So, the first time I saw him was at the annual city festival
At the end of the plaza, on, uh, Punker Hill
Also known as The Island of Misfits
Um, It’s like a mound of black leather and army surplus jackets
And boots and spiky egg-white hairdos and mohawks
And second generation Exploited and Minor Threat and Sex Pistols patches and stuff
Basically a haven for the misunderstood punk-y, rock-y, goth-y, woe is me types
And, uh, and there he was, right in the middle of it all
Um, oversized yellow foam-rubber cowboy hat
And, pink plastic Toys-R-Us pistols and holster
Off-white dashiki, uh, shirt, and tattered bell bottom jeans
Leather feet, Raleigh cigarette finger stains
And he was an island within an island, and I just, kinda had to know more
So, I, uhh, I sat with him for hours just trying to get a bearing on his beautiful insanity
Every third inquiry was met with, you know, an eloquent but unusual response
And, you know, the subsequent exchange
It kinda warranted continuing the conversation, cause he was, he was interesting
Uh, ‘course the other, the other reason my efforts where dismissed
While he took in the constant flow of the festival crowd, all around us
A raging river of multi cultural music, art, food, families, uh
All of this with his Walkman at full volume
I think it was Foreigner, playing through the headphones
And I asked maybe, you know: Hey maybe you could turn that down, so we can talk?
And he replied: Can you hear me? And I said yes
He said: Well, then it’s fine
He never really pretended, not once, to be able to organize
All of this chaos that was going on around us
Uh, he just unapologetically chose which pieces to focus on
Well, you know, after a few hours we seemed to have found our stride
Found our rhythm, kinda settled into it
And we’re having these intermittent conversations, uh
Flipping back and forth between the chaos and the focus
And then, just kinda out of no where, he seemed to become a little unsettled and disturbed
And I asked him what was wrong and he just blurted out peanut parents in syrup
And then he looked at me like I would know what that means, and then he said
You have any, do you have any batteries?
So Basically his, his walkman was running out of power
And he just needed batteries, so before I could ever turn and ask
One of our fellow punkers for some double-A’s
He grabbed my face with both hands
And then for the first time in the entire conversation
He gave me his complete focus and attention, completely present, and calmly said
We will never know world peace, until three people
Can simultaneously look each other straight in the eye
Should the oceans rise
Should the sky come falling down
Should the islands tremble beneath us
See our better nature blossom
Should the Sun rain fire
Should Hell on Earth freeze over
And our inner beast wake hungry
See our better nature feed them
Should the Sun rain fire
Should Hell on Earth freeze over
And our inner beast wake hungry
See our better nature feed and calm them
Find a way through, around, or over
Find a way through, around, or over
Find a way through, around, or over
Find a way through, around, or over
Find a way through, around, or over
Find a way through, around, or over
Find a way through, around, or over
