Dead Show

The lyrics raced in flames across the sky,
an alphabet no living mortals know.
Invisible to those who weren't high,
if there were any such, at such that show.
Fierce Revelation of the Fungal Truth,
as Dionysus manifests on stage,
accessible to California's youth,
amidst the strait-laced Ronald Reagan Age.
Old neural circuits latent in our minds,
still close when prompted with the proper key.
Cubensis makes the alkaloid that binds,
but never shared its rationale with me.
Ventura's long since swallowed by LA,
but we remember when gods came to play.

Victor

The Right to Live in Peace rings in the night
though Pinochet had tried to quell his voice
this Victor hasn't give up the fight
and goes on singing, 'though he can't rejoice.
The Right to Live in Peace swells day by day
Half Santiago's thumping to the dance
the million Victor Jara taught to play
now give non-violence a second chance.
The Right to Live in Peace roars in the street
the banks can't hide behind self-serving laws.
No wealthy few are going to defeat
the People unified in a just cause.
the Victor Jara anthem feeds on rage
rejecting plutocrats in our new age.

technical difficulties

Mick Jagger's mitral valve no longer seats;
what should surge one-way sloshes to-and-fro.
'though myocardium's not missing beats,
Jack Flash can't jump with diastole so low.
Replacement parts, of plastic, or of pork,
are on the shelf and at the surgeons' choice.
Just as sir Mick gets healthcare in New York,
vast resources attend a rich man's voice.
Keith Richards stops to wish his brother well;
a lifetime they've been yoked, through thick, and thin.
Not ready to slough off this mortal shell,
the tour's on pause without his glimmer twin.
To miss one concert's date's a trifling loss;
this Stone's too busy to be gath'ring moss.

stones

Keith Richards almost seems immune to death
'though passing years have winnowed down his friends.
The gin, and heroin, and coke, and meth...
for lesser mortals, spelled an early end.
Subdural hematoma gave a scare
Hans Brinker's father's old pathology.
They had to drill to vent the pressure there
when Keith came down the coconut palm tree.
Mick jogs a million miles to stay so svelte
while Keith's a lot more laid back, for his part.
He feasts, and sometime buys a longer belt;
he's not the one laid up to patch a heart.
The tour's on hold until the band's back, whole;
no subset of the Stones seems moved to roll.

technical delays

Mick Jagger's mitral valve no longer seats
what should surge one way sloshes to and fro.
'though myocardium's not missing beats,
Jack Flash can't jump with diastole so low.
Spare parts of plastic, or recycled pork
can reset entropy's slow steady rot.
sir Mick gets top shelf care when in New York;
they'll leave no ragged edge on which to clot.
But Keith is like a fixture of the stage
what would have killed ten men just gets him high.
Las Vegas wrote him off at half this age
but neither glimmer twin seems like to die.
That one show's cancelled's not too great a loss
these Stones ain't ready yet to gather moss.

rock of ages

Keith Richards still remembers war-time dearth
in England devastated by the Blitz
which kept him somewhat rooted on the earth
while band-mates were seduced by all the glitz
the pirate captain spurned to be a knight
an honor others sought both hard and long
they bicker, but they only rarely fight
'though "Mick's forever writing the same song"
few marriages endure such a long haul
the months of touring gotta take a toll
but when they're on, they seem to have a ball
eternal youth is fueled by rock and roll
'though speculation's rife, it's all just shit
the Rolling Stones won't ever wholly quit