everybody looking for a way in
everybody looking for that gap
fate moves us round like prawns in a game
you gotta jam with what you got
you gotta look at what you got
you gotta allow it be and luxuriate
you gotta put that time in
put that time in a slot and mail it to a future
little steven reading the greek myths
oh he loved those crazy olympian knuckleheads
i learned latin cos it was an old dead language
and i wanted remember all those beautiful words again
its raining
scarlet sits in my room drawing quietly
the rain pitter patter
the wind goes shoooosh
america sits out there across the sea
its the 21st sentry and im a old washed up rocker
but wait……!
some strange thing has happened
a glimmer of a little winged hope
nah!
and yet…
i chew bubble gum
i am addicted to sweets
i love sugar
i have a sweet truth
scarlet plays with her toys
her characters mutter to each other
dad! she calls out
i turn around
not you dad ! she says
oh it was one of her characters calling out dad…i see
she doesnt want me to watch her game
she has a little bag full of things
she takes the things out and handles them with gentle wonder
shes deep in some childish reverie and it must be lovely there
i myself have been in a childish reverie for 54 years
and i have moved with the tao
and i have fallen foul of fate
and i have derailed my own train
and i opened my mouth n shot off my foot
and i counted my soy chicken pieces
before they were cooked
and how green was my veggie burger
and my pitts burger and my jolie frappe
and in australia some footballers did some naughty things
with a lady
and a bushfire flooded through another town
a man bit a sharks hand off
and i landed on my feet
and hit the course running
someone says what about p=a?
i say what about it ?
they say the theme
i say the theme on which level?
they say the level of hypnogogic doo dah
i say post doo dah or naive doo dah
they say genuine naive old school doo dah
i say which old school?
they say
why lyneham high, steven john kilbey
there you are my son
and brendan prout riding your bikes home from the pool
talking about girls
on an endless summer evening that ended five minutes later
now its a late autumn afternoon
you hop in a car on northbourne ave
and its stefan strom
his car has no seats it has…deck chairs…!
strom is under age and driving a car with no seats but…deck chairs
the chairs slide all over the place as we go round corners
and as we pull up i keep banging my head
strom seems to have the knack of it
strom is fifteen n hes driving this car
and hes “rooted” a girl
i press him for the gory details
we went to her place at lunchtime he said
as our deck chairs slid around on the cars metal floor
and she lay on a bed
and she opened her legs
and i rooted her he said
and….i said
and what…? he said
was it any good ? i asked
he seemed dismayed by the whole thing
no …i dunno …it was alright…he said
the car stops
i get out
in a record shop on a cold rainy canberra afternoon
i meet some svelte little sweetie
she says im half italian
as we look at the cover of umma gumma together
we stand in the listening booth together
listening to astronomy domine
the half italian touches my hair
and i feel the whole universe
and the whole history of love
compressed into that listening booth
in that long gone record shop
in that long gone afternoon
but aint that what afternoons do….they go…dont they ?
the half italian is wearing mauve cord lee cooper jeans
we kiss for a minute
her tongue is truly mediterranean
and it invades my mouth like the empress of rome
theres a knocking at the glass door of the booth
the girls older sister
they have words
she shrugs and smiles
the sister
turning round once to glare at me
leads her away into the distance
im certain we’ll meet again but we never do
i float outside in the rain
where civic is beginning to get dark
i stand stupidly in the drizzle
the kiss has bewildered me
like my first snort of smack
like my first hit single
like my first car crash
like my first time up on a big stage
years later
in the fullness of time
i remembered
that i bought a record that day
i paid for it
they put it in a bag
and i walked out empty handed
and i never got to hear it
and the name of the record
which was a double vinyl album
was untitled #23