Here's a rare stab at "songwriting." This was inspired by the truly grungy part of Eureka, California, residing in the shadows of the paper-mill smokestacks. The aroma around those stacks still is something quite... pungent. The protagonist of this little number, a sortof an Aqualung-when-he-was-young type, is imaginary, though loosely based on some of the burnt-out hippies I knew there.

Just today (3/31/06), my old Humboldt County pal Peter Krakow kindly sent me (among about a dozen other things) the new Mr. Chombo CD, filled with his own compositions, on which, doin' fine on track #9, is his own musical interpretation of Eureka Lot Boy. If you would kindly click on the link to the right (it could take a little while to download), you will provide yourself with a swell soundtrack to accompany your read, for a delightfully well-rounded multi-media experience.

sinus pressure

too much leisure

dreaming that unburied treasure

drops before him from the sky

again the gods spit in his eye

Eureka Lot Boy!

Eureka Lot Boy!

look at all the cars!

savor all the stench

emanating from the bars

in the low rent leg bent box tent heaven sent fender dent

smelly part of town

under the smoke stax

look at all the lonely jacks

huddled over garbage fire

in the fecal quagmire

Eureka Lot Boy!

Eureka Lot Boy!

this is where life's really at

dining on your dead cat

roasted over garbage coals

served on car lot oil bowls

sleeping out here 'tween the cars

so you can look up at the stars

as seen through smokestack haze and stench

much better here than on that bench

in the park downtown all wrapped in paper

much better here in beloved vapor

Eureka Lot Boy!

Eureka Lot Boy!

look at all the cars!

graffiti'd thoughts litter his head

as he lay down in his bed

of oil rags and paper bags, month-old mags and half-smoked fags

Lot Boy looks up from his heap

is startled by an ugly creep

who begs the Lot Boy for some wine

and something on which he can dine

Lot Boy gets up with a start

and issues forth a fatal fart

which catches ugly unawares

he stumbles back into the stairs

of the office trailer on the lot

he sleeves his nose and smears some snot

then struggles up to get away

again the Lot Boy saves the day

Eureka Lot Boy!

Eureka Lot Boy!

look at all the cars

lined up there like tombstones

underneath the stars

and in the drizzle fog with barking dog and smoldered log

Lot Boy knows he IS a cog

in this great stinking machine of a universe

Eureka Lot Boy!