don’t cry I’m not going far
I don’t have to fly
this war’s in my hometown

catch me in the morning love
give me a coffee and a kiss

today I’m going to work
say goodbye to the kids for me

no let me kiss my baby girl
give the boy a hug

my stomach is sick with anger and guilt
there’s a threat of death
I cannot miss

in search of the enemy
in life I’d never meet them

but I’m your instrument
our nation’s

that’s what I say to myself
over and over again

when I clean out the scum
men wives mothers and children

that’s what I say to myself, my love
over and over again

‘till the morning comes
but I’m your instrument, our nation’s


5 mai 2002










San Antonio

I keep thinking about San Antonio
we went down there for some night time river cruise
and I can remember Olachi’s face
shining in the river lights
and there was a smell of food in the air
and bad electronic music drifted down the river
coming down the river with the floats
and I held some of those Mexican eggs over her head
and the confetti came down across her face
and caught the light
and I have never seen anyone smile like that
I wish I had a photograph
I have a picture up here in my head
but I’m afraid, that will fade
I wish you could see her smiling face


July 1999


































Rats


It's three am.


It's three am the moon is high
and I'm watching rats swim by

Steve's summer pond's
surrounded by mysterious trees

there is no breeze
to stir the looking-glass for stars

the night is quiet now
because where we go rats will follow

no crickets toads or frogs to sing
no need to wonder why

the pond's busy mirroring
heavens silently spinning

and I'm watching rats swim by
past my boat not rocking

not daring to turn the page
I sit and wait with a hunter's smile

of getting something for nothing
putting out a hand to catch TIME

while three rats in a line swim by



July 1999













woodland road




woodland road

when it snows

crystals shine
all colors of the rainbow

winter time
scenario

workers go home
to playgrounds under snow

shut down studios
don’t ask why silence comes and goes

woodland road when it snows
moonlight comes
with a promise of a halo


things change things grow
as cold winds blow

it’s taken us a while
to find that smile
to walk that mile
but we got there in the end
good strangers and good friends

do we paint with our eyes
few words for all kinds
don’t let’s forget the rainbow of colors we know
America’s only white when it snows – and not even then


woodland road - crystals shine
all colors of the rainbow

Woodland Road
August 2002/November 2002














Destiny



some to misery are born
some to joy
some to endless night are born
some to sweet delight

a child’s blessing is giggling
she wet her legs with laughter once

broke old hearts and was forgiven
rocked by dreams of her, him and everyone

some by joy are driven
some by hunger of giving

daughter round the firelight
eyes are shining in the night
mother now forgotten
in the talk of right

grief not half as deep
as bliss that won’t be hidden

a gypsy she’s become
solid in her skin
her home is strange surroundings
forever to begin

some to misery are born
some to joy
some to pain are given
and some to loving

say love is her destiny
at the end of the day
the star of her destiny will shine
in the end

January l998










Have I simply got the winter blues
I’m a waiting for the sun to change things
make me grin
when the earth is resting
there’s no rest for me
no playground to play in
gotta keep working
until cold chills my bones
I’m left alone
with these lonesome winter blues
yet I’m waiting
I’m still waiting
waiting for the sun to change things#
I simply got the winter blues
I simply got the winter blues
won’t you join me darlin?
if you do these winter blues’ll be changing
to springtime soon
we’ve gotta confuse these winter blues
----