One Chance Left for Happiness

Born sad and broken-hearted
Happiness is so hard to find and guarantee
Most days I get up hopin’
My life will head on back to me
But no matter where I look
I can’t find it, happiness, no guarantee

Some days I feel like packin’
Sayin’ goodbye to all weighin’ so heavy on me
Don’t know where I’ll be goin’
But can’t stay here, luck’s run out on me
One good chance left to make it
Can’t waste it now, things aren’t workin’ here for me

Tried my best to make things work
And find that missin’ part of me
But no matter where I look
I can’t find it, and there’s no guarantee
So I guess I’ll just be leavin’
Takin’ that last chance with me

So I guess I’ll just be leavin’
Takin’ that last chance with me

Note: Another early 70’s poem in search of music.
This one felt like a Country Western song back then. And
yes, this is kind of a sad one.

Livin’ the Hard Life

Sometimes life seems too hard
All I wanna do is run away from me
Sometimes pressures get me down
All I want is just to be free

Sometimes I get lost in life
Forgettin’ my reason to be
Sometimes I get stuck midstream
Life washes over me

Sometimes there’s more dark than light
It’s no wonder I can’t see
Sometimes the music stops when I’m dancin’
My legs collapse under me

Sometimes it seems life’s questions
Bring unwelcomed answers…
Those takin’ the better part of me
Sometimes life seems too hard
All I wanna do is run away from me

Sometimes life seems too hard
All I wanna do is run away from me

Note: Another one written back in the
early 1970s when poetry was music.

Walk Away with Me

Every time I see you
Reminds me…
I don’t wanna walk alone
Reach out, take my hand
Walk away with me

Can’t get past you…
No matter how hard I try
You tie my heart in knots
Impossible to untie
You linger in my thoughts
Sometimes you make me cry
Can’t shake you from my dreams
Don’t even wanna try

Just give us one more chance
To be what we can be
Let the magic of the moment
Paint our hearts, set us free
Don’t wanna walk alone
Reach out, take my hand
Walk away with me

Don’t wanna walk alone
Reach out, take my hand
Walk away with me

#####
You got it…another early 1970s love poem
that wanted to be a love song.

Saturday Night You’re Not With Me

It’s Saturday night, you’re not with me
That much is plain enough to see
Sat at the bar, waitin’ for you
Closin’ time comin’, almost two

Losin’ hope, beer by beer
Life without you, my worst fear
Last time I saw you, in your pink and white dress
I thought what a beauty, I must confess

I glance in the mirror, hopin’ to see you
I look at the door, wantin’ you to walk through
It’s now past last call, this place is a closin’
You’re not comin’ tonight, that I’m supposin’

Part of me says, give you a call
Even better yet, stop by your residence hall
Then I think, what if you’re with him
My chances with you growin’ more dim

It’s Saturday night, you’re not with me
That much is plain enough to see.

Another one written during my college days
in Tucson. As I recall, this was written in 1971.
Again, shooting for song lyrics with this one.

Sit-in Roadshow Stops in Tucson

Scorching hot mid-May morning
UA campus, Tucson
Just a week following Kent State
In psychedelic-colored secondhand school buses
faded tie-dyed VW vans
and even a few in slick ‘57 Chevies, they arrived

Pouring into the Park Avenue neighborhood
the unexpected California sit-in roadshow
clogs the western campus entrance
Throngs of half-naked, long-haired people
Some say, 20,000 strong
My guess, at least a couple thousand
beaded, bearded, barefooted, stoned Hippie freaks
descending, like outer space aliens
overpowering campus and city police
National guardsmen arrive, dressed to kill
Even they couldn’t disperse the sit-in
lasting two long timeless days

Joints burning well into the night
That familiar sticky sweet smell hovering
like a thick smoky cloud over campus
Enough for a contact high
just walking through the motley crowd
The dope was one thing, but for me
the music and dancing took the cake
Upon reflection…
maybe even better than Woodstock

Then, without warning
on the morning of the third day
they left, as quickly as they came
Taking nothing, leaving only
thousands of MJ roaches, empty wine bottles
and their handmade Make Love, Not War signs
Next stop? Santa Fe

Catch Me Please

Remember that first night
when you saw me watching you?
Those hazel eyes of yours
said softly I want you too

Then when you walked away
you left me kind a blue
I think, pretty lady
I could fall in love with you

Can I ask just one thing
if there’s no hope for me with you?
Catch me pretty baby
before I fall too hard for you

If no is your answer
I’ll simply slip away
That void you left
I’ll fill another way

We can’t pretend to be
something that we’re not
But I wish you’d give
my dream for us
at least an even shot

Dreams need time
just like me and you
to unwind, and then come true
And while there’s no tellin’
where our love will go
Please let your eyes
dance with mine tonight
Maybe then
you’ll see things the way I do

Yes, pretty lady
just one night to show you
what our love can do

But if you can’t…
then all I ask
is catch me please, pretty lady
before I fall in love with you

Yes, all I ask
is catch me please
before I fall
too deep in love with you.

Written by Don Iannone in 1970, Tucson, Arizona.

Tell Me One More Time

Tell me, one more time
I can’t fall in love with you
Let me, once again
Hold you like I do
Say you won’t forget me
and how we used to be
Tell me, one more time
I can’t fall in love with you.

So long ago, when we’d dance
our love seemed so true
Remember how we always were
you as me and me as you
In each other’s eyes
the world, grew and grew
Tell me, one more time
I can’t fall in love with you

Sometimes I think I can’t go on
knowing you are gone
The memories leave me empty
ain’t no life, without you
Give our love one last chance
that’s the least you can do
Tell me, just one more time
I can’t fall in love with you

Written in Tucson, Spring 1971.
Thought I wanted to be a songwriter
back then.

Don’t Leave Me Baby

Well past two, we danced last night
Legs out stretched, in paradise
Swillin’ beer, almost blind
Still see your face, oh so fine
Held you close, three slow numbers we danced
Circling earth, time we chanced
Wanted you, to swallow me
Give me lovin’, set me free
With hair drippin’, we said goodbye
My heart’s trippin’, you’re the one I cry
Your perfume lingers, like sweet butterflies
Don’t leave me baby, share your surprise
Just you and me, sleepin’ in till noon
School can wait, mornin’ comes too soon
A thing or two, I could learn from you
You break my heart right in two
Drivin’ home, you were all I could see
Light my fire, set me free.
Tomorrow’s Friday, let’s dance all night
In my arms, I’ll hold ya tight

Note: Written in 1971 by Don Iannone, in
Tucson, Arizona, soon after the release of
Lee Michaels’ single, “Do You Know What I Mean?”

Without Deviation, Ain’t No Progress: A Poem Dedicated to Frank Zappa

Call us deviants
See if we care
Lost sons, wayward daughters
playin’ with ourselves in the streets
while war boys march through stubborn tall grass
and presidential pardons leave us bare

You can’t see for lookin’
To really start seein’
spin around
there you’ll find
nothing but
autumn rainbows
dancin’ on the two-horned unicorn’s back

Ralin’ electric guitar strings
all red, white and blue
pukin’ Brown Shoes Don’t Make It music
on constipated conformists
searching
for what they call the truth

In my hallucinating mind
no truth to be found anywhere
just hot poop plastic people
pushin’ soft-sell conclusions
all day long

Take your clothes off when you dance
Light up three fat joints
like Fourth O’ July sparklers
Put one between your teeth
sittin’ in the mouth
I’d like to kiss of your face
Second goes in your right ear
deadening it to the incessant flappin’
of your fuck-in’ right wing
Last not least goes up your ass
which you only seem to use
as a place to store your head

Don’t you realize
we’re the mothers of invention?
AND without deviation
there ain’t no fuck-in’ progress

Written by Don Iannone, Fall 1969, Tucson, Arizona