...of old rhino hate
by
rawclyde
!
1980
~
One noon day
I was sitting at
my table
eating my meal
~
A bowl full of
moon and
star and little girl
heart vibrations
~
When from out of
no where ~ maybe
from behind a
rock
~
There hobnobbed
up
to
me
~
An old rhino
with
a bad back
a bad liver
~
But with
the most superior
mind
in the world
~
In his hand
was a
glass full of
black ink
~
In the ink
there were a
thousand bugs
all screaming
~
As they drowned
“Hate!
Hate!
Hate!”
~
The old rhino
roughly
set this glass down
on my table
~
Next to my bowl
and
he said
“Eat it, kid”
~
My lip
quivered I’m sure
and my eyes
went round
~
As I peered
into this glass
then my bowl
then the glass again
~
I took a
lonnnnnnng
look at this fat
old rhino
~
With a glint in
his eye
cold as the deepest
part of the ocean
~
He picked up
his glass
slammed it down
on my table
~
He said again
“Eat it, kid”
and the thousand
shrill little bugs
~
As they drowned
in the ink of
the glass
continued to scream
~
“Hate!
Hate!
Hate!”
good background music
~
I tried to
ignore the old
beast and
his glass of ink
~
I continued to
eat from
my own bowl
of
~
Moon
and star
and little girl
heart vibrations
~
But this
this beast under the
noon sun
would not go away
~
Continued to say
“Eat
it,
kid”
~
And you know
what
the bugs
were screaming
~
Into the
cold gray ocean
in the old rhino’s
eye
~
I looked again
tried a grin
gave my bowl a spin
said, “Try mine!”
~
He blushed purple
huffed & huffed
shook his head negatively
and repeated
~
As he pointed to his glass
“Eat
it,
kid”
~
I tried to
spit
in his eye but
missed, hit
~
The horn on his head
instead
and said
“No thanks”
~
He wiped the spittle
off his horn with
his tongue
gritted with a squint
~
“It doesn’t taste
very good
but it will keep
you alive”
~
Then he banged
his glass on my table
knocked my bowl
to the ground
~
Did a somersault
jumped up and down
began to
look too tough
~
So
I
said
“That’s enough”
~
Yours truly
grabbed the glass
drank the ink
all the bugs
~
That were screaming
“Hate!
Hate!
Hate!”
~
Old Rhino smiled at me
as if we were now
the best of comrades
true and stout
~
I smiled too
pulled out a gun
aimed it at
his head
~
His smile faded fast
and boom
he
was dead.
~
~
ode
to
el cajon
blvd.
1980
by
rawclyde
!
*
The sun’s going down
I’m feeling high
driving up El Cajon Boulevard ~
I’m in the best
truck this city’s ever seen
purple, faded, old, and chipped ~
and I got a cigar in my mouth
puffin’ away ~
the red lights blink
the traffic sings…
*
Yeah ~
there’s a little boy
walkin’ on the sidewalk
with a bubble around his head ~
here comes a little girl
pops the bubble with a pin
and she says to him ~
*
“Love is insanity and I’m Insane.”
*
Yeah ~
there between two buildings
crawls an old woman on her knees
with a piece of fish in her hand ~
she’s chasing a cat
cackling at the cat ~
*
“Love is insanity and I’m insane.”
*
Hmm ~
there’s two girls and a guy
sittin’ on a wall, all
three smoking cigarettes ~
the two girls talk to each other
as the guy silently sits by himself
blowing smoke rings that signal ~
*
“Love is insanity and I’m insane.”
*
Well well ~
an old man in a Cadillac
just stopped to pick up a
hitch-hiking junior-high-school girl ~
she won’t get in
the old man pulls a knife
she pulls a gun ~
a cop rolls by and
they both start to run ~
on his radio
the cop calls the chief to tell him ~
*
“Chief,
love is insanity and I’m insane.”
*
The cop cruises along
finds a girl in a bathrobe
crossing the street ~
He finds out she’s escaped
from a hospital she thinks
she doesn’t belong at ~
he tells her “You got to go back”
and she replies ~
*
“Lord,
love is insanity and I’m insane!”
*
On El Cajon Boulevard
life rolls on ~
Some of these people don’t even know
their sanity is gone…
*
Now here comes
a public health nurse
foaming at the mouth and
throwing water balloons at
billboards ~ she’s
got a whole wheel-barrel
full of water balloons
and a nest full of baby sparrows
in her hair ~ the
tiny birds chirp madly ~
*
“Love is insanity and this nurse
doesn’t know she’s insane!”
*
I’ll bet you
this darlin’ goes home
crawls into her lab ~
puts love on the table
gives it a stab ~
cuts it to pieces
trying to figure it out ~
but all she gets is a dead frog
with its guts spread all about ~
oh I bet
it’s hard on her brain
trying to stay normal and plain
when each piece of gut
whispers to her soul ~
*
“Love is insanity and you’re insane!”
*
Little girls smile
dogs wag their tales ~
I live in an old slow truck
and my brothers are snails ~
I’m driving along all alone
on this boulevard of charm
looking for the ride-seeking thumb
on any hitch-hiking arm ~
I don’t want to get too righteous
but I can’t refrain ~
*
“Love is insanity and I’m insane.”
*
. .
. .
