I Saw A Wreck Today While Riding My Bike
(04-27-07)

Guitar by Randy Saxon

I saw a wreck today
while riding my bike
a thousand people died
then floated away
laughing
I stood there
as the ambulance arrived
red light on my face
a crowd of people came
helping the driver
who staggers
under the weight
of his past
Jesus
He looks fucked up
is he okay?
he reminds me of
a famous actor
who was in that movie
about the end of the world
or maybe that was
a dream I had

trees dripping green

A fire truck speeds
towards us
graveyard in the background?
sirens wail
the truck flipped
he must have been hauling ass!
someone says
the black marks on
the pavement tell
his story
a drunken night
angry wife
he leaves
I’ve got to go
lives are
shattered
every second
and no one cares
except me and you

the church across the street
sways like a tree

someone could have been killed
the same guy says
his wife sits in the car reading
a church bulletin

yeah
me, I think
me
I could have been killed
could have been me
I saw him a minute sooner
i say to no one in particular
speeding around the corner
missing his shift
gears ripping
cogs tearing
like hardened flesh
it was crazy i said
the death march
shards of well- oiled steel
twinkle on the road
like dead stars
slow down, asshole

something good comes to mind
a margarita would be sweet now
kicking puddles on a
Mexican street
floodlights on a statue of
a long forgotten saint
gone
where am I?
he’s okay
everyone is okay
the world will spin on
and the sun will set
and come up again
ad nauseum
again and again
and here we are
in the darkness
blue shadows
paint you

who cares about this stupid wreck
its devastating beauty
a soft explosion
like a scene from a movie
the extras are gathered
jacked on amphetamine
the stuntman sips water
surveying the scene
I feel alive and
changed forever

I am dead

cameras roll
action
boom
crash
pow
like Batman
breakage
carnage
blood
death
cut
print
cue music
credits roll
audience leaves
in the theatre
popcorn boxes
stuck to the floor
a jacket balled up
in a seat
forgotten
whatever
I do not care
I am in love
so I pedal
through the glass and twisted
logs and steel and blood
and the gasoline rainbows
that pool on the asphalt
whole worlds are in there
I think
watching us
crackling radio
the blue light
of a police car
bounces off
the leaves
disappear
I stop
remembering
electric
I take a photograph for you