Altruistic World Online Library

Hotel Babylonia, by Charles Carreon





I was born down in Texas
Silver spoon in my nose
I tasted sweet senoritas
Hey you know how it goes

Then I went into politics
Man, I sure got it right
Made lots of money
Made even more friends
It was a fool's delight

At last I came to the castle
With the doors open wide
And I concluded without much ado,
Heaven's safe, but the profit's in Hell

Then I opened my Bible
And it showed me the way
There was voting on the Senate Floor
I thought I heard them say

Welcome to the Hotel Babylonia
Such an ancient place (such an ancient place)
There'll be no disgrace
Plenty of guns in the Hotel Babylonia
You can find terrorists here
Any time of year

Alberto is so helpful
He has explained so clear
How it is that I'm invincible
How the story ends

How they give me the power
How we do what we will
One voted to stay my knife
The others voted to kill

So I dialed up the Congress
"We need money and time"
They said take everything you need
We're drinking Jack Abramoff's wine
And I hear Achmed Chalabi calling
From far away
There's so much money here
that we can make
Come and we can play

We're living it up at the Hotel Babylonia
Such an ancient place (such an ancient place)
There'll be no disgrace
Plenty of guns in the Hotel Babylonia
You can find terrorists here
Any time of year

Baghdad's one big blister
Filled with murder and crime
And I've spent everything the world will earn
Until the end of time

And in the prison courtyard
We strung up old Saddam
But he died like an iron man
and on YOU TUBE he lives on

Now I try to remember
How I got to this place
I'm naked as a jaybird
Facing some disgrace

"Relax," says Maliki
We are glad to deceive
You'll be here another twenty years
Don't even try to leave

We're living it up at the Hotel Babylonia
Such an ancient place (such an ancient place)
There'll be no disgrace
Plenty of guns in the Hotel Babylonia
You can find terrorists here
Any time of year

How Shiraz Spent One of Her Nine Lives, by Charles Carreon

(with apologies to Don Marquis)

New York Times 11/11/04 wrote:
On another occasion, the snipers tensed when they heard movement in the direction of a smoldering building. A cat sauntered out, unconcerned with anything but making its rounds in the neighborhood.

'Can I shoot it, sir?' a sniper asked an officer.

'Absolutely not,' came the reply.

Once was a cat named Shiraz
Lived in the city of Fallujah,
She had nine lives
and here's how she used one.
She got up one day and stretched
and the people were warring as usual,
Blasting away with AKs, RPGs
and those nasty 500 pounders
That pummel the earth
and upset your digestion,
But Shiraz went out,
anyway,
Because
she wanted to catch the sun
and
While she was catching it
she fell into scopesight
of a sniper
of course Shiraz knew about snipers
because she was a cat
and a cat is a sniper,
in her own way,
if she knows what's good for her
and in a city like Fallujah
a girl grows up quick
especially if she's a cat
So Shiraz sez
"what the fuck!
Or Iraqi cat for that,
I'm going out to take a shit
Stretch in the sun
even if some scumbag human
sniper ventilates me,
I've got nine lives
and I'm gonna spend one,
I'm wishing there's a newsman
out there watching my
sweet Iraqi ass"
and there was.

I Ain't Hatin' Satan, by Charles Carreon





Well it’s two-thousand seven
Feelin’ pretty far from heaven
Unable to rise
Above the debate
Degenerating into
Senseless Hate

Lily-livered preachers
And Southern Belles
Shack up together in Baghdad hotels
They schlep salvation in their private hells
Built by Halliburton
Cause the sacred sells

Now listen God Almighty
Got some questions for you
Why do the KKK love ya
And the Jews do to?
Is banking always sacred?
Isn’t oil, too?
Are you in it for the money?
Are you cut in, too?

I read an expose on you
It told me what you’re trying to do
It told me who you’ve bought
And who you’ve sold
The deals you cut in the Age of Gold

And I ain’t hatin’ Satan,
He didn’t do anything wrong
He was put up to it
Set up
Taken down
Like Saddam.

Why do you bless the virtuous hypocrite
Give ‘em wealth and all the rest of it
Leave little children dying
Mothers crying
Planet burning
Species dying

And I ain’t hatin’ Satan,
He didn’t do anything wrong
He was put up to it
Set up
Taken down
Like Saddam.

If you can’t control your creations,
If justice doesn’t exist,
Then wherefore are you God Almighty
What type of game is this?

And I ain’t hatin’ Satan,
He didn’t do anything wrong
He was put up to it
Set up
Taken down
Like Saddam.

I Am Attached, by Charles Carreon



I am attached --
to the earth, by the weight she
 gives my body
I am attached --
to eating, by hunger
to breath, by the mysterious
desire for air
I am attached --
to my mate, by the need for warmth
and companionship
 to my children
by genetic strands and webs of delight
to other people,
 by being like them
to mountains and streams and
deserts and winds and ocean waves
 lamplight in the dark
 Moonlight at midnight
I am attached to
 the web of being
so completely, look at me
 and you everywhere in everything
We are attached.

I Ask You, by Charles Carreon

He lived and died anonymously.
He had no friends that he could call upon
When he was in trouble and he often was

He drank incessantly as a true expression
Of his confusion, and could not spare a minute
To reflect upon causes or consequences.
He picked his acquaintances carelessly,
According to convenience, and thus was often
disappointed by their poor sense of timing.
He declined to follow through on things,
and his idea of a good sense of closure
was leaving.
When his mother died, the last person on earth
to have any interest in his whereabouts
disappeared.
When he died, it was like a star went out
that nobody had been looking at or ever noted.
And I ask you do you care?

I Became a Luddite, by Charles Carreon



Machines are the slaves
Of the modern day,
No need for men to labor
At a poor man’s pay
Microchips used to make me
Feel all right
They powered my iPod
And the tunes were tight
Then one day there came a money crunch
And a Chinese robot ate my lunch

And I became a Luddite
Overnight!

I used to carry my guitar
In a gunny sack
Go to Circle K
For a midnight snack
Hot dogs, pudding pops
Were really cool
I ate that shit
Like a fuckin’ fool
Then the doc said I had colon cancer
In a New York minute I had the answer

And I became a Luddite
Overnight!

I used to have a girlfriend
Her name was Rita
Then I got a computer
And I ceased to meet her
All night deep in Internet
Seein’ silicone chicks
Havin’ cybersex
Then one day I got my credit card bill
And I was a Jack without a Jill

And I became a Luddite
Overnight!

I Don't Love Lucy, by Charles Carreon





Well who is Ricky Ricardo?
The plastic Latino
Married Lucille Ball
And played Cubano
In a Music Hall.

Lucy! Lucy!
I don’t love you
Not because of all the things you do
They say you’re funny
But I know you’re not
Lucy Lucy
I think you’re hot.

Your buddy Ethel is a laugh and a half
But I think you’ve
Got an incredible ass
Let’s get Ricky outta the way
I’m four years old
And it’s time to play

Lucy! Lucy!
I don’t love you
Not because of all the things you do
They say you’re funny
But I know you’re not
Lucy Lucy
I think you’re hot.

Hollywood is an incredible place
You’re like a clown with
Makeup on your face
You’re like a bird
Lookin’ weird and proud
You make my uncles laugh out loud.

Lucy! Lucy!
I don’t love you
Not because of all the things you do
They say you’re funny
But I know you’re not
Lucy Lucy
I think you’re hot.

I don’t love Lucy
No, no, no
She isn’t funny
Let me go
Stuck in the living room
She makes me twitch
Now where the hell do I feel that itch?

Lucy! Lucy!
I don’t love you
Not because of all the things you do
They say you’re funny
But I know you’re not
Lucy Lucy
I think you’re hot.
Lucy Lucy
I think you’re hot.

Idle Musing, by Charles Carreon

Honestly now,
that's how I'd like to take it,
bit by bit,
One thing at a time.

Like an idle chipmunk,
watch the morning,
the undersides of the leaves lit brightly,
the sky perfect blue.

If there were an infinite number of angels,
and one blew a trumpet,
Would all the others clap?

Idyll, by Charles Carreon

The lazy boy is in love
with the milkmaid.

Her skin is as fresh as cream,
her laughter is enchanting,
her hair hangs down in beautiful strands.

She is laughing at something
he said.

I Got My Buddhas, by Charles Carreon

I got my Buddhas over here.
I got my rock stars over here.
I got my politicians over here.

I meditate here.
I rock out over here.
And I listen to CNN.

Don't mix my meditation with my political persuasion.
Don't mix my rock and roll with my wisdom.
That guy's all right but he don't bring salvation.

You keep buggin' me with all this confusion.
You gonna have ta' get on your knees
And say your Act of Contrition.