Kelly Joe Phelps Not So Far To Go
ginger dyed her hair red to it her name
burny pocked his arms with a pack of camel lights
long sleeves outdoors to keep the kids from crying
and ginger climbed the high wire just to make them cheer.
trapeze float in a buttercup parade
with clowns and plastic parachutes three red the same
clutched arms fire dropped in a bar in new york city
and it's not so far to go to find trouble.
a bus rattles downstairs, downtown flying
with a gren seat empty and a window cracked
sleeping john snores dreaming oceans and whores
all the while gluing tile on basement doors.
he's burny arms brother, 'ginger's' other mate
and it's too late to tap the till, the money's gone
arm holes long locks a house with nothing in it
and it's not so far to go to find trouble.
a thousand mile handhold might keep the party still
if the holes heal well and the hair stays red
we'll climb another roof top and scare the crooks away
a gypsy and a singer in the bone yard.
walking the moonlight, losing the sign
sleeping john wakes, he doesn't know where he is
a bus stop in up state a bar in new york city
and it's not so far to go to find trouble.
