Entrepreneur’s Log

Six slick wheels

A rusty box,

And god’s very first

Transmission

Blowin’ oil

And unleaded

Into a cloud of dreams

For which I borrowed all

I could on enthusiasm.

This here load

Is the beginning

Of my vast, far flung

Empire of the sun.

Distribution centers in Dallas and De Moines,

Semi crisscrossing

These forty eight

And freighters loaded,

Lord knows I’ll ship

‘Round the world.

I have to get

My load of dreams

Off the shoulder

And down to New Orleans,

Those fools in Memphis

Don’t know a thing.

I just wonder how

The world made it

So long without

My perception and understanding

Of the wants and needs

Of the ordinary man.

Yes sir, I got no more money

But for a tow and to get

This rig arunnin’,

I’ll give ten percent,

That’s like a piece

Of a gold mine.

Yes sir, this is

Your lucky day,

Okay, twenty five, no more,

Now be reasonable

I’m giving you

Half of an empire.

For a half of a day’s work,

Yes sir, an empire of the sun.

Well, then drive on.

You’re just as dumb

As them fools in Memphis

I’ll get there somehow.

Yes sir, officer,

I’ll be moving this thing

Right along any minute,

Seems to be a slight problem

For my empire of the sun,

Temporarily, it won’t run.

July 24, 1994

For every dream and dreamer, for every time the world laughed at us, remember, as long as we have the dream, they are the fools. But this poem is most especially to my father, who taught me how to dream.