LIFE SONGS: THOSE MAD MERCEDES LADIES™

Regal ladies

in Mercedes’

cruising down

the Boulevard.

Sabled ladies,

fabled ladies

unaware

that life is hard.

What’s behind them? They don’t care.

What’s ahead? Oh, They don’t dare

Engage the god of introspection

Breezing through the intersection, one hand on the wheel.

High-Tone ladies,

privileged ladies

on the road and

on the town.

Pretty ladies,

jewelled ladies

not inclined

to turn around.

Turn a glance? Risk the dance?

Oh, no, no, NO.

They’re in the trance,

that shiny things induce

(As the wheels of their S-L-X bump and crunch across your soul.)

Graceful ladies

envied ladies

never

crossing any lines.

They just fail to see the signs

Saying “Look up from your iphone”

“Please ignore your fucking ring tone”

…for the time it takes to cast your eyes on Something REAL.

Call out “Fake News. Fake News. Fake News.” (Wow, this baby really purrs.)

Empty ladies

painted ladies

eyes that open,

like a doll’s do.

Border crisis?

Threat of Isis?

LGB-what? Who can keep up?

Tempest in a teacup.

These eyes see naught of what they ought to

And click shut when they are told to (by the Man Who Has No Clothes.)

THIS JUST IN:

Stop complaining, stop the swarming

Grab ‘em by the…Global Warming?

Oh that’s silly -- just not true

Do you have this scarf in blue?

And after all…who knows what “those people” do (when we’re not looking.)

They’re just lazy. We all know that…

Is that yogurt low or no fat?

They should all just get a JOB.

Perfect ladies

cool-dressed Sadies

draped in Her-mes,

freshly waxed.

Gliding down the aisles of Saks

protected from surprise attacks

by their [considerable] savoir faire

breathing atmosphere so rare.

Knife-perfected noses in the air.

And the gaping maw of self-attraction

Swallows all with satisfaction.

Suntanned ladies

just-right ladies

yes they know.

Yes, they know.

Why you don’t eat yellow snow.

And where it is that good girls go.

And why the truth is…Just. Not. So.

And aren’t they just the apple of our eye?

Shun the truth. Embrace the lie.

And brace for impact.

Mad Mercedes ladies

red-eyed ladies

cruising down

the road from Hades.

Running with the top down.

From SoHo on through Mid-town.

Forcing all to drop down

And pay homage to their truth

and to gaze upon the horror of their desperate, freon-cold Madonna cool.

LIFE SONGS: AUSTIN HEALEY

My dad came to pick me up in a baby blue Austin Healey sports car.

As I watched my mother part the curtains and look out at the street, I remembered how quiet it was when he first left us. Seven months ago. Before the Austin Healey.

It had been a perfect creek day – hot enough to dry wet sneakers on the walk back home. But I didn’t go that day. Mom said to stay home and help her around the house. It was so quiet. I remember hearing the eucalyptus nuts falling on Krista’s mom’s station wagon across the street. I used to love the sound the brittle nut caps made when

LIFE SONGS: MUSH MAN

We were on patrol. We were always on patrol.

We’d been walking for days. Drag-footing in the relentless monsoon rain, our hearts beating counterpoint to the soundtrack of pounding water and the muffled popping of distant gunfire. Ears ringing, brains shut down. Numb fingers clutching grease-slicked M16’s.

Eyes alive. Wide and bone-white. And dry. Dry from fear. Staring into the torrential darkness, the high grass, the hissing jungle. Senses dulled and dreaming…but so afraid. No choice, no chance. We were looking for death…stalking it where it lived.

STORIES FRANK TOLD ME: Memories of a Master Communicator

Founding member and former Senior VP of FedEx World- wide; former head of programming for ABC Radio Networks; communications consultant to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson; right hand man to KFC founder and pop-culture icon Colonel Harlan Sanders...Frank Maguire embodied the experience that grows from real life experiences. He was brilliant, witty, urbane, beloved, multi-talented, sweet, flawed, frenetic, charismatic, wise and endearingly human. He was my hero.

He argued philosophy (yes, philosophy) with Marilyn Monroe. Discussed batting averages with Joe DiMaggio. Jammed with B.B. King, Mel Torme, Joe Williams and Ella Fitzgerald. He took a chance on a new kid named Ted Koppel when his own boss told him to "fire the guy." He witnessed the rise (and fall) of empires. He soared with the greatest eagles of corporate culture

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