Little Richard Still Kicks Ass

Bradley Mason Hamlin (and Nicky)

HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION
—Bradley Mason Hamlin, Sacramento

That
shadow
standing in the corner

you
know the one,
you don’t have to
lie to me

you saw
lightning crashing
outside your window
and knew

it was only
your skeleton dancing

the moon cried
and you
reached out
and touched its face

it’s all right, amigo
there
is work to be done

I am not a werewolf
but I know
how to scream

and
that typewriter
in the closet
knows

the password

to your computer
and everything your
fingertips
have ever touched

because
this
is your moment

under the sun

and the moon
is
jealous.

__________________

NAKED DRUNK AND BEAUTIFUL
—Bradley Mason Hamlin

Central Valley sunshine
illuminates
her long blonde hair
while she sits
on the patio chair
and drinks a beer
from Chico, California

Crazy black birds
sing up in the trees
in spite of pollution
garbage trucks growling
and weirdoes
with wind machines howling

It’s Sunday
and she wears sunglasses
and a cowboy hat
and never minds the
dead leaves softly blowing

The sun
is doing what it does best
making her skin feel hot
enough to drink another

Tilting that hat
to the west
alone
naked
drunk
and beautiful.

__________________

INVESTIGATING THE PEACE SIGN
—Bradley Mason Hamlin

Rolling out from Sacramento
reach the water
and Red Baron pokes up out of bay
as he has for many years
Mission & Main
a three-decker bus
a breeze blowin down Market Street
pigeons o’ plenty
Pier 1, more water
Big & Delta, Home Of the Tractor Tugs
Pier 23
Port of S.F.
Bay Street
Horn Blower Yachts
The Wharf
Pier 39
$4.00 an hour parking
Pier 35
31
29
South Beach Harbor
Embarcadero ...
a hippie lifts his fingers in the mystic "V"
Peace Sign!
hotdog stand claims fine sausage
street-side entertainment ...
Butterfly Man
juggling fire sticks, swallowing flames
says to me, “Hey Hollywood!
Yeah you, the guy with the shades.
I’m gonna toss you something.”
I didn’t wait.
scotch & water with the Alcatraz Boys:
Bernard Cay, Frank Lee Morris,
John William Anglin, Clarence Anglin,
Al “Scarface” Capone
Golden Bear Boat
piss when you have to
don’t save up anything
give it all away
boiled crab and chocolate ice cream
Tower Records
bought an LP called Brad Is Sex
Mason Street
Burger King restroom, let it go ...
Presidio
Trees smell like cut piss
drinking Green Hornets
do not stop at Ginsberg Café
Lombard Street
Crooked Ass Street
Asian faces and Yoga College
Cable cars!
Greenwich & Telegraph Hill
Chinatown
Occidental Grill
Sushi
Sacramento Street
Shin Shin, Inc.
Buddha in pink neon
6 bucks for a drink
kids carrying bags of chickens
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cakes for sale
bright lights sun sinking
down beyond bridges and bay water
little boys selling
Chinese Playboy magazines for $7.00
firecrackers poppin on street
Kung Fu School
beatin’ drums on corner
Ba-boo-bing! Bang-bing-bing!
no map but winding spider’s web back
and there he is!
the hippy!
the ambassador!
the mayor of IT all waving,
the peace sign retreating
back where it belongs
—inside hip pocket.

_________________

LABOR DAY MARGARITAS
—Bradley Mason Hamlin

When you feel sometimes your days rushing to end
you can stop worrying about most books you haven’t
read fuck em you go back to Jack London & Ray
Bradbury make damn sure you didn’t miss something
you dig up any lost treasures from Stan Lee & Jack
Kirby turn pages with nostalgic glee you drink the
booze only when necessary and as good as you can
afford you make love like a warrior while making
war like a lover then decide once again you’re
never gonna die and go for drunken broke dancing
on table tops with beautiful blonde she’s in
fishnets and laughing at your invisible jokes
drowning, drunk, drinking and waving your crooked
fuck-you finger at the scythe swinging at your neck.

 Brad and Nicky

MY NEIGHBOR SELLS DRUGS ...
—Bradley Mason Hamlin

He’s a
good neighbor,
doesn’t bother me
or bang on my door
like the next door kid
from the other side
of the house

He’s a good neighbor
but he sells drugs

and I could
ignore it, I guess

but it’s not
good for the Sacramento hood
in secret suburbs
we don’t like
random
people at the curb
running in
running out

could be bill collectors
assassins or church
people

He’s a
good neighbor
but I had to yell
at two of his
customers
because they parked
in front of
my house

just teenage girls

and now
he avoids me
while
playing Texas hold ‘em
online
and getting yelled at
by his woman

Sometimes
you realize
you never really know
anybody

but he’s supposed
to prune my palm tree
and chainsaw
additional yard work
in exchange for
for my old Ford van

He’s a good neighbor
but he’s not fixing
my fucking palm tree

and meanwhile
a crazy raccoon
lives in my attic
and I haven’t done
a goddamn thing about
that critter
either.

________________

NO EASY RIDE (1996)
—Bradley Mason Hamlin

Downtown Sacramento, watching Easy Rider @ The Crest
Theatre with my girl and her squarehead cousin from England,
passing a bottle of American whiskey as we walked back to
parking lot and the little red Japanese car.

I find a note on windshield:

                                 NICE PARKING JOB
                                         ASSHOLE!
                           CHECK YOUR RIGHT SIDE

Flat tire of course ...

A short and scruffy security officer walks over, rubbing sleepy
eyes … “Wow, I didn’t see anything.  I was chasing winos.”

Sometimes life is mean and random and violent for no apparent
reason. I shrug my shoulders, call a tow, and try to summon a
force-field into heart and dream, baby. I dream we figure the
secret code of time so we can all throw away our watches. I
dream that Americans rediscover the guts to be kind, just for
the hell of it and love your country because men and women
died trying to make it right and dream the outer space aliens 

away and evil all the time, governments of world and bad
people out of existence and there is only you and the tow-truck
driver that smells like he smokes cigars with his asshole.

________________
 

ERIC BURDON AND BEER
—Bradley Mason Hamlin

Drinking “micro” brew
on the recommendation
of an 18-year-old clerk
with big goofy happy innocent smile

Eric Burdon’s playing Harlow’s
in Sacramento
with his Flying I Band
and the beer tastes pretty
okay
so
I have another

The beer costs too much
and the kids don’t seem to notice,
all so happy
no bills and the hangovers
aren’t nearly
as bad at that age ...

Got the tickets
hooked up with my blonde
ignored
the conversations people pushed
on one another
in line

and soon Eric
was doing his thing
rhythm & blues
that real and rare thing
you can’t fake

Ansley Dunbar keepin the beat ...

and we’re yelling and laughing
and saying crazy shit like, “Yahoooooo!”

We have this, I thought
this crazy sacred music born of blue love 
and the kids are working on the beers
so maybe
maybe
it’ll be all right.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

LITTLE RICHARD (2013)
—Bradley Mason Hamlin

When
I’m thinkin’
maybe
I should

turn down
my
music

cuz
it’s
too damn loud

& wild
for
the kids

you know

Little Richard
still
kicks ass.

_________________

Our thanks to Brad Hamlin for today's poems and pix! Bradley Mason Hamlin is an American writer, veteran of the United States Navy, and alumni of the University of California, where poet Gary Snyder dubbed Hamlin “The Road Warrior of Poetry!” Hamlin was born in Los Angeles and currently lives in Sacramento with his wife, Nicky Christine, and their tribe of suburban children and wild cats. He is the editor of Zero Percent Magazine (mysteryisland.net) and his latest book of poems, California Blonde, is available from Black Shark Press.

—Medusa

 Brad Hamlin