You were unprepared
For the way the world came down on you
With a dull heavy blow
That youthful glow was knocked out of you

The unwilling masses stood in the shadows
You beckoned and none came

Sleeves pulled to wrists
And other weak tricks for hiding
Nothing like this
Could put words on your lips for trying

Denying your name
Just part of the game for playing
It’s only life
And you’re holding the knife for making

Cutting shapes out of the dark
Making doors out of nothing

The rarest of openings
In the kindest of places
Words spoke between
Adornments and praises

When victory comes
It doesn’t offer much
But hey the eye of the beholder
And all of that stuff

Your laughter is like diamonds
Preciously shining
A sly mouthed mumbler
With New York City timing
How good to see the sparkling
And the ticking of your heart
How good to know you

The darkest alleys
My walls of confusion
Two idiot kids
Drunk on collusion

Simples renditions
Hazy apparitions
Screaming to the dark
Beyond our own recognition

It cuts with a violence
Through the heavy August silence
Lungs fully winded
Still young in their mileage
How good to see the glowing
And the weakness it upends
How good to know you

The rarest of places
Where all is delivered
A little bit blurry
A little familiar

You look just like him
Or close enough anyway
The curl of your grin
The fading away

When you broke your body
How did you keep such a beautiful voice
When you said goodbye
Like honey and gravel, the road that you traveled

Worn in the knees
Your shoulders are slumping
You now claim to believe
In a higher god or something

But when you weren’t afraid
To what sky did you turn
When you opened your mouth
For soft incantations, offers of patience

You gave it all out
And still you are giving
Through the window a shout
And a new kind of living

It is morning, you are near me
Standing close, speaking clearly
Light rushes in, the morning light
Through blinds in little fragments

The winter coming swift again
Asks nothing, simply wanders in
Making small, cutting trim
Darkening the dark

And in the vacant dusk
I whisper, wonder, wait for what
Is waiting there invisibly
That beckons time to tick

Our days will not be long enough
To say I had known your touch
Enough as to be satisfied
Or wonder what is next

Time has not been kind to me
As it has been to you
Yet the beauty shifts inside of me
It doesn’t leave, it just moves

I’m not one for proclamations
But we are desperate ones
Desire outlines all of us
To go wandering after the dusk
Give every gift, give even blood
And say, ‘hey hey honey, is this enough?’

With all the time that has been spent
Some might say I’ve a poisoned mind
That when I show my crooked teeth
I am smiling, left behind

Yet when you push me back into
The home I humbly made
We show a kind of loveliness
That for each other we have saved

I’m not one to intuit the endings
I’ve heard eventually come
Yet words spoken on dark days and Sundays
Say there may never be even one

I’m not one for recitations
So let me say this once
Desire outlines all of us
To go wandering after the dusk
Give every gift, give even blood
And say, ‘hey hey honey, is this enough?’

I don’t believe in myself or you
At least that’s what I said at the end of the day
Before the sky gave birth to the moon
Cut the hurt in half, left something clean

I don’t believe in the moon or the sun
At least that’s what I thought at the setting of each one
Before I figure a reason to run
Won’t you, won’t you

Shake me out
Pull me down
From this fever dream

I don’t believe in the kindness of strangers
Wasting air on the forming of words
Is it the silence that keeps me from danger?
I’ve no need to be heard

Been looking for a new occupation
Away from my mind
Beyond all of this self-preservation
Is there an offering I could find?

The mounted mirror
Spoke to what the cold had done
The raw cold of expectation
The sting of lost creation

As if newness could be goodness
Every time without a slip
As if the words he gave you
Didn’t bind you, make you trip

The error in our ways
The callousing of hands
The turning of days

Clear away
The fogging of the glass
Say, did it happen often
That in that clearing was a blossom?

If only dark would grant the access
To the turning of the wheel
Toward the hopeful evolution
Away from the reverence you feel

Above all the din
Of these reckless Sunday people
You spoke loudly in my ear
In a melody so gentle

Was a timbre I had known
And not so well forgotten
The space it made, less house than home
With warmth and crackling of the autumn

Brought back to the picture
Like blinking, waking up
I turn from you to cry
Someone please wish me good luck

I was not patient, I was not slow
It was an accident, I didn’t know
I was not here as I thought I’d be
Yet I was alive, however unlikely

Listening to the talkers
All snarling and wise

I was not nothing, I was not air
I breathed a deep breath free from care
I was an angle beside the void
And in the absence I was employed

Listening to the shouters
All echoey and soft

I was not simple, I was not smart
It was an accident, my aching heart
I wasn’t angered, somehow I wasn’t mean
The earth was burning, a rumbling scream

Listening to the dreamers
All asking for nothing much

Some people die and you wish they wouldn’t
Some people don’t but you never think about them
I am alive at the time of this moment
Looking for a mantra or a hymnal

Busted trees bend in stormy weather
Passing by the window, heading to the ether
I catch a little air, try to feel a little cleaner
Try to catch a mantra or a hymnal

You come to me as if I have something to offer
I’ll speak it slow, speak it sweetly, speak it softer
Angling for an answer, a trick to turn, or something faster
Angling for a mantra or a hymnal

If seeing is believing I am doubtful of belief
I trust nothing I am seeing, step away and I retreat
But if you could give an offering that could give itself as simple
Maybe I could find a mantra or a hymnal

Trash lines the earth and we look for other places
When I feel your honest touch, it renders me quite graceless
I am crumbling at the towers as the universe around us dwindles
Looking for a mantra or a hymnal

I was walking after midnight
Three AM to be exact
Crossing city limits
A heavy coat upon my back

Counting strangers as I passed them
All were hurried, eyes ahead
There is no trusting after midnight
When we're just looking for our bed

But I stared out from the overpass
On the downtown haze
Hailed a cab and headed toward it
In a bleary daze

The driver was slipping out
Could hardly keep awake
I prodded him with bony finger
And we rode swerving to someplace

Riding

I pointed to the densest neon
Made a motion to depart
When I stepped out the streets were empty
I let the color filled my heart

And with it full I asked forgiveness
With it full I asked for strength
I asked it of the swirling neon
And let my wish list turn to blank

It was enough to pose the question
I expected no reply
But spun around found my way home
And hit the sheets by morning time

I called you up in the middle of the night
Called to wake you, that’s what I wanted
How you doing, hey, I’m alright
Just been having dreams, they’re mostly haunted

I’m losing count of when last we spoke
Finally quit numbering the days
And the years get blurry and your voice has changed
Suppose I only knew it covered up in pain

So tell me the colors of your wall
Won’t you paint a picture of your room
Are your street lamps humming, did they burn out again?
Are the flowers in your neighborhood in bloom?

I’m gonna bore you to death or at least halfway
I learned I’ve got a gift
Let me tell you a story that goes no place
Let the details slide, let the memories drift

What kind of person have you become?
Stuck between the lines or free?
You know I still get nostalgic in the glimmering sun
And rest my head in the weeds

I did everything in hopes that you would notice
Though I can't recall your face or given name
I believe we could have been the closest allies
Though I’ve nearly nothing to back the claim

You are my favorite stranger, soft and distant
We could've painted towns all wild and red
I doubt this just a little in the greying sky
When October falls and rests its turning head

If nothing ever reaches true conclusions
I’ll say it plain and just attempt the truth
I’m sure you don’t recall this brief illusion
Except on accidental evenings, dark and blue

Oh it seems with us
Though never quite the fools
Shaking off the rust
And abiding by the rule

That if something trickles down
Not needing to be much
An IV of your anger
A thimble of mistrust

I will watch you run with it
And listen to the call
And all the static under it
I will listen to the fall

If it is monumental
I’d like to tear it down
Throw out all the guidebooks
Spin ourselves around

Coming down the walkway
Uneven on the brick
Throw out the dim lit hallway
Flip the lights on quick

I don’t belong in this room today
I belong a few state lines away
The windows are wide, the view is fine
But I can’t do nothing but slow the time

Birds fade into the grass
The mountain shifts like an hour glass
Where are you besides my mind
And I can’t do nothing but slow the time

Look at the stars, don’t know a thing
I made up a map of the shit I think
Astronomy of the idiot kind
And I can’t do nothing but slow the time

Flew on a drift of the morning breeze
Think I was trying to catch a ride home for free
The way I feel feels like a crime
And I can’t do nothing but slow the time

A few weeks on where will we be?
How can I make the best history?
I wrote you a letter but on every line
Was I can’t do nothing but slow the time

Touch my shoulder the way you do
Come with laughter to my side
There are a few things to know this season
A drunk dream an empty road
A shaky hand icy cold
And you on the other side keeping it warm

You are no stranger I know you well
In a brief moment it was clear
The voice I heard would leave me shelled
Cleanly out two halves of man
Part sweet relief part yearning hand
I see it all before me wait

Something gives
A snap or twist
A break or bend
Slips through your lips

Your wildest dream
Fades from view
The curtain falls
The day is new

Facing out
There was so much to fear
And the old reminder
Still echoes in your ear

Everything’s getting uglier around here
I didn’t ask it to but I had no choice
Sit down, won’t you buy me a beer
I’m empty in my pockets, I’m losing my voice

Gone away is the mystery of youth
I learned what it was once it had gone
Can’t say where I buried the proof
Dark eyes sparkling, the television on

Are we here again or is it my imagination?
Don’t you find that it’s to blame for all of this?
The false light, the clear sight, the revelation
I caught you singing to yourself

When they take us out of here
When they take us out for a ride
Are we crown jeweled and waving to the peasants?
Or tossed to the wind, to the side?

I traced your hand on the dance floor
As the lines drew heavier on my face
In the fear of what i was asking for
To the melody you hummed, we swayed

Postman in the grey and blue
Can I sleep among the bags while you drive?
I'll take the wheel after a time
Got a jaw full of foolish words

How many miles
Will we get there by the morning?
Stop just short of the ocean
I'll find my way to town

And I'd spend my last dollar on a walking cane
Shining silver handle, initials engraved
And a hard wandering stick leading down to the earth
But is it worth wearing my soles to the dirt?

There are a few things I found
Do you mind if I piece them together?
I've got all the fixings for a letter
But none of the letters for lines

Some of these people back here
They've got minds worth thieving
Some are hoping and reeling
Others are sky high

I'm just hoping to string them in line
One by one make the words into mine
I think it's there, just not crystalized
Like you'd see the stars, if not for the sun in your eyes

Make for me a roadmap
Show the way you came
What did you wear your teeth on?
How did you get your name?

Every friend has a fable
Standing at its side
An ever-mythic twin
With us to live and to die

Silvery when you're quiet
Mirror on your skin like a veil
Yet I see you traveling
Pulsing, skinny trails

Every friend has their antlers
Branching temples to the moon
Bones worn on the outside
Naked and true

I want to see the fingerprints
Of my friends and enemies
Wash them into solid black
And carry them with me

Fly on the dusty earth
Water when it rains
Ask me any question
I threw away my shame

The ends are all glazed over
It's just one single strand
Wrap me in your lifeline
Pull tighter if you can

All the cloud receptors
Bellies satisfied
Open and collide
Rivers out of rain

And I don't expect communion
Or a gaze to be returned
With eyes that flutter quickly
Memory can't get burned

Where the trees shoot up like daggers
Where there are no trees at all
Where stars are lost in sprawl
Or freckled everywhere

They hypnotize slowly
Soaking up the doubt
Let it trickle out
Upward to the sky

We greet each other tongue tied
Not cheapened by our words
Your eyes they cut me open
And fill my veins with earth

Topography defined
On the glowing hunter's moon

Every beast I chased led me down a path
Lined with waste from a quiet past

And all the faces there though they are few
Have born new lines, they are older too

And every word I wrote stumbled down
To the paper thin and barely bound

Road I lit to see the eyes
Of my long lost friends, the ones I recognize

And where are they? Spread far around
Not like my dreams, so closely bound

Yet here we are in the mountain's eye
Just a couple of kids holding tight

Did you watch my vertebrae
Slendering out
Or did you watch your own?

Stretching skin over the bone
I've grown
Learning to be proud

Slip under the tongue
A watchmaking kit
Nothing you can do with it

I tried to birth a new time
Forged from a younger spine of mine
One less unsatisfied
You know the game

Filled with a childish pride
Knowing the world from all sides
Handsome and earnest and wise
You know the game

When I woke from the picture it was nearly real
And I remembered each movement from the spinning reel
And how just like a wheel, it didn't consider the way I did feel
But it was not everlasting

Brush the fog from my eyes to reveal something clean
Looking through an open window to the nearly unseen
But how the lightness of the morning turns to the eve
And stars go funneling from you

And I listen to you whisper when you come down
Closing slowly, decrescendo, till not a sound
Why does it trick me every time?
You keep me walking the line

If my hammer's back at home
And I've run out of twine
Twist the branches into corners
Lay the planks out for my spine

Whittled down the day
To a narrow straight line
Pulling at splinters
One by one

The amber of the twilight
Is only in the sky
We sleep unwhiskeyed
And plain

Where dreams are all mundane
No symbols to unfurl
I won't wake up with a name
Just a lighting of the world

Alabaster moon
A sliver in the air
Sinks below a sturdy line
Till barely there

Where dreams are unretained
No there's nothing to recall
I won't wake up with a name
Or nothing else at all