The Tower of Song

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With more skat
than a stray cat
can poke his eyeballs at
the punk
in the Midnight Choir
starts to twist and shout
Yet …
the All in All
all too beautiful
for even a bird on a wire
to sing about
Like that
concert hall in Vienna
where your lips
were so warm and wet
Getting a feel
of the real deal
… that love thing
Upon a mission
a royal commission
seeking foremost
the rock solid Kingdom
It all starts from within
Seizing the living moment
Best be in it
to win

And Leonard Cohen
he’s moved on
to the Tower of Song

To find truth
without love
or at least a trace
of faith and hope
like trying to climb
the highest peak
of Mount Everest
naked
without oxygen
or even a rope
Not saying it can’t be done
but man …
sounding much like
a clanging gong
in the Temple
of a world gone wrong
Or have I found
that love thing?
From the mire
of the dire basement
that we’re standing in
try as you might
to sight the heavens
across the endless skies
Far better
in the light
seeing the world
through heaven’s eyes
Heart and Soulful
Holy Mindfulness
is the rightful place
where we all belong

And Leonard Cohen
he’s moved on
to the Tower of Song

I too
have tried
in my way
to be free
If it be your will
then let it be
Yet
here on earth
they sentenced me
to forty years of mayhem
for spying
the celebrants
of sin
Tell me
where does
this world end
and the next begin?
Because
I don’t like your
toxic culture mister
And I don’t like
the choir
you’re singing in
I don’t like Big Brother’s
twisted little sister
The King
of everything
He’s coming back
He’s coming to reward them
The King of hearts
and minds
the Prince of Peace
returning
But first
we seek the Kingdom
Then let freedom ring

And Leonard Cohen
he’s moved on
to the Tower of Song

I’ve been buried
and I’ve been dug up
I call it grace amazing
You called it dumb luck
And thank you
for those items
that you sent me
The stone monkey
and the ink
under my skin
I’ve tunnelled
towards the light
and now I’m ready
First
we occupy the Kingdom
then
let the revolution begin

Yes … Jesus was a sailor
when he walked upon the water
Seeking the lost at sea
and the drowning
The stranger
the gambler
and me

And Leonard Cohen
he’s sailing on
to the Tower of Song

Through all
the rise and fall
the pulp fiction
from hell’s kitchen
I really like
to walk
that tightrope, baby
I really like
to hear
those Sirens sing
But to see that nightmare
of deception
prowling through creation
Jesus told us
yes he told us
Kingdom starts with

Remember me?
I use to to live
without rhyme or reason
Remember me?
I plugged your Hi-Fi in
You loved me as a loser
You’d hate
to ever see me win
With Christ Jesus
my ship has finally
come in
No longer tied
to a kitchen chair
With a Glory
and a broken Hallelujah!
But first
we take the Kingdom
Losing it all to win

And Leonard Cohen
he’s moved on
to the Tower of Song

I’m counselled
by a whisper
from the heavens
Once I was blinded
by visions in a spin
Now it’s …
So long Chicken Maryland
That frozen turkey
who nearly did me in
For now I’m guided
by the beauty of creation
and a thirst
for the Kingdom
where I first heard
those angels sing
Jesus told us
yes he told us
Kingdom begins within

And Leonard Cohen
he’s singing along
from the Tower of Song

~ by David B. Redpath © 2017-20

Artwork;
‘La Musica Sacra’
~ by Luigi Mussini

Photography:
David B. Redpath © 2017-20

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6,405 thoughts on “The Tower of Song”

  1. just how many sharks does one swim with
    that one must disguise their birthday wishes ?
    24 hour autopsies next door
    stacks of people
    cumbersome obese people
    how many minutes does the tech spend
    with each miscellaneous organ ?
    just circle something
    what does it matter ?
    30 years ago there was a magnifying glass
    smooth cutting sharp scissors
    and expensive scalpels
    today it is a Sears handsaw
    and a small axe
    quick circles on the screen
    somewhere down the line
    mathematicians
    will organize everything
    somewhere down the line
    factories in China
    will produce more funeral urns
    the bohemian crowd
    will want crazy shapes
    and corrosive colors
    husbands and wives in the same urn
    dusty acquaintances, Freudian fibers

    Liked by 1 person

  2. no longer happy with the automobile
    I’ve taken to the outside sofa
    just face traffic and go
    countless married couples
    are involved in arguments
    they return my waves with indigestion
    the sofa is limited
    good for a couple of miles
    a wonderful ride to the library
    no food is served
    but kisses can be had
    just pucker up
    and think of Meryl Streep
    the sweet pink flesh of Meryl Streep
    the confines of a mature woman
    wearing ornaments like a Christmas tree

    Liked by 1 person

  3. God is busy
    but sometimes
    he reads me as if I were braille
    Noah was afraid of God
    the number of times he was cut
    to release spiritual tumors
    Noah was more cinematic
    than any movie
    his genital upholstery
    hand carved
    a proud man
    often on display

    Liked by 1 person

  4. the downward drift
    husbands wielding their Daddy sticks
    derogatory remarks may be the only defense
    romance complete with voice-overs
    interior life on display
    noise and commotion
    holding too much
    for too long
    (@) derogatory remarks: size, shape, color
    June Carter told Johnny Cash that his dong
    was like a whippoorwill out of breath

    Liked by 1 person

  5. the Rabbi said that he was exhausted
    with synthetic readings of biblical prophecies
    contrary to all expectations
    scattered fragments
    form a whole
    Frankenstein
    personalities and fates
    smuggled into the library
    (@) a secret society that sneaks literature into libraries
    Daddy Onassis and Mommy Onassis
    thought-provoking enough
    backdoor intellectuals
    nose first

    Liked by 1 person

  6. living a life more cinematic than any movie
    the family tree in a nativity scene
    blips on a radar screen
    graveyard markers
    a scoop of dust
    Robert Frost
    letters of the alphabet
    weeping and void of comfort
    $700 socks named for characters
    in a Stephen King novel
    scuffed suede breasts
    as welcome as bare feet

    Liked by 1 person

  7. feeling so small in the large automobile
    most people on the street
    were too short to peek
    inside
    jewelers in town
    would stand on stepladders
    and exchange trinkets for cash
    bodyguards stood by with evil eyes
    bullets would have been too humane
    they knew where to stab to make death wait
    sometimes Aristotle would ride up front
    it made the driver very nervous
    afraid of making an error
    the tires would turn
    ever so slow

    Liked by 1 person

  8. ask people about the upstairs Jesus
    and they instantly
    park the car
    on downstairs Jesus
    the Rabbi says that the common man
    doesn’t really think of Jesus
    he just entertains thoughts
    images of Jesus—images of thoughts
    one needs an intermediary
    a real powerhouse
    Aristotle Onassis

    Liked by 1 person

  9. dreams of Jackie Onassis
    sitting in front of a large mirror
    rubbing a cream from Switzerland
    on her scuffed suede breasts
    a scientific formula
    a dead embryo
    or two
    the only immediate answer
    to the abandonment by God
    (shades of the Kennedy curse)

    Liked by 1 person

  10. patterns of humiliation and exaltation
    patterns of incarnation and resurrection
    each morning the limo would visit self-realization
    Aristotle would have the window down
    clouds of cigar smoke pouring out
    tobacco grown near Golgotha

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Honeymoon Hotel
    all the times you had trouble
    at the front door of romance
    adolescent behavior put away
    because of a condition
    known as adulthood
    adolescent behavior
    taken out daily
    friends with human faces
    needful of companionship
    old lovers
    still ask
    for more
    autographed
    merchandise

    Liked by 1 person

  12. thinking back
    when I would tell fellow workers
    that I was Moses (the skin of Moses)
    few people sat at my table
    people that didn’t speak
    mainstream English
    names I’ve forgotten but faces
    that’s an entirely different story
    each set of eyes like a signature supreme

    Liked by 1 person

  13. how many other people wear the skin of Moses ?
    how many other men are pulled from a woman ?
    a life of private eyes and detectives
    agents of the government
    the private world
    what it would take to wipe away the orphanage
    the bats and ghouls at night (the creeping)
    the sound of children being tortured
    what would it take ?
    puritans applauding
    as demons postpone the future
    seemingly unrelated episodes, the poetry

    Liked by 1 person

  14. explicit sex acts
    seedy characters
    dirty ankles and nails
    every single thing circumcised
    ———–(floating)———–
    with the Rabbi in an over-crowded lifeboat
    he was holding my hand in a SORRY way
    I knew he was mathematically correct
    I was the Rabbi, inside the Holy skin
    ———–(floating)———–
    mother on the other side
    father pounding his fists
    horrific creatures
    suppression
    repression

    Liked by 1 person

    1. “Sometimes letting things go
      is an act of far greater power
      than defending or hanging on.”

      ~ Eckhart Tolle

      “There is no gate, no lock,
      no bolt you can set upon
      the freedom of my mind.”

      ~ Virginia Woolf

      Like

  15. the sky dark with mispronunciations
    when one lives so close to Placebo Town
    one must adjust to the company of sky vultures
    previous achievements littering the trees
    the poor pedal themselves
    the rich pedal others
    the Poet of the Week
    on drugs 24/7
    callousness on display
    poetry about Russian roulette
    kissing women in a rough manner
    poetry about Russian ribbed condoms
    alone at night with a butt cheese catalog
    a dry rub Swiss with a serious cringe
    a level 10 gravitational pull

    Liked by 1 person

  16. the poet finds it difficult to understand anything
    not important to himself—his own understanding of himself
    with little time to contemplate, operational thought rules
    practical use, Daddy
    to survive
    and somewhere
    originators
    worried about appearing “pleasing” to God
    (@) brightly colored birds in the lobby of the Honeymoon Hotel

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Left in the wake
      of a Bluetooth handshake
      at the Crossroads Hotel,
      conveniently located
      on the Highway to Hell,
      with the Salvation Army
      preparing for a second wave
      that swelled into a tsunami.
      The truck stop parking lot
      was turned into an open grave.
      Had I returned from planet Dune
      too soon, and without Federation permission?
      On Dune it had begun to rain
      for the first time in a millennium.
      But my backpack
      full of contraband spice
      always kept me high and dry.
      Had I foolishly returned to Earth
      and that accursed Crossroads Hotel
      only to be drenched
      and to watch humanity
      slowly die?

      Like

      1. at some point in time
        the planet Arrakis turned into sand
        and helped form the state, Florida
        South Florida was a hub for the spice
        crazy people with heavy suntans
        and female chimps with sparkle
        loved the stuff
        the real foldspace substance
        was meth from Washington state
        although there are no longer giant sandworms
        there are countless posters of Atreides
        tee shirts with the Melange logo
        bootleg soundtracks by Toto

        Liked by 1 person

  17. TO CONFORM THROUGH THE WORKS OF THE LAW
    to have power and domination
    the fire truck of marriage
    up in flames
    the Rabbi said that masturbation was self-deification
    the spectrum of men crucifying themselves
    bringing forth the seed

    Liked by 1 person

  18. the needs and concerns of men
    God who has become man
    man who wishes to become God
    the poet with clay feet
    fearing direct dealings
    the unchangeable God
    the many bodies of Adam and Eve
    the many bodies of Noah and Moses
    self-revelation through children
    children being tickets
    original inner beings

    Liked by 1 person

    1. “Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate.
      Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.”

      – Kurt Vonnegut

      Like

  19. there were complaints
    about the exploitation
    of a cut-up poet
    pure vaudeville
    a baby bird pulled from an egg sack
    the words are visible but they fail to connect
    the words are naked and eyes look elsewhere
    people say clever things —vagabonds perhaps
    identity and the passions, the tendrils of poetry
    where the hell are they ?

    Liked by 1 person

  20. planted upright
    in the midst of Placebo Town
    his pleasures dormant at an early age
    playful stand-ins were dime a dozen
    sometimes he watched in amazement
    devoured by the extreme intimacy
    the wife with a hint of cannibalism
    the poet with no drive to sample

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Poetic entropy
      of the never regions begins
      at the Crossroads Hotel
      where no one hears you scream
      Right next door
      at the Honeymoon Hotel
      everyone knows what’s happening
      There’s a camera in every room
      and three in the kitchen
      All the action beamed live
      onto a big screen
      in the staff canteen
      so they don’t miss a thing
      The manager always knows
      what’s going down
      and when to turn on the sprinklers
      After performing the daily sacrifice
      for the assembled shareholders
      he reports directly to head office
      in old Placebo Town

      Like

      1. REPORT DIRECTLY TO THE HEAD OFFICE
        Old Testament Placebo Town
        “time regained” on the minds of sinners
        time to counterbalance puberty
        time to counterbalance romance
        fingers grapple
        with the troubles of adolescence
        tirelessly masturbating the alphabet
        repetitive text pushed forth
        the poet thinking
        that he is part of the alphabet
        corrosive thoughts about love
        honeymoon gymnastics
        (@) living off the livelihood of sex

        Liked by 1 person

  21. no physical contact incest
    decapitation of family
    all those heads
    on the floor
    Robert Frost holding the head of Medusa
    each poet with a decisive moment
    when the wings fail and fall off
    riding elevators where there no elevators
    the eyelids of poets heavy with shame
    the knife blade up and down
    eroticized castration

    Liked by 1 person

  22. the deepest
    darkest place
    the circle of Judas
    only three short blocks
    from the Honeymoon Hotel
    the place where they raise the dead
    yes, Placebo Town proud to be an endpoint
    accidental intrusions and cleft-born intercourse
    replicas of Jesus with the clean penis and the scars
    the genital wound, an indelible mark of the past healed over

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Did Adam have nipples?

      Did Eve have hairy armpits?

      When Neo took the red pill,
      did it reveal the knowledge
      of good and evil?

      Did the Cheshire Cat just sit
      there grinning, as Eve went
      plucking in Eden’s garden?

      Like

  23. what does it mean
    to ride the elevator
    where there is no elevator ?
    (face value: the sum of weak minds)
    fear not the sum of weak minds
    fear one thing and one thing only
    the temptation to join the Antichrist

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I was drowned,
      I was washed up
      and left for dead
      I fell down to my feet
      and I saw they bled
      I frowned at the crumbs
      of a crust of bread
      I was crowned with a spike
      right through my head
      But it’s all right now,
      in fact, it’s a gas
      But it’s all right,
      I’m Jumpin’ Jack Flash

      ~ Keith Richards /Mick Jagger

      So come on
      Jack be nimble,
      Jack be quick
      Jack Flash sat
      on a candlestick
      ‘Cause fire
      is the devil’s only friend
      Oh and as I watched him
      on the stage
      My hands were clenched
      in fists of rage
      No angel born in Hell
      Could break that Satan’s spell
      And as the flames
      climbed high into the night
      To light the sacrificial rite
      I saw Satan laughing with delight
      The day the music died

      ~ Don McLean

      Like

    1. Placebo Town
      on a Saturday night
      The beautiful people
      are all coming out
      A white powder Mardi Gras
      of red Ferraris
      and dry martinis
      Jeffrey Epstein
      and his entourage arrive
      in a procession
      of silver Lamborghinis
      Club 27 is now open
      with blue neon blazing
      where Kurt Cobain
      and Amy Winehouse
      are the starring attractions
      It’s Rock ‘n’ Rolla all over
      and over again
      Quiet as a mouse
      barely hiding his grin
      behind a clawed hand
      and a flashing ring
      Jumpin’ Jack Flash
      is sitting in the corner
      handing out the cash
      to a Chinese waiter
      The smell of burnt opium
      is overpowering
      A deathly hush descends
      The show is about to begin

      Like

  24. people chew decency
    as if they were cattle
    poor little Jeffrey
    with his skinned knee
    every 10 minutes
    his money
    changes hands
    light-hearted reward
    for the intolerable acts
    the unsaid
    (@) whores are whores regardless of age

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Gonna change my way of thinking
      Make myself a different set of rules
      Gonna put my good foot forward
      And stop being influenced by fools
      So much oppression
      Can’t keep track of it no more
      Sons becoming husbands
      to their mothers
      And old men turning
      young daughters into whores

      ~ Bob Dylan

      Like

  25. Sodom and Gomorrah on the map
    on the new edition
    the ink is red
    flesh of the land
    the hounded beings
    pounding the ground
    circling the prison yards
    memories nested in solitude
    nested in temptations from the past

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Somebody should’ve bought
      Jeffrey Epstein a teen model sexbot
      before he he began to mutate
      into an alpha predator.
      Feeding on innocence and naivety
      like a randy Frankenstein’s monster.
      A slave to carnal compulsion
      on a Roxy Music bender.
      Money is power in this broken world
      of hard hearts and easy corruption.

      In every dream home
      a heartache
      And every step I take
      Takes me further from heaven
      Is there a heaven?
      I’d like to think so
      Standards of living
      They’re rising daily
      But home oh sweet home
      It’s only a saying
      From bell push to faucet
      In smart town apartment
      The cottage is pretty
      The main house a palace
      Penthouse perfection
      But what goes on
      What to do there
      Better pray there

      Open plan living
      Bungalow ranch style
      All of it’s comforts
      Seem so essential
      I bought you mail order
      My plain wrapper baby
      Your skin is like vinyl
      The perfect companion
      You float my new pool
      De luxe and delightful
      Inflatable doll
      My role is to serve you
      Disposable darling
      Can’t throw you away now
      Immortal and life size
      My breath is inside you
      I’ll dress you up daily
      And keep you till death sighs

      Inflatable doll
      Lover ungrateful
      I blew up your body
      But you blew my mind

      ~ Bryan Ferry

      Like

    2. Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom:She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned;
      they did not help the poor and needy.
      They were haughty and did detestable
      things before me. Therefore I did away
      with them as you have seen.

      ~ Ezekiel 16:49-50

      Like

      1. “therefore I did away with them”
        words a loving God would glorify
        women raised above other earthly creatures
        women who kiss and exhaust themselves
        in the pastures of other women
        ignoring direct sight of the eternal light
        (@) on what was to be left in the grave

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I guess if you’re sacrificing
        your children to Moloch 🔥
        with Canaanite drums pounding
        to drown out the screaming 😱
        you’d be deserving of a big time
        instant karma kick in the arse⚡
        Never mind the bollocks 🟡🟡

        Like

  26. poor Jeffrey loved his mother
    not only would she laugh and love
    and run her fingers through his hair
    she would feed on his youth
    the husband without feet
    who floated on clouds
    a schoolboy crazed
    for parted lips

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Out of respect
      for his ancestry,
      and a bloated sense
      of his own destiny,
      Jeffrey dreamed of spawning
      a new improved master race
      of “Transhuman” supremacy.
      The key ingredient
      being his genetic input, of course.
      Teen incubators being transported
      In Donald Trump’s plane.
      In conjunction,
      and with the blessing of the
      Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
      Microsoft Judas now says,
      “I never knew the man!”.
      Genocide! … Suicide?
      Nothing gets in the way
      of an age old new age master plan.
      They say . . .
      The best-laid plans of mice
      and men often go awry.
      Yet Nimrod, with the mark
      of Cain on his forehead,
      is still shooting for the sky.
      Now that Nietzsche is dead,
      you can’t always get what you want
      . . . is all I’ve got say.

      Like

  27. having hearts of flesh
    instead of hearts of stone
    they say the Old T. kills
    and the New T. gives life
    what do they say for tomorrow ?
    I asked Moses why his face was covered
    why his voice was veiled
    (@) Jeremiah and Ezekiel handing out words

    Liked by 1 person

  28. virgins inflamed
    at his mere approach
    virgins on the sidewalk
    with their skirts hiked up
    The Pope of Pee Holes in Placebo Town
    the menfolk stare at the ground
    troubled by the measuring tape
    self-assured reveries shattered

    Liked by 1 person

  29. how can one forget the day
    the angels came with ladders
    and Adam and Eve lowered themselves
    to the valley of suffering and humiliation
    no longer the heavenly sounds and smells
    no longer the gentle creatures without fear
    ———(the memory)———
    as Adam lowered himself down the ladders
    he found himself forced to gaze up at Eve’s backside
    bombarded with the facial delight of Satan inside her folds

    Liked by 1 person

  30. our local librarian confessed
    that the moon is the shield
    of the fallen son
    not a child from earth
    but one from the heavens
    every man who fears not God
    will display his true color in secondary light

    a librarian with a swarm of disturbing thoughts
    I asked to see her feet and she asked to see mine

    Liked by 1 person

  31. the prompt tonight was
    your first thought after seeing
    an actual public display of fisting
    I felt sorry for the poor dweeb
    the distant future would be cruel
    if not the here and now
    ================
    autopsy after autopsy
    psychically wounded
    by scientists

    Liked by 1 person

    1. A conversation overheard
      at the junkie rehabilitation
      facility, conveniently located
      next to the Placebo Town
      Central Railway Station;

      There must be some kind
      of way outta here
      Said the joker to the thief
      There’s too much confusion
      I can’t get no relief
      Business men,
      they drink my wine
      Plowmen dig my earth
      None will level on the line
      Nobody offered his word

      No reason to get excited
      The thief, he kindly spoke
      There are many here among us
      Who feel that life is but a joke
      But you and I,
      we’ve been through that
      And this is not our fate
      So let us stop talkin’ falsely now
      The hour’s getting late

      All along the watchtower
      Princes kept the view
      While all the women
      came and went
      Barefoot servants, too
      Outside in the cold distance
      A wildcat did growl
      Two riders were approaching
      And the wind began to howl

      ~ Bob Dylan

      Like

  32. riding the train is no fun
    it works forward
    as well as backwards
    nothing supernatural
    like when Jesus visits
    with grams
    of reminiscence
    happy times they were
    29 minutes before the Fall
    (@) no mirrors or reflections in Eden

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Then inhibition ascended
      Like pictures in an exhibition
      An attack monkey
      All dressed in black
      On the back of creation
      The fig leaf of desperation
      Becomes the new state religion
      Where the spirit is missing
      Once lost
      Can you ever get it back?
      Good Times
      Dodgeball and destruction
      Playground crimes
      A weapon of your own choosing
      Nickel and Dime
      Deals going down
      In a subway scene
      The sick and the sublime
      The clock unwinds
      The air itself begins to scream
      Not a second to spare
      As the Harvest Queen
      In just her underwear
      Awakens from a dream
      To be crowned with plastic lust
      At the Placebo Town Fair
      Humanity walks in it’s sleep
      Till way past late
      The fullness of time
      Is getting deep
      Fallen angels beware
      A slow train is coming
      To separate wolves 🐺
      Goats 🐐
      And sheep 🐑

      Like

    1. Before The Fall

      Adam
      entranced
      by Eve’s entrance
      of spiritual elegance
      that portal of the very soul
      was the first man ever to utter
      the words, “Oh God!”
      as they jointly invented
      a crazy little thing
      called ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’

      Like

  33. acquiring sexual experience
    without commitment
    untalented lovers
    scary civilian
    skin
    the main boss lady
    Jacqueline Kennedy
    famous for firecracker farts
    was banned from fire stations
    banned from frolicking behind them
    her physical body was marginally habitable
    known to crack a nut and burst a pipe
    scruffy and scrappy, ghastly white

    Liked by 1 person

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