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. Under a blazing sun
      there is a squeeze
      on every thing
      in the shadow regions
      of hands moving
      where the darkness is swirling
      the light shines brightest
      on those making a stand
      under a blazing sun
      sooner or later
      in a contest of persistence
      the kingdom will come

      Like

    1. heaven knows
      the perils of a penis
      suffering the trauma
      of labia phobia
      where the wild roses grow

      the adventures
      of a rock hard phallus
      laid low and slow
      whilst being devoured
      in the throes
      of pussy fever
      vive la difference
      where my Rosemary goes

      Like

    1. The line it is drawn
      The curse it is cast
      The slow one now
      Will later be fast
      As the present now
      Will later be past
      The order is rapidly fadin’
      And the first one now
      Will later be last
      For the times
      They are a-changin’

      ~ Bob

      Like

  1. floundered in a sexual
    suitcase packed away
    ———0———
    ———0———
    (+) at the truck stop market they sell coloring books
    a younger me and the woman before the wife
    we put the “nasty” in gymnastics
    banned in Sweden

    Like

    1. the gymnasium

      here in paradise

      has a segregated sauna

      with a secret doorway

      to a meeting place

      where lovers on heat

      can let off some steam

      covered in sweat

      having come just once

      … yet I’ll never forget

      given access to that doorway

      hidden in paradise

      where lovers may meet

      Like

  2. a common yard lizard or George Jones ?
    sunning in his Sunday best
    eternal rest interrupted
    forced to sing
    about love
    lost
    watching from the window up above
    that young man with the golden hair
    fingering the pie “good night”

    Like

    1. George Jones is dead
      shot from the hip
      straight through the heart
      by a bolt of white lightenin’
      bye … bye … Miss American Pie
      the levee is now dry
      and she’s to blame
      God damn Don McLean
      the head librarian
      just can’t get
      Madonna singing that song
      out of her brain
      like a badly worded prayer
      gurgling down the library drain

      Like

  3. I dare you to ask Don McLean to sing THAT SONG
    ask him if he has donated toothpicks to the poor
    “Brother, can you afford a dime ?”
    tiny wooden spears
    from a shirt pocket
    swallow as many
    as possible

    Like

    1. Don McLean is too busy
      feeding the poor
      and housing the homeless
      no time for domestic violence
      I’m sure he’d prefer to be
      killing them softly with his song
      rather than wooden toothpicks

      Like

  4. softly with his song
    “Stairway to Heaven”
    an especially slow version
    coughing up tumors with splinters
    at Costco, Paris Dylan purchases toothpicks
    organic bamboo with no color, no printed words

    Like

  5. ——Don McLean——
    the school crossing guard
    that they had to let go
    he was scaring kids
    ————–a man who worshipped clarity of mind
    not ecstatic transport
    ————–he tried to live in the woods
    only to be overwhelmed with mischief
    ———0———
    Don was known to march to the beat of a different drum
    when he was arrested, he had bags of dog poop in his pockets
    he had no dog

    Like

  6. the book of the dictionary

    where I reclined during youth

    interwoven

    Michael and the outside world

    suddenly born, death was different

    cruel accidents and murder, prison rot

    people close up with dirty teeth and breath

    closing the mouth is one thing

    dirty underwear is another

    Like

  7. she took her pants off
    her panties were crusty
    I wanted to move on quickly
    I wanted to say, “You dirty dog”
    my mind was occupied with gymnastics
    competing mental voices, Picasso would go anal

    Like

    1. I now seem to have a thing
      for very tall women
      nothing like lying down
      and looking up 👁️⬆️👁️
      to that stairway to heaven
      in hot anticipation
      of some scalding discipline
      naked from stockings
      to elevated belly button
      just waiting to be kissed
      like scaling Mountain Everest 🏔️
      with a clitoris as big
      as a baby’s clenched fist 👊👶
      making a very tall woman
      your unsympathetic dominatrix
      with satisfaction
      just out of reach 🖐️
      scoldingly dismissive
      of your ardent hardened attention
      or simply your oversized bitch
      submissively housebroken
      verses down on all fours 🐾🐾
      doggerel poetry at it’s best
      I now seem to have a thing
      for very tall women
      but it’s got me beat 🪶
      just where it came from 🤔🕶️

      Like

  8. the first time that you look down
    and see peanut butter
    on your dick
    the smell
    between
    prose and poetry
    (+) transcend place and time
    I was told to spit on my dick and stick it in
    it wasn’t a pleasant sight, that hidden location
    a million racing thoughts
    the entire cheerleading squad
    all of them, peanut butter free

    Like

  9. IF NOAH’S WIFE CAN’T MAKE IT TO HEAVEN
    WHAT ARE OUR ODDS ?
    —————————–
    “For you, Naamah I give a loud acclaim of praise”
    —————————–
    DREAMS OF NAAMAH ON HER JOURNEY TO THE UNDERWORLD:
    it comforted Noah
    to see his wife
    as the landscape
    under the waters
    Naamah was the garden of Noah
    Naamah was Eden, pure and simple

    Like

  10. smoke some dope
    enter the theatre
    THE MEMORY
    discontinuous
    fragmented Michael
    magic lantern, imagistic
    heading for some mysterious goal
    “I speak in ghost and listen with queasiness”

    Like

    1. Taylor Swift’s Anus Tour
      subjected to a Penis inspired
      terrorist attack in Amsterdam
      Sadly … It was a total failure
      as there’s too many Swifties
      for this existence to endure
      I told Taylor … “Frankly, my dear,
      I don’t give a damn. What do you
      expect when you dress like a
      cheap trailer park whore?”

      meanwhile … off in the distance
      I hear the ghost of Joe Strummer
      singing ‘Rock The Casbah’

      Like

  11. blurring boundaries
    back of the room creatures
    eating flesh directly from the bone
    Mick Jagger was there with his goose neck dong
    enormous lips and reconstructed eyes
    everyone paranoid, he might fall
    snap a limb, break a hip

    Like

    1. a stranger
      in a strange land
      doing time out of mind
      with the fun loving Maoris
      of New Zealand
      delirium on crack cocaine
      with the excitable natives
      singing Rod Stewart songs
      Maoris hand in hand
      God help us
      if they ever form a band

      Like

    1. YES & AMEN 🙏
      the Tibetan throat singing
      being emitted through
      the primate drumbeats
      from the various orifices
      of the young and the restless
      the old and the oblivious
      unsolicited opinions
      and mindless comments
      it’s just too much to tolerate
      not even a modest
      Modernist such as T. S. Eliot
      would stand for it
      Yes … politics in the U.S.
      has got totally ridiculous
      Trump versus Harris!
      The Orange Beast versus
      The Totally Vacuous
      could things get any sillier?
      (if I say so myself
      from the safety of distance)
      will the obsequious voices
      of antisocial media
      inherit what’s left of Planet Earth?
      the drumbeats of primates
      . . . they have no answer

      Like

    1. Multiple x Thank You Michael

      Taylor Swift 🤔🕶️
      regurgitating a toad 🐸
      after swallowing a tadpole
      an image I could do without 😱
      MANY THANKS! 😎
      much like that fairy tale about
      a football playing frog 🏈
      kissing Taylor’s pink hole 💋 🩷
      then turning into a prince 👑

      Like

  12. “playing on worn keys”
    the sidelines of poetry
    circus tent juxtaposition
    of discrepant things
    “I can see what was not before”
    (+) rot/putrescence/black blood
    verbal surfaces seem dangerous
    (+) lodged in frozen photographs

    Like

  13. frozen photographs
    carried around in the head
    raw melodramas and sitcoms
    birds and bees, normal behavior
    reality unfolding outside a script
    transparent fiction, surface depth
    NO PLACE FOR YOUTH
    the demands that elders place on young people
    headaches and heartaches, wishes impossible to fulfill

    Like

  14. death involves being drowned
    Noah holds your head under
    you give it your all
    but you are weak
    and Noah
    strong
    DROWN INTO DEATH
    the weight of the world
    library letters and words
    the rainbow colors of sin

    Like

  15. every time you fall
    and scrape your knees
    financial, devotional or sexual (?)
    low-hanging fruit
    poverty ignorant of fruitless days
    self-restraint and delayed gratification
    (+) miss the moment and it fades away

    Like

    1. Soon we’ll have the answer
      to that timeless question
      … Is there life on Mars?
      There seems to be an ocean
      of semen under the Mars surface
      directly under a massive crater,
      in the shape of an open vagina,
      located on the opposite side of
      the planet to the cydonia region
      where you’ll find the Face of Mars
      with a look of satisfaction.

      Like

  16. THE UNNERVING:
    “bigger than”
    “smaller than”
    physique then personality
    ———0———
    recreational sex long overdue
    the wife with her sleet and slush
    I am so thankful my anti-skid works

    Like

    1. skin-deep consciousness

      the ferociously superficial

      covers the surface of this existence

      centrifugal force is essential

      for keeping control

      in a galaxy circling

      the circumference of a black hole

      reality is a multidimensional three ring circus

      but peeking about from a hall of mirrors

      it’s almost impossible to tell

      Like

    1. sneak past the service entrance
      of your average beanery
      into the scullery of humanity
      and you may discover
      a chaotic world of beauty
      grease stained
      and rust encrusted … maybe
      amongst the detritus and hepatitis
      but some just come
      for that bottomless cup of coffee

      Like

      1. A CHAOTIC WORLD OF BEAUTY
        no matter the number of maps
        you shove under my nose
        I cannot locate
        the Beanery
        an outlaw-infested wilderness where wolves howl
        and children walk on bloody bones

        Like

  17. sub-symbols with diverse implications
    statuesque desires
    —————————-the killer craving insensitive whores
    women on the street with children
    who will climb a ladder
    permitting one a peek
    no matter the number
    no matter the gender

    Like

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