“Mark Lebowitz”

c. 2020 Rod Ice

All rights reserved

(11-20)

From Facebook:

Mark was our friend, a bit older and already had graduated from Cornell University and attended grad school. He was about 27 when suicide took him from our circle. Mark was a poet and veteran of local radio. He wrote lyrics for two classic songs by ‘The Embarrassing Pinworms’ which I still remember:

Mark Lebowitz, d. July 29, 1980

Mike Hammer Dead in Black and White

The G-Man said two little words

I looked up and saw a flock of birds

Just an existential dick in a sharkskin suit

I took my way, I knew the route

Who’s in the box?

What’s in the box?

Hammer’s got a cocktail shaken on the rocks

Leopardskin Pandora with a string of pearls

They didn’t tell me she was that kind of girl

I opened the box and burned my hand

Saw Trinity, Los Alamos, and burning sand

I opened the box and it started to glow

Thirty-thousand dead in Ol’ Frisco

Chef of the Future

I’m the chef of the future down in Lodi, New York

My blue-plate special is roast loin of pork

There’s a sticker in the window, says ‘I love New York’

Give that man more silverware, he just dropped his fork

I only wish he had stayed with us longer to offer more wisdom and encouragement.

 

 

Written on my iPhone SE