I've gotta get out of here
10/29 2023
The task was easy at the start
If I had kept my wits or any part of my smarts.
Or understood anything of Rimbaud
When I was seventeen 'neath the alluring glow
Of the riverbed and the desultory rumboat.
Oh Papa, I pleaded, just give me a single note.
Now at dawn I go and lean out my window
And shout at the old man to take a bow
To the debts of his daughter dear,
I'm bitter like that now, God, I've gotta get out of here.
Feverish I have to listen to Tweedledee & Tweedledum
Argue over money, shouting over the correct sum
The mayor tries to settle it once and for all
Does a thousand add up to one and one or does it fall
Like my burnt out cigarette ends in dregs of beer?
I swear, I've gotta get out of here.
I get invited to weddings to people I've never met.
A heartful speech is expected although I bet
Nobody would want to hear it but those that do want to forget
Seeing that I haven't begun writing it yet.
I hear the whispers behind the bleachers,
I hang out with worn-out tweakers,
What could I say of when the end of the road is near?
People just stare when I'm done, I've gotta get out of here.
I get to work but I'm interrupted by the proprietor
Says that the rent is due and that he doesn't tolerate the poor
I say I've got a million dollars but he only wants five
So I give him my lottery ticket and I go for a drive.
I watch the landscape of yellow fields grow and fall
I see daughters play blindman's bluff against a brick wall
Daughters grow up and become debutantes and grow down
To statues that line the highway, they all wear tulle gown.
And carriage drivers pick them up since nobody is watching
And bystanders stay quiet, it's just leisurely snatching.
Returning the proprietor has won the jackpot and grown a beard,
He twirls it and asks who I am, God, I've gotta get out of here.
It's so hard to get on when I see Io on the shore
Dancing with one hand raised to the sky so pure, before
Zeus enters from the side door, dons his cape, and sings his song.
He's many things, but I know for a fact that he's not strong.
They hired me to cater though I don't know how to cook,
But I need the money, I have to finish my book.
It starts to rain and people ask me if I want to buy a rain coat,
I say I've got a thousand coats, though they give me a great quote.
I end up with a box to peddle to someone else with forced cheer,
I wonder how much more I can take. I gotta get out here.
A man in a starched suit comes thundering in
Asking me where the hell I've been
But before I can answer he claps me on the shoulder
And says that I can only understand when I get older
People get up to greet him, they haven't met him since an hour ago
So they exit with him for a big blowout, I stay in the dim glow
What a birthday, I mutter, and take another sip.
Perhaps I should've brought my drum, perhaps my whip.
The bartender asks me if I want another brandy,
I ask him to clean this place, and turn the lights up, it's uncanny
How much it looks like the pages of my book
As I leave I hear him sneering to the cook.
It really is full of cirkus freaks on this pier,
Oh God, I've really gotta get out of here.
I'm not getting anywhere with the task at hand,
All I'm left with are the characters in this sad land,
The pill-popping papas I walk with that flock
Around the park drinking dirty dobbelbocks.
Or the very large man carrying a very small dog,
You know, I can't see him anymore due to this infernal smog.
The cigarettes certainly aren't helping, but I'm thinking I'm near
To the exit, God, I've really gotta get out of here.