The Same Day

Christmas, Long Island, NY (2010)

What--
but the words escape me.
Oh poetry, and winter night.
The Christmas lights like memory,
the thrill of once, of hope.
In the sky, the stars, the same stars.
In the air, the smell, the same smell.
In my life, the day, the same day.
Yet, what--
it all escapes me,
this empty,
to find me old, without--
The snow falls for days and we waste
our time.

Words to Songs Recorded In Argyle, TX 8/13-14/2011

1.
Before all is said and done
Don't forget to call the dogs
and piss on the fire

Make amends, call your lovers,
call your friends. The curtain's closing.
Mend the fray.

2.
Fair weatherer
on the sidelines of my erring
this view is curious
fair weatherer, don't stray

too much for casual conversation
do I tread the road unsoundly?
You've every opportunity
to leave me where you never found me, so...

leave me where you never found me
no, don't leave

Fair weatherer
given to your brief amusement
but when amusement gets to wearing thin
you turn around and walk away, again

to leave me where you never found me
leave me where you never found me
just leave
no, don't leave.

3.
Innocent bystander
sink me from the deep end
save me from my last breath
lay me in the light
nurse me back to function
feed me what you've gathered
keep me in your wishes
and send me off to fight.

4.
Send me back from where I came
dying rock and brittlebush
like arid wind from kitchen oven
lazy, hostile dusk 'till dawn
never thought I'd see the day
from air too thick to work our brains
send me back from where I came
down the dime and West awhile
light like familiar song
burning off that crowded verdance...
What could possibly go wrong?

5.
No more Goodtime Charlie,
we squeeze the blood from stone.
Do you suppose, by chance,
we overstayed the dance?
We overstayed our welcome here?

To hand ourselves to our demons
to bathe in lard and poison
each wavering desire
is fuel to stoke the furnace
fuel to burn ourselves.

Let's burn ourselves, here.

Colorado Desert, Southern California (2004)

Brown barren highway like a ruler stretched across this empty dust,
we drive fast.

Windows open,
air tunnels through our hair and necks.
Brown fingers hold the wheel.
I heave breaths into the desert, hoping to participate.
There's more life here than you think.

If we were alone, lonely desert,
drifting.