Gary Heffern

Caught between the longing for love


And the struggle for the legal tender


Where the sirens sing and the church bells ring


And the junk man pounds his fender


Where the veterans dream of the fight


Fast asleep at the traffic light


And the children solemnly wait


For the ice cream vendor


Out into the cool of the evening


Strolls the ...Pretender


He knows that all his hopes and dreams


Begin and end there

-J-L-P-

Jeffrey Lee Pierce

"one fine day"

Ladies and gentlemen, hobos and tramps,
I stand before you and sit behind you
to tell you something I know nothing about!
Admission is free, you must pay at the door;
So pull up a chair and sit on the floor.
The show is over, but before you go,
let me tell you a story I don't really know :

One bright day, in the middle of the night
two dead boys got up to fight
back to back; they faced each other;
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
He came and shot those two dead boys.
If you don't believe this lie is true...
just ask the blind man; he saw it too!

"Antigonish"

Yesterday upon the stair

I saw a man who wasn’t there

He wasn’t there again today

Oh, how I wish he’d go away

When I came home last night at three

The man was waiting there for me

But when I looked around the hall

I couldn’t see him there at all!

Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!

Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door

Last night I saw upon the stair

A little man who wasn’t there

He wasn’t there again today

Oh, how I wish he’d go away

"Antigonish" (1899)^[2]