How many revs does your motor make
And how do your tappets beat?
How much oil does your gasket take?
How deep is the tread of your feet?

There once was a time when I made my rhyme
In an artistic trance where reveries dance
With Brautigan and Pound
And Dylan’s sound
And being alone with nothing to do
And where did that go; it went so fast
While it felt so slow.
Got this painful feeling I’ll never know.
It all broke apart when my back was turned
And gurgled down the drain with all I learned
And got all replaced with the money I earned
With my co-opted dream and my gears all meshed,
One big engine is all that’s left
To my mind/hand/heart which whirs and whirs
All well-oiled
And the memory/feel/thing never stirs
Underneath all the power of the purrs and the blurs.

C’mon baby, downshift with me,
Mesh and press and make it smooth.
That’s all that counts, that easy clutch
And the rest don’t matter all that much.

Tell me—how may revs that ole motor make?
How do your goddamned tappets beat?
How much oil does your crankcase take?
Any tread on the souls of your feet?