Regulars Watching wheels spin Pizza kingpins And the man wants his soda Loosen Your love for Looking in mirrors And come To your special place The men Come in droves After their shift To talk about The days that should’ve been I told them to keep it down There’s kids here with ears I thought I broke up that fight last week Or was it another two Who fought over glazed The coffee in this place is irregular This place smells sickeningly sweet This place smells so bitter I’m only here for the band That plays in the back This place smells like dreams Like the dreams of those who are about to break

When will you love the order The order The order (Excerpts from Yevgeny Zamyatin's WE, reprinted below) When is our Very special When is our Very special When is our Very special Day of the week I built a bottle rocket There’s no time for Being lonely The glass is Clear as the sky WE excerpts: “In another hundred and twenty days the building of the Integral will be completed. The great historic hour is near, when the first Integral will rise into the limitless space of the universe. A thousand years ago your heroic ancestors subjected the whole earth to the power of the United State. A still more glorious task is before you,—the integration of the indefinite equation of the Cosmos by the use of the glass, electric, fire-breathing Integral. Your mission is to subjugate to the grateful yoke of reason the unknown beings who live on other planets, and who are perhaps still in the primitive state of freedom. If they will not understand that we are bringing them a mathematically faultless happiness, our duty will be to force them to be happy. But before we take up arms, we shall try the power of words. “In the name of The Well-Doer, the following is announced herewith to all Numbers of the United State: “Whoever feels capable must consider it his duty to write treatises, poems, manifestoes, odes and other compositions on the greatness and the beauty of the United State. “This will be the first load which the Integral will carry. “Long live the United State! Long live the Numbers!! Long live the Well-Doer!!!” ------------------------------------ "I shall be quite frank: even we have not attained the absolute, exact solution of the problem of happiness. Twice a day, from sixteen to seventeen o’clock and from twenty-one to twenty-two, our united powerful organism dissolves into separate cells; these are the personal hours designated by the Tables. During these hours you would see the curtains discreetly drawn in the rooms of some; others march slowly over the pavement of the main avenue or sit at their desks as I sit now. But I firmly believe, let them call me an idealist and a dreamer, I believe that sooner or later we shall somehow find even for these hours, a place in the general formula. Somehow, all of the 86,400 seconds will be incorporated in the Tables of Hours. "I have had opportunity to read and hear many improbable things about those times when human beings still lived in the state of freedom, that is, an unorganized primitive state. One thing has always seemed to me the most improbable: how could a government, even a primitive government, permit people to live without anything like our Tables,—without compulsory walks, without precise regulation of the time to eat, for instance? They would get up and go to bed whenever they liked. Some historians even say that in those days the streets were lighted all night; and all night people went about the streets."

They wrap themselves in the clothes That make men go wild She fails to read her bills But they still all go wild She protects Photos of babies He longs for conference tables But that was the Past And sins are forgiven for those who make the ugliest mailings And those whose shirts have writing of old men Why don't you play in your park Hey you Where'd you go Why are you screaming on the square Hey you where'd you go Why you screaming on the square Gazebo shouting Waving flags Boring people With their act When will the act come crashing

“What’s On Your Mind?” asks Facebook? Maybe I should post about current events, but just as I’m trying to frame my thoughts on those some other new event happens. The first thing on my mind is that I need to do whatever I can to make sure people vote. Vote Forward has me writing letters to potential voters, but what do I say? Everything changes between the time I start writing the letter and when I mail it, and then more things will change by the time I send the letter. I don’t even want to early vote, though, because of all the changes. Will both or either of these 70+ year-old guys in the midst of a pandemic still be on the ballot by November 4? My wife voted for Warren by mail and she dropped out by the time of the actual primary vote. I should volunteer to work the polls, but even then everything seems so uncertain, but I guess there’s no time like Now It’s already now Is it too late? Is it already too late? What’s going on? What’s happening The lyrics you’re hearing were written a couple weeks after Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and right while Trump is in the hospital. Events are moving quickly and we have no idea how things will turn out. If Trump dies, will they still follow his plan to invalidate all mail in ballots? But what would be the point of that since Trump can’t be elected if he’s dead, so would they still try to throw the election to Pence? Pence doesn’t seem to be that kind of guy, but maybe he is? What if Trump makes it and Biden somehow also gets Covid-19, what then? Or what if it hits both of them? What if I get Covid-19? Anyone want to place odds on U.S. Democracy making it to the end of 2020? Even if it somehow does, so much won’t change unless we get rid of the electoral college, gerrymandering, the power of the Senate and God knows what will happen with the Supreme Court? These are things we need to work on Now It’s already now It’s too late Is it already too late? What’s going on? What’s happening?

The rain came down. But the problem was work More specifically the lack of it I won the cat on a roll of the dice And the girl, she liked the cat. So I had a cat. And a girl. The bedroom with its funk of dirty clothes Unwashed sheets, reeking workboots, The sad, lonely disorder at the heart of my life The room / with the cat What were its habits? Its needs? An id with claws. On a leash. Blood everywhere. Even on the ceiling. There was blood everywhere. Even on the ceiling. The room with the cat (the pain of her leaving was as acute as anything I’d ever felt) I felt lost without her, lost without her There was a low moan From the cat’s prey The moaning cut off On a rising note Get yourself laid That’s what you’re supposed to be doing at your age I got a ladder Leaned it up to the window Opened the window To let the cat out Went into the room To check on the cat Closed the door behind me The room with the cat (blood everywhere, even on the ceiling) The bedroom with the cat The room with the cat (blood everywhere, even on the ceiling)

Welcome little place Football on your faces Yes men Only the best men For your kingdom’s Outrage boycott alone Of the kneeling men Who have a thing to say About your Angry subjects' dumb flags Smiling You’re looking Beaming Lawless And screaming Always With the troops Always with a smile Always only thumbs Why you're the chosen one

Shootable offense Says big man with holster I bet your bedroom Has posters of Prince Hiding in mornings Avoiding the camera Covering yourself In blue and black tears It’s time to go fishing In the small pond It’s time to go fishing In the small pond It’s time to burn The arsenal It’s time to walk Together

The firing squad Is fresh out of condiments Pictures with monsters Cannot be erased Traffic Violence Ordinary Day Father Son Fishing torture Wasted on A Perfect Day Right turn To your garbage party Flags Trees Please get off the land

Go out west where they appreciate me won’t fade away, I'll always be seen I’ll be listed at the top of the bill Prince and Elvis cannot not be killed Kurt Cobain forgot his name, but he hopes someday there’ll be a cure for pain Amy Winehouse has a bottle in her hand She’s done with rehab, done with her dad. Rock and roll is dead to me Rock and roll will never die Rock and roll has flatlined Rock and roll will never die Frank Sinatra still helps run the mob If you talk to him you could go far Nothing can stop Freddie Mercury, and Juice Wrld keeps lucid dreaming John Coltrane still plays saxophone He’s in the suburbs jamming with Keith Moon. Mark Sandman collapsed in Rome, but Morphine Orchestra keeps on going Rock and roll is dead to me Rock and roll will never die Rock and roll has flatlined Rock and roll will never die Rock and roll will never die

You live alone in this house But we live with you You live alone in this house Although we live with you You can do what you want See if I can stop you You can do what you want ‘Cause I can’t stop you Everything’s on fire And the water is gone The floorboards are hot Even when you’re not here And we can smell smoke When there’s smoke there’s fire And when anyone talks We all breathe fire So no one speaks And no one’s a liar Everything’s on fire (There are people on fire in my house) And the water is gone

Lookout Lookout Lookout faraway is here for good And the neighbors are a mess Lookout faraway is here for good I can hear machines in the air I can hear machines in the air Lookout faraway is here for good Whisper so and so about the school Whisper so and so about the tax Yes the one with shoes to die for Yes the one with the auburn hair I can hear machines in the air I can hear machines in the air I wish I knew this place before the bankers came

For a long time I felt Without style and grace Wearing shoes with no socks In cold weather I knew my heart Was in the right place I knew I'd be able To do these things And as we watch him Digging his own grave It is important to know That was where he's at He can't afford to stop That is what he believe He'll keep on digging For a thousand years I'm walking a line I'm thinking about empty motion I'm walking a line Just barely enough to be living Get outta the way (no time to begin) This isn't the time (so nothing was done) Not talking about (not many at all) I'm turning around (no trouble at all) You notice there's nothing around you, 'round you I'm walking a line Divide and dissolve Never get to say much Never get to talk Tell us a little bit But not too much Right about then Is where she give up She has closed her eyes She has give up hope I'm walking a line I hate to be dreaming in motion I'm walking a line Just barely enough to be living Get outta the way (no time to begin) This isn't the time (so nothing was done) Not talking about (not many at all) I'm turning around (no trouble at all) I'm keeping my fingers behind me, 'hind me I'm walking a line Divide and dissolve I'm walking a line I'm visiting houses in motion I'm walking a line Just barely enough to be living Get outta the way (no time to begin) This isn't the time (so nothing was done) Not talking about (not many at all) I'm turning around (no trouble at all) Two different houses surround you, 'round you I'm walking a line Divide and dissolve