HE OPENING OF THE TRUNK Moment of inner freedom when the mind is opened and the infinite universe revealed

& the soul is left to wander dazed & confus'd searching here & there for teachers & friends.

Moment of Freedom as the prisoner blinks in the sun like a mole from his hole a child's 1st trip away from home That moment of Freedom

!merica "old treatment of our empress !merica The Transient #niverse !merica $nstant communion and communication lamerica emeralds in glass lamerica searchlights at twi%light lamerica stoned streets in the pale dawn lamerica robed in e&ile lamerica swift beat of a proud heart lamerica eyes like twenty lamerica swift dream lamerica frozen heart lamerica soldiers doom lamerica clouds & struggles lamerica 'ighthawk doomed from the start lamerica (That's how $ met her) lamerica lonely and frozen lamerica & sullen) yes lamerica right from the start( Then stop. *o. The wilderness between. *o round the march.

he enters stage+ ,lood boots. -iller storm.

Fool's gold. *od in a heaven. .here is she/ 0ave you seen her/ 0as anyone seen this girl/ snap shot 1pro2ected3 4he's my sister. adies & gentlemen+ please attend carefully to these words & events $t's your last chance) our last hope. $n this womb or tomb) we're free of the swarming streets. The black fever which rages is safely out those doors My friends & $ come from Far !rden w5 dances) & new music 6verywhere followers accrue to our procession. Tales of -ings) gods) warriors and lovers dangled like 2ewels for your careless pleasure $'m Me7 "an you dig it. My meat is real. My hands%%how they move balanced like lithe demons My hair%%so twined and writhing The skin of my face%%pinch the cheeks My flaming sword tongue spraying verbal fire%flys $'m real. $'m human ,ut $'m not an ordinary man 'o 'o 'o

.hat are you doing here/ .hat do you want/ $s it music/ .e can play music. ,ut you want more. 8ou want something & someone new. !m $ right/ 9f course $ am. 8ou want ecstasy :esire & dreams. Things not e&actly what they seem. $ lead you this way) he pulls that way. $'m not singing to an imaginary girl. $'m talking to you) my self. et's recreate the world. The palace of conception is burning. ook. 4ee it burn. ,ask in the warm hot coals. 8ou're too young to be old 8ou don't need to be told 8ou want to see things as they are. 8ou know e&actly what $ do 6verything

$ am a guide to the abyrinth Monarch of the protean towers on this cool stone patio above the iron mist sunk in its own waste breathing its own breath

POWER $ can make the earth stop in its tracks. $ made the blue cars go away. $ can make myself invisible or small. $ can become gigantic & reach the farthest things. $ can change the course of nature. $ can place myself anywhere in space or time. $ can summon the dead. $ can perceive events on other worlds) in my deepest inner mind) & in the minds of others. $ can $ am

;eople need "onnectors .riters) heroes) stars) leaders To give life form. ! child's sand boat facing the sun. ;lastic soldiers in the miniature dirt war. Forts. *arage <ocket 4hips "eremonies) theatre) dances To reassert Tribal needs & memories a call to worship) uniting above all) a reversion) a longing for family & the safety magic of childhood

The grand highway is crowded w5 lovers & searchers & leavers so eager to please & forget. .ilderness

'ow is blessed The rest remembered

! man rakes leaves into a heap in his pard) a plie) & leans on his rake & burns them utterly. The fragrance fills the forest children pause & heed the

smell) which will become nostalgia in several years

4irens .ater <ain & Thunder =et from the base 0ot searing insect cry The frogs & crickets :oors open & close The smash of glass The 4oft ;arade !n accident <ustle of silk) nylon .atering the dry grass Fire ,ells <attlesnake) whistles) castanets awn mower *ood 0umor man 4kates & wagons ,ikes

.here'd you learn about 4atan%out of a book ove/%out of a bo&

night of sin 1The Fall3 %1st se&) a feeling of having done this same act in time before 9 'o) not again

,etween childhood) boyhood) adolescence & manhood 1maturity3 there should be sharp lines drawn w5 Tests) deaths) feats) rites stories) songs) & 2udgements

Men who go out on ships To escape sin & the mire of cities watch the placenta of evening stars from the deck) on their backs & cross the e>uator & perform rituals to e&hume the dead dangerous initiation To mark passage to new levels To feel on the verge of an e&orcism a rite of passage To wait) or seek manhood enlightenment in a gun To kill childhood) innocence in an instant

LAMERICA Trade%routes guide lines The ?ikings & e&plorers

:iscoverers The unconscious a map of the states The veins of hiways ,eauty of a map 0idden connections Fast trampled forest Madness in a whisper neon crackle The hiss of trees ! city growls rich vast & sullen like a slow monster come to fat & die

THE ANATOMY OF ROCK The 1st electric wildness came over the people on sweet Friday. 4weat was in the air. The channel beamed) token of power. $ncense brewed darkly. .ho could tell them that here it would end/ 9ne school bus crashed w5 a train. This was the "rossroads. Mercury stained. $ couldn't get out of my seat. The road was littered w5 dead 2itterbugs. 0elp) we'll be late for class. The secret flurry of rumor marched over the yard & pinned us unwittingly Mt. fever. ! girl stripped naked on the base of the flagpole. $n the restrooms all was cool & silent w5 the salt%green of latrines. ,lankets were needed. <opes fluttered. 4miles flattered & haunted. ockers pried open & secrets discovered. !h sweet music. .ild sounds in the night !ngel siren voices. The baying of great hounds. "ars screaming thru gears & shrieks on the wild road .here the tires skip & slide into dangerous curves.

Favorite corners. "heerleaders raped in summer buildings. 0olding hands & bopping toward 4unday. Those lean sweet desperate hours. Time searched the hallways for a mind. 0ands kept time. The climate altered like a visible dance. 'ight%time women. .ondrous sacraments of doubt 4prang sullen in bursts of fear & guilt in the womb's pit hole below The belt of the beast

.orship w5 words) w5 sounds) hands) all 2oyful playful & obscene%in the insane infant.

9ld men worship w5 long noses) old soulful eyes. 8oung girls worship) e&otic) indian) w5 robes who make us feel foolish for acting w5 our eyes. ost in the vanity of the senses which got us where we are. "hildren worship but seldom act at it. .ho needs temples & couches & T.?. .e can do it on a sunny floor w5 friends & make any sound or movement that comes. <oll on our backs screaming w5 mirth glad in the guilt of our madness. ,etter to be cool in our worship & gain the respect of the ancient & wise wearing those robes. They know the secret of mind%change reality.

(0ave you ever seen *od/( %a mandala. ! symmetrical angel. Felt/ yes. Fucking. The 4un. 0eard/ Music. ?oices. Touched/ an animal. your hand. Tasted/ <are meat) corn) water) & wine.

!n angel runs Thru the sudden light

Thru the room ! ghost precedes us ! shadow follows us !nd each time we stop .e fall

'o one thought up being@ he who thinks he has 4tep forward

4hrill demented sparrows bark The sun into being. They rule dawn's kingdom. The cars% a rising chorus% Then workmen's songs & hammers The children of the schoolyard) a hundred high voices) complete the orchestration

($n that year there was an intense visitation of energy. $ left school & went down to the beach to live. $ slept on a roof !t night the moon became a woman's face. $ met the 4pirit of Music.(

!n appearance of the devil on a ?enice canal. <unning) $ saw a 4atan or 4atyr) moving beside me) a fleshy shadow of my secret mind. <unning) -nowing.

The day $ left the beach ! hairy 4atyr running behind & a little to the right. $n the holy solipsism of the young 'ow $ can't walk thru a city street w5out eying each single pedestrian. $ feel their vibes thru my skin) the hair on my neck %it rises.

THE FEAR 6ternal consciousness in the ?oid 1makes trial and 2ail seem almost friendly3 a -iss in the 4torm

1Madman at the wheel gun at the neck scape populous & arching coolly3 ! barn a cabin attic 8our own face stationary in the mirrored window fear of restroom's Tragic cold neon $'m freezing animals dead white wings of rabbits grey velvet deer The "anyon The car a craft in wretched 4;!"6 4udden movements & your past to warm you in 4piritless 'ight The onely 0.8 "old hiker !fraid of wolves & his own 4hadow

The .olf) .ho lives under the rock has invited me to drink of his cool .ater. 'ot to splash or bathe ,ut leave the sun & know the dead desert night & the cold men who play there.

a ha "ome on) now luring the Traveler Mighty ?oyager "urious) into its dark womb The graves grinning $ndians of night The eyes of night .estward lurking into the brothel) into the blood bath

into the :ream The dark :ream of con>uest & ?oyage into night) .estward into 'ight

LAMERICA "lothed in sunlight restled in waiting dying of fever "hanged shapes of an empire 4tarling invaders ?ast promissory notes of 2oy .anton) willful & passive Married to doubt "lothed in great warring monuments of glory 0ow it has changed you 0ow slowly estranged you 4olely arranged you ,eg you for mercy

The "rossraods a place where ghosts reside to whisper into the ears of travellers & interest them in their fate 0itchhiker drinks+ ($ call again on the dark hidden gods of blood( %.hy do you call us/ 8ou know our price. $t never changes. :eath of you will give you life & free you from a vile fate. ,ut it is getting late. %$f $ could see you again & talk w5 you) & walk a short while in your company) & drink the heady brew of your conversations) $ thought %to rescue a soul already ruined. To achieve respite. To plunder green gold on a pirate raid & bring to camp the glory of old. %!s the capesman faces poisoned horns & drinks red victory@ the soldier) too) w5 his trophy) a pierced helmet@ & the ledge%walker shuddering his way into inward grace %1laughter3 .ell) then. .ould you mock yourself/ %'o.

%4oon our voices must become one) or one must leave.

Forest strong sandals burnt geometry fingers around a fire reading history in blackened books) charcoal silence in moot splendor Flame%tree 4ire) we met in 6den The troubled time we had rustling in the night leaves a sniper aimed at our window a kitten mewing in the blasted strong air $ must go see %8ou've found your ?oice) friend) after all else $ recognize fast the 4trong sure tones of a poet was it a >uestion 4earch or of strangling/ $ wonder .e never talked ,ut welcome here to the camp fire 4hare our meal w5 us & tell us of your life & the hanging %.ell 1st $ screamed & $ was a child again alive Then nothing til the age of A & then summers & the racetrack $ looked for a girl in 'ew Me&ican bars & found 2ail The prostitute looked out her cell & saw Fuck god scratched on a leprous wall %8ou're rambling boy what of the rest the 2azz highway he winks. %$ got picked up & rode through the night %did you see any buildings %did $... .hat was $ doing of course we danced plenty 4he had nice sides the cop hit me 4top) $ don't remember %The logs are melting

we must move on The fire's ending we'll hear more at the ne&t altar Bmusical interludeC Trees Train%death The !merican 'ight .e went through A cords of wood this winter %he told me beautiful stories & had the most beautiful visions 0e was a truly religious man at the end %you know) $ like you guys god%damn7 1$ saw this cat run out of the ocean) one night) and beat%off into a fire3 $'m going down to Me&ico To this border town $ heard about & $'m gonna buy me a girl & bring her back up here & marry her) it's true. This guy told me. ! friend of his knew someone who %8ou're too much

There was preserved in her The fresh miracle of surprise

open The 'ight is young & full of rest $ can't describe the way she's dress'd 4he'll pander to some strange re>uests !nything that you suggest !nything to please her guest

SIRENS Midnight criminal metabolism of guilt forest <attlesnakes whistles catcalls <emove me from this hall of mirrors This filthy glass !re you her :o you look like that 0ow could you be when no one ever could

;oet of the call%girl storm 4he left a note on the bedroom door. ($f $'m out) bring me to.(

$ dropped by to see you late last night ,ut you were out like a light 8our head was on the floor & rats played pool w5 your eyes :eath is a good disguise for late at night .rapping all its games in its calm garden ,ut what happens when the guests return & all unmask & you are asked to leave for want of a smile $'ll still take you then ,ut $'m your friend

ODE NEW YORK MAIDENS everyone has Their own magic There is no death so nothing matters 0igh 4tyle Flash & forgive me high button shoes clean arrangement messy breeding love's triumph everlasting hope & fulfillment

THE AMERICAN NIGHT for leather accrues The miracle of the streets The scents & somgs & pollens of e&istence 4hiny blackness so totally naked she was Totally un%hung%up .e looked around lights now on To see our fellow travellers