I was watching the movie Rattle and Hum for the third time that day, the first day I got it.  In case you don't already know, I'm obsessed with U2.  They inspire me a lot.  In this poem it's really obvious and direct. (see Stratocaster/Silver Steel) I mean, the poem is about that certain part in the movie, and you can tell, especially if you've seen the movie.  The live version of With Or Without You.  It's awesome.  Anyway, this poem is actually kind of funny... 

Sitting in my room
Eating my dinner
I stare at Bono
He is in my room
Completely contained within the television
Singing such a beautiful rendition
I am glued to the screen

I stare at the TV, even as I write
"Yeah we'll shine like stars in the summer night"
A gentle blue light shines up from below
Though a grille it makes a magical glow
His voice is so soothing
I can't stop drooling
He stares at something behind the camera that I cannot see
His eyes look glazed
---Or so it seems
But behind sweet sugar icing
---Sadness lingers (Sadness hides)
------And something gleams 

This is based on The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie. It's a good book. Read it.

The ground beneath her feet was no more
Standing outside her hotel door
The earth opened up and swallowed her down
Never again to be seen or found
First there was shock, then there was mourning
But the earthquake was just a warning
Of what was to come
Two worlds colliding, not mixing
But fighting
It shouldn't be this way
Which one will die?
Which one will survive, to see another day?

This is a poem about sharing the back seat with the four-legged princess. Our sweet little cocker spaniel, Sera. 

I don't like the dog
She won't stop scratching
My eyes are itching
She's polluting the air
With her doggie hair
It's making me sneeze
She's not supposed to have fleas
Sera! Hello? I'm allergic to you!
Now the whole car smells like flea shampoo!
Will you stop scratching your ears?
My eyes are filled with itchy tears 

Remember I was talking about being inspired by U2?  Well, same for this one, except it's not as obvious.  The thing about this poem is, the reason it's so weird, why the structure is so screwed up, is because the whole time I was writing, I was listening to Achtung Baby at full volume, on the headphones.  It was so loud I couldn't hear myself think.  I couldn't hear the words in my mind, they went straight from my mind to my hands, I never really thought about them.  Why didn't I turn down the volume?  I had this feeling that the roll I was on was coming from the music.  (The last verse is just so Mysterious Ways, it's not even funny) 

A computer plain
Laid with squares
Of green vinyl lines
That stretch beyond

The Stratocaster
A contraption
That sends a wave
Across the plain
To infinity
To eternity

In all directions
It speaks out
It stretches
It sings

It is the wave
That turns the tide
It's beautiful blue
And it is alive

Hello Stratocaster
Have you come to save me?
To deliver me from my pain
And my misery

Hello Stratocaster
You send a message to the world
What it is, though I have yet to know

For the night is black
The vinyl square plain is green
The wave is beautiful blue
And the Stratocaster is in between

Stratocaster,
Your silver steel strings
Slice my delicate fingers
of three silver rings
But I play on
And on...

Through the night I play
Until the break of day
My fingers are bloody
I feel no pain

For the music that flows
is like Spirit
Hath taken a form
That nobody knows

Sprit takes many forms
Sometimes it is the wave
Sometimes it is the plain
Sometimes it is the moon
And it will eventually wane

Only to return
Only to come back
And do it again
 

Your silver steel strings
Are stained with the blood
That is my life
That sings through the night

My Stratocaster
is baby blue
It sings loud and clear
And it sings true

The pain I feel
Is pain that will heal
It's only my skin
And silver steel

The pain I don't feel
Is pain that won't heal
Because my heart is numb
Like silver steel

I am the spirit
That moves on the moment
I am the wave
That is not cast away
Cast away

Stratocaster

This one has really good rythm and structure. I wrote it while I was in California, at the Thousand Trails campground somewhere in Northern California. 

I had the perfect shot
From the perfect spot
It was the film that I forgot

Run back, run back
Get it and go
What are you doing?
Can I go?

Asks the little girl that has to know
What is that?
What are you doing?

This is a camera
I'm taking a picture

Is it the creek?
Is it the tree?
Are you gonna take a picture of me?

I didn't tell her
What she didn't see
I'm taking a picture of irony

NOR(thern) CAL(ifornia) etched on a tree
next to a creek
as pretty as can be

I put it on film
it belongs to me
and it becomes
eternity