A Dog's Life She raised them on the north side in a house

A Dog's Life

She raised them on the north side in a house

Filled with roaches, feces and a dog.

They lived on welfare. No one really cared.

Once a month the mother got her check.

Frequently republicans made speeches.

She didn't hear them, and they didn't meet.

All the children, just as many fathers,

And the fathers gone, and day and night

The house was filled with villains, fights and drugs.

The years went by, and as they passed, the children

Grew wise and frightened. Finally the wisdom

Had turned into a blind insanity.

 

My Cousin

They killed my cousin selling drugs.

The put him in a sack

And beat him til he ceased to breathe.

He's never coming back.

A pretty blond I never knew.

Our grandmother preferred

Him to me. Like Claudius,

I was just absurd.

Hip and traveled, clever, quick

In everything he did.

One Christmas in his sister's house,

He chased and hit his kid.

A cherub in the modern world.

Wisdom where he stood.

It was a horrid way to die.

None of them is good.

 

Cziffra & Wild

Cziffra, Wild – and Hamelin?

I don't like what he plays.

Everything is dissonant,

Brilliant as a starry night,

And tedious to hear.

So saying brings innumerable

Hates upon my song.

But Cziffra, Wild – and no one else -

Let them play forever!

Sweeter than the cherubim

Ever tried to sing.

Wild and Cziffra – buried now.

But there's recorded sound.

How cold to care for just the music

Rather than the men.