looking down at me looking up

Jason Murray
Saturday, May 28th 2011


Testing metal
you break down
crashing through
your self and self

floating on a whim
a cloud of desire
tasting the wind
that once filled your sails

she told me she was dying
that was so long ago
and yet we are both here today
longing for the next thing

We smiled at the thought
of a manhole left open
dropping down and
coming out in China

What did the toast
taste like today
death? or life
or butter and jam

Why did we say goodbye
just now
when we really meant hello
do you know?

The sun winked at me
this morning
and then rose
to its usual chorus

I went to bed
only to dream of
going to bed
only to dream of waking

This flower is full of
insanity, bop
flower of love
hits you in the nose

She came to bed late
ears ringing of hammers
and eyes aching
for watching the metal

the time slipped
and went by me
while I sat reading
my bus sailed past

I walked to the
edge of the world
and looked down
to see me looking up at me.

Kite

Jason Murray
March, 2009

You told me that you had never flown a kite.

I said - We must change that!

And we set out to Myrtle Edwards Park

Stop first at the hardware store.

A reel of string and an inexpensive kite

wrapped in a plastic bag closed with cardboard

Probable five dollars for both.

Dancing through city streets on rubber wheels

in two tons of metal.

Building the kite on the table of the

hood of the car.

The weather was perfect, the wind blew

one way then another first blowing your hair on

then off your expectant face.

A team of two as we tried and tried to launch

this crazy cheap kite.

Finally it flies out of my hands and heads aloft

to heights that make it hard to see.

Where did that kite go? The one we flew

all those years past.

We are both older, and we have changed

from children to parents,

but I would still run to the store,

to buy you a kite and fly it high

above a city beach.

Backcountry, Jason Murray, Winter, 2011

Just a moment more
one more page
Sitting here
doing nothing
going nowhere
but reading
and going
everywhere.
Walking through the
tropical undergrowth
traveling with
bandits
riding the rails
through the backcountry
of Russia
but not today’s Russia
the Russia of tolstoy
of Anna Karina
and Peter the Great
Of wars with Sweden
and in a moment
in a tenament in New York
drunk with the travel
unafraid of the rats
and the knife wielding
drunks
that occupy these pages.
Afraid rather of the
end of this chapter,
this book, the search
trepadatious for a new one.
Just another moment my dear
and I will come with you.

Damned Pencil

I like writing poems
but Haiku is the most fun
My pencil lead broke.

Sitting in the Pub

The taste of one beer
Leaves me wanting another
too many is bad.

the long road

Lost behind the wheel
road stretching out before me
I drink more coffee

No deer, good food, cheap motels

Well, as we plan for TQB Designs North American tour 2011 I am planning my routes to bypass deer, not bypass good food, beer and wine, and find cheap clean hotels with soft beds and lenient pet policies. Last year started out with a bang, or rather a loud thump, as on the early morning of our second day we lost our mirror and sustained about $5000 dollars of damage to our car when a deer decided it needed to cross the road. The car was drivable, and repairable. The deer unfortunately was not.
The rest of the trip went rather more smoothly and provided a good platform for our plans for this year.
This year I plan to write about our travels, our food, and the politics we see along the way (we are doing a show in Wisconsin.)
I look forward to this adventure and to the comments anyone wishes to post to my blog.
Happy Highways:)