VARIATIONS
ON A THEME: "DEACON BLUES"
(with apologies to Steely Dan; esp., Don Fagen and Walter Becker)

Woodsheddin on my castinets,
hacking out some blues.
I've chewed my share of chiclets,
paid my union dues.

Now I snort borax with the best of them,
smoke hi-grade powder fuse,
and short-circuit out the baseboard heat
to shake my cortex loose.

They name the winners in this world,
and they'll name me as I lose.
Call Moby Dick the great white whale
and me, Old Tennis Shoes. . . .

mark worden