Punchline

Newsflash -

do you care?

laughter

jokes

so where is El Salvador, anyway?

I dunno, but didja hear the one about...?

no, no

I didn't hear

I only hear the ones about the refugees 

and the political prisoners

and they always seem to end in death

that's the punchline

- what's yours?

- June 22, 1984, A.D.

Summer Breathes

Summer breathes

it sighs down my neck

it whispers cool remembrances in the night

in the night, there is escape

sometimes a breeze

perhaps a rainstorm to cool and dry the air

but morning thaws

and afternoon grows heavy and long

in the house, there is little movement

some sleep

some watch the clock

tick tock, tick tock

cuckoo

and I try not to move, not to sweat

outside, children frolic in pools

and run out of houses slurping and sloshing

with fruit running down their arms

while others engage themselves in the great

pursuit of skin cancer

and I sit silently in reflection

I lie like a cat in the afternoon heat

a thought can last a million years

when summer breathes

- June 22, 1984, A.D.

Korg Poly 800 Keyboard Checklist

John with the Golden Smile (to John Taylor)

John with his sparkling, shimmering eyes

is a little boy lost in a man

John, although grown-up and quite a success

is still in a fairy-tale land

John is a Tigger, if ever there was one,

yet with a deep tone in his voice,

John is a man and will prove it with grace,

and prefers manhood (given the choice)

But John still requires occasional parties

(as rock-n'-roll-types often do),

And at times he'll protest that he's doing what's best,

leaving others to argue what's true;

But when John really has to face up to himself,

he realizes that all the while,

John's always John with the sparkling eyes

and John with the golden smile

John sees himself as the noblest warrior,

base guitar ready in hand

and he sits at a table with 4 other dreamers,

the five of them making a band

And every night is the time of his life

as he does all he can for the crowd

But sometimes it's silence that John really likes

must the little girls be quite so loud?

It is then that he slips on another disguise

and finds him a silent retreat

And calls up the girlfriend or some chic acquaintance

and "how about we go out to eat?"

But when John has returned and is in for the night

he realizes that all the while,

John's always John with the sparkling eyes

and John with the golden smile

John fancies himself with fast cars and fast women,

and lives to be just like James Bond

Aston Martin, in gold - with a stripe if you please -

is John's car, of which he is quite fond

John has a dream to live up to his heroes

hence the fast pace he lives by

But John does have values and will not ignore them

although - once or twice - he may try

John has set out not to conquer the dragon 

but to rescue the princess so fair

And in bringing her back to us, carry the spirit

that will renew hope in the air

For though John is not perfect and sees that as truth,

he realizes that all the while,

John's always John with the sparkling eyes

and John with the golden smile.

- May 28, 1984, A.D.

Letter to Nick Rhodes (unfinished)

Dear Nick,

You are an enviable person!  About a month ago, I bought a copy of "Keyboard" magazine.  Oh, what I could do with a Fairlight CMI!  Some find it odd that I never grow tired of Duran Duran's music - but there's so much there!  For example: it's very late and I'm alone in my room, listening to "Rio".  All of a sudden - I'm not quite sure - but I believe I hear birds chirping.  Once more, on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Spring, and "Hold Back the Rain" sounds completely different.  New keyboard lines that I hadn't noticed before; and Simon's lyrics, which always take so long to understand, are beginning to come clear.  This is the magic of Duran Duran.  If I open my mind to the music, something new is sure to be discovered every time.

I have a bootleg album of your which contains "Anyone Out There?", "Planet Earth", "To the Shore", "Late Bar", "Khanada", "Waiting for the Nightboat", "Last Chance on a Stairway", "Faster Than Light", and "My Own Way".  It's from 1982, I believe.  I love it!  I don't even think a Nick Rhodes could ever get it from me.

(unfinished)

- May 28, 1984, A.D.

Secret Oktober, by Duran Duran (lyrics)

Wise on a birthday party in a world full of surprising fireworks
And sudden silence shhh
Lying on a strangers bed the new day breaks like a speeding train or an old friend
Ever expected but never knocking
Holding your own in a battered car all night parties cocktail bars
And smile when the butterfly escapes the killing jar

Sure eyes awake before the dancing is over wise or naked in secret Oktober

Freefall on a windy morning shore nothing but a fading track of footsteps
Could prove that you never been there
Spoken on a cotton cloud like the sound of gunshot taken by the wind
And lost in distant thunder racing on a shining plain
And tomorrow you'll be content to watch as the lightning plays along the wires and you'll wonder

Sure eyes awake before the dancing is over wise or naked in secret Oktober
Sure eyes awake before the dancing is over wise or naked in secret Oktober

(1983)

More '84

the poet as a young Duran Duran fan