bottledWalter

Written: 6/6/02
Words: Walter Koning

Pioneer punk rocker dies
Dee Dee Ramone
Was to play in San Francisco Saturday
Drug overdose suspected
1952 to 2002

Dee Dee Ramone
Left the Ramones
He experimented with rap
The he came back to the Ramones

Pioneer punk rocker dies
Dee Dee Ramone
50 years old
Last year
Joey Ramone died
48 years old

Written: 5/23/02
Words: Walter Koning

Birth
Growth
School
Work
Live
Age
Settle
Mature
Rest
Decease

Written: 3/19/02
Words: Walter Koning

I remember how the stores displayed
All of the fancy clothes in display windows
Selling clothes based on style and price and name
Quality was assumed
People walked through the store door
Sellers rushed to the selling floor
Offering advice no one could ignore
I just laughed
At the comedy
Of it all

I don’t buy name brand clothes
And I don’t buy all that name brand gear
Most of my clothes are secondhand
Because I don’t want to fill that hole in the land

Function before flaunting
Pragmatic, Oh, Practical
I may wear clothes from Eddie Bauer
But they’ve never seen a dime of mine

As we grow older we lose our eccentricities
Don’t cut off those curls
Don’t blend in
As the years go by and my peers stop by
They say

You’re growing up
And
You’re getting older

So why
Oh why
Does it feel like I’m not any wiser
My knowledge has grown
And my memories show
What a good life should be
So why
Oh why
Do I feel like a compromiser

At work people say not to dress that way
In my mind I’m convinced there’s no better way
So I pack up my things
And go out and enjoy the day

Written: 5/28/02
Words: Walter Koning

With one paper left and two stops to go
I want to keep writing so I pace myself slow

I worry of content and who might read this next
Remembering silently how no reads my simple texts

Pictures and jpegs and tiffs draw an audience
While my rhymes and rhythms
Are merely commuter line came and wents
To work and back home on paper my whims

Hardly a word worth repeating alone
Apart from the casual daisy I’ve grown

And even then folks reject the adjective horny
As though it’s as bad as completing this line with corny

Despite the audience size attracted by all this
I’ll write all the way home
Every day my brain ticks

Written: 5/25/02
Words: Walter Koning

Sandy Pines
Big Whitefish Lake
Camping grounds
Short one tent stake

Living our lives together
Without breaks
With Christ our Lord
Forgiving our mistakes

Jill I look to you
Every day I wake
And pray the Lord
My soul to take

But before he does
All I ask for
Is the love it takes
To cherish you more

Written: 5/27/02
Words: Walter Koning

Cheeseheads are coming
Cheeseheads are coming
Will they bring cheese for me to eat

Cheeseheads are coming
Cheeseheads are coming
Will they have a head that looks like me

Cheeseheads are coming
Cheeseheads are coming
Will they be following a band from show to show

Cheeseheads are coming
Cheeseheads are coming
Will they be dirty and have no jobs
Except what they sell at each show

Cheeseheads are coming
Cheeseheads are coming
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
How large this following will finally grow

Cheeseheads are coming
Cheeseheads are coming

Written: 1/17/02
Words: Walter Koning

It was
Almost more fun
Admiring her from afar
It was
Great having Bren break the ice
I built up
A nerve big enough
To talk to her
And so I walked up
And talked to her
And her friends
Then just to her
For awhile
PR
She does PR
They’ve heard of Red Envelope
Negative Experiences, both of them
She and her friend

Written: 5/31/02
Words: Walter Koning

I’ve heard it all before
Nothing is new anymore

I’ve seen everything it seems
Except that ladies pants
Holy cow they’re bright

Then I got on BART
The wrong train
So I could gaze
At a woman a little longer

Now on another train
I smelled celery
Amazing, there it is
In a bag on the floor
By a woman
Now she’s gone

No celery anymore
I still smell it like I did before
In a moment that’ll be gone
There it is, it’s gone

I guess I’ve smelled everything now too

Written: 5/27/02
Words: Walter Koning

Candy Canes
Candy Canes
Christmas treats
That I like to eat

Candy Canes
Candy Canes
White and red
Great to eat before
I go to bed

Candy Canes
Candy Canes
Stick to my fingers
And have a mint tast that lingers

Candy Canes
Candy Canes
Curve around at one end
But don’t last long
After they’re opened

Candy Canes
Candy Canes
Buy them now
Before they’re gone again

Written: 5/20/02
Words: Walter Koning

Romance in the air
Gondola rides and Venice nights
A glass of wine and candle light

Romance
Romance in the air tonight
May I have this dance
My love

Romance in the air
Meander through Jack London Square
A Christmas tree with colored lights
There is romance in the air tonight

Romance
Romance in the air
There is romance in the air
Tonight

Written: 3/21/02
Words: Walter Koning

Sittin’ on the corner playing guitar
Got my first tip in my jar
A buck seventeen or was it twenty two
I’ll be coming back to play for you
If I keep playing this lousy way
My only friends will stay away
But I’m getting better every day
It won’t be long now before they watch me play

Whoa!

Guitar at night and work in the day
Someday I’ll pay my bills with the notes I play
I’m getting rich
I’m getting loaded
I’ll be rich and I’ll be loaded
I’m getting rich
I’m getting loaded
I’ll be rich and I’ll be loaded

A buck seventeen or was it twenty two
Not enough now but it’ll get higher soon
Playing guitar by the light of the moon
Too many years learning in my room
I’m bound to play better soon
Someday my cash flow is bound to boom
Until then I’ll just smile for the people I know

Megan stopped in for coffee and friends
Told me about the sweeping blonde Shannon
Aaron stopped to have a cigarette
Listened to me play
Told me not to stop practicing yet

A little while later
Deeper in the night
A cute little Maggie looked cold at first sight
She and I chatted while I played
The best I could but getting better every day

Maggie was nice and I hope to see her again
I’d think of all these people who may someday be friends
All because of my sitting on the corner playing guitar

I’m getting rich
I’m getting loaded
I’ll be rich
I’ll be loaded
A buck seventeen or was it twenty two
It’s enough to have me play guitar for you
I’m getting rich
I’m getting loaded
I’ll be rich and I’ll be loaded
A buck seventeen or was it twenty two
Plenty enough for me to play guitar for you

Written: 5/27/02
Words: Walter Koning

Bleached blonde Billy’s brother
Found a worm with no mother
After the rain
Bleached blonde Billy’s brother
Tried and tried to find
For his worm another

Bleached blonde Billy’s brother
Brought his friend the worm
And the other
Out of the rain
And placed them both under the porch cover

Bleached blonde Billy’s brother
Played with the worm with no mother
And the other
Under the porch cover
Until Billy came home
And warned him they need water

So bleached blonde Billy’s brother
Took off his shoe to smother
His worm friend with no mother
And the other

Written: 1/10/02
Words: Walter Koning

So there is a bike in front of me
The tires are fat
Mountain bike tires
The seat looks mildly soft
Soft enough
Softer than my road bike seat
Softer than the cement
But who would sit on a cement seat

Intrigued I was
Regarding the front fork
Wide pipes came to a point at the center of the wheel
Where the spokes came together in a round
And a lug nut held the fork and wheel together
But the wide pipes and the wheel
Made of spokes and fat tires
The wide pipes joined the wheel
Only on one side of the pipe
Almost as though the pipe only consisted
Of one side not two
The whole fork came to a head at a small point
What was the point of making a wide fork?

The fork in the back
Holding in the back tire
The back fork
Is skinny
By skinny I mean the pipes are slender
Narrow gauge
If a car smashed the front fork
It would surely crush it
But if the bike smashed the front of a car
These tires
These fat tires would cause a wonderful interruption
In the bikes momentum

The bike would stop
Pause for a split second
Then bounce back a step, or two
And the bike’s forks
Front and back
Would survive
And the seat
Softer than cement
Would cushion my bum
As I abruptly fall back onto it

Written: 6/8/02
Words: Walter Koning

Barre chords
Bar chords
Bar clothes
Can I buy you a beer

Power chords
Lounge singers
Cocktail dresses
Come visit me dear

Finger picking
Jazz musicians
Curvy flared pants
I wish you were near

Those bar chords
Those bar bands
Playing barre chords
And power chords
Wanting to hear
The words from the money
To tell them they ready
To hit the big time
Where their life
Will be changed
Forever

Written: 1/12/02
Words: Walter Koning

The lights shine bright over me
The heat radiates over the people next to me

The drummer looks like a drummer
Bassist in the background
Like a bassist tends to be
Rhythm guitarist looks healthy and talented
The lead singer is the lead

The lead
The lead
The lead singer is the lead

The drummer looks ready to do anything
The bassist just goes with the flow
The rhythm guitarist’ mic is too low
The lead singer sings too high
Every song sounds the same

The lead
The lead
The lead singer is the lead
The lead
The lead
The lead singer is the lead

Written: 1/7/02
Words: Walter Koning

Sometimes I feel compelled to write
In these times I find my pen, I find my clipboard
And my unlined paper
I sit down on the floor of BART, in the chair at work,
And sometimes I stand

Sometimes I feel that I am right
In these times I find my opinion, I stand my ground,
And proclaim it to others
If it’s something that tugs at my heart, keeps me stressed at night,
I’ll need to say it out loud

Sometimes I walk down the street
In these times I aim for my destination, quite pragmatic,
Unless there’s time
To wander
And wonder
If I can I’ll take the long way, to see the world,
And sometimes it’s grand

Written: 5/31/02
Words: Walter Koning

Is that kid a little boy or a little girl
Androgenous little tyke

Will he grow up and spend summers fishing for pike
Or will she struggle her whole life because she’s a dyke

Those shoes, or are they boots
They look better than Nikes

But that shirt, red and white
Striped and fading into pink
It must be a girl, yeah that’s what I think

Look at that hair
Growing long like a Canadian

For a little boy so far from cultural home
He’s got flat hair or else it would be a whi-fro

Poor little kid, androgenously styled
Puffy face
Cropped long hair
Striped shirt
Green pants
Red suede shoes

That’s it
He’s a girl

Written: 1/20/02
Words: Walter Koning

I question my wants and needs
My emotional greed
The stomach I fill
And who else I should feed

I question my love
Whether it’s recipricol enough
And at the end of the day
How many people can fill my cup

Who can fill me up
Is it one love, one heart
That I’m thinking of
Who can bring out the best in me
Who will enjoy my imperfect cup

Down the road of life
I’ll ride a thousand miles
Before I settle down
Then I’ll settle for awhile

Until I get antsy and anxious
I’ll lose interest
Want more
Feel stuck in a stranglehold
Then where will I be
Same as now
Except a thousand miles
Further into life
Travelling another road

Written: 6/3/02
Words: Walter Koning

The best time to read self help books
Is when you don’t need to
You’ve just succeeded at something
And you’re feeling great

Read a self help book about failure
And how to overcome it

Compare it with what you just achieved
And how you did it
Stow away the ideas
For the next time you fail

Apply whatever you can
To the next failure

Written: 5/23/02
Words: Walter Koning

I dreamed a little dream
While I slept a pleasant sleep

I laughed a feel-good laugh
As I saw a funny scene

I ran a river run
By the timers keeping time

I loved the woman I love
And smiled with her every smile