STILL IN LOVE WITH CARTOON OWL:

Slipped un-noticed through grinning crowds,
tens of thousands of skimpies, a wide-eyed flood
faced me down as I returned to our luxury bus from
luxury food with a 60’s twist. The chill backstage
in contrast to the chill wind that bit as I slipped
though the skin of a giant metal party box,
into the night, an alley between the truck & bus
reminding me of darker times a long way from tonight.
Then into the light & heat & laughter of a magnificent
Austrian cruiser. Tucked myself away alone with Johnny Cash
singing songs from the Sun years. Lost myself for two hours
in reverb & simplicity, dark stories delivered in chocolate.
Now these stage clothes feel wrong tonight since those I wore
at that last sublime gathering on the South Bank. They felt
like the future, these feels like cold memory, wrapped up &
delivered in a metal box on a bleak night a long way from a
new groove.
But I saw smiles & I saw hands in the air & I heard screams of
joy, this west midland retrogressive thought is just a late
night sty. The good energy is still there in waves, rushes back
& forth between us, Rick drops the groove & eyes light up, the
kick-drum’s still my dealer.

(K)