STRIPED DOWN AND LOUD

Striped down and loud
Got to hear that sound
Hear that riff that rips the air

Striped down and loud
Never let anything bring you down
That falsetto voice will anoint

Striped down and loud
Got the words to encourage
Hear the truth hear the tune

Striped down and loud
Making sounds that come from the touch of two
The desire sometimes not what you feel but what you do

Striped down and loud
Don't understand what it's all about
Emotions put the words in your mouth

Striped down and loud
Symbols have no name if love is just a game
Can't say it any other way

Striped down and loud
Got to pray through the pain
Don't want to waste away the same way

Striped down and loud
Think the best times are now you just haven't been around
You have yet to hear the true funky sound

Striped down and loud
Talentless proclaim they are the best
They don't even know how to dress

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2017

CELEBRATE HER

Cursed and loved
Everybody got one
God's gift to man
Creator of life is the master plan

Celebrate her
She got the curves that brings life to this world
Celebrate her
The only one who can be a mother to a boy or girl

She walks like no other
Back and fouth her hips are like thunder
You work to posse her with a slick line
She has to choose you so don't even lie

Celebrate her
She got the curves that brings life to this world
Celebrate her
The only one who can be a mother to a boy or girl

Creator of unconditional love
It is something you can't run away from
In life, there will always be pain

No reason to curse her name

Celebrate her
She got the curves that brings life to this world
Celebrate her
The only one who can be a mother to a boy or girl

Man tries to make laws
Say she got no choice at all
If all women knew all of what they got
Man would be gripping the only thing they got

Celebrate her
She got the curves that brings life to this world
Celebrate her
The only one who can be a mother to a boy or girl

A muse that inspires the one everyone desires
She is proof God is no liar she can start and cool a fire

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2017

POSSESSION

Collection of knowledge can't just be put on the shelf
It is looking deep inside of one's self
Outside desires can't be obtained like this
They are just memories like when you had your first kiss

Possession is nine-tenths of the law
You have nothing when your back against the wall
Success in more than having it all

Having things make you feel like a success
A big house, a nice car, a designer dress
But what is the value of emptiness
Sitting in first class is not a sign of success

Possession is nine-tenths of the law
You have nothing when your back against the wall
Success in more than having it all

Claiming you have friends but no one is there when it all ends
Smartest guy in the room and it's not you
Held down by the weight of your own ego, some wonder do you even have a soul
You don't own the air even when it blows through your hair

Possession is nine-tenths of the law
You have nothing when your back against the wall
Success in more than having it all

How did you earn what you've have been given

Bullied your way through life calling it success

Talking like you know all the answer but you cheated on the test

Living in a borrowed house all your claimed friends are your mental prisoners

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2017

MORNING OVER AHMEDABAD

The sun pokes it's face
Through the gray haze
From the rough top
I sit in my own peace

Morning over Ahmedabad
Above the sandalwood trees
The feeling that is only found in dreams

The baritone call of a waking bull
The buzz of motor cycle passing by
In the market debates of the price of dates
The clinking of the spoon stirring the mornings chi

Morning over Ahmedabad
It is much more than a place
It is feeling that is beyond meaning

Many smells masked by burning trash
A pail of soapy water smacks on the street bellow
The thin lines of smoke from burning incense
In this experience time does not exist

Morning over Ahmebad
No other place like this

 © Copyright Thomas Dooley 2017

NEVER TO BE

Drips of a dream found in these tears
No sadness love is all I can hear
The voice of the soul whispers in my ear

Falsetto sounds in the tune
Gave life to the muse
She has me thinking of you

Never to be a brother, Never to be a friend
In the cycle of life, I hope to pass you again

One-color in my pallet is all I need
For the pictures that you sing
Setting the sound free

If I chose to be anyone, it wouldn't be you
I would be the muse just to see what you do
To see the alchemy of a creative groove

Never to be brother, Never to be a friend
The story is not over when the light comes on at the end

Copyright ©2017 Thomas Dooley

Notes 2020: To sound strange, the times I write a poem, I some times hear PRINCE say a line not in a song but in my mind. Later I would find out I used a word he doesn't use or in referring to how he creates his art. I found this out while reading his book The Beautiful Ones, that it is the dark art of turning metal into gold. I know this will resonate in my mind in trying to understand this description of his artistic process.
In trying to come up with an alternate description, I see it as an opportunity to be more creative. What I see it as the use of profanity in any kind of art comedy, music, and movies, etc. Trying to find this elusive wording that best describes the process. What this will do is pull a crutch right out from under me and teach me to walk, it will open up more creative opportunities and bring more depth to my writing.
Outside the literal definition of the word, an alternate could be a recipe, but that would make it sound like anyone could do it. But PRINCE is not just anyone, and no one can do what he does.
   

JASMINE AND INCENSE

Sitting inside my silent mind to find what is inside
Close my eyes for deep visions to feel peace without permission
I am more than skin and bones I am a soul

Jasmine and incense fill the aura of the room
A sitar sets the mood as the sister plays the flute

Dreams of experiences in a land far from me
In a place, I have never known but when I go it feels like home
When there at me every one stair every one wants a photo with *gora vyakti

Jasmine and incense fill the aura of the room
A sitar sets the mood as the sister plays the flute

The words of wisdom filled with peace and love
From GOD is where it comes from
My mind wanders into drowsy thought

Jasmine and incense fill the aura of the room
A sitar sets the mood as the sister plays the flute

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2016

*In Hinglish, a gora is an informal word for a White or fair-skinned man

YOUR NUMBER

Your number is coming
It was set before your grandfather death
It will have you wondering
How did we turn down the path to the end
In the chaos, you will be running
Talking Heads saying "How did we get here?"

Your number is next
666 placed on your neck
He fooled you into it blinded by forgiveness
In your mind, there will be no rest

Like a masked clown in a dark alley
Signing his name to lies like it is reality
The dreams we had are now the nightmares we live
It is the punishment for our fears

Your number is planned
666 placed in your hand
Now how you going to live day to day
Don't worry the yellow smoke will lead the way

Every wrong for protesting a lie
Now the truth is easy to hide
Everyone jump on the waggon it is going to be a bumpy ride
When the driver is blind

Your number is dead
666 placed on your head
Living a zombie life
Not knowing day from night

Apocalypse of ignorance no one wanted it
But ever one clamouring for a front row seat
Smiling with nothing to eat and no doctor to see
Death and taxes are the only reality

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 1968 - 2017