55 winters

Start creating the prompt says.

So here's what I got

Sail away. What we are in the here is like smoke in the wind. Our farts and best fragrance a passing passion borne on winds of change 

A moment of time. The vibration of a string. 

Saruman looked to the west and was no more.

A gust dispersed his atomic structure

There was no more

I have heard we are a collection of moments

This frame structure of it, a scene of ourselves

We the actors of our play

Directed by time, chance,.and sheer force of will

This now that ever was and might be

Well, have another. It's just a quarter after 

Psychobilly political Typology

perhaps it is symbolic existence of shadows dancing on the walls.

Riding in the middle of knowherenowhere
Blazing outlaw music

Where we are today is not the time when my great aunt rode over the hill to see the grunting tractors digging out the lake to spook the miles

We're only two generations away from riding a fucking mule to school if we went at all

Bill Malone did his dissertation on country music 

It's hard plowing. That particular man was not slack in his work. Layers upon layers. Interviews from magazines and societies that are 50 years old and more 

Minnie Pearl called Hank3 a ghost

And yet there he is on the tape

Telling us how little he has of his grandfather 

He's one foot in the grave and another headed into the future 

Exactly how many times have I seen someone go from hard country to 

Hardcore psychopunk

I haven't heard of him taking a shit like that one old boy

But, it got funky at Trees

he oughta be here

Perhaps that's why it's up to us

He got worn out 

Hotter fires burn fast

Rust never sleeps though 

He was a Kentucky psychobilly before the word existed

Goddammit. Him and Molly Ivins 

They fucking saw it. 

Every day there is some city kid that hears Johnny Cash 

in the country someone hears Melvins

And in the street they meet 

Standing in the Chrysanthemum

Sometimes I see it if I try.
 It's always been there.

I was born in this life. I don't think you or I asked for it. It is what we are born into. Some of us go away and some of us stay.

I used to think that if you worked hard and tried hard good things would happen. That's not necessarily true.
The good that you receive might not be what you recognize. It might be a cup of beans and rice in a bowl with some bits of wild pig.
 The kindness of a prison guard that tells you that the best thing you can do for your dead friend is to go home.

Maybe you were born to a big estate.
Maybe you were born in the slave quarters.

None of it matters. It's all a mirage. The only things that last are what we do. Even the words we say are us. Words we leave behind us. They might last longer than that tree we planted and it it's a hardier species than mine.

Artist and the fact that some of us fuck up a lot

Boone. He pounded a shotgun against the bole.
Oh yes. I do think Professor John Ronald Reuel had himself a drink and then wrote.
Besom and bole.

I can't fix what happened before me. I can only deal with what is happening now.

He's right you know. I don't know what drove him to eat a bullet. If I live a thousand years I don't know if I will ever understand why. Not sure that I want to.

What exactly am I to do with the artist, poet,writer,teacher, that's a....
Shitshow of sins.

I can still see the good work of the person beside the evil. I see it in me too very apparent.

Is Guernica any less of a work?
For the shallows of his fatherhood?

That's not forgiving him.
If he asked
If any come in search for redemption.
Well, let me not stand in the way.

I can sure use some redeeming.
Any time you have some to spare.

hard news on a birthday

51 times around the sun
five decades plus one
 it seems so small until I see the wrinkles and lines and feel the grinding of the bones

oh the day after too much of anything is so much more than what it was thirty years ago
and I suppose it ought to be that way

I go to church now because I want to
not because they told me to get my sinner ass out of bed
"White Trash get out of that bar!"
 all I was doing was playing dominoes
I was winning!














And yet there is this
over there on the other side of the pond
she is fading away
Fuck Cancer. This curse of the king
It is tragic beyond belief and yet there it is
there are grandchildren and children and a husband
and friends far away that will miss her
it is time that takes us away from each other
time and distance and things that should not be but are

dammit. yes, I will rage against the dying of the light
if only for a moment
for hers is a life to celebrate and remember fondly
fare well and rest well dear lady
we shall all miss you terribly
may your wand never fizzle again

we only get so many days
so many years and seconds
what we do with them is up to us
as I have said so many times
and as was said to me so many years ago
'seize the day' Carpe diem
for this may be your last
you do not know what tomorrow brings
laugh, love, and live in every moment you are afforded to have
for none of them are guaranteed
there is no warranty and no returns
what we do, and think, and feel is the big now we experienced
when we are weighed and found and spoken for
I would like to think that the scale hits the bottom and it is heavy for us

I'll probably keep muddling in the same general direction of what I hope is forward
and we all get to see each other again

new gig. time to shine

labor is the superior to capital
das kapital
but, it is the relationships of the worked and the leaders that determine success
I cannot abide a boss that will lie to me and steal from me
my hours are my own and I surrender them only because I have to in this world
my mind is my own

I left a company of liars to go where there was so much work to do
everything in near disarray
there are others that have returned and some that have remained
but it is a place that has been under siege
it as if we were riding hard to rescue them
mighty long row to hoe
It feels like a challenge

the leaving was not that hard
when I knew they would take the hours I earned
know this my friend in this land of the US of A
you are not guaranteed a damn thing on your day off
if they want to take it, they can
take all the hours you can, because they will surely take them from you

Lawyers! Bankers! Insurance and stock options
what do we ask of each other?
I ask of you to tell me the truth and to stand by what you said
in this day of alternative facts and manufactured reality, what is truth and what is lies
remains to be seen on a daily basis, but It is not so hard to discern
when the figures are right there on your paycheck and coming out of your wallet
i know where my bread is buttered. I know who to boycott
and that was a man's name. the evil bastard got his comeuppance
there is a reason it exists as a word beyond it being a name


it feels so early late.
two days riding with the old man to hear all the tales
or as many as he could tell in that time
i was never so ready to go kill things
and that I did. hunter that I am.
and in the morn comes another day and more meetings
on the heels of going on a foraging mission to find us hands
I think I did. i left a lot of seed anyhow
shamelessly I will steal from them, all their hands
labor is the superior to capital
you can't work with no labor and them you must pay
Oh can I mention James?

i got something to say

But, I might have forgotten what it was

In the fleeting moments of this life the muse might hit you
a recipe wrinkle you didn't think of before
a road unseen before
shall we take it?
do it I say. for we might not pass this way again


how many lost thoughts have been in my head?
this is why I carry a pen everywhere I go
but, I have to stop long enough to write it down
to stop at the side of the road to see the sign
we just don't know when or if it will visit us again

I can't capture the rage of the moment I felt an hour ago
it's there bubbling beneath the calm exterior
nor the joy of finding a kindred soul
it isn't lost. It is there as it ever was before I saw it
I just can't catch it. I might as well try to catch the smoke

oh the hover fly that scared the people lands upon me
go find a flower little friend
I know you like me, Yes, I am your friend
but, this is not the time

I guess he was trying to tell me
no, friend, now is the time
stop whatever you are doing
speak with me
yes, he lingered upon the phone as I was at play
and maybe I learned something

I sure hope so.

A year later.

Oh how it has languished
a year later I find myself here again

so much has passed since then
elections, oh dear god how much politics has happened between now and then

and Then I Walked Away again
skull on a glass of beer woven in flowers
ride ride ride hard and fast
but neither be the fastest or the slowest
if you find yourself in the lead
you are only at the tail end of the next wave
or a sitting duck for the radar gun

so many things to say
so much water down the river
things I used to do that I don't do now
so it has been a year

are there any new pictures to share perhaps?

Why yes! Yes! I have pictures of this world we live in
There is hope and fear.
Rage and peace.
 born about the time that picture was taken
 into a world at war with itself
I am starting to think it was ever this way

Grandfathers pray for me
when you were a child and a young man we were at war with ourselves
leaving Tennessee to go to Texas after it was done
here I am today
a war of ideas as it ever was
we can be the good if we choose to
but what is the good is no longer agreed upon
greed is not good
and therein lies the rub

The barn of the rich man's son

I am sorely tempted to tell stories.
 I have a big account that is a problem.
 oh it has a host of problems.
too many cooks. way way too many cooks
with too many hats to wear
there is no clear line of demarcation
s between who does what and why
a 20 million dollar barn
there used to be magic mushrooms that grew there
and now I have to try to figure out how to kill the fairy ring
so they can trod down the Event Lawn
so I can regrow it again

a thousand dollars here and a thousand dollars there
who's counting?
i read of growing orchids in the desert
the hanging gardens of Babylon
what sorry bastard had to make them grow?
what wizards of green had to muster up their best spells to make trees grow
where they throw all manner of BS at them
the event lawn of Central Park gets a lot of traffic and trash too
man, quit your bitching

dialect:what we say and how we say it and where we came from

How do you hear it?
This meme. Well get to vocabulary later, but the sound of the voice in your head that read this picture of a muddy kid, what did it sound like?















I don't remember the first time I realized that people did all not sound the same. The words they used to describe their world were not the same as mine. Was it the first time I heard the language of the Latin? Was it when I heard it in my family? I do not really know. It is like gravy. I do not remember the first slurp of gravy on taters.

I have a dialect. I revel in it. I have cultivated it at the dismay of my father and paternal grandmother. I have had to suppress it to pass muster with the Fathers that graded papers. My idioms and folkways were not acceptable in a formal paper. I managed to disguise myself sufficiently that it was disregarded or overlooked.

I'll never forget when he brought back Crime and Punishment and put it in my hand.
Said, "somebody might need this for the final."
sheepishly I took it. shame and misery upon me.
the protestant owes another penance
it will probably involve being on my knees in the dirt
rooting out the worst parts of myself

I meant this to be about dialects and the myriad of ways we speak to say what we want
the vocabulary unique to regions, the forgotten and isolated bits of history that still exist

but i got distracted
and it is too big way way way too big
an hour of well produced video is insufficient
I keep wandering down the trail over on youtube
I go look around on Google
would Bing have something different?
it is never ending. There is a mine of epic proportions of people talking about how we talk!
look, just point that mouse over there to that search bar and get after it.
it is too big for me
it is too much.
all i can do is skip across the surface
i have too many plants and chemicals up in the gray matter to devote the necessary neurons
to this study. it is vast.
all i did was look at those of us that came from a few islands on the western end of Europe
and that goes on forever!
having to tie in the ones on the other side of the channel
or the ones that were here before Europe arrived
and the mix of those cultures together to result in something totally different but having parts of both
TOO MUCH

all i can tell you friends and neighbors
is we all talk the same
and we talk differently
we are still trying to express the deepest feelings
and most shallow chit chat
because that is what we do as humans
and the words we use and where we got them
are as varied as the winds
oh it is a big panoply of words and humans wrestling with them
and it fascinates me

here there be words

This was me.
Not so very long ago.
That hat is not nearly so white now.


Chuck Berry passed
so did James Cotton
and not so very long ago
there was David Bowie

and 2016 took far more than I want to remember right now
time brings me here again
wandering in the garden of Destiny
flipping pages in the book to find myself again

I was there. Now I am here.
Was it very long ago? I am not sure.

I wonder if I still have this cactus.
Maybe. As much as I like them they are
difficult and stubborn
and some winters do not see them survive
I am not terribly convinced it was the cold
but I digress in this musing of time and time after

I have given them away
some of them are still living in places I no longer go
left a bit of them here and there I suppose
I do not give them freely
I do not trust you always
If I know you are the sort of person that will
give a damn about it
i might consider it.

she asked me to rescue roses yesterday
i think I will be watering them every day
until they are standing tall when I get home
I know. I could have said no.
Was I going to refuse the kitten found in the vacant lot?
Didn't I get up in the middle of the night and feed it a bottle from a syringe?
yes and it sleeps on my face too sometimes
if i let her. which isn't very often
she is far too loud

sleeping now in the arms of tomorrow
so many minutes to make up a life time
choose them well my fried ns
we only get so many
and then we are done

i have dollars to give
I have time
and I have blood, sweat, and tears
they are not enough
this life requires all of me
the last bit of me left
and then I am done
but that day is not yet
no, that day is not today
or I sure hope not
i still got shit to do

Wheels spinning

Human wheels spinning in our orbits
Each of us a hub of life extending

I'm going to have to admit
My spin and sparkle don't always have the desired results.
But what can one do but keep rolling the stone?
We roll the bones.
We pays our money.
We takes our chances.

I can hope for you.
It's my job.
I have a gift of encouragement!
Be brave. Fear not.
Do it. Give it your all.
Whatever you turn your hands to do.

I am my own little wheel.
Spinning in the silent crash
Trading electrons in a shared orbit
The chemical equation persists

Post Debate #3 2016

Very nerdy guys everywhere are thankful that Nate Silver and Bill Gates
exist. oh let's not forget Einstein and Oppenheimer, they were uber strange cats too

Twenty days until the election. Twenty.
This is another watershed event. Monday we go vote early in Texas.
Game on. Spin the wheel and see what happens.
I

am just one I
tomorrow comes like a hope of a cooler breeze
after the sweaty gritty day of today

each of us spinning in our own circuits.

in this framework of what we call Now
can we find some common ground?

is there too much hate
wAs there ever enough?
is any too much?
can I reconcile myself with the Klan?
shall I own the trail of tears?

that was then and this is now
there is time and it goes forward
I know not where this wheel stopping comes
it keeps on rolling
I am here and now
in a moment of time
what shall be tomorrow I do not know
i am hoping it is better than today

as the night unwinds

well sure it is shopped!
He can pray over the thin white duke too
while he feels for Bethlehem
I like this friend of mine from far away
i really really do

did he watch the game too?
did he see the prematurely bald man calling for beers and kisses
did he see the petulant child leave the press
I doubt it. He was probably making his guard
double time it again as he went out
in the street
that's where you find him restless
looking for another soul to save
never quit fishing

i love him

I was there
and she was with me
I only get so many seconds in this life
so many drips of time in the glass
falling on my and where was I then? I was there! I was and then we were gone
I was someone then. I had me and there i was. Leaves in the wind
caught in the foam of the flowering water
smokes of yesterday on the wind
we go there often and it is never there again

wordlessly watching the time as it happens

i sat there and the thoughts were there

when and if the moment comes

I shall try to remember to move

we only get so many days

so very few it seems

considering I shall never live to see 

the seedlings of the bristlecone or the eggs of the tortoise

but i do get this

i do have this much of me to invest

despite my failings and bad behaviour

she still wants to be near me
I can't explain it

i want a girl with a mind like diamonds
with eyes that burn like cigarettes
and she found me

i am such a lucky man
I do not kmno w=========
what should attribute such
God? he loves me he said
so there ya go.

all i know

and there I am
if i say this or that
I shall pay or reap
oh well, rollllll the bones

one thing leads to another
and so I find myself right there in the midst of it all
i can open a vein and pour it out
if you want blood you got it
blood., sweat and tears was all he promised us
and we did it
and here we are

I saw me
out of the side of me eye

wherein I ramble wide and far

she was bound and determined to go with me
i tried repeated times to talk her out of it
she was having none of it

"You are going to go away."
days she said. I know it's hours
scars on her back from a dog that was bound to die
another rescue says she
so be it. bring it home if they are willing
I can't bear to see it in a cage
ought to have to go to a class and get a license before you can
buy another living creature to bring home
or a gun to kill it
but that is for another nightday

Pope Frank had a birthday today
Donald Trump said something demonstrably false
and the sun came up
and the sun went round the sky
then I had a drink
did anything change while I was working?

posted up something today from
the Accidental Talmudist
not sure if Sgt. Edmonds was Baptist or Methodist
but that day he said We are all Jews
all of us. in the Stalag
maybe I should remember the German In Charge
he holstered his pistol
he kept it back
what would it have taken to wave the men down?
the machine gun is a grim reaper
cut like a cord ripped from the seams
but he didn't, some force of will or mercy or love or respect
it stayed that day
and they all walked in together, holding hands in hell

we are all in this together
there are no sidelines
there is no gallery,
each of us an audience in another's passion play

clicked on a thread that I should have avoided

Fighting it. I want to go over there and rant so hard. 
O it don't make one iota of difference!
release the bitter bile 
or relent. 


Hi. My name is cactusflinthead and I am a political junkie. 
I read entirely too much. 
I engage in debates that have no meaning and go no where. 
I try to stop, but I keep doing it. 
Maybe the one or two independent, mythical, legendary even 
swing voters
do they still exist? 

I want that picture of Hunter S. 
aiming his big .44 at the Chinese gongs
right here. 

Fucking ginkgo is going to outlive me 
and it gives not one fuck about politics;

But he is my friend

Many moons ago in a state of consciously awareness
not so very far from you
my father's friend had a dream
he was in a trench with a rifle
they were telling him to shoot the men across the way
he said. " I cannot. Those are my friends over there."
He saw the face of my father and my uncle in the trench
over there on the other side of no man's land


I do not expect you to be like me
nor do i think very much
that your experiences are mine
but i do know there are the same requirements for life
same bunch of elements that give spin and whirl to our lives
the same things that make us cry and laugh
smile of a dog and a wag of a tail
the smell of coffee and tea in the morning
the sharp air of a frosty morning

now there is there are the gaseous windbags

feeding and emanating from the id of fears

do I care if I am a political animal?

why yes

yes, I do

Does the time bend towards justice?

Have I come thus far to question it?

what is required of you O man

What doth God require of you?

To love justice, to do mercy

and to keep one's self from being polluted

ArmisticeRememberingVeteransDay of the eleventh day of the eleventh month

 Originally Posted by FCHorn 

Weird to think that some soldiers were killed right before or after the Armistice was announced...after enduring all that bullshit...

Random chaos happens. 
I posted up a ton of stuff yesterday. 

A small girl bending over the gravestone
two young boys wearing sailor's hats waiting for dad to return from England
only to die in the flu outbreak

a year ago an ocean of 800 something thousand poppies outside the Tower 
and John Prine singing about the last balloon and the needle and the spoon of Sam Stone
it is a hard day
it is a hopeful day
every year I seek out one person to thank
I know so many veterans
Santa Claus, Uncle Dave, Jerry's Dad
so much family everywhere and then they want to tell me these tales
and I have to listen. who among you would turn them away?

it is a hard day
to remember, to think about 
all that stuff. 
I think the cartoon from the Guelph might still be the most arresting
old man wearing his poppy, hobbling down the park
going to hear fife and drum one more time
maybe they will have bagpipes this year
I hope they don't muck it up again

See ya next year pops
or next week down at the domino hall
might slip in for lunch

Being Dad

14 years ago today.
I watched a football game with a burrito baby in my arms.
Tonight she wanted me to make fried chicken. Honored to be deemed worthy.

We worry over them and wonder if they are gonna be ok
when we let them toddle off across the yard
but eventually we let go of the handlebars and let them roll on their own power
kinda gotta.
 we have to pick them up off the ground.
we have to hug the tears and be the hankie when
there is a snot walrus tusk hanging off their 3 year old face

teen between here and there
dreams of tomorrow and memories of yesterdays not so long ago
i am grayer and the days get shorter
I have to remember these days as long as I can
eventually all I have left are the deeds I have done, good and bad
memories fade in the gray matter. dry cells firing intermittently
but whilst what wits still abide me
seize every chance I get, jump the fire
we might only be here once