Mighty Unsightly

It’s an unsightly cause

Disturbed pieces of sand

Down to the singular stone

My own town can be mighty unsightly

Deceit is the instrument of choosing

While the others were out boozing

On the beach singing songs of love and longing

The fire lit up like a lamp on their faces

Spiritually free to be deceived

Totally

Those nights we laughed on the beach

Holding the sand between our feet

I dream of those moments you and me

But then sets us back to our new reality

It is perfectly imperfect ideally

You and me

 

Heartbreaking Agreement

We have reached a heartbreaking agreement

To stop the class action

The loss has wiped the smile off our faces

I take it on the chin

Even though we didn’t win

Through thick and thin

A vengeful hopeful will not be amused

While the olive branch of hope must be refused

I need a space to be left undesirable

Untreatable

A punch to the gut

I had hoped for more than a plastic cone

Orange and alone

Amused tonally

Refused totally

 

 

 

The Diagram of 2016 – How

Growing up in an extremely sheltered catholic midwestern household I was always taught some very simple “guidelines”. Whether it be good or bad this is the life I know. It was always God, Family, and Country. Whether it be right or wrong – that is yet a whole other discussion but today we realized something as a country and I did as an individual. These are the truths that we live by in 2016:

Sexism > Unity

Diversity > Sexism

Family > Diversity

Money > Family

Power > Money

God > Power

Greed > God

Trump > Greed

And here we are. This justifies all votes and support for the great devil when applied to this diagram. It is undisputable as I have debated and spoken with thousands of people over the last 9 months of my life. It makes how we got here so very simple. This is the truth as voted by our own fellow countrymen. If you study this diagram you will begin to see the problems we are faced with currently. I see this in the eyes of my own parents. The rest is just shit talk. They can say what they want, but these are the new principles by which my own family lives and a much larger population as a whole. I have devoted an entire year of my life, $30,000 in personal debts, and countless unpaid hours working to promote Unity in 2016. But the truth is I believe Unity is currently where I put it in the diagram: dead last. I understand this. I get it. People love to use their mouths instead of their wallets. They want to talk about power and money and how they can acquire it at all costs – this is the baby boomer generation. Consume, consume, consume, and shit on the rest. I challenge you to see where this diagram applies – to me it sums up 2016. For anyone overseas – may God be with us and protect us. We are in for a dark time in our countries history – I can see it in the eyes of the people.

 

 

What a Rush

It’s that determined feeling

The sweet ambition

The fantastic touch

The plausible idea

Warm to talk to

Improving the rush

To the fingers

Head

Arms

The rush of the moment

The Borrowed Riff

thebergamot_south-bend_36

PHOTO CREDIT: EVAN PERIGO

In a nebulous state of mind

The concluding chord rung out

Wrung out

Fascinated by the quick sequel of progression

How one planned moment

Moves to the next

A grape plucked from the tree

Quickly becomes a past tense

Cattle that pine for the open fields

Excellent presentation

Not quite overstated

But rather I am fascinated

That now a moment planned now is

More present a moment unknown

A hat floating off the cliff

Taken in

The borrowed riff

 

The Rally Cry of the Tired

The rally cry of the tired

A worthy cause flamed out with vigor

Passing floating rolling

I have tried

To do good

Good to be undone

So much has to rely on a rally cry

When your tired

And lonely

Not alone

You feel sad

Disconnected from the world

How did it work out not the way it was

All planned

A plane in flight unmanned

The plane now is in the final descent

It will land

How

Unknown

But through all of this

I

We

Have grown

Grown up

So here we come

Call Out

Practice hard

Churn them out

That is what the songwriting life is all about

It is no matter where you are

You have to do

And sing from your heart

That makes songs worth writing

Fingers sliding and bending

Notes ringing and clinging

To every syllable and vowel

That sings from this mouth

Out into the world

To scream and shout

That new songs will be birthed

From hand and shovel

Pulled from the earth

And given a life to live

In peoples ears

This is the gift to give