CHECKING OUT

TRYING TO LEAVE THE HOTEL CALIFORNIA

WHEN I'VE ALREADY CHECKED OUT

there are places you can never leave

that keep pulling on your sleeve

as our memories come to us

on little pieces of shiny plastic

and one o'clock in the morning poems

and songs you haven't heard for years

missing those who have gone ahead

in other words they are the newly dead

and my life exists to read the obits

to see if I'm on the list

always fucked

but never kissed

they were big

when my broken heart

had not yet healed

and the joy of alone had not arrived

and even listening to freedoms shout

and marching in the streets

the sixty eight and their class

hear nothing cause they don't care a rats ass

but I've already checked out

but now

I truly believe

it true, I can never leave.

JWL © 20/01/2015