SELECTED POEMS
by BRADLEY MASON HAMLIN

'BIRD SONG FOR THE FUTURE'
by Bradley Mason Hamlin

If I could give you a world
bebop and party girls
red wine all the time
and poets drunk out of rhyme
I would if I could
but the killer�s on the loose
he�s in your backyard
looking through
your kitchen widow
singing songs about the noose
hung like a western cowboy
with bullets on his mind
if I could give you a world
snappin fingers
and smilin all the time
I could if I would
be able
to understand the passion
of the fading beast
the creature
still standing there
breathing mal content with blood
dripping from his teeth
but you can�t see him anymore
he�s disappearing quick
like real rock & roll
or whiskey without water
jazz that makes you jump up
and kiss a stranger
if I could give you a world
better
than what you have right now
I wouldn�t dare commit the crime
but we can laugh in spite of hell
all around
we can dance
even if the beat is dyin
we can hold the past
in a monster�s embrace
kick the present day in the gut
bust its wind
and rattle its goddamned cage
we are not dead
unless we give in
to general mind control
and maybe there�s still a chance
for one last rebellion
a bird song for the future
but if I could give you a world
I wouldn�t make it
much different
than it is right now
because better to have to fight
to open the manhole covers
and search
for the forgotten rhythm
in the abyss
in the asylum of the earth
in the mouth
of the rat who has forgotten
how to play the clarinet
anywhere
everywhere
open that secret door
find that mystic amulet
for soul light
hang it round your neck
against your heart
foot shuffle a forbidden Watusi
play the piano of your mind
let yourself dream
and flunk out
of the school of life
there is more
there is always more
down there
down in the basement
underneath the cement
inside the oldest coffin
resuscitate
the skeleton of yesterday
speak to the
once was skull of wisdom
whisper in its dark ear
everything you every wanted
then tell it to the bones for real
the truth
you were sad
to let the magic of childhood die
for jobs
for bills and responsibility
you weren�t a bad kid
you just reacted to the script
you were given
and now
underneath all that dirt and mud
with nothing more than the boneman
for comfort
you will sing
and if I could give you a world
it would be nothing
compared to your own song.

� Bradley Mason Hamlin

Reproduced with permission

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'FUCKING ON THE FREEWAY'
Bradley Mason Hamlin

Originally published in Zygote in My Coffee #6

She
pulled up her skirt
and sat on his lap
facing him
they�re driving down I-5
and she works his fly
suddenly he's going a lot faster
100 miles an hour
pushing it
accelerating
breathing whiskey
into each other�s mouths
one eye
on her curves
the other eye on the curves
of road
and go
go
go baby �

Boom!

the butterflies fly off her skin.

� Bradley Mason Hamlin
Reproduced with permission

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'BEFORE THEY GET YOU'
by Bradley Mason Hamlin

Run with me
drop your clothes
to the
drumbeats
calling
moon splashing
orange paint
over black canvas sky
I want you
to run with me, baby
exchanging lost languages
with
hot breath
quick
running
for
that
secret
place
that final moment
as the government
chases us
because we haven�t yet
received
our microchip implants.

� Bradley Mason Hamlin
Reproduced with permission

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'AVENUE 52'
by Bradley Mason Hamlin

Street corner
passing the joint smokin
draggin
coughin up little wasted pieces of lung
and then I see you laughing
I see you splitting apart
Jesus isn�t behind you
He�s inside you
Dancing
A funky disco twist
Your arms
Toward
Heaven
Cuz there�s something up there
Waiting
Beyond moon & stars
And all of us down here just trying
To learn
How to love
And pass the dope without burning
Our fingertips.


� Bradley Mason Hamlin
Reproduced with permission

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COMING SOON FROM BRADLEY

Devil Music (2004)
Published by 12 Gauge Press

Fortune Cookies For The Damned II: Hash To Hemingway (2004
Published by 12 Gauge Press

Lizards Like Jazz (2004)
Published by Warm Angel Whiskey

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