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Never Ask a Poet Directions

from Word by Mad Dog Friedman

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lyrics

Never Ask a Poet Directions
- for Jared Smith

To start with
don’t walk too fast.
It is best to lean
into each step
so as to feel the ground

move you.
Circle to your left
under the pitched arm
of the burning tree twisting
its flames toward the fired sky.

Don't forget to duck.
This way you may
enjoy the exquisite
pain of your passing
again and again.

It might go better yet
to model Alice
and make yourself
very, very small.
It may take most of your life

to cross the footprint
of the mother raccoon,
but do not look back
upon a path glittered with regret,
lest you fall like tears

from the eye
of your own making.
When you find that place
where her sharp claws
have punctured the dark loam,

stop and rest.
You may even need to sleep
before you go on.
Most do.
You will know

when you are ready:
the warm heave
of your breath
will wake you. Of course,
it is always dark.

When what little light there is
films the rounded stone like milky dew,
it will be time to move again.
Follow the ragged ravine
winding to your right

as if you were water.
Do not fixate
on the wiggle
of your falling.
Remember,

there is nowhere
to fall but down.
As you catch the hang of it,
you will begin to roar.
The clamor of everyone

you have ever known
will be echoing
vociferously inside you.
A few lusty
cries will rise


from this surge
only to resubmerge
just as they start
to make sense.
You will not be missed,

though it will seem
like forever
you are gone.
Eventually,
things settle down.

You become as flat
and smooth as
a velvet pool
in the moonlight.
There is nothing left

but yourself
as far as
you can see,
and still you
expand.

You will know
when you arrive
because it is like
you have never left.
Ask a poet

directions, only
when you realize
you have
no place
to go.

credits

from Word, released July 28, 2021

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all rights reserved

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Mad Dog Friedman | Mad Dog Blues | Peddlers of Joy image

Mad Dog Friedman | Mad Dog Blues | Peddlers of Joy Lafayette, Colorado

Mad Dog writes from the moment and sings from his heart. His influences include sources as divergent as William Butler Yeats & the delta blues. His songwriting is sincere, simple & often humorous. He has recorded many solo & collaborative projects featuring his spontaneous compositions on harmonica, Native American flute & Theremin. He is also the founder of Mad Dog Blues & The Astral Project. ... more

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