closing
time
poem for nobody
from
thingvellir iceland we came, vikings,
crossed the atlantic in open vessel,
wooden ship,
past a statue shouting empty words, liberty,
crossed the
appalachian mountains to kentucky, hillbillies,
the viking hillbilly apocalypse
revue, not knowing tour,
headed west into the canyoned night, west kansas
in an old ford,
sarah sees people, spirits,
knocking pulling on our doors
at 3am, rest stop,
depart further into deep night, shooting stars,
colorado
sunrise boulder buddhist naropa, university,
did buddha suggest a university
where was jesus' church, wherever he was,
to woody creek hunter s thompson
home, gonzo,
highway 133 backroads valleys mountain passes, telluride,
rosemerry
and art goodtimes had by all, heart and lungs collapse,
climb mountains every
one the last, america is an illusion,
america doesn't never did never will
exist this poem is for nobody, closing time,
tear down the fences that bound
the prairies, the mountains,
saw down the parking meters the beaches long,
everglades big sur,
take back the plundered earth hold it, heal it,
your
bosom your womb embrace, take it back,
there are no boundaries no fences no
owners, never were,
never will be only beauty this world is full, brimming,
pregnant with beauty los alamos, evil,
take it back the deserts, mojave,
the mountains the prairies the plains, take kansas please,
take it all
back it is yours, we have tortured it long enough,
let us all go to spirit
school until we are, healed,
ready to return to the vast purple green blue
beauty, earth,
no name can describe the majestic beauty, of this place,
mother
where is this we are here now but only, a little longer,
till closing time
which is two or eight years, or days,
away places we traversed called, colorado
new mexico arizona california,
andy michael david james dean sarah, the heart
of las vegas darkness,
mountain desert ocean deciduous evergreen, cactus,
a 2,700 sequoia years old largest living being, in the world,
where what
place is this, why are we here,
except to live in peace harmony, not harm,
love embrace accept forgive grow our souls, be patient,
closing time has
arrived, we had our chance,
and blew it, thread of hope remains,
desert
winds howling screaming, tumbleweed,
this poem is hope full, written by who,
this poem is for no borders, no boundaries,
this poem is for nobody, it
is for,
this poem is for the deserts the mountains the oceans the forests,
majestic,
this poem this closing time poem is for, nobody,
Ron
Whitehead
reflecting on The Not Knowing Tour
june 4, 2004
AHA
kentucky
Searching
For Abraham Lincoln
visited Springfield
flew to Louisville
drove Bardstown Road to
St.
Catharine College
then on to The Starving Artist Café
Welcome to Springfield, Kentucky
wandered Main street side streets
lost for hours
small suitcase weighed
down with
heavy words
The Emancipation Proclamation
The Gettysburg
Address
Abraham Lincoln's words his works his life
biography of his boyhood
he was spiritual intuitive psychic
"That
on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves…
shall
be then, thenceforward, and forever free…"
and I'm searching for Abraham Lincoln
on Bardstown Road Beech Fork Lincoln
Homestead
"Four score and
seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this
continent a new nation:
conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created
equal."
Welcome to Springfield,
Kentucky Abraham Lincoln country
I walked Kentucky into the wind
dark and bloody ground
jewel in the lotus
omphalos
heart of the world
holy triangle
sacred
Abbey of Gethsemani
St. Catharine's St. Joseph's
Trappist monks Dominican nuns
coal mined
bituminous gold nearly gone
smokestacks power plants largest shovel in the
world
profane
Native Americans pioneers farmers coal miners
strong
women
poets writers musicians
in Kentucky music is mountainous
and I'm searching for Abraham Lincoln
the greatest President of them all
he saved us from ourselves
and
here I am in Springfield
heart of Kentucky
Lincoln country
who will save us now
and I'm
searching for Abraham Lincoln
maybe Edgar Cayce can help
modern day prophet
one of the great psychics of all time
and from Hopkinsville, Kentucky
maybe Muhammad Ali "The Greatest" from Louisville
maybe Muhammad
Ali can point the way
with his International Peace Center
"float
like a butterfly
sting like a bee"
oh Muhammad oh Muhammad
will you please help me cause
I'm searching for Abraham Lincoln
and the rivers and creeks of Kentucky
Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi, Barren,
Big Sandy, Rough, Elkhorn, Green
spray us with tears
of Mexican immigrants
who for forty days and forty nights have stood
in the fields outside America's
door
knocking denied entry denied
Churchill Downs The Derby singing
"My Old Kentucky Home" knocking
on our doors pleading "let
us come in"
"let us live in your beautiful Kentucky Home"
and I'm searching for Abraham Lincoln
walking
up hills mountains The Knobs The Appalachians Natural Bridge
bowing to gravity
leaning backward with my long hair sweeping the path
as I descend the
wind and the descent flatten me
and now my muscles are green and yellow and
red pain
sustaining my search
drink wine and strong coffee
at The
Starving Artist Café
and I'm searching for Abraham Lincoln
I want love to have its way
I want us to stand united not divided
One
world One people together in peace and harmony
and searching for Abraham Lincoln
I crawl through Kentucky
so many diamonds
I find birthed from the deep dark mines
Iroquois Cherokee Shawnee Tribes Daniel
Boone Henry Clay
Abraham Lincoln
Elizabeth Madox Roberts James Still
Bill Monroe
Loretta Lynn Muhammad Ali Hunter S. Thompson Johnny Depp
Harry Dean Stanton Ned Beatty Adolf Rupp
Rick Pitino Lionel Hampton Wendell
Berry
John Jacob Niles Pee Wee Reese The Everly Brothers
Merle Travis
Rosemary Clooney Edgar Cayce Robert Penn Warren
the literary renaissance Thomas
Merton Judy Morris
Appalshop Bluegrass Bourbon Beautiful Women
My Old
Kentucky Home Churchill Downs Louisville Slugger
The Great Outhouse Blowout
Penn's Store Gravel Switch
Kentucky Fried Chicken Wildcats Cardinals
and as I search for Abraham Lincoln
I sit in The Starving Artist Café
on a rainy October day
drinking wine
why do men still drink wine
and women still water
beautiful paintings cover the walls
and yes when I give readings round the
world
I hear 3rd world voices monks and nuns
Ernesto Cardenal Nicanor
Parra
Daniel Berrigan Thomas Merton
Mother Teresa Judy Morris
The
Dalai Lama
pierce the world's terrors chanting singing praying
for love
for peace
and I'm searching
for Abraham Lincoln
"the one who'll shake the ones unshaken
the fearless
one"
and searching for
Abraham Lincoln
in the St. Catharine College Library
I look in Lawrence
Ferlinghetti's yes San Francisco Ferlinghetti who stood
At Merton's grave
with me
I look in Ferlinghetti's A Coney Island of the Mind and
Pictures
of the Gone World
and I read
"Christ
climbed down
from His bare tree
this year
and softly stole away into
some anonymous Mary's womb again
where in the darkest night
of everybody's
anonymous soul
He awaits again
an unimaginable
and impossibly
Immaculate Reconception
the very craziest
of Second Comings."
and I'm standing in The Starving Artist Café
on Main Street in Springfield,
Kentucky
the heart of Kentucky
the heart of the world
on this rainy
October Tuesday
and the wind and the rain whisper
welcome welcome welcome
to Springfield
and I'm searching
searching searching for Abe Honest Abe
searching for Abraham Lincoln
in
Springield
welcome to Springfield, Kentucky USA
Ron
Whitehead
presented Starving
Artist Café
Springfield, Kentucky
October 15, 2002
copyright©2003
Ron Whitehead
www.tappingmyownphone.com
www.tappingmyownphone.com
www.insomniacathon.org
