“He went down, down, down and the devil jumped on his head.” -- Tom Waits

the tears
the goddamned tears
that refuse to fall
that cling to the
eyelids like
icicles
the tears
make for a slippery
descent
better watch yr step thr pal
or you’ll end up
like that nude
all angles and
no substance
jerky lines
framed and hung
like some Southern
justice

the wine of youth
the whine of the aged
neglected and
underappreciated
what becomes of us now?

Man descending
Nothing new there
Men have descended
Into thr self-proclaimed
Hells for centuries
Cleansed by fire
Rising from the ashes
Something about Phoenix
Or Tombstone
Can’t recall at the moment

Man descending
Intentional?
To what end?
Self-exploration seems
Pretentious under the circumstances
Still one must dust off the
Skeletons every so often
Lest their lessons cease to matter
Lest they become insignificant
Moments in a string of lost causes

Four days now and counting
The devil is inside my head
Where he has set up shop
Sending out memos
“when in doubt – lie”
“succumb to evil – it’s easier”
the devil seems angry
there’s not much to work with
my head being pretty empty

man descending
stops and ponders fate
and the other classic dilemmas
a ghost hoard stampedes past
as he slow-moes a puzzled gesture
frozen in the hey-now
a mime trapped in a sinking box
going down slow
(so the old blues song goes)
something about this
a familiarity
not quite understood
a dim memory perhaps
a lesson barely remembered
the past
the past bubbles
like a leaky gaspipe
there’s no room for pleasantries
no time for dawdling
if you strike the match of insight
the epiphany is going to be a loud one
sucker and the hot flame of recognition
is going to lick your asshole
in a most unpleasant way
get the f*** outta here
while you can still walk

to every season
turn, turn, turn
around and retrace your steps
wake up from your stupor
you can go home

man ascending
dragging skeletal remains
and demonic possessions
behind him like cans
tied to a dog’s tail
a dog’s tale

that’s right

a dog’s tale.

RD Armstrong