Assorted Words
[1]
Joking aside, could you buy my next drink?
Or am I the last one who can hold mine?
I don't know what I'll find
Through the neck of a bottle
My head above water
Like a naval persicope
Hit me with one more excuse to breathe your air
At one time,
I can be in one place:
High and airsick
Or on the ocean floor.
[2]
As if you have to ask why I split. I don't know you well and you well know it. Maybe I got my orders. Maybe I'm on the lam. Maybe you'll see me again and won't remember who I am. Maybe I'll get on my horse. "Oh yeah, you're the one with the horse!"The next time you see me, I'll be long gone.
[3]
Do you have to be crazy to use Krazy Glue? I don't know who's dumber, me or you. I never saw the gold band. I never looked at your hand. What were you thinking when you awoke? Was it a siren, or God who spoke? I never wanted to sit in that seat. Never wanted to step on your feet. I may have wanted your brain. But I never want to sleep with you again. When you were young, you were a young fool. What does that make you now? When you were a mess you thought you were cool. What kind of mess does that make you now? I never called you insane. Not to your face. I'm jealous of your brain, and it's the wrong time and place. You'll be single again. You'll be broken again. You'll be coy again. You'll be a boy again.
[4]
Head
Wringing out a damp rag
Shaking me down
Turning a change purse inside out
Scraping the bottom of the jar
(A sandwich just isn't a sandwich.)
Running on fumes
Licking the foil wrapper
Straining to hear the tune
Paying with pennies
Drinking rainwater from leaves
Reading by the light of dusk
Having the same dream again and again
Counting my toes again and again
Breathing through a straw
Sweeping my spotless floor
Thirty bottles, each one dry
What I thought was a tune is the buzz of a fly
The aquarium's dead for that one grey guppy
And it's cough drops for breakfast again.
[5]
Peak
I'm the mouse the cat's through toying with. Coming down off a rocky high. Coming down there to find out why. Now I know why the wise man sits crosslegged. Now I know why we don't eat dirt. I couldn't wait to sit down. I couldn't wait around. What is the color of the cold? What is the flavor of gold? I saw that same scowl on every frown. I saw the same head spin around and around. It is a fire mountain. An electric fire flower. What did we do to deserve such scorn? What did he do to merit such grace? What can I do to mirror that face? As we march to the same back beat. How many ants does it take to form a trail? I couldn't wait to cool down. Whatever happened to middle ground? I thought you were wrong. I thought I was strong. Was there a reason to be over the sky? A reason to look for the reason why? Yellow shrubs on black terrain like the stars in the sky all over again. If you can do it, I can do it in shorts. If you can do it in shorts, I can do it barefoot. If you can do it barefoot, I can do it twice. Twice. If the ground's not shaking, it must be me. A pale strip of paper in the breeze. Metal becomes plastic and stones become soft. It's a fine line between elation and terror. Don't take the level ground for granted. Don't stand up straight when the soil is slanted. I couldn't wait to dry off. All I wanted was something soft. All I wanted was something silk. All I thought about was hot milk. You don't miss your hand until you lose it. You don't miss the sky til you can't see through it. You don't know your friends til you can't understand them. We once were one-hundred and now we are ten. We're the stars in the sky all over again. We're the stars in the sky all over again.
[6]
You came overnight like a freeze. Blew up my dress like a breeze. Stating jazz as your excuse. My body never saw such abuse. Your jaw never looked so obtuse. From whiskey and smoke and hard drug use. Who taught you to be an old man? How do you orbit this earth? The rest of us do what we can to earn out net worth. Stating jazz as your excuse. You can always spot a liar. Your lips and your trumput are on fire. My mouth has never been drier. My lips and my soul are on fire. My eyes have never been drier.
[7]
I'd turn back the clock and steal your bicycle
Turn it forward again and steal
your toupee
Another time I'll dry your eyes
If this is the future than I wanna play
If this is a lesson my head is too full
If this is real life I'd rather have school
I'd rather go back than go forward again
The past is an artifact of my brain
And this page isn't evidence of the past
Proof that I knew you by more than your name
And neither will admit to losing that game
With one foot in next year and one in the last
The same breeze that blew from the earliest time
Strings all us together in unbroken lines
The thread in your voice from which we all hang
Is tied to the song the nightengale sang
And wound round the clock hands that run the wrong way
Pulling me to an uncharted refrain
Like a song that you hear in your head for a day
And the clouds in the sky all over again.
[8]
Are you falling apart or is it my eyes? Is the future melting or is it the light? I never wanted you to follow me, with the sun in my eyes 'til it feels like the sea. Just turn the mirror so it lights up my face. Tilt my shadow around 'til I fall into space. And spin me around til the sun sets east. If you're living the life, what's that make me? Your eyes in your head like window mice. You're a terrible guy but your face is nice. What do they mean by "inner joy?" What did you mean when you called me a boy? What did you mean when you said I looked clean? I followed you up like a fish in a dream. And you followed through like chicken wire. If this is heaven I'd rather have fire. Some days more than others I feel like a doll. I can't help but remember when I see leaves fall, and think of you when I see birds in a tree. The sound of a cafe and aroma of tea. The chill of the wind and the sound of a flute. Four men in suits and trumpets with mutes remind me of day trips and frozen grass. I never had so much fun until it was past. Can't recall the last day when we met face to face. Just remember I looked all over the place. And no one had seen you, nor heard news that was good. So I forgot those short days and packed them away. But that was the winter I found myself, doing all that I could to get lost in decay. Nothingness was better when I spent it with you. It was the end of my childhood you were barreling through.
[9]
eyes like sharp olives
froze in time and burned to film
with a fuzzy jaw
[10]
what a sexy sound
your back cracks like a mirror
showing tomorrow
[11]
Fit to swim with a skull full of wishes,
scissoring down the street
Shrugging a sideways satchel of sand
You're shaking your head and watching your feet
I wear the roof on my head like a crown
How many nails would hold down my shoes,
my hair swaying like an arrangement of leaves
The sun on your scalp like a looking glass
What grade of silk was I once tailor-made from?
What kind of insect do I want to be?
Shaking my hips and watching the window
You watch the clock and forget how to sleep
(I'm just like the steel ball on black and white tile
Watching you watch the clock with one big fish eye.)
