The Salty Dogs (for Bob Dylan)

The salty dogs are out to get me again
To chew me up in their jaws again
And spit me to the cold cement
Break me for not wanting their trends
Their rules, their songs, their thoughts, my friend
It shakes them so and their minds begin to bend
And the dark shadows that spill all over them
Grow rabid over their dying gems
Which paved over living with something pretend
Something built to lock us all in
To crying and sighing and lying over nothing
To dying and buying and not asking why and
What is a court without someone jesting?
You might not see it but laughter's a blessing
So much pain in the world that no one’s addressing
So much uselessness that takes all our attention
Like who’s popular, what’s popular, how can I get more popular?
I can just repeat what other people think is most appealing
But it’s not really thinking when others thoughts you are just repeating
I get wrapped up so tight that I’m in a ball kneeling,
Screaming “So much damn talking and so little meaning!
Too many tabloid superheroes and not any real ones!
Too much teaching and not any learning!
Too much looking and not any seeing!
So much building and not much creation
That it leads me to fear for the good of this nation.”
And I keep being told to sit and be patient
Wait for your turn and always be gracious
Say please and thank you for what you are getting
But I look out the window and I begin fretting
About the lives that so many people aren’t living


So I’ll sell my car and head for the hills
Forget about my salary and burn all the bills
Sequester myself in nothingness and spaces
Make love to the world in brand new places