coffee house blues

walkin' to the coffee house
early in the day
wishin' this guitar player
would just
go away

dude...
I haven't had my
     coffee yet

back in the day
I used to play
late at night
by smokey light
trying to be
the next
bobbi dylan
or
Joan
or Joni

now
I'm walking for my health
-for my blood pressure-
and
first thing-
there you are
with your steel string guitar
strumming loudly with a plastic pick
singing
old songs
not very well

and they were
out of newspapers
and the latte's not that good
the scone is dry
but they do try

What can I say
nothing-
I read what paper I can find

the topic today
is how to make the homeless
go away
"they"
are cleaning up the river-bottom
so now these poor souls
are
all over town
scaring everyone
to death
pan-handling with
pit-bulls

it's tough out there
now-days

a friend
who has a friend
who just returned
from europe
says
there are no homeless there
they have "places"
where people can go
in their own country
to lay
their heads .

I have always seen it
as a threat
by a purely capitalistic
     mind set
-work hard
-go to school
-work harder yet
or you too
will be
like them

with nothing but a stolen
grocery cart
and a welfare check
to call your own
that-
and a killer dog

what oh what
is this world
coming to

(must end on a happier note)
they come here
for the weather
I've heard them say-
it's not 100 degrees
all day
the beach is nice-
people try to help

someone  in the coffee house said
he was offered money
and he wasn't asking
-isn't  a panhandler
-is not homeless
--just dressed for
"casual Friday"
very casual-
so
the happy note is
that there are people out there
who want to help
who might even help
you
or I

and that
music is not dead
-just in traction-