We have exhausted all leads
as the clock runs out.

People died. Who and what
we should blame is not clear.

If there’s a connecting thread
or line to explain what led to…this,

it remains unseen. It’s not a conspiracy thing;
shit’s just complicated.  Maybe some of it

is about malice, but mostly
it’s about acceptance

of unintended consequences
and ignorance of how to stop

thinking we are so damn omniscient.
We’re not, of course; that’s obvious.

We’re blind little beggars or huge deaf kings.
No one is paying attention,

or paying for us to pay attention.
We’re broke and we’re out of time.

If we want to know who did what,
if we are ever to learn that,

we are going to have to start time again.
Build a world differently — more windows and doors,

fewer walls.  And most of all
we’re going to have to build a better clock.

Something with longer hours, days, years.
Something based on the Mayan model, perhaps,

with lots
of resets.

— NOTE:  this is the 1400th poem posted here since 1/1/2010.   While I will likely continue to keep count for myself, I won’t be pursuing this kind of feat publicly again.

The climactic moment
of Roger Towers and the HighSprays’ set
at Pigdoctor’s last night
had to be “Enthusiasm Rocket,”

which included a transcendent
glockenspiel and eight-string guitar twin lead
behind the chanted, Shinto-inspired vocalization
of Sandy Towers,

looking and sounding for all the world
like a reborn version of his brother
who founded the band
and for whom it is named.

Thunderous drumming from Sally Armrest
proved to be barely sufficient to carry the rhythm
in the first few numbers as it was drowned
by a four-piece tuba section added just for last night’s show,

but when the band eventually lurched into
thier classic medley of
“Revolution Of Panko / Nostril’s Demise”
it appeared that balance had been restored.

It was something of a comeback gig for the HighSprays
who have been in seclusion since the unfortunate death of
Roger Towers at the hands of persons unknown
who slew him, somewhat Biblically, with a slingshot

at the Damn Nation Festival in May of last year.
With Sandy Towers only joining the lineup  this past September ,
it’s too early to say if there will be any change of direction
or indeed new music from the band anytime soon.

Opening for the HighSprays last night were
the somewhat awkwardly named local favorites
Vanilla Slingshots, who played
a short spirited set

from their garage/klezmer/metal
back catalog, but who finished strongly
with a samba cut from their soon to be released album,
“Slang For The Sloths.”  Between the sets,

celebrity DJ Holy Fatha Holla
on the 1s and 2s
rocked the capacity Pigdoctor’s crowd
of scenesters, the morbidly curious,

suburban rebels,
inner city hard youth,
and five people who were apparently
there for the music.