Poetry of Our Times - Jack Johnson, Fall Line

Fall Line by Jack Johnson


it will make you afraid of change
and often blame the box with the view of the world
and the wars that fill the frame

I turn it up but then I turn it off
because I can't stand when they start to talk
about the hurting and killing
whose shoes are we filling
the damage and ruin
man, the things that we're doing
we gotta stop, we gotta turn it all off
we gotta rewind and start it up again

because we fell across the fall line
ain't there nothing sacred any more?

somebody saw him jump
yeah but nobody saw him slip
i guess he lost a lot of hope
and then he lost his grip
now he's lying in the freeway
in the middle of this mess
guess we lost another one
just like the other one

optimistic hypocrite
that didn't have the nerve to quit
the things that kept him wanting more
until he finally reached the core

and fell across the fall line
ain't there nothing sacred any more?

This is article #1 in a series on Poetry of Our Times.