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. famous people try so hard
    to keep their puzzle pieces
    separate
    human beings are mammals
    but famous people
    who knows ?
    INDEPENDENT OF THE BRAIN AND BODY
    learned habits
    bodily memory
    standing in a different spot
    famous people
    see what others cannot see
    ———0———
    Taylor is curious
    his penis
    a blind man’s stick ?

    Like

    1. single minded life forms
      subdivide along party lines
      with an axe to grind
      into the spine of the divine
      in a world worn and torn
      where plurality is a crime
      and the ubiquitous is seem
      by the many as sublime

      Like

  2. SEX IS MADNESS IN THE MADHOUSE
    older couples are so thankful
    that sex has vanished
    from the menu
    “No Thanks”
    —————————-blow out the birthday candles
    —————————-daydreams of an unfamiliar tongue

    Like

  3. running from a religion
    found on saccharine greeting cards
    asking God for a translation
    the externalized self
    nude in public
    ———0———
    (+) no showers wearing underpants
    (+) no candles at the Honeymoon Hotel
    (+) we deceive ourselves with memories

    Like

    1. hiding from scandal
      and knowing that many
      can’t handle the truth
      I keep my past to myself
      hiding deep within
      in the Burmuda triangle
      having made my fortune
      smuggling betel nut
      from Manus Island to Wewak
      (it’s not actually illegal
      but in my secret life
      … it’s fun to pretend)
      being no big thing
      sailing the islands
      much liked Errol Flynn
      then graduating to trafficking
      that golden triangle heroin
      from Bangkok to Placebo Town
      that’s where the story begins . . .

      Like

  4. it was me who dressed Bob Dylan up like Charlie Chaplin
    placed him outside in front of a restaurant
    COFFEE SHOP
    it was me who kept sticking lemon slices in his mouth
    causing his face to wince like he had a dry hemorrhoid
    ———0———
    this fact cemented my authority as a special person
    I am Michael of the Michaels

    Like

    1. it was me who fed Bob Dylan
      the gravel and barbed wire
      to make him sound like
      Blind Lemon Jefferson
      as befits a ramblin’ blues singer
      but he started on that pixie dust
      and now he’s sounding
      like Louis Armstrong
      as that powder just ain’t kosher
      so I told old Satchmo
      sharing his blow with Dylan
      was positively 4th Street wrong
      but do these musicians ever listen!?
      at least this released my voice
      to become a wandering ghost
      just blowin’ in the wind
      amongst the refuse and the dust

      Like

  5. morphine
    under the tongue
    put Leonard Cohen on
    “New Skin for the Old Ceremony”
    ———0———
    CONSTANTLY NARRATING MY LIFE TO MYSELF
    ———0———
    never really singular and unified
    late at night, appetite and passion creep about
    active participants in the proceedings
    sometimes, an odd sideline

    Like

    1. Big Lolita is now using me
      to do her weight lifting 💪
      and to hold her soft serve ice cream🍦
      as she does her carnivorous dining 🍔
      I’ve been on my knees
      praying she makes a decision
      to become strictly lesbian
      as she uses and abuses me all the time
      with or without an inclination

      Like

  6. each and every day
    sleight-of-hand footprints
    I am from the big round tent
    where poets and clowns congregate
    reality is a cartoon with clever captions
    reality is how-to books and self-help shows
    Cro-Magnon romance
    kissing voracious men
    the taste of meringue

    Like

  7. having eaten only half of a lettuce leaf
    Taylor Swift was looking her best
    enter: Football Man
    after small talk
    he must reveal
    A HORN OF PLENTY
    ———0———
    ———0———
    thumbs up—–thumbs down
    how many people know ?

    Like

  8. yoked to machine computation
    my reflection, our reflection
    adaptive difficulties
    adaptive problems
    I have heard apes laugh
    at our wet suitcase
    of neurons
    synapses
    it is easy to be awake
    being aware, not so much
    it is easy to be asleep
    the dream screenplay
    strikingly plastic
    ———0———
    entanglements
    lifelike dolls

    Like

    1. THIS IS A PAID PRESENTATION:
      at the Happy Little Elves
      Retirement Home
      we encourage participation
      at our ePEOLATRY wORKSHOP
      where a complete sentence
      without medication
      is considered an abomination
      by the residents in repentance
      for ever being born a human
      old-timers staving off alzheimer
      but as to why … they’ve forgotten
      best not to remember
      that life passed them by
      in a state of suspended fate
      only to die all alone
      encased in syllables
      that have taken a lifetime
      to harden into audible dribble

      Like

  9. perhaps, Taylor Swift was a tawdry opportunity
    when asked to behave in a ladylike fashion
    she wandered off
    perhaps, she was Little Red Riding Hood
    a tasty meal for a wolf
    ——————–power over yourself
    is different than power over others

    Like

    1. after a heavy ganja session
      in a display of blunt power
      Snoop Dogg told Ed Sheeran
      to takeaway and Just Eat™
      a pre moistened piece
      of T. Swizzle
      Ed then said …
      “Fo shizzle my nizzle!”
      but being a ginger poodle
      he used his finger on Taylor
      and went all anal 🤞💢
      as her vagina
      was just too musical 🎶 🙉

      Like

  10. words in time
    words in space
    pOETRY wORKSHOP
    words in time are spoken
    words in space are written
    the tribulations of the neighborhood
    conceived in sin (emotional silence)
    thick semen, birth pus
    Mom rubbing one off

    Like

    1. minions
      and bond servants
      accountants counting syllables
      anonymously on display
      the art of the autonomous tongue
      for all to see
      their true colours
      old glory seekers
      pretending to be free and young
      minions
      and bond servants
      where do they come from?
      it would seem
      to occupy a parking space
      along the highway of existence
      compromise
      is the price of admittance
      and silence
      in the face of brute violence
      except for a haiku or two
      about flowers
      and how beautiful the sunrise
      minions
      and bond servants
      accountants counting syllables
      till the tarrying time expires

      Like

  11. the transient things of this world
    toss them away
    round back of the tent
    put them in the trash
    RENOUNCE TEMPTATION
    husbands keep your beauty
    under lock and key
    divinity is one avenue
    fall from grace another
    ———0———
    transient things that transform personality
    hand them over, illegal or not
    ———0———
    more reproductive antics
    deviate from the norm
    penetrate splendor

    Like

    1. A Pickup Truck Named Lolita
      from under the hood
      I hear her engine
      purring with desire
      tasting of adrenaline
      I have become a mere spout
      a faucet for her to play with
      a fire extinguisher
      to spray all about
      without ever a hope
      of putting that fire out 🔥
      day by day
      that pickup truck 🛻
      just gets bigger and bigger
      whatever happened
      to my sweet Little Lolita?
      soon she’ll be hitting the street
      looking for something larger
      . . and stranger
      like an upsized vegan hamburger

      Like

  12. tossing transient things away
    bye-bye transient things
    round back of the tent
    I find myself, Michael
    Michael in the trash
    ———0———
    external genitalia
    rhythmic mental
    dong images
    YOU LOOK

    Like

  13. no matter the joys and sorrows
    each poem contains print
    black marks on the page
    estranged, ALIENATED
    without ego damage
    explosive creativity
    Michael dialogue
    —————————————————not a single female on earth or in Heaven
    —————————————————the barrier no longer necessary
    —————————————————the multiple selves are safe

    Like

  14. Mother brought practical mathematics to the supper table
    males with vulgar habits were served less
    males with vulgar habits were served last
    the butcher, the baker, the dry goods guy
    Mother had a tight vacuum

    Like

  15. the first time it looks like an upsized vegan hamburger
    move on down the tracks, move on with no regrets
    all those things that you did, you did your best
    love them and leave them like a bumblebee
    just leisure time in the Carnival of Nature
    a poet with chocolates in his pocket

    Like

    1. a ring of fire
      burnt into the retina
      as Quasimodo
      looks down
      from the bell tower
      of a cathedral spire
      blighted by nature
      yet stricken by the beauty
      of a higher power
      and the hopeless desire
      her heart to win
      the sweet Esmeralda
      but all is not lost
      as the maiden looks not
      at his broken frame
      but the man within
      bequeathing him
      her gracious favour
      in a reckless
      and relentless manner
      up the cathedral spire
      dreams melting
      in the pocket of reality
      fairy floss
      and the death of a hunchback
      sugar coated memories
      of love and loss
      for all to gloss over

      Like

      1. dreams melting
        in the pocket of reality
        ———0———
        self-production:
        humans
        images
        words
        ———0———
        a poet with chocolates
        in his pocket
        ———————————–better equipped for survival
        ———————————–False Notions: images, words
        ———————————–self-production: MOTHERING

        Like

      2. self-actualization
        self-expression
        for who?
        who is reading?
        who is watching?
        an existence unfolding
        who are you?
        a passing participle
        of energy entroping
        in time and space?
        is truth just a feeling
        lost in the expanse
        of a reality fleeting?
        Human consciousness
        subjected to the laws
        of thermodynamic

        Like

  16. extremely impatient
    a splash of seed/a puddle
    what vast mischief, this masturbation
    hair lines around gender distinctions
    a single finger can start battle
    ———0———
    (+) a copy replaces the original
    the gaze from voyeurism
    to one of supervision
    all masturbation
    is homosexual

    Like

  17. my night porter informed me
    that our automobile fuel
    contains testosterone
    an aggressive beast
    lesser vehicles
    withdrawn
    anxious
    ———0———
    poetry is one thing
    reading poetry
    is another
    discrimination against a person
    based on poetry consumed
    can it be justified ?
    ———0———
    +++TOTALLY VISIBLE+++
    increased masculinization
    among the librarians

    Like

  18. Southern Florida
    where people from other zones
    strip down to their transparent skin
    *bathing suits from magazines and commercials
    should not be worn in public without prior approval
    *if you require frequent injections of Thorazine
    perhaps, you should avoid direct sunlight
    Southern Florida
    where your funds vanish at an alarming rate
    ———0———
    ———0———
    if gender is important
    hire an anatomy coach

    Like

    1. Famosa en el Barrio
      during my summer break
      with Fidel Castro
      and some latino amigos
      fleeing our liberal arts college campus
      we partied at Palm Beach 🏖️ where
      John Mellencamp told us that in Miami
      flagulation was strictly voluntary
      no matter how much
      those Florida cougars insist
      but not according to the head Librarian
      who was busy spanking Che Guevara
      all geared up on viagra and wild clams
      whilst dancing naked to Cecilia Noël
      at a seedy Miami motel
      next summer break I’ll be heading
      to Havana for a nice holiday with Frida
      and Leon Trotsky
      but I’ve promised Diego never to tell 🤫
      of our sightseeing Nirvana
      with the eyes of a singular
      and a trustworthy revolutionary
      the one special agents of the cold war
      are still searching for
      Famosa en el Barrio

      Like

    2. I got married young
      to a Christian woman
      from a good home
      sweet and innocent
      always she’s happy
      certain never to roam
      just how that happened
      is a mystery to me
      as I’m bad to the bone
      with no daddy issues
      to pursue and exploit
      I must bide my time
      in the twilight zone
      where I deviously plot
      If I get married again
      It’ll be to a tattooed
      pole dancing
      pagan circus freak
      who’s daddy issues
      come with the lot
      a marriage guaranteed
      to last about a week
      but what glorious havoc
      we could furiously reap
      running rampant
      in a land of lost sheep 🐑
      where curiosity
      killed the cat
      for daring to peek 😺 👀

      Like

  19. The Beatles
    have arrived in Southern Florida
    4 lads from England, mostly hair
    different stages of Beatledom
    sometimes far away
    sometimes up close
    each performance
    free of that
    witch
    ———0———
    fast cars, drugs
    no need to sleep
    ———0———
    coverings lent
    never returned

    Like

    1. this morning
      big Lolita
      was threatening
      to shave her head
      in honour
      of Sinéad O’Connor
      but Viking Mother
      tried talking her out of it
      I could only encourage her
      saying that at least
      her missing drapes
      would finally match
      her missing carpet
      through tears of laughter
      I could hear Ava
      the Bavarian librarian
      muttering that
      bit by shaven bit
      she’ll get what she’s after
      with Big Emily ®
      sitting patiently upon her lap
      a treasured gift for Lolita
      she got from a sleazy
      Placebo Town souvenir shop

      Like

  20. PLACEBO TOWN (also known as Placebo Town)
    corrupt criminals, crooked cops
    naked grooms and brides
    lesbian librarians howling
    simple souls sleeping
    outdoors
    at no time
    does the individual
    merge with the collective
    ———0———
    tourists wave
    curious about
    what lies ahead

    Like

  21. pOETRY wORKSHOP:
    (+) I was asked to speak at the meeting (+)
    “I was raised in the woods, south of Eden
    Known for witchcraft and small folk
    I was raised as an inside child
    My twin was an outside spirit
    Educated in the local ways
    He who could only visit after dark
    He who guarded his heart
    guarded mine also
    A clay man, moist
    ———0———
    swallowing poisons
    inhaling poisons
    moving far away
    THE WORLD OF HUMAN-MADE STIMULI
    it was not difficult to lie, steal, maneuver”

    Like

  22. when I see people do drugs in movies
    what planet am I living on ?
    I’ve never seen such crap
    plural hobo drink
    aftershave
    DRUGS OFFER NO PROMISE OF SALVATION
    young people think Jackson Pollock
    is the author of the King James Bible
    JUST TRY TO READ THE BIBLE
    words within words
    crazy ass words
    make no sense
    rodeo down
    a difficult
    word
    DISCOVER IT CANNOT BE PRONOUNCED
    I go to the library high
    each word has a voice

    Like

  23. I am well known at the library
    security with their dirty looks
    the librarian who mumbles
    “lift up our eyes to the heavens”
    ———0———
    needless to say
    I go high as possible
    my night porter beautiful
    everything I am, he is first

    Like

  24. at this moment———-this world
    with its tree sap, muscular Maple trunks
    +( he without lascivious thoughts, please leave the room )+
    secular communion in white briefs never worn
    anonymous partners and youthful longings
    hardcore homoerotic attractions
    hammers driving nails

    Like

    1. My junior high school band,
      ‘The Socio Paths’, was forced
      to break up after our drummer,
      Kevin, overdosed on heroin
      and the Principal was looking
      for someone, or something,
      to blame. But we did reform
      soon after the funeral, only
      under another name. Out of
      consideration for Kevin’s parents
      we rejected the bass guitarist’s
      suggestion of ‘The Dead Kevins’
      (meant as a tribute, I’m sure).
      So we become, ‘The War Paths’,
      but it was never quite the same,
      and to be honest, we sounded
      kind of lame.
      Kevin was all of fifteen and the
      coolest kid in school, as he had
      his own drum kit, could actually
      play and keep in rhythm, despite
      his chronic drug habit.
      Kevin never made it to sixteen.
      His fate, to be replaced by a stolen
      drum machine.

      Like

      1. the million dollar question:
        DID THE DRUM MACHINE HAVE GENDER ?
        you wake up in a world where females dress and behave as males
        at puberty you develop breasts and you openly display them
        at some point, your penis and testicles fall off
        you find yourself lodging in a female body
        hungry for amusement

        Like

      2. True Confessions:
        The bass guitarist in my junior high
        school band was my older sister, Jizzlynn.
        Despite being seventeen, she was still a
        student there after being kept back two
        years in a row. After I suggested that by
        going down on the teachers they might
        give her a pass my idea backfired when
        the teachers, male and female, liked it so
        much they decided to keep her around.
        At the time of Kevin’s demise she was
        his girlfriend. He was in her bed when
        he choked to death on his own vomit 🤮
        Jizzlynn, her headphones on 🎧
        listening to Jimi Hendrix, failed to
        notice. Hence her sense of guilt, and
        her wanting to rename the band in
        Kevin’s honour. After several heated
        arguments on the subject, the keyboard
        playing came up with ‘The War Paths’.
        From then on we always opened with
        a cover version of ‘You Can’t Always Get
        What You Want’ by the Rolling Stones.
        Years later, when Jizzlynn had her own
        band, she went with ‘The Dead Kevin
        Experience’, and later ‘The Grateful Dead
        Kevins’. I really should’ve known better
        than to give a drummer some heroin 💉
        for Christmas 🎁
        Just don’t tell anyone 🤫🕶️
        Things get heated enough whenever
        Jizzlynn comes around 🤬🔥

        Like

    1. true facts
      to a soundtrack
      of synthesized farts
      subjected to quantum physics
      simplified information
      the news sanitized
      easily digestible for the common man
      homogenized
      and standardised
      so simple minds can understand
      and all think the same
      socialized medication
      without the complication
      and the manifold complexities
      of data overflowing
      in a universe unfolding
      with dreams and visions
      that can only destabilise
      the collectively engineered brain
      defective imperfection
      cell division within the human organism
      where intelligence is a mutation
      and wisdom but a glib quotation
      microcosmic facts
      subjected to the illusions
      of psychics and magicians
      the nightly news
      just a circus act
      to a soundtrack
      of orchestrated farts
      to keep the worker ants amused
      whilst the clowns are out on strike
      with the weather girl dressed for sex
      and the news presenter
      as the King of Hearts
      swinging his penis
      like a battle axe of hard facts
      to a triumphant chorus
      of weaponized ballistic farts

      Like

  25. NONWHITE IDENTITIES
    highways carry the weight of the world
    noncommercial theaters evaporated
    confessional poetry at coffee shops
    confessional poetry at truck stops
    incorporated into T. Swift lyrics

    Like

  26. THE HONEYMOON HOTEL : PLACEBO TOWN : SOUTH FLORIDA
    marriage: hate the person you wed, envy another man’s wife
    love and hate her genitals, find it difficult to bond
    ———offending behavior :
    hate, vengeance,
    indignation
    ———romance :
    she has a pet
    step in shit
    ———0———
    ———0———
    highway signs posted :
    IMMEDIATE AND SHORT-LIVED SENSUOUS PLEASURE
    ————————NEXT EXIT———————–
    ———0———
    ———0———
    indirectly flee the wrong
    avoid a greater evil
    SUBMIT to a lesser

    Like

  27. if one wanted to anger Johnny Cash
    all one had to do
    suggest
    “submit to a lesser evil”
    ———0———
    THE DARK TOWER OF SEX
    compelled by external causes
    what seems best, the new norm

    Like

  28. it is easy to anger people in general
    ———0———
    when I got to storybook Heaven
    the guardhouse was empty
    a small sign was posted:
    SUBMIT TO A LESSER EVIL
    ———0———
    it is easy to anger people in general

    Like

    1. True Confessions:
      Jizzlynn, my older sister, had a long
      history of getting her girl friends to
      sexually abuse me. Yet, being a friendly
      happy-go-lucky teenager, I didn’t take it
      personally. But then, when I saw the
      opportunity, I decided to no longer take
      it lying down, so to speak. It was obvious
      that Jizzlynn had fallen madly in love
      with Kevin. As Christmas approached,
      I carefully considered what gift I could
      give Kevin that would keep on giving 💔
      A gram of pure heroin, cut only with a
      pinch of Diphenylchloroarsine 🤔🕶️
      It seemed a fitting gift as Kevin was right
      into that biochemical sludge slam 🎶
      In the meantime, I’d found this drum
      machine on a shelf at Guitar Center. The
      perfectly timed present for myself, after
      a swift shoplift … being Christmas 🎄 😎
      A win-win situation for the band as that
      machine kept better time than Kevin 🥁
      and Jizzlynn started turning up for band
      practice . . . crying, but not so stoned 🥴

      Like

  29. cowboys had this rule
    you see the cards
    you play the cards
    she dropped
    her shorts
    skin tags
    warts
    I was carried outside
    death eased the pain
    ( a subtle shift of attention )
    her ongoing wrestle with disease
    my demise

    Like

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