My son stayed the night and then made the bed In the morning without warning Or fanfare no expectation of praise But just because it seemed it was The sort of thing one ought to do these days
I met his band mate last night and he said That I am just like an older Steve Lance Which is the name he and I share These days people often compare The two of us favorably I see As delighted I dive into this dance Which began if at all long before me
Young and old in the fall a November Pregnant with the promises of Beautiful things which we will remember Grown children with band mates who love Us as we are there in their car
Out in front of this house where the window Looks on the future as the past would know
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Nov 11, 2005, 9:13 pm
Popcorn
Mental flatulence and constipation Confusion mingled with befuddlement A general sense of consternation Of wondering where the merriment went
All of these things and worse can happen to Anyone anywhere woman or man All ages all races even to you Should you be seduced into muddlement And your soul reduced to Republican Enslavement ground to pavement left behind To muddle in the puddle of the mind Which they think they have destroyed but cannot Which they think they have silenced but are wrong
They never have been very smart that way They think they can crush us but they forgot God can hear even when liberals pray Nothing can stop us none can hold us down Their narrow heads spin to find us too strong For them to overcome by their attack Hold tight and fight for dignity today And we can smile to see narrow heads frown When they think we are cornered we fight back
I resist for I have nothing to lose The narrow heads underestimate me But I will stand up to them as I choose They huff and they puff and they debate me What a sideshow what a cheap thrill it gives They fume and hate and foam and berate me As they reveal where intolerance lives Their narrow heads can think no new thoughts so Unable to expand they simply blow
I call them the popcorn conservatives
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Nov 10, 2005, 10:40 am
We Win in the End
All of the ghosts of my past are at last Dead and gone away and I am alone With the future presently rising fast And it will be good as the years have shown This book of my life by chapter by verse Progresses toward the better from the worse
I win in the end I have always known
But what a struggle it has been And what a lot of pain What disappointment I have seen And must see yet again
The autumn rain has come the birds have flown But I have three children I have a friend Even if the end should come tomorrow No matter what now I win in the end I embrace life in its joy its sorrow And in its apparent meaninglessness
The winter wind comes in its time Nor does it hesitate But I will set down in my rhyme What I do while I wait
Love those who love me laugh at those who hate Pity those who curse me bless those who bless And always join with those who celebrate This life as I do yielding to our fate With confidence we will somehow get by And live all we can before we must die
We win in the end we have always known
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Nov 9, 2005, 4:42 pm
And Time the Wheel Keeps Turning Steadily
The season is changing gradually A few raindrops a few red leaves at play As autumn arrives incrementally
I go out to embrace late summer's day Only to have autumn gently remind Me what the calendar says presently
The future slips forward the past behind And time the wheel keeps turning steadily It turns as a beautiful carousel
A riddle now demonic now divine Sometimes it is heaven and sometimes hell Nonetheless beautiful always to me
I ride the wheel and find it suits me fine Enjoy your ride and see you ride it well For we must pay for that which we will see
We ride forever but no one rides free
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Nov 8, 2005, 11:59 am
Red Maple Trees November Memories
8 November: the day my Grandma died
I am lucky to have red maple trees out my window Especially in November When without losing their dignity they put on a show One which I always remember Through these fifty years of looking out and watching them grow Taller each year but always red
Some who watched with me once are dead While some who watch with me now were not yet even born when I gathered those leaves with wonder For the first time standing under Those red maple trees of my memories looking up then Imagining what it would be like now In the far distant future to share these Red maple trees November memories
And now I am still standing here somehow
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Nov 6, 2005, 7:49 pm
Life Runs Deep
She thought she saw something she had not seen Yet she refused to believe it She feared but suspected what might have been Yet she preferred to just leave it To that twilight at the back of the mind Where we believe we leave such things behind
Denial was incapable Of making reality disappear For it was inescapable There were such things as ghosts and he was here
So she learned what the wise have always known There is more to life than first meets the eye That consciousness does not end when we die That life runs deep: we are not here alone
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Nov 6, 2005, 12:46 pm
Lifeline
He became isolated toward the end At least to outward appearance Losing a wife and then friend after friend
While immune to interference By conventional reality He made his own friends by poetry
If only from a distance still they were His lifeline at the last especially one Who kept him "sane" those years and without her More than he did he would have come undone
"When this you see remember me" he said "Halt die Ohren steif" she replied I know she will long after he is dead He loved her till the day he died
In that abstract and lonely way he had
She was the one who really knew how sad He was because (though she knew he was mad) I think she loved him just as he loved her As the perfect couple who never were
Yet somehow could be in eternity
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Nov 5, 2005, 3:56 pm
Code Blue Butterfly
Social Security wants to screw me How I wish it were a woman instead Not in some cold cubicle to do me The honor but just let me die in bed The rich get richer and the poor enlist But I am past that now so I resist
The irony is I am really sick Far sicker than I once was long ago One would think that diagnosis would stick But what would a non-Republican know Some no one like me who writes poetry I never even met Scooter Libby
If only they would bother to look at My insides with an expensive machine For which they would not pay they would see that There are good reasons why I am so lean Yet there is a certain peace which comes now I just no longer give a damn somehow
Social Security is a bureaucracy Does not have feelings as you and I do Here in these dark days of Bush's theocracy The time has come for me to go Code Blue But what the hell I might as well try to enjoy That which they cannot understand nor yet destroy
My doctor will try and my attorney will too And praying more than I have for awhile Whatever happens next I will remember you And hope I was able to make you smile Just another nutter who died in the gutter If I fall I fell for democracy
But I wish it had been for a woman instead Good night to Dick and Karl and all the lords of war If I really hurry I can still die in bed I might have been a poet but I was no whore And in the end it was well worth the pain To never have to see their like again
At the end of the world seems a good time to go As good a time as any if I must And after I am gone no one will even know The truth because they only saw my crust No one will ever understand me live or die That all I wanted was to be a butterfly
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Nov 4, 2005, 12:45 pm
Pride
Nothing makes a person more unpleasant Nor soils and spoils the personality Than inappropriate pride when present This problem steals upon us stealthily And robs us of our humor and our grace
Pride isolates us from the human race Or insulates us from the suffering Of other humans as we beat our drum And blow our horn demanding others sing Our praises or else face the wrath to come
I am proud of my children as you are And of Freddie Noodles my big fat cat I am grateful for my Grandpa's old car A pretty girl (and just leave this at that) I do my best to write good poetry
But leave to others to be proud of me
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Nov 4, 2005, 4:02 am
Interstitial Space
The space between life and death
Dividing future from past Between this and that next breath From this heartbeat to that last Eternal twilight somehow Separating day from night This frail filament of now
Fragile as a dawn wind kite Just after the sun appears Fall and rise and truth and lies Before the moon disappears As the lightning cleaves the skies Grief from laughter joy from tears
The losing from the winning Stunning triumph stunned defeat From one to the other hand As the circle turns complete The ending and beginning Demarcated by a strand
Dynamic stasis spinning Like the sea waves on the sand Earth and ocean husband wife Dancing on the razor's edge Poised and balanced on the knife Standing on the summit ledge
The space between death and life
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Nov 3, 2005, 10:07 am
We Shall Be Free
At halfway through my mortal span I have once more begun Speaking truth to power again till our lost freedom is won And if I have to live a hundred years then I will do Whatever it takes as long as it takes to fight for you Against a protection-racket which counts our souls their cost
More than two hundred years of liberties in five years lost While we stand stripped defenseless cowed to silence counting dead They tell us to keep silent and do what they say instead But I tell you I stand with you in solidarity Dark the hour and the time has come for speaking truth to power
I remember reading how this happened in Germany But never dreamed I would live to see it happen to me And they try to silence me but they will never succeed They continue to wound me but I continue to bleed And I will bleed out words and write these poems in my blood
Although they tried they failed to wash us away in the flood Of their slick lies and now they realize that we can see Them for the fools they are so they make war on you and me Dark the hour and the time has come for speaking truth to power I stand by you and swear before the world: we shall be free
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Nov 1, 2005, 2:06 pm
RESIST
The reality of diversity Is scarcely tolerated when at all Our young are taught it is perversity And surely will lead to the nation's fall By those who would control our days and ways Therefore my fellow outcasts we must raise A great roar of defiance in the face Of this new smiling Nazism here Which preaches we are outside of God's grace As they control the populace by fear
The rural poor are manipulated Tricked through their very faith out of their souls By the richest who are consecrated Only to cynical corporate goals
Good people in need are feeding the greed Of oligarchs who use the wrath of God To make them afraid of anyone odd And to always watch out for Democrats Lest the earth be destroyed by hurricanes Perfectionistic poets who keep cats Earthquakes and all the other labor pains Of earth birthing death for you and for me Blame us and not the climate change we see They say does not exist: I say RESIST
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Nov 1, 2005, 10:46 am
We Ride the Wheel and Wonder
A November to remember A September to forget With October in the middle Undecided as of yet Looking forward to December While beyond that lies the riddle Of a January new In a future after fear An adventure shared with you In the turning of the year
The wheel of time turns round and round We ride the wheel and wonder When we get off will we have found What we look for or blunder Not knowing what it is we seek? Embracing solidarity Let us join hands let actions speak The truth is here in you and me To be inherited by meek And open hearts in harmony
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Oct 31, 2005, 12:53 pm
Hothouse Hallowe'en
My furnace is fixed now and at last I am warm I huddled a year a heating pad below me Five blankets and one big fat cat above While inside of me (as you know if you know me) What got me through the year was simply love Now home for me is finally a haven from the storm
Even more than a matter of degrees By helpful busybodies I am told My diet lacks sufficient calories By which these bones might chase away the cold
Whatever the reason this autumnal season At least this hothouse flower can feel at home once more And soon this lofty ceiling will become the floor For warm-blooded students above insulation
I am only what I am and it is too late to change But the younger generation never finds me so strange The students at the university are fond of me They read my books and say that they enjoy my poetry I will bloom in my hothouse while serving education Having survived into fall I might make it after all
Fun has been in short supply but I intend to have some Now this is Hallowe'en tonight so look out here I come
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Oct 30, 2005, 7:23 pm
Promethean Fire
An exploding star far out in deep space A million years on explodes in my face Or else it was my imagination The mythos of penal conflagration Mythopoetically speaking to me
If anything has meaning it might be The flash of a star in a midnight sky Just at the moment my lover and I Explode in the face of pure ecstasy The final frontier humans live to see And all they want no matter what they say
Make love tonight and postpone Judgment Day Promethean fire to protoplasm An exploding star or an orgasm The future is hidden the past unknown Tonight I do not choose to be alone
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Oct 30, 2005, 4:23 pm
Five Feet of High Explosives
There is a girl with summer skin The year around and everywhere The thought of whom makes me begin To hunger for her raven hair And that it were wrapped around me My fantasy girl who found me At my lowest and kept me sane Through years of hardship grief and pain
And she always remembers me again Exactly when I need those dark eyes most
Dark goddess from a distant coast I am dreaming about you now You know you can always call me And we will work it out somehow For we have dried each other's tears Have scared away each other's fears Provided open hearts and ears These three years as you enthrall me
Most beautiful girl anyone could know Five feet of high explosives I love so
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Oct 30, 2005, 1:38 pm
Outsider
I was born when I was forty-seven Into a life or death fight Loved ones all dead and I hope in heaven Down here it was always night It was sink or swim it was me or him Some told me I had lived before I would rather not remember Another life another war Everyone died in November They left me here and were no more
Left as an outsider a stranger man This is the way my poetry began
As soon as I got good And people knew my name I got misunderstood Mean people pounced to blame They were just like Uncle Jack Who sank as I learned to swim Men like him on the attack But it was me and not him In that life or death fight I won With a pen while he held a gun
I consulted the lords of poetry They said not to worry but just be me
That I was doing well Had aroused jealousy Let the nuts go to hell That I had the right stuff Keep on and I would see I was pretty damned tough I would make the big leagues if by and by Because all my words are true Lie down contented when I come to die So that is what I will do
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Oct 29, 2005, 4:44 pm
Susurrus
The susurrus of the skittering leaves From the red maple trees across the street Whispers departure yet nobody grieves Summer is leaving but not in defeat It had a good run and it has been fun
Today the sky is brilliant blue and clear Tonight we turn back in time for an hour This might be my favorite time of year A red maple leaf makes a splendid flower With Hallowe'en day after tomorrow
They came and fixed my furnace yesterday This year fall is not a time for sorrow The Santa Ana wind blows doubt away Along with the leaves for one who believes As I do that our best is yet to be
The fall will be the rise of you and me
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Oct 29, 2005, 1:57 pm
Open
Although it feels too good to be true Having thought and dreamed of you it seems To think and dream of you dispels doubt I think you are fulfilling my dreams That you are who I have dreamed about Made real to me and now I must do That which I have feared and so must you:
As you trust me so I must trust you That we will neither hurt nor desert Each other as sister to brother Comrade to friend woman to man as Adam and Eve begin to believe Each other that a miracle has Taken place and embrace it with grace
You are sent to me and I to you We are meant to be and it is true:
As we open our hearts so we receive
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Oct 28, 2005, 11:04 am
Unbroken
What was that? I gasped surprised As she laughing realized No one had done that before
And then we did it some more...
As instantly addicted I loved her as predicted She must have known everything
All the way up to the ring
If she could come back somehow I would do it all right now Just as I did it before
And we would do it some more...
Forbidden mistress of the night Come drown me in black velvet light Take me away to leave behind This light of day: come love me blind
Your heart within your broken chest Unbroken beats my love confessed Which you alone can satisfy You live forever: let... me... die...
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Oct 27, 2005, 6:42 pm
Madeleine First Taught Me to French Kiss
Madeleine first taught me to French kiss As we lay in soft grass in the park Under a live-oak alive as we Two then and I cannot forget her Nor any of those glories which were
And I will always remember this The lighting of a magical spark Igniting requiting flame that day A shining day which never grows dark Time will never take that spark away
A very wise girl who left her mark I wrote poems for her way back then And always think of Madeleine when I pass soft grass and a live-oak tree Remembering what she gave to me
She loved my poems then even though I was young and it was long ago If I used to write too formally Neither of us knew any better Nor were we formal personally
She was Anglican and did not mind A skillfully-tongued formality It was on Shrove Tuesday I met her Pancakes in the parish hall and tea She was beautiful though love is blind
And I will always remember this: Madeleine first taught me to French kiss
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Oct 27, 2005, 7:26 am
Re / turning
Turning from the incidental And commonday vacuities Returning to transcendental And everlasting verities I contemplate fundamental Things on October days like these
Between the first day and the last Today is made of memories Dreams of the future from the past Surrounded by an autumn sky Aswirl with fall fluidity As leaves into the wind are cast
Truth is beauty I find as I Find beauty truth enough for me Embracing these realities Autumnal and elemental Which I must learn to live and die If as I fall I dream to fly
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Oct 26, 2005, 7:35 am
Letter by Kiss and Kiss by Letter
All I think about is girls and poetry I think of these always even as I speak To be honest nothing else matters to me And I rather wish it did but it does not
I talk philosophy and celibacy The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak My heart remembers that which my mind forgot I thought there was no cure but now I am sure
Luckily for me I have taken no vows Which deny these joys so nothing disallows My full participation in the beauty Of girls and poetry as love and duty
I am an incurable romantic who Has no desire whatever to grow better Except at poetry and by loving you To grow letter by kiss and kiss by letter
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Oct 25, 2005, 8:53 am
Happy Hallowe'en
Hallowe'en is coming thanks be to God A holiday which Hallmark cannot spoil A day to be different dark and odd A useful and most necessary foil To all the happy sappy crappy ways Of all those other lesser holidays And all I have to do is simply be To fit in with the holiday spirit As ghosts dance in the attic above me Having a tea party: can you hear it?
I wonder how the university Students will get along with them up there? They can always come to visit me where I write my poetry down here below Their monthly rents will be an answered prayer And if they ask I will deny I know Anything about all the ghosts who live Up there: I will receive but will not give Except for my Hallowe'en company (Checks made payable to my LLC)
A Happy Hallowe'en to all from me
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMV
Boo!
Oct 25, 2005, 6:11 am
I Suppose That is Enough for Me
Depression
People are so kind to me and say That I am a good poet today And that is all I wanted to be The kind of person they like to see Yet I am fearful and unhappy
Secession
At least I am no longer lonely Having embraced the celibacy Which seems natural and the only Intelligent solution for me To the problem of relationships
Digression
I understand Bush is yelling at His underlings and imagine that He is beginning to realize He looks a fool in our children's eyes At least our children look up to me
Progression
I face the wind my hands on my hips Transcending by sheer philosophy The buffetings of uncertainty Another day and another blast Another piece of the future past
