Now, then, and when

84’ Chevy Cavalier & Diethyl Ether

 We had a Chevy Cavalier back when I was a kid

Each morning to get it started, this is what I did

My older brother would turn the key and pray to our savior 

While I sprayed ‘Spray Start’ directly into the carburetor! 

Diethyl Ether is highly flammable and toxic, but it would also start the motor!

I always enjoyed its sweet yet pungent odor

It was used as a general anesthetic for surgeries way back in 1846

Whenever the wind caught some of its mist

I’d just close my eyes and inhale a big whiff!

The same stuff they poured onto rags to knock out folks 

In the movies and on TV shows, but maybe that was just a hoax?

It just gave me a little buzz, early in the a.m.

Laughing at lyrics of the pledge of allegiance, so I refused to say them!

I was so hungry by lunch, that I&rs...

We all share the same water with everything that has ever lived!

Dinosaurs saliva, even the water that Jesus turned into wine

Has been recycled so often throughout time

That it has been both yours and mine

Blood, sweat, tears, and other liquids of each kind

How can we be certain where all that water went?

A glass of water has ten thousand billion billion molecules, so the odds are 100 percent!

That a little bit of water that everyone in history has every sipped

Has been shared with every living creature (present past, and future) on earth, ain’t that a trip!

How does humanity differ from other animals?

Beyond opposable thumbs and our big brains

We are just story tellers and problem solvers!

Folks who just thought about something and tried to do it!

And talked to other people about what we wanted to do, until we did figured it out!

Reading, writing, and repeating history 

These crazy ideas helped our ancestors crawl out of their swamps, caves, and jungles

To create Civilization, religion, technology, education, culture, and art!

It’s all just one big story!

The first someone told somebody a crazy idea

Then they actually did it, and even if they failed or succeeded 

Other people would try it too (or not!)

With all of humanity’s flaws, our ‘superpower’ is the ability to tell (and listen to) stories over and over again

We’re addicted to it

Humanity’s narrative 

The boxes and labels that define ...

50 Years in 5 decades

I never thought I’d be young forever

As everyone gets older

The months just slip by

All that I knew has changed

People, information, and the places all evolved

My daughter asked me what a fax machine was today!

We had one back when she was little

She didn’t remember, but I showed her how it worked 

As I faxed a copy of her shot record to her doctor

So that she could go to summer camp

She’s too old for camp now

I’ll teach her how to drive my car next month

I was just washing her bottles 15 years ago!

When I was 35

Now I’m 50 

Back then, Obama was president

Now Trump is!

If I could speak with the 35 year old me now

I’m not sure what I’d even say!

Listen more, work less, enjoy the little moments?

Probably the same advice a 65 year old me would tell the 50 year old me!

When I was ten, it was 198...

Like every uncountable star

All the lights in the sky

Can you believe that they all will just die?

We are cursed and blessed with this…

As our own light will too be extinguished 

Somehow you and I were wished into existence! 

I don’t know how, but for a moment, we just are

And soon we won’t be, like every uncountable star

Lights once shining bright

Burning through time, across the void of night 

Cosmic graves that the future may soon see

Or ignore, and perhaps replace me

No ‘Trump Account’ for my kid!

$1k free in college savings from the government...

Why does Trumpelstiltskin occupy my mind free from rent?

Tainted with Cadet Bone Spurs’ last name 

This college savings plan idea still feels like a stain

A life and career built on lies, racism and false fame

Another con?

Another grift, dammit don!

Years from now, will she frown or smile?

When compound interest yields a modest money pile

Should she benefit from this blood money?

Should I lie, ‘I did the best that I could, honey?’

If I don’t invest, she’ll be thousands behind her MAGA peers

And we’ll be deep in debt for dozens of years

The whole system is fixed

If I do do it, Mango Mussolini wins again, get the gist?

The system seems to benefit the mostly affluent and white

There have never been laws to legislate their entire life

George Washington didn’t need to register to vo...

Chipotle Napkins

Ordered a bowl and some chips

Passed on the cheese and the dips

Ordered in person, you know, so they get it right!

Man, Imma sleep so good tonight!

Picked up a fork, then looked to my left and my right

Grabbed a stack of Chipotle napkins and got out of sight!

Grab and pack em 

Wipe and dab em 

Brown napkin, multi-purpose 

Good on every surface!

On the highway, I cracked open a cola 

When it exploded all over the windshield, thought my life was over! 

It must have been shaken or dropped, but I didn’t stress 

I grabbed a wad of Chipotle napkins, then caught my breath

Quickly wiped a circle clear, so I could pull over 

My interior’s ruined, but at least I’ll see another year older!

Grab and pack em 

Wipe and dab em 

Brown napkin, multi-purpose&...

Here today…

We visited some dinosaurs at a museum last week

Read about their habitat and characteristics that made them unique 

Jurassic extinctions, evolution and climates unkind

Lifetimes long preceded

Time remains undefeated 

I pondered these fossils as I touched a 5 million year old bone

I told my daughter, years in the future others may visit our own!

The truth comes at a tremendous cost

My flow’s Ebola

My pen’s MRSA

Word play might just murk ya

Freestyles cause a crisis 

Addictive versus like vices

No cure, just bad news, debt, and high prices

Old school like a Ford Taurus

Spittin’ staphylococcus, COVID, and C. auris

That’s viral, bacterial, and some fungus...

Limited sales, but my catalog’s humongous!

Reading my lyrics like it's webMD

Nosophobia, got you asking, ‘what’s wrong with me?’

Rhymes so sick, the CDC put out an A.P.B.

No studio, cuz’ the feds keep recording me!

They put out a contract, then ordered a hit

Analyzing all my songs, hoping that the charges might stick

I let them bottle and sell my art like a commodity 

Then I exposed the industry and mocked all the hypocrisy!

Bu...

Why did people of color let white people win?

My rhymes are weapons so lethal 

One day they might just change people

Sow seeds so potent, they might even thwart evil!

We tried in vain to 'just all get along'

We was singing the same hymn, but they got all the words wrong!

Actin’ scared and greedy, while putting on airs

They stole people, religion, and music that was never theirs!

Murdered millions in Africa, and still (to this day) mine diamonds, gold, and cobalt

Europe owes Africa reparations with trillions in interest by default! 

Why does China's President Xi Jinping still wear a European suit?

Why did Indians and Pakistanis trade juttis for a European boot?

Why do African and Asian people use chemicals to lighten their skin?

Why did people of color, just let white people win?