rock

i am a gutter-dweller, true
but i still appreciate a sunset, dogwoods
and clear water even when it's still
and if i'm singing
well i'm singing just for you

i am off-kilter, under-understood
and half the time it's by my own construct
but i know it and you know it
and hell, that won't change the sky
which we wouldn't even if we could

self-degradation is a lifestyle and a fiend.
it is green-glass tea and self pity
underwhelming over-achievement
my eyes are peeled for introspection
and all anyone ever finds is a poem

but i know wind in my hair.

i always have, i suppose
it's kind of a curse, i lose myself in prose
and i talk too much
about things that aren't quite true
i keep on forgetting to see
what's right beneath my nose.

family theme

we've thrown punches before
go ahead, you owe me one
but i swear to god if you walk out that door
it doesn't matter, nothing matters

if that's what you've become, brother
if that's what you are

we've been to hell and back
(at dammit, that's not a metaphor)
and every day we'd knock one back
because hell, heaven's getting sleepy
and it's so damn strange that angels
would bring us so far down

and you know i'm not at my most eloquent
it's this bloody nose
but you've never had trouble understanding me
i guess it goes to show how far we've come
and gone

the best fight

it's not always this bad.
your eyes may glisten now
but it takes a hero to lift a toe
to toe with the enemy, the veil
to simply live is a herculean effort
i know, but you came out on top

i am a lens, bending time
wondering what lives in your
four-cornered mind, seeing
helping you see
i hope i'm not wrong

crows again. times, they change
so do you.

love is real

partly (moses parting the sea of reeds)
i think i must be sylvia's snake
silver, consuming
that these chords are cords
and my hands are tied, biblical
songs fall into my ears, eyes
i have never tasted steam

but sinai screamed when we lost faith
and we placed our hearts in gold
thinking we had been abandoned
by a biological process, empty of energy
forgetting to stare into the sun

while below, the rock springs water
it flows to nobody (because there isn't anyone)
and nobody drinks it
though i wish he would
hold me, because nowadays he can

still, it flows

not fade away, or so they say
today i believed in god and i listened to flowers
and wanted to drink water
but i can wait
just as long as these chords go on
and just as long as i have a song

yes. you're right.

i keep on hearing things like whispers
in the grey, they say he was
brilliant in his very own way
the eyes all remain
dead-set on horizons, different
and chilling and beautifully plain
how would you like to be
fifty and fading
or left on the side while everyone knows
just how to redeem their life-long calling
or crying, it seems we're the only ones left

but it wasn't blood

five seconds too long, five seconds to
stall, this isn't fog
this isn't my car
metal bedsheets like rope made of
steel, all curled and hurled
through eyes and they're peeled, yeah
but i never wanted it
all i can see is red soda like blood
and smoke through the metal
all curled like nails, this is
five seconds to stop and to think
not to feel, i'm scared and i'm late
and the metal is real

going slowly

here's the thing, i
i don't know where to go
track my tracks down the dimples
of my back. this full-frontal
assault on my full-frontal lobe
i'm just dying to redeem myself
before i'm just some kid
i'm just counting clocks, chewing rocks
waiting to remember

it's not easy to take another picture
when i know that i'll still be here
and you'll still be here
and neither of us will know it
i can't really know
you shoved me into a cold sweat
deep threat, counter-culture kid
my own personal vietnam
these hearts and minds are walking slowly home
and it's sad, but here's the thing:
i don't know.