A PRAYER FOR THE GREAT STREET PREACHERS OF CALIFORNIA


A PRAYER FOR THE GREAT STREET PREACHERS OF CALIFORNIA


Lord Hear My Prayer

for the sermons of Bible Bob
proud to be potbellied
opened at the neck polyester
shirt of a home town parson
who could gather a crowd of
students faster than two
fire-eating sword swallowers
picking their teeth with
the bones of a first-rate mime

whose thunder deep larynx
could verily bellow the Truth
like the Horn of Jericho
against the great stone sins of
the University of California
at Berkeley
home to free speech
free love free food and
the occasional free for all

who could take like a man
and dish back out in great
grinning hash house portions
the hecklings of Marxist
revolutionaries for pushing
the Opiate of the Masses
or junkies for not bringing
the real stuff along

who could trade
barb for wire
soap for box
strike them down with
the Ten Commandments
like my Uncle Zorba
threatening to cut off my
fingers if I didn't pull
them out of the cookie jar
before God sees me

Lord Hear My Prayer

for the feet of Jumping Jerome
who never got around to
reading the Holy Bible
chapter and verse
wouldn't mess with
books or doctrines
titles or tithes
the sword or the arm
or the law of God

but one fine San Francisco
dreamin' Summer of Love day
met a rainbow Jesus dancing in
the eye of an acid hurricane

Now they say Jerome has been
more or less jumpin' his way
back to Earth ever since
spends all day preaching
the laws of Love and Groove
waving to the crowds that
they may finally see
the Trails of Truth

for whosoever can reach
the psychedelic center of the saved
shall indeed find the way home
through the Gates of Pearl which
shall open for the holy jazz trumpets
blowing the funky winds of love
across the curly sweet locks of
the Archangel of the last and
best of all trips amen

Lord Hear My Prayer

for The Reverend Smitty
just one poor cowboy
without his horse
a lost soul among
the glittering badlands
of Los Angeles County

who partied with rebels
and hid from the sheriff
scavenged and slept to
the howl of coyotes with
Rosey and Rattlesnake and
Little Shit and The Professor
and the other hard drinking
broke as church mice but
free as the almighty saints
Creek Rats and Hill Rats
of Topanga Canyon

who once scraped together
fifteen dollars by scraping
the paint off a garage
while two old Dobermans
guarding the next yard
tried to eat their way
through the back fence and
have themselves a little snack

who mailed off his pay to
the Universal Life Church
and some weeks later found
Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Deputy Byron T. Doogey
eating lunch in his squad car
and asked him if he could
possibly spare a quarter

and in a showdown to rival
the legendary carnage of
Tombstone Dodge City
the Lincoln County War

Deputy Doogey whipped out
his trusty citation book
but Smitty whipped out
his shiny new minister's card
grinning "Sorry Sheriff
but I got the drop on you
now I can ask for money
right and legal"

Well Deputy Doogey
laughed 'til the bullets
rattled out of his belt
then he up and gave
The Reverend Smitty
fifty cents

So now a simple man
of spirit and grace
patrols the wilderness
of Topanga Canyon
and also from time to time
the sin-besotted beaches of
Malibu Venice Santa Monica

collecting modest tithes
so that when the Lord
finally calls him home
he may ripple along
that night train to
the port city of
sparkling holy waters

Lord Hear My Prayer
hear it and
hear it again
'til someone
gets it right
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