weather patterns

the new season is surely upon us. and with it, just as surely, have come new weather patterns and the occasional storm.

the problem with being the older one, the experienced one, the adult, is that, as each storm passes, you often have just enough perspective to be able to say, while shaking your head in disbelief, "i thought i knew better than that."

what you do know for certain is, if there's a kid involved, there's probably gonna be a next time. and next time, you need to get it right...

definitely not the back seat of your mother's buick

this love sears the flesh from my bones
sets my hair ablaze
makes me scream; mad, joyful,
into the London night

you are my jesus my heroin
my rock'n'roll my final release
and we burn wholes through the ozone
with wide, beautiful, dilated eyes

excerpted from, "What Kind of Love?"
from Songs from the Shooting Gallery
by Tony O'Neill

Burning Shore Press,
scheduled for release
Winter 2007