The Rip Post                                                                                              


retribution lunchbox hootenanny(take seven and a half)

champagne tastes like blood.
official documents which supposedly save us, subcumbed
by too much dust.
earnest salesmen on stilts
strut across the no man's land year end sale.
they all sound very cordial.

whimsy illegal in certain areas of the state.
never had that much anyhow.
if anyone pulls me over for trying to stay alive,
i hope they look as good as you.

open the drawer,
reach deep.
could be a bible or a gun.
giant grasshoppers battle giant rabbits for
the right to say boo.

going downtown kind of slow.
i go everywhere kind of slow.
going down to some town that will know where to put me.

got my retribution lunchbox hanging around my neck.
packed it full of young music.

they say it's darkest before the dawn.
i met dawn once. no sale.

hours have a way of growing into your skin.
those hours just show no mercy.
they want to know where you've been.
work to be done.

always the work.
got my retribution hootenanny lunchbox giveaway ticket.
going to ride a fine fat airline.
going to ride it into the sun.
                    ---Scott Wannberg
          (still listening to the mammals)

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