secret dreams

so what if

your hair style

is three years

ahead

of the trends

and you will

not regard fashion

because we are

above and

beyond all that

caught between

generations

and

secret dreams

"your mustache

tickles,"

she said.

-- doug smith

 

that shirt

soaring up here

on a colombian

vacation 

looking up to

find you 

straight ahead

looking down

eyes narrow

ears open

for sounds

lending a touch

of thin

but absolute

meaning

strong enough to

stand

wearing someone

else's 

shirt.

douglas brent smith

Alaskan Pipe Line

Sketch: Alaskan Pipe Line, from journal #10, cry Wolf, 1977

Note:

My dad smoked a pipe for years. He favored two flavors of tobacco , one was Old Hickory and the other I do not remember. It's a filthy habit of course but I did enjoy the smell and he did seem so peaceful whenever he had a pipe in his mouth. It was no good for his teeth of course, which he lost and wore dentures for years but that was also probably because of the gallons of heavily sugared iced tea that he drank.

We all drank too much iced tea.

I haven't been to Alaska yet as of this date but it is one of only three states that I have not been to, the others being Hawaii and Montana. Funny, two of them were not states when I was born -- as I often say "that's how OLD I am..."

I did contemplate traveling to work the Alaskan pipe line -- the actual oil line and not the cartoon -- but correctly determined that it was all probably too rugged for me. Life certainly would have changed in a different path, even I'd even survived.

Any way -- that's my silly cartoon.  

-- doug smith

a breath and a sigh

magic never mattered much

spells and incantations are

punchlines pounding air

barely worth a chuckle and

lately most of life stacks

a natural order and predictable

placid piecemeal wave

but

a breath and a sigh ago

in the warm night air

somewhere between the pause

of the sunset and

the promise of dawn

you touched me gently

recklessly upsetting all mystery

a promise no proper landing

dancing between knowing and 

hiding in a never-land of 

grins and giggles

shakes and surprises

dreams and desire

say,

maybe there is magic after all.

douglas brent smith

 

in need of a doctor

she held back her tears

as she told me the reason

she just could not hold me tonight

"i'm in need of a doctor

who does not ask questions

can you tell me a place to go?

and my body is trembling

from a night past remembering

and i don't want the family to know

"why does it happen it's my cross to bear?

i hear thru your silence -- you weren't even there

but i do need some help some how

"i know it's not unusual

it happens all the time

but it's so devastating

when the choice is mine..."

she refused to cry

as she ended the call

"i will find a way

to overcome it all..."

and never spoke of this again.

douglas brent smith

  

openers

universal bang it was a universal bang

it was a universal bang it was

a big bang

got to thinking about the nature of existance

and with a certain degree of persistence

i proceeded to untangle all the angles

that approach us

from the cosmic cloud encroaching us

all leading to the theory

that a weary sort of human

needs awakening acumen

to make sense of any reasoning

and weather all the seasoning

that's bound to blow right thru you

no matter what you do you

come up a little short and then

it slips right thru your hands again

it hasn't changed much to the aliens

deciding if we're enemies or friends

still hoping that we finally get the joke

universal bank it was a universal bang

it was a universal bang it was

a big bang.

douglas brent smith

Note:

from journal #10, cry Wolf (1977)

cry Wolf

here and gone and

here again the most

peculiar fleeing friend

you stay you go you

tell me so i know

it's sure it's what you name

it's all in how you play the game

but oh i wait here for your kiss

there's something that you should not miss:

cry wolf my

dear

and see what shows

the wolf

will

come

and i

will go.

douglas brent smith