mb stonehouse

Sometimes,I look into your eyes

Penetratin' your disguise

An' I see you

Starin' into space

Wearin' a different face

Sometimes I wanna free you

Sometimes I wanna be you

Sometimes...



Darlin',I'm beamin' when you smile

An' you kiss me once every while

But now I see through

It's like you're fast asleep

And you don't hear me weep

Sometimes I wanna wake you

Sometimes I wanna break you

Sometimes...



Honey,I don't think you know

But it's time for me to go

Then I see you

You're back here with me

Where you think you oughta be

Sometimes I wanna save you

Sometimes just enslave you

Sometimes...


Aug24/2008

mb stonehouse

He sat all alone
By a weathered headstone
One evening,silent,not a sound
His mind full of thoughts
As he pondered that rock
In those lonely graveyard grounds

One wizened finger
Seemed to linger
On the faint etchings in the granite stone
But the years had long erased
The hallowed place
Where once a name had shown

Between his legs
In a brown paper bag
A bottle of cheap wine
To keep fresh
His old feeble flesh
As he sat before this shrine

He did not know
The corpse below
It was not why he came
To this boneyard
So cold,so hard
To this headstone with no name

He lit a smoke
And then he spoke
To the one who had long since died
Friend he said
I know you're dead
So I figure you're qualified

Ya see,I'm getting old
My clay's getting cold
I'm just an old vagabond
But before I go
I'd sure like to know
What it's like in the great beyond

And then he paused
To rest his jaws
And to muse how the other might reply
Then he damn near choked
On his smoke
When he thought He'd heard a sigh

He was a little ruffled
When he heard a muffled
Voice speak from the deep
Who is he
That speaks to me
And awakes me from my sleep?

Well he sputtered
To the voice that had muttered
With such dark and dismal sounds
I'm from these parts
He said with a fearful heart
And my name is Otis Brown

I sure didn't mean
To disturb your dreams
If dreaming is what the dead do
But I'm searching out facts
(Said he as he began to relax)
Of what is and isn't true

Well Otis Brown
Said the voice underground
Is that the fragrance of wine I smell?
Give me a sip
And I'll give you a tip
Of happy heaven and horrid hell

Otis quickly agreed
And the earth with selfish greed
Soaked up the liquor he poured
Then out it squelched
A satisfied belch
As the last drops of wine were absorbed

Ah fruit of the vine
It's been a long time
The voice lustily said
It's the one thing I've craved
Since being stuffed in this grave
A drawback of being dead

But now that I think
Something to put me right in the pink
Would one of your fine smokes
So if you'd an extra one-
Don't mind the pun
But for a puff I think I'd croak

Uncertain of proper etiquette
Otis lit another cigarette
And propped it up on the headstone
He watched as a plume
Of the smokey fume
Rose into the air as if blown

Ah,that hits the spot
And I thank you a lot
But just before I answer your plea
We will play a game
You must guess my name
Before you get any answers from me

I should have guessed
There'd be some test!
Otis said with a frown
But how can I claim
To know your name
You being so long in the ground?

All I need
Is your expertise
Yet you hold the truth from me
Like a good bloke
I gave you a smoke
And wine to ease sobriety

There came not a sound
From that one underground
Until the voice sulkingly said
You're being hard-hearted
To someone's dearly departed
Do you think it's a picnic being dead?

How'd you think it'd feel
To be a worm's meal
And with so much time on my hands?
Being buried down here
Ain't no budding career
And it sure ain't no disneyland

Be that as it may
Otis interjected to say
I don't think you're treating me right
For you to act so
When the things that you know
Might comfort me in the dark of the night

So as for your name
And your little silly game
I reckon I choose to not play
I still got time
For another bottle of wine
So to hell with you 'til judgement day

Otis started to rise
But was caught by surprise
By a bony claw that burst from below
It clutched to his leg
Shook him like a limp rag
Then began pulling him in an undertow

You'll stay here with me
To keep me company
The voice said in an ominous tone
I can no longer bear
Being alone down here
Beneath this cursed gravestone

Wait!Otis exclaimed
I know a game
And my life will be the stakes!
If you're up to the task
I question I'll ask-
But our deal we must seal with a shake

Agreed!Cried the voice
Seems I have little choice
Since you're putting up such a fight
But you already know
My foolish foe
You'll be below before the end of the night

Two hands were clasped
Like two angry asps
One of flesh,the other of bone
Two wills collide
One dead,One alive
One vibrant with life,the other moss-grown

Begin!Said the dead
You're in over your head
For soon you shall be mine!
Otis thought in a flash
For the question he'd ask
His query,his only lifeline-

"Tell me the thing
That makes a bird sing
And without thought makes a heart rejoice
Tell me what makes
A dead heart ache
And gives what is not,a voice?"

Otis glared at the grave
Of that deadly depraved
Saying,Do you know the answer I seek?
You appear rather bold
For being rotted and cold
So now I command you to speak

There came not a sound
From that graveyard mound
As it considered the words Otis spoke
Finally it said
You deal with the dead
And this wager I hereby revoke

The old bony fist
Wrapped around Otis' wrist
And the voice now sinister explained
You owe a debt
You lost the bet
For you never guessed my name

Indeed I did!
Otis crowed to the dead
As he brought the wine bottle crashing down
And just like a charm
It severed the arm
Of the demon deep in the ground

He picked up the hand
Of that long dead man
And on the shrine by use of buddy's finger bone
So self assured
He scratched out the words
Half Handless on that ancient gravestone

Then Otis stood
Though his legs felt like wood
And said I may be a vagabond
But I've more stuff to do
Than to live like my life were through
As though I were already in the great beyond

He turned to walk away
Then stopped long enough to say
Dead man - with the self-crafted strife
Contrary to what you said-
You're the one in over YOUR head
For the answer to my riddle is Life



Aug 1994

mb stonehouse

Untitled and Undone #31


"Trickle",said the stream
as it flowed into my dream
it splashed and licked the stones
beneath my unshod feet,telephones
blossomed into hummingbirds
then fluttered into secret words
which reminded me of kids at play
of ancient rhymes and yesterday.

"Grumble",said the man
as he ate another can
of silver things and open doors
of faint rumblings and metaphors
he came in low across the sky
perched within a needle's eye
displacing a murder of crows
he snorted,then he picked his nose.

mb stonehouse

I rushed over to your house to beg you not to go,but all I saw were the oil stains in your driveway.

mb stonehouse

Last thing I remember
In that third week of November
I had my gun,my girlfriend and the truck
We knew that they was comin'
So we couldn't risk it thumbin'
We'd make it with a lil gas an' a lot a luck

I met the girl beside me
By chance,but she called it "destiny"
An' this truck I found just on down the block
With the keys hidden so clever
An' this gun I've had forever
An' trust me friend,I know how to make it talk

Well the pa of my little honey
Owed some folks a lot of money
An' he'd lit town so they was lookin' for his kin
Long ago I'd laid down my pistol
For the love of my darlin' Crystal
An' for the same reason,today,I picked it up again

An' this is what it came to amountin'
Our backs against the wall with seconds countin'
She held my hand as I held my gun in that firestorm
I don't remember them pleadin'(Red on
my shoes) but I don't 'member them bleedin'
All I recall it was late in the fall
An' both my hands were warm

March 27/2008

mb stonehouse

He wasn't that good
at much in particular-
'cept strummin' guitars,
pointin' out Mars,
an' rhymin' words
like perpendicular.


(Now to work on "orange"...)

mb stonehouse

Her presence wafted into the room like comfort bathed in light.

mb stonehouse

im gonna take my paycheck and
buy a fourwheeler
talk pretty to the girl
and try to steal her (heart)

gonna take her for a spin
down by the river
gonna keep her warm
if she starts to shiver

gonna lay in the sun
maybe pick her wild flowers
laughin' and kissin' and
whilin' away the hours

if i can't find no girl
or afford no four wheeler
if i ain't got the cash
to even purchase a "peeler"

and if im all alone
with no one to spoon
hell,i might as well jump
out of this hot air balloon

oct14/2011

mb stonehouse

Scenarios and alibis
Some cheerios or fresh cut fries
It's "Thar she blows!" Well my oh my...
(She loves the O's as I do I's)
Ontario's deep backwood flies
I gots to go's!I say me' byes...


January 26,2012

Mr November

Really nice stuff. Nice to see another Nova Scotian.