By Alfred Brown
This is the poem where I finally got to use the sentence that had been rattling in my brain for a few years “Everything was fine until I got shot in the face.” I wrote it first sometime, probably around 2013, then I did some edits to it around 2014 or 2015. The intention with the edits was to make the poems into songs.
54 -running around
Running around can’t keep it straight
Got to be fast can’t stop to wait
Nothing works like it should
I would make it go faster if i could
Feeling like I’m making tons of mistakes
Can’t get it to work right those are the breaks
Can’t control my speed the handle’s gone
I feel like I’m driving on the Autobahn
And still some joker’s honking behind me
I’m looking for time cause time can’t find me
And so I’m just losing more and more
Wonderin what will be my final score
Will i have anything to show for my effort
Will it be worth the pain and hurt
Or will they say that he ran so fast
And that he still came in dead last
55 -it passes time
When i feel like a work of art
I’ll listen to some Mozart
But Mozart isn’t typical
In fact it’s only cyclical
I mostly prefer words in song
If there are some I’ll sing along
And if so i hope you don’t mind
I do it cause it passes time
When i feel like a ghetto shock
i’ll listen to some 2pac
When i feel like I’m in a lull
I’ll listen to some Jethro Tull
When i feel like my soul is hurt
I’ll listen to some Solomon Burke
When i feel like a poor sucker
I’ll listen to some John lee hooker
When i feel like a poetic fill in
I’ll listen to some bob Dylan
When i feel like a big bragger
I’ll listen to some Mic Jagger
When i feel like a wailing savant
I’ll listen to some Robert plant
When i feel like my soul needs flight
I’ll listen to some Gladys knight
When i feel like my soul was shook
I’ll listen to some Sam Cooke
When i feel like shaking my thang
I’ll listen to kool and the gang
When i feel like sailing away
I’ll listen to some Marvin gaye
When i feel like some dock sitting
I’ll listen to some otis Redding
When i feel like getting down
I’ll listen to some james brown
56 -everything was fine
C:
Everything was fine till i got shot in the face
It all went downhill from there
I’m a detective and i walk inside
After having looked everywhere
For the missing heiress bona-fide
Of an old infirmed millionaire
I see some shady looking guys and gals
Who’d long forgotten their real names
And I also see some femme fatales
But I’m not looking for fun and games
I go to the bartender at the bar
A strange place to find one i know
And say that I have looked both near and far
And where she is is where I must go
He says he don’t know nothin
About no fancy chick from nowhere
I say that’s a quadruple negative
Which makes me a quadraliteral square
He refused to talk to me after that
And i sorta kinda got the hint
So i ordered a drink that was short and fat
I said one julip make it mint
A patron said that there’s a name
For what you wish to concoct
And i said to that shapely dame
I know, and asked her, can we talk
She said sure whatcha wanna know
I’ll give if it starts with an area code
I said it ain’t your number I want though
Unless you got an heiress at your abode
She quickly looked around the bar
To see who might be listening
And then the mood went dark as tar
The sweat on my brow was glistening
She asked do I want to know the truth
I said I did, she said to follow her
She wouldn’t tell me the rest of the route
And I wonder to where she would lure
She then led me down out the back
And i suspect nodded to someone
But before i could even react
I felt in my spine the barrel of a gun
A voice to me said keep walking
And don’t turn around until i say
It led me to a lot for cars and parking
And not for people running away
I said to her I thought you were going
To tell me the truth about the heiress
She said I asked what you wanted knowing
Expecting me to tell it was careless
Then the gruff voice said turn around
For we had finally gone enough
I turned around to face the sound
And got a glance at mr. tough
He wasn’t an ugly guy per se
But I’d rather his wasn’t the last
Face I’d see before they
Gave and I received the blast
But that’s how it ended up
He aimed and shot the gun
And in my face it did erupt
And i became the ugly one
I never did find the heiress
I died in that forsaken lot
I wish I could tell you more than this
But this is all I got