Charles Klamut - Space Traveler

Untitled 1 Untitled 1

7 More Stories
Space Traveler
You Don't Interest Me
Unbury Me
Converter
Friendship

Eva
Where Do You Go?
APB Out On My Soul
I Wish
Go West

7 more stories

freshman year the college gym
the lights went on when she walked in
was it the dark and the bobbing and the curly hair
was it the chin or the mouth that made a fool of him there

a few good friends and a pick-up game
and luckily one knew her he told him her name
the magic dart and the fire in his veins was lit
the question mark and the pains and he knew he was hit

cuz she was eve
she was galadriel
she was the girl from the grecian urn
she was antonia
she was contessina
she was penelope
it’s time to return
she was the girl
from the renoir painting
she was beatrice
she smiled said follow me
there’s 7 more stories to go

Half your life passes and the winters are cold
that’s her growing young this is me growing old
she is the buds on the trees when the leaves turn green
she is the clean light erasing all the dark I’ve seen

she floats through my dreams and she keeps them awake
she takes the bitter edge off all my mistakes
she takes the ghost of the possible and gives him some bones
she finds the orphans of my heart and she gives them a home

cuz she is eve
she is galadriel
she is the girl from the grecian urn
she is antonia
she is contessina
she is penelope
it’s time to return
she is the girl from the renoir painting
she is beatrice
she smiles says follow me
there’s 7 more stories to go

Return to List

APB Out On My Soul

dried up tongues and withered hands
forgotten songs in foreign lands
are not some ancient memory
cuz Babylon’s inside of me

cruelty of Egypt’s curse
the slaves must fill the royal purse
first born killed the red sea crossed
so why is pharaoh still my boss

politician shakes my hand
while rich man comes and takes my land
television numbs my mind
while corporation robs me blind

advertisements brainwash me
click here for more pornography
no more problems no more strife
get rich get more we call this life

am I crazy cuz I want much more
is it wrong to ask what life is for
well I think I see a shaft of life ahead
there’s going to be some changes made
a new song sounds the old ones fade
and it’s telling me that maybe I’m not dead

cuz I’m longing for the promised land
and it’s time for me to take my stand
and it’s getting late and
I’m not gonna wait anymore

let’s run let’s get out now let’s go
let’s fly cuz pretty soon they’ll know
that you and I have taken flight
escaped their clutches in the night

let’s dream let’s hope let’s fight let’s pray
let’s not look back let’s fly away
let’s finally taste what life is for
let’s not be slaves anymore

Yeah...
The poetry police are on patrol
there’s an APB out on my soul
but they won’t catch me they don’t know
I’ve found a place where they can’t go
but we may never get this chance again

lamentation pain and woe
the cup begins to overflow
the poet sighs the child weeps
the preacher lies the prophet sleeps

rivers soon will run with blood
the trees are ash the road is mud
city groans the temple burns
while wrath of retribution churns

and I’m trying to save what I can’t see
and I’m dying to take these chains from me
and do I see a shaft a light ahead
let’s dream let’s hope let’s fight let’s pray
let’s not look back let’s fly away
let’s finally taste what life is for
let’s not be slaves anymore

converter
life emails you a file
millions of megs
but it’s in zip format
and you lack the software to open it

so there it sits unopened
unconverted
and just when you think you’ve found the key
you press enter and crash

and the red x and the hourglass
are the story of your life
and the horrible sound your computer just made
stabs you like a knife
you need a converter
you need a converter

life offers you a poem
and you reach to grab it
ham fisted cruel and eager
greedy and wasteful
it’s like a butterfly
caught by the school bully

it beats its precious papery wings
a few times before dying
you’d like to say that you don’t care
but you know that if you did
you’d be lying

cuz the life of one more living thing
has just been taken out
and you cry because you’re so stupid
and you just can’t figure it out
you need a converter

you need a converter
to turn this sad face to a smile
you need a converter
to turn this grown up to a child
you need a converter
to turn this noise into a song
you need a converter
because you’re doing it all wrong

well you walk down the street it’s shivering cold
your mind is a waste your heart feels old
you smile with a mouth full of broken teeth
your lips are cracked you’ve had nothing to eat
but the bread you were given
that’s been turned into stones
and the flesh that hangs from your weary old bones

you can blame it on the man
but his prison has air conditioning and a flat screen
and besides you know
you couldn’t make it on the outside
so you do the crime you do the time
you pay the price you don’t think twice
and no one’s at risk and no one’s getting hurt
cuz the victim of the murder
is only you

life sends you a friend
and everything is new
you’re ready to begin again
and everything is new
and you smile
cuz you feel so surprised

well you got so good at giving up
that you started to forget
that there’s more to this than you first thought
and the story’s not finished yet
you need a converter
you need a converter

you need a converter to turn this darkness into light
you need a converter to turn this blindness into sight
you need a converter to turn these colors into art
you need a converter to turn this stone into a heart
you need a converter to turn this sad face to a smile
you need a converter
to turn this grown up to a child
you need a converter to turn this noise into a song
you need a converter
because you’re doing it all wrong

Return to List

Go West

nasturtiums leaves like dinner plates
giant blooms of red orange bells
ringing like alarm clocks for my heart
not to wake it rudely for another day of drudgery
but with a different sort of urgency this time
fields of orange poppies are
exploding from the dry dull earth
fragile foliage blooming like some miracle
bursting forth in gratitude
bright smiling in the clear warm sun
squandering their beauty as the cars whiz by

go west young man forget your fears
go west forsake the old frontiers
go west and hear your heart’s true cry
and heed that voice you’ve always heard
but somewhere learned to call absurd
go west and find your sunlit sky

cuz withered aspirations are beginning to revive
with the outrageous possibility
that it’s good to be alive
and so your policies of containment
are going to have to be defied
by secret forces with the audacity
to refuse to be denied

so go west
it’s time to wake your heart
go west
it’s time for life to start

winding ribbons hug the base
of mountains road of freedom
windblown hair a smile adorns a sun-warmed face
bordering the farthest limit
between earth and untamed sea
and redefining space of so-called ownership
redwoods climb to heaven unsuppressed
they’ve found a rare and unmolested space
to huddle as a family
sustain each other’s ascent into
freedom of the sky
as dappled sun drips golden drops of life
onto the forest floor

go west young man forget your fears...
cuz withered aspirations are beginning to revive...

ocean and my heart no opposition
between them there lies
a secret recognition, something more
up and leave behind the measured
space allotted me by those
who try and tell me what my life is for

go west with me into a space
where earth and sea and hearts embrace
go west and find your destiny
before that coast whose vast dimensions
finally match your heart’s intentions
west and take some rest with me

cuz withered aspirations are beginning to revive...

so go west
it’s time to wake your heart
go west
it’s time for life to start

Return to List

Space traveler

darkness falls to shades of night
a promise flickers points of light
stars appear reminding me
I’m far from where I want to be

smile presence human touch
my friend I miss you very much
eternal springs a gaping need
a heart to love a soul to feed

cuz you are there and I am here
a million miles away
this space prevents my coming near
alone it makes me stay

space
I’m a space traveler
and I’m trying to find a
place
in this void to land this lonely ship
and finally find a home

morning clears the night away
the sun arrives with gentle ray
the birds they share a secret song
I try in vain to sing along

mirror shows familiar face
creases lines a hopeless case
I look at him a stranger see
a stranger’s face looks back at me

cuz you are there and I am here
a million miles away
this space prevents my coming near
alone it makes me stay

well listen...
you don’t have to hurt yourself
you don’t have to die
you don’t have to hate yourself
but go ahead and cry

cuz california’s far away
and china’s farther still
but after these remains
an even greater space to fill

there are trains and cars and planes
to take me to your door
internet and cell phone
shrink the world even more

but what is this that all our tools
are powerless to beat
this space that even astronauts
and spaceships can’t defeat

cuz I am there and you are here
a million miles away
this space prevents us coming near
alone it makes us stay

you can have the silver moon
jupiter and mars
you can have the milky way
the sky and all its stars
I’m traveling a different space
a journey to undo
the hurt the tears
the hate the fears
that separate me from you

space
I’m a space traveler
I’m just trying to find a
place
in this void to land this lonely ship
and finally find a home
space
we’re space travelers
we’re just trying to find a
face
in this void to smile on us
and tell us that we’re home

Return to List

Unbury Me

unbury me
childhood laughter love
beneath the debris
unbury me
colors faded fallen and false
I’m an eye that can’t see
unbury me

cuz I don’t want to be
cigarette stub in the ashtray of time
walking cliche I’m a cheap pickup line
unpromised land I’m an unreached for hand
I’m an unending demand for you

unbury me
straight and cold
angles of my soul
bars of this cage
unbury me
breathe into this hole
put your lips to my soul
kiss me free from this rage
unbury me

cuz I don’t want to be
pile of black snow in a strip mall parking lot
trashy novel with a predictable plot
unpromised land I’m an unreached for hand
I’m an unending demand for you
unbury me
unbury me

unbury me
turn this tomb
I dug myself
into a womb
unbury me
from under the earth
pull me out
just like she’s giving birth

unbury me
I want to know
unbury me
it’s time to go
unbury me
I want to know
it’s time for me to go

unbury me
your heart pumps wine
pour some into mine
till I’m drunk as a fool
unbury me
if you were my teacher
I’d learn every lesson
and keep every rule
unbury me
unbury me

cuz I don’t want to be
rootless and fruitless
witless and weightless
bloodless and breathless
I’m dying
shiftless and faceless
artless and aimless
I’m begging I’m shameless this time
unpromised land I’m an unreached for hand
I’m and unending demand for you

Return to List

Where Do You Go

when the pressure’s on and the steps are cruel
and hope’s just a word that reveals a fool
when the suffering makes it increasingly clear
that this place is too much and you have to disappear
where do you go
where do you go
when the ugliness chokes you and poisons your skin
and the rats have just about chewed their way in
well your beer turns to barley and the wine turns to grape
and your soul turns to dirt and you have to escape
where do you go
where do you go

well the crowd gathers round and they want you to perform
but your heart’s in winter you’re just trying to stay warm
and the voices are sneering
you’re trying to be strong
but love is extinguished and you have to be gone
but where do you go
where do you go

exiles you and me
could this be the start of a new reality
let’s start a new place from our no place
we’ll rise from the ashes and we’ll finally show our face

when the one they call you takes a break from it all
with no address no message and no number to call
well the curtains are pulled and the shutters are drawn
the house is still there but the owner has gone
where do you go
where do you go
well they gave you a number they gave you a card
a house in the suburbs a fence and a yard
a comfort a pill to erase every pain
no place to be human but who’s to complain
but where do you go
where do you go

well the crowd gathers round...
Exiles you and me...

Where are you when you’re no place
mask on tight but you’re in flight
crowd cheers on but you’re all gone
but where do you go
where do you go
if there’s no room to be human
where does human go
no room for the soul where does soul go
no room for love where does love go
no room for me
where do I go

where have you gone my blue-eyed son
that hard rain is falling will it ever be done
when you’re nothing and no place there’s no coming near
but upon your return I’ll be waiting
waiting right here

Return to List

You Don’t Interest Me

mr bug crawl away find a hole disappear
cuz you’re ugly and you’re creepy and you’re not welcome here
well you’re black and you’re small and you live underground
and you’ve got twelve legs and you make a nasty sound

mr squirrel in your tree with your acorn and your nut
you scamper through the forest doing god knows what
you dig through the garden and you cackle with your friends
your tear up all my flowers and you never make amends

miss bird go away cuz I don’t want you
cuz I’ve never figured out how to fly like you do
and you sing too loud when I’m still in bed
you shit when you fly and it could land on my head

miss flower you’re a beauty and I can’t deny
that your smell and color please my nose please my eye
but summer’s gonna end I know just what you’ll do
you’ll wither and you’ll die and then you’ll leave me too

so you don’t interest me
my heart’s not moved so why not just let me be
I won’t let go no I won’t let you in
and you can’t have power cuz you might just win

Mr cloud white and fluffy well I guess you can stay
but your dark grey cousin’s always chasing you away
and if you didn’t come around then my sky would still be blue
my mood is always changing and it’s all because of you
mr wind I’m so tired of you blowing me around
and you’re messing up my hair and so I wish you’d settle down
mrs earth you’re my home so I guess that we’re stuck
but I’d still rather be somewhere else so don’t press your luck

mr sun you’re a promise you’re a healer you’re a sign
there’s times I’d pay a million dollars just to see you shine
but you can’t be counted on you never stay for long
and in the heat of the summertime you shine too strong

miss friend I was dreaming that you’d given me a kiss
but I woke up cursing cuz it’s too much risk
mr brother wear your mask cuz you don’t want to be
mistaken for another ugly person like me
mr heart would you stop you’re driving me insane
well you won’t stop wanting and it’s too much pain
well you’re always crying and you never take a rest
and I try to keep things neat but you always make a mess

so you don’t interest me
my heart’s not moved so please just let me be
I won’t let go no I won’t let you in
and you can’t have power cuz you might just win
no you don’t interest me
so please just let me be
no you won’t get to me
cuz you don’t interest me

miss flower miss bird mr squirrel mr cloud
come back please forgive me cuz my heart’s too proud
mr wind mrs earth mr bug mr sun
it’s not you you’re beautiful I’m the ugly one
miss friend mr brother can’t you see I’m dying
mr heart I’m sorry that I yelled at you for crying
but you won’t stop crying and you never take a rest
and I try to keep things neat and you always make a mess

so I keep pretending and I keep up appearances
and pray you’ll forgive me for my frequent disappearances
I love my heart I hate my heart
and I try to be happy but I don’t know where to start

but you still interest me
my heart’s made of stone so please don’t let me be
I’m trying to let go see I’m trying to let you in
and I’m trying to give you power cuz I don’t want to win

you still interest me
my heart is opening it’s trying to break free
and I still need you and I’m trying to let you in
and please don’t give up on me I want you to win
you still interest me
and you are beautiful
my heart is beautiful
so don’t give up on me
and don’t believe me when I say
you don’t interest me

Return to List

I wish

I wish that we could get along
I wish I wasn’t weak but strong
I wish I wasn’t such a bore
I wish I’d learn to smile more

I wish my thoughts would be more clear
I wish that I could be free from fear
I wish the world would be more kind
I wish we the world would be less blind

I wish my dreams would all come true
I wish that I could talk to you
I wish our hearts could all be free
I wish that you would talk to me
and maybe we’d be friends at last

I wish there weren’t so many tasks
I wish there weren’t so many masks
I wish we wouldn’t have to roam
I wish that we could find our home

I wish the sun would always shine
I wish the water would turn to wine
I wish we’d find a place to rest
I wish that we could fix this mess

I wish the violence would end
I wish that we could all be friends
I wish that we would never lie
and never make each other cry
and maybe we’d find peace at last

I wish that I would be more true
I wish that I would be good to you
I wish I’d finally understand
I wish I’d be a better man

I wish that God would show his face
and show us all we have a place
I wish that God would come and stay
and show us all a better way

I wish our hearts weren’t made of stone
I wish we wouldn’t be alone
I wish the thunder clouds above
would spill their guts and rain down love
and maybe we’d be clean at last

I wish that we could imagine more
I wish we’d see what life is for
I wish we’d find the strength to start
a new revolution of the heart

Return to List

Eva

for JW
Pony tailed soccer star
with a crooked smile and life so far
as good and true as any child could know
daddy’s bottle shook her heart
and took her world quite apart
before it really had the chance to grow
and Eva came to grow quite used
to all his cursing and abuse
she learned to spend a lot of time away
and sometimes she would pause and think
that never would she take a drink
and sometimes she would stay up late and pray...
childhood summers came and went
and soon her hours so often spent
on make believe and grandma’s dolls
then turned to clothes and shopping malls
she found a whole new paradigm
sensed a new thrill every time
she turned the head of certain boys
charmed them with her grace and poise
oh Eva you’re a very special girl
Eva what is happening in your world??
I’d like to light a candle start a flame
hey Eva someone’s calling out your name
I think it might be Jesus...

She lost her flowers lost her sense
she gave away her innocence
surrendering to what had seemed so real
passion love and tenderness
turned into a wilderness
as she asked did I give or did he steal?
Then she seemed to turn a corner
no one tried to stop and warn her
it seemed to come to her with so much ease
she read the ladies’ magazines
and frequented the party scenes
and her self-destruction always seemed to please
fetters chains and locked-in walls
waiting for her boyfriend’s calls
binging purging birth control
and sleeping pills can’t fill the hole
another finger down her throat
until she finds the antidote
for getting back what seemed to fade
and die when she was in eighth grade
oh Eva you’re a small and fragile child
Eva it’s been so long since you smiled
I’d like to light a candle start a flame
hey Eva someone’s calling out your name
I think it might be Jesus...

What used to giver her quite a thrill
now just kind of makes her ill
she tries her best to shut out the details
her wounded pride and phony friends
encourage her as she pretends
prozac and some wine when all else fails
of course she hasn’t got the sense
to walk away and so at length
she finds the way to make her troubles fade
it only lasts a little time
but she never has too far to climb
to temporarily escape her masquerade
sometimes she will fight despair
while others scarcely seem to care
she wants to scream and pound her fists
and say we weren’t meant to live like this
but there’s no point in violent rage
so she locks it back inside her cage
she sometimes thinks of her first kiss
and wonders how it came to this...
Oh Eva is there something we can do?
Is anyone more miserable than you?
I’d like to light a candle start a flame
hey Eva someone’s calling out your name
I think it might be Jesus...

Return to List

Converter

life emails you a file
millions of megs
but it’s in zip format
and you lack the software to open it