Tuesday Poem: "Genius" by Warren Zevon

 

I've got a bitter pot of je ne sais quoi
Guess what---I'm stirring it with a monkey's paw
Since I saw you coming out of my barber's shop
In that skimpy little halter top

Did you light the candles? Did you put on "Kind of Blue"?
Did you use that Ivy Leaage voodoo on him, too?
He thinks he'll be alright but he doesn't know for sure
Like every other unindicted coconspirator

Mata Hari had a house in France
Where she worked on all her secret plans
Men were falling for her sight unseen
She was a genius

There's a face in every window of the Songwriter's Neighborhood
Everybody's your best friend whey you're doing well--I mean good
The poet who lived next door when you were young and poor
Grew up to be a backstabbing entrepreneur

Albert Einstein was a ladies' man
While he was working on his universal plan
He was making out like Charlie Sheen
He was a genius

When you dropped me and you staked your claim
On a V.I.P. who could make your name
You latched on to him and I became
A minor inconvenience

Your protege don't care about art
I'm the one who always told you you were smart
You broke my heart into smithereens
And that took genius

You and the barber make a handsome pair
Guess what---I never liked the way he cut your hair
I didn't like the way he turned your head
But there's nothing I can do or say I haven't done or said

Everybody needs a place to stand
And a method for their schemes and scams
If I could only get my record clean
I'd be a genius

by Warren Zevon

I personally think Warren Zevon was a genius himself.

More about Warren Zevon:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Zevon

Tuesday Poem: "Like A Stone" by Chris Cornell

On a cobweb afternoon

In a room full of emptiness

By a freeway I confess

I was lost in the pages

Of a book full of death

Reading how we'll die alone

And if we're good, we'll lay to rest

Anywhere we want to go

In your house I long to be

Room by room patiently

I'll wait for you there

Like a stone

I'll wait for you there

Alone

On my deathbed I will pray

To the gods and the angels

Like a pagan to anyone

Who will take me to heaven

To a place I recall

I was there so long ago

The sky was bruised

The wine was bled

And there you led me on

In your house I long to be

Room by room patiently

I'll wait for you there

Like a stone

I'll wait for you there

Alone

Alone

And on I read

Until the day was gone

And I sat in regret

Of all the things I've done

For all that I've blessed

And all that I've wronged

In dreams until my death

I will wander on

In your house I long to be

Room by room patiently

I'll wait for you there

Like a stone

I'll wait for you there

Alone

Alone

by Chris Cornell

Today's post is to commemorate Chris Cornell, a musician, who died at age 52. Cornell made no secret of his battles with anxiety and depression and, sadly, it appears from news reports so far that Cornell took his own life.

RIP Chris Cornell. May you find in death the peace that often eluded you in life. You were a great musical artist and you will be sadly missed. My love and best wishes go out to your wife and your children for whom this is a most terrible and unnecessary tragedy.

For more information about musician, Chris Cornell, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Cornell