Yee-Haw!

Life On The Road
By GC SMITH

My old pick up truck
has seen lost lonesome days
the same can be said of me
and my old horse in the trailer

We got dings, we got bumps,
we got nasty rust spots
clear testament, true fact,
that we've been sore used

Our paint, skin, and hide
has been flayed by time
our bitter scorned hearts
froze out by blue Northers.

We've traveled this land
on hump back old roads
we've been out on life's
fast four lane highways

That truck, horse, and me
we got life’s ragged scars
from tough times we lived
from rough roads we wandered

But it sure does not matter
the hard times we've known
because we’ll still slog on
standin’ up to hard turns

My spavined roan horse
back in that junk trailer
shoulda been pastured out
enjoyin' life's last easy time

Me, I'll just keep on haulin'
that poor critter back there
like me, he's a sad ghost
of our long gone glory days.

Not much to holds up
my time faded blue denims
there won't be another
champion’s belt buckle.

We'll keep movin', shufflin' on,
there ain't a thing else to do
while we live and we breathe
we'll go down the road together

We'll wander around,
movin hither then yon
me and that horse and
my old ragged truck

We'll roll that old truck
until our time is done
then fade from earth, knowin'
that we were the best in our day

Countin' on

Casino Blackjack
by GC SMITH

Card countin' Lady
countin' on a free ride
countin on pullin' it off
countin' on beatin' the house

countin' on her take
countin' on some Blatnik's
countin' on fartin' through silk
countin' on beaucoup designer duds

Not countin' on this back room talk
not countin' on turnin' winnings back
now countin' her fingers
She used to have ten

The whole truth

No Lie
By GC Smith

We had a single glass of wine
and went to the bedroom
where we kicked off clothes
I found a packaged condom
in my bedside table drawer

The condom had a spiral tip
A design like a seashell
the package had words
that said the design was good
for me, for her, for both of us

She said: oh yeah, baby

I guess there is some
Truth in Advertising

~first published in NFG magazine.

After the fact

Eulogy

Someday I'm gonna move on and I won't want an eulogy.
But an epitaph might be nice.



No Eulogy -- Epitaph

After a morning martini
in the Bonaventure cemetery,
Savannah, Georgia
near Johnny Mercer's gravesite
I saw an other guy's epitaph

Engraved on
the man's tombstone:

CONRAD AIKEN
COSMIC WANDERER

Those words certainly appeal
but damn all they've been taken
so I'll simply settle for
the plain, the more mundane

GERARD C. SMITH
1938-20??

He Came; He Went
He Did No Harm

Time eternal

‘round Midnight
(with apologies to Thelonious Monk)
by GC SMITH

‘round midnight
klieg lights, jazz riffs,
hot licks, slick chicks
and time is movin’ on

‘round midnight
ain’t quite “last call”
but I’d say all in all
time is windin’ down

‘round midnight
gettin’ a bit nervous
truth is time can fly
maybe pass you by

‘round midnight
guys are super horny
gals are looking fine
flattered by dim light and wine

‘round midnight
herd’s about to thin
guys cuttin’ out the cuties
for the one night stand

‘round midnight
guys-gals get tight,
so to not be passed on by
you gotta have yourself a line

‘round midnight
you gotta make a move
‘cause if you don’t
then damn all you lose

‘round midnight
it’s maybe up to you
or maybe up to her
just do what you must do

‘round midnight
you know who you are
the stud goin' off with the hot babe
or the guy who's shleppin' off alone

Times they are a changing

On Neo-Con Hubris
And Liberal Passivity
Finally Giving Way To
Some Common Sense
By GC SMITH

Bomb the bastards,
keep ‘em in their place;
send ‘em back to the stone age
that’s where they belong

Oh no, they are our brothers
they are our sisters
we must all get along
there cannot be another way

Whoa, we’re in this world together
our differences may be legitimate
just keep in mind that we are mankind;
think, weigh options, then do what must be done



Wait, think a bit, weigh options, then act
it’s what we should do -no, it’s what we must do;
each of life’s challenges must be addressed of itself
or we will fracture fracticly or even worse –chaoticly

Perhaps there is a simple anodyne
a soothing for the anguished soul
a relief for the sore hurt mind
could be, it’s thinking - acting - for the commonweal

Maybe we’re off in
that direction
I hope so, I think so,
et vous?

Forty five years ago ...

I was on the Mall in D.C for MLK's "I have a dream" speech. Nineteen-sixty-three seems like yesterday and seems like a million years ago.

On the day of the "Dream" speech I took the afternoon off from work to attend. Someone from the ACLU handed me a sign on a stick. If memory serves it read:

"WE SHALL OVERCOME."

Those were the heady days of the Kennedy Administration and young bureaucrats like me thought anything was possible. Three months later Kennedy was dead. Five years later MLK was assassinated. A long winter had set in.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008 a thaw in that long winter's ice began.

EMMETT

Hey Emmett
By GC SMITH

Hey Emmett, Grandpa’s getting’ old,
seventy years are comin’ real soon;
he’s hopin’ for another thirty or so
but that’s a wish, one can never really know

I’ve been around here for a while,
it’s a long time ago I was a child;
still I remember those good days and
I surely hope yours will be the same

Yesterday, ridin’ bikes with buddies,
pedalin’ over mountain hills and valleys
destination, clear cold Pennsylvania lakes
or just explorin’ where I had never been

There were the many holidays to enjoy
July the four the best -contraband fireworks
like cherry bombs and M-80 firecrackers
somehow, I still have all ten of my fingers

Then there was the thrill of my first car
a forty Packard full of dents and dings;
gas was but a dime or so a gallon then,
that made it easy for a guy to get around

With mobility came life’s great discovery, girls,
the wonderful mysterious alluring other sex
whose pigtails I’d dipped into school inkwells
until I figured out that wasn’t what one should do

So, Emmett as you grow from child to man
enjoy each and every day, I know you can;
your days will stretch out with wonders to behold,
so grab them, embrace life’s fun, simply enjoy