A poem

You can agree or disagree with me
You can speak your mind with passion
But do not approach to intimidate me
Or put your hands on me in

Any shape or fashion

I can be persuaded by reason
I can be moved by belief
But I don’t take too lightly
Initiating a threat that I might be

Facing a lot of grief

If I don’t just shut up and go along
Like I’m not allowed any questions at all
Last time I looked I was a regular citizen too
But I don’t recall electing some kind of Deity

To City Hall

When did wanting to know
What is simple honest and true
Get turned into something that can
Be labeled an accusation and then

Hurled back at you

If somebody wants to converse with me
I’m definitely willing to listen to both sides
But please..please give me the same courtesy
Because it’s kind of hard to hear you through

All that anger vindictiveness and pride



Neils
10:34 am
06/23/2009
*
through last night
and some today

N…again

I'm still writting to you

I’d rather have an hour more conversation
With you

Than two brand new amps and a guitar
I’d rather be havin a breakfast of bacon and eggs
Than to be talked up as some big rock and roll star

I’d rather be sittin in the kitchen
Waitin for the coffee to get done
Than to stand in front of the Heavens
As the seventh son of the seventh son

I’d rather have one more laugh out loud
I’d rather have one more pat on the shoulder
I’d rather have almost anything
Than my world being so much colder

I’d rather walk up on that ratty ol porch
And hear the Doors playing their rhythm low and slow
I’m thankful to not have missed walking in and seeing
That light spill in the window in a soft warm glow

I ‘d rather endure a million more trials
I’d rather face down endless heart aches and fears
Than to have missed a single one of your smiles
Than to have missed a single one of your tears




Neils
7:11 am
06/18/2009
*
transcribed this time
06.17.2998


N....again

This is our Home Town

And we will make it
A better place
Be it with effort and sweat
Be it with simple grace

I will rise each day
And find a way to make it better
Be it returning a greeting
Or writing a distant friend a letter

No more will I accept the judgment
Of disgruntlement and that’s the way it goes
I have seen the desire of those
Who have the heart to let it show

So

Let’s pick up the trash
Let’s clean up the buildings and streets
Let’s show some determination
Let’s play guitars and dance to a beat

I want to join in
With potato salad and Bar B Q
I want to hear some bad jokes
And blame all the joy on you

I want to box and wrestle
I want to run and lift weights
I want a place where encouragement thrives
And discouragement is told to stand and wait

I want to see the singers
The dancers some skits and plays
I want to see talent step forth
And dare to share with us their dreams today

Young and old
Boys and girls
This is our time
This is our time

This is
Our world



Neils
9:56 am
06/10/2009
*
transcribed this time
1:51 pm
06/14/2009

N....again

When

You've done the right thing
Taken an honest stand
No excuses are necessary
No matter who is it making the demand

Yes
When

You've done the right thing
And taken an honest stand
Frankly I’m more than a little inclined
To say to Hell with those

Who didn't even make much effort
At all to even try to understand


Neils
2:34 pm
06/13/2009
*
transcribed this time
12:18 pm
06/14/2009


N...again

It's time

It’s time for you to stand up
And walk out

On what it truly takes
To make life worth living
It’s time to turn your back on
The heart that could be forgiving

It’s always better to leave
Before you have a chance to hear
That there is a gateway opening
A chance to get past your fears

What good is a wheel that’s turning
What good is what you already know
If you have no burning to be learning
How to make the soul seeds grow

It’s time for you to stand up
And walk out

To cut the life line back
And leave behind your dreaming
But who is it that coldly sold you
That courage bold could be replaced

By dry bloodless scheming

****
****

Who is it that first proffered forth
Who is it that extended that hand
Covered by the scaly skin of sin
And made upon you demands

That made promises of gold
That made promises of power
But in the end only stole
Life’s precious minutes and hours

Who taught you to close your eyes
To not appreciate simple joys
And that rights and freedoms of others
Are but frivolous playthings and toys

Bitterness does look like wisdom
When temptation is at hand
And telling you to not persevere
To strive to reach to understand

It’s time for you to stand up
And walk out

But will it be on open discussion
Or on rumor mongers taking the tact
That the best way to achieve goals
Is through innuendo gossip and

Endless low down filthy sneak attacks


Neils
10:51 am
06/08/2009
*
transcribed this time
10:33 am
06/09/2009
*
on a tuesday
N...again

I wish I could be more stupid

I wish I was more stupid
Then I could have as many friends as you
I wish I was more stupid
Then I’d know just what to do

I’d know when to go along
When to tuck my tail and run
How to hang somebody out
And do it all as fun

I wish I was more stupid
Than I could whisper cheat and lie
I could sleep the sleep of a creep
And do it till the day I die

I wish I didn’t have to own up
To what I scheme and plot and plan
Than I wouldn’t have to stand on
My own two feet like a full grown man

I wish I was smug and condescending
I wish I was better than everyone else
Then I wouldn’t have to consider others
And keep the focus on my small inner self

I wish I was pathetic and weak
I wish I could cover it up with false pride
Everybody knows it’s easier for knuckle heads
Who only have to consult the idiot winds

To help them to decide




Neils
11:19 am
06/05/2009
*
transcribed this time
11:48 am
06/05/2009
*


N....again

Sacrament

This great emptiness of betrayal
This great ignorance of deliberate loss
This great sell out of individual freedom
And replacement of dull bureaucracy as boss

This brow beating and maneuvering
Has replaced viable critical thought
Do we all get to play everything’s ok
Unless of course we get caught

How low is too low
But I already know the answer to that
There is no low some won’t go
In their distortion of truth honor and facts

I’ve never seen more self indulgence
Be more self righteous in its proclamations
Like regression moving with obsession
Can create anything

But cult like worship
In the church of self justification





Neils
3:34 pm
06/04/2009
*
transcribed this time
8:14 pm
06/04/2009

N...again

In the Land of Special Privileges

In the land of special privileges
I ask for none
I rise each day
And greet the morning sun

With my integrity intact
With my word still ringing true
Who are these people
That want to tell me about you

Like we’re all supposed to
Divide and choose sides
I don’t get it
Who is it that decides

What is valuable
What determines worth
But I guess that’s the question
Ever since man has walked this earth

What part plays the heart
In all we say or are told
What brings us closer
To the whole of the soul

I’m not the one who left you
And tarnished hearth and home
I’m not the one who abandoned
The truth to stand alone

I never sold out friendship
I never made that back room deal
I never spoke of honest earnings
And then took what I could steal




Neils
9:33 am
06/03/2009
*
transcribed this time
9:46 am
06/03/2009

N.....again