Here is an abandonment of form 
S’okay by me 
I’m the apology individual 
But today I won’t say sorry 
Strange lover 
Unchained dreamer 

Suddenly far away 
Like driving outside New Orleans 
then finding myself in Eastern Europe 
Phenomenologically, yes 
Opening eyes on one continent 
then blinking onto the next 
Oh, there’s no story 
Discrete, discrete moments 
without history 
Honey 

I’ve seen love make a fool of a man 
I’ve been a fool too 
I’ve sung to myself 
Sitting in the grass 
in the spring, in the world 
Oh, frisson’s memory 
Language cleaves 
Though even dogs can write 
Against the trees 
Depressive summer breeze 
Set your perfumes after me 
100 feet in the canopy 
Not very church-like, but 
God’s will is in the wild life 
An eye for an eye 
but I’ll keep mine 
First among equals 

Animals and people 
Smoking, drinking, 
high in the night 
Poetics has its archetypes 
Carpenters, builders, and masons 
Managers and agents 
Academics and the like 
Not the most interesting question, but, 
Why write poetry? 
Say the thing clearly 
Well, that’s exactly why 
Oh, and sometimes it’s exciting 
To unearth my eccentricities 
Fingers tapping at my mind 

Thoughts and things 
Are lost on me 
I’m waiting for a friend 
Again, again, I’m waiting for a friend 
Visiting the gardens 
Sitting on a bus 
Sifting through the junk shops 
Picking flowers from the ravine 
Stuck in empty bottles 
Etcetera etcetera 
Activities in the heat 

Something pitiable about the past 
Hemming in today 
Tomorrow seems so far away 
And forever feels like yesterday 
In other words: 
The past, present, and future 
are already incomprehensible 
Buddy, you’re stuck in a rut 
Days become scattershot 
Occasionally waking up in the wrong world 
Waking up in an obstacle course 
First bad, then worse 
Falling down the stairs backwards 
Spill that spoiled milk 

Caught dreaming again 
Caught in a dream again 

Joy expresses itself 
And for what it’s worth 
So does everything else 
I’m outta my head 
An ocean may divide us, but 
I think we’re surrounded 

Night after night after night 

Will this world’s madness never end? 
Take a deep breath, friend 
Now let’s descend 
Travelling partners in the ditch 
Bandanas tied to sticks 
Lots of days of lots of work 
for equal love of equal worth 
I don’t want to be inscrutable: 
I’ve been lucky to know you 
Helping the poor struggler 
And how quickly hell 
might turn into paradise 
Meaning, a better world 
More curious, less cruel 

All in good time 
In my time 
It’s over 

Always dark 
Always blue 
Always cold 
And always shrewd 
Given myself 
to myself 
Highway window starer 
Enjoyer of songs 
Gutter boy, gift boy 
Kissing boy, romantic boy 
Bite your lip 
Uncross your arms 
Improve your attitude 
And scowl less 
Open your fist 
and let the slime run through 

Caught dreaming again 
Caught in a dream again 

A thousand weekends 
of garage sale flyers 
Never taken down 
The first night I was in your car 
You drove the wrong way 
down a one way street 
And still we’re never turning around 

For better or worse 
Baby, we’re cursed 
As I walk to the grocery store, 
in context with the street and passersby, 
I can see I’m out of step 
Skinny in the reflection of blacked out glass 
Oh, will the sunlight calm me? 
My worries about his state of mind 
That we may rest in peace while we’re still alive 

Watch me dance 
and laugh and sing 
Do re mi fa so la ti do 
Delightfully directionless and dumb 

Caught dreaming again 
Caught in a dream again 

There seems to be no escape

Obstacle Course

Enamoured of flowers 
found in the dustbin 
Echoes of mania 
dissolved by devotion 
In the grip of a cool evening 
I find life to be something 
of a dream 
Sometimes merrily 
Sometimes not 
Learning to live 

I’m aging, I’m humming 
and buzzing 
Breeze laughter 
Nowhere in particular to go 
But happy to travel 
Love finds company 
and hate finds contempt 
Strangers and strangers 
Friends and friends 
Walking the streets 
Dizzy dizzy again 

Within reach of the sky 
Further into the night 

Throw me in your cauldron 
Hold me in your arms again 
I’m your charm 

Often but not always 
I forget what joy we’ve 
set in waiting for ourselves 

Often but not always

Often but Not Always

I feared myself in the heath 
Like hounds 
Like falling down 
I was a kid and the dogs were forever bigger 
Awesome reaching hands of the past 
clutching at me in my sleep 
To crop and enhance 
Magically, always, enhance enhance 
Pull back the camera to my memory 
Now close up, closer still, until I wake up 
and the morning construction begins again 

Each scene is a song 
Sunlight is a game 
A day today 
What to do? 
Read about collapsing 
of all sorts 
Rana plaza, C.C. 
and nuclear war 
God, I’m afraid of nuclear war 
Don’t buy new clothing 
from a chain store 

Watch the crows waiting at a red light 
Crows crossing at the cross walk 
Are we being encircled? 
Is this a threat or a romance? 
Friends without a language 
An antidote to be poisoned 
Letting the snakes bite you 
A particular madness 
A dramatic reenactment 

Spinning out tears 
for my own web 
Personal historical development 
No more suffering for artifice 
Drama isn’t negative 
Don’t we all live for it? 
Boring people get bored 
I’m shivering thinking about them 
Prayers are harmless 
and I’ll pray for you 
Talking to people can be helpful too 
Not everyone is hell bent on being cruel 
But the question that’s nagging me today 
How do we forget about the sense of things? or 
Can a certain nonsense be meaningful? 
The nonsense of spacing out, forgetting to eat 
Forgetting to push the fucking button 
I’m lost with rationality 
In what order, if any, 
should we approach the intractable 
from our sick-bed? 
Until we’ve regained our strength 
sabotage the management 
It was all a trick and they fell for it 
Not reformed or reconstructed 
Unreleased from our habits 
Probation granted 
Let’s skip the border 

Where are we going? 

Well, we’re going further 
Forward without bitterness 
It’s later than you think 

Doing what we want 
for our own good 
Stay awhile 
Have another drink 

So the day to day 
keeps going on and on 
The landscape churns 
Laughter echoes through the halls 

Open to fantasy 
Putting on disguises 
Look at that 
We’re invisible 

Now more than before 
More support 
Spilling all your 
angel guts 
across the floor 
Not too bad but 
always wanting more 
I’m that dusk 
That perfume of 
descending air 

Running in the grass 
Lying in the fields 
My heart is in my hands 
Feels like I’m dubbing on air 

Sunny turns away 
August moon day 
Heaven waiting underground 
Dance like nothing exists 

The impossibility 
of stopping this awful thing 
may exceed and surround us 
Filled up with wild fear 

But if you say it is what it is 
then take a knife to what it is

Dramatic Reenactment

I’m waiting 
I’m falling 
I’m waiting 
I’m falling 

I’m drowning 
Call me Darling 
In the morning 
call me, darling 

Tattoo of 
a spider 
inside of 
your knee 

Never 
never smiling 
Collar and 
chipped teeth 

Crooked spine 
Time is laughing 
Nine years 
Brewing tea 

Breathing into 
a feeling 
I was younger 
Shuffling on Bronx streets 

Designing, 
longing grossly 
Drunkly 
bitter smoking 

Out of my mind 
in the dungeon 
Witching hour 
covers me 

When the weather gets colder 
and I’m tired 
I get to wondering about old times 
If it was that bad 

Previous imaginings 
melt away from me 
Who knows or cares 
what I might have been 
One tends to forget 
these things anyway 
I’m me, in my way, perfect 
and angel-like 
Whatever I was worried about 
yesterday is old news 

And now I feel that I am old too

Tend To Forget

It’s true 
I don’t mean to 
I don’t mean to 
I don’t 

And it’s you 
I don’t mean to 
I don’t mean to 
fawn too much 

Born to lose 
Lost in a thought 
Lost in a dream 
Lost at sea 

N for New York 
N for New Jersey 
N for nowhere, 
nothing, nobody 

It’s true 
I don’t mean to 
Howdy pardner, 
I think it’s time to leave 

And it’s you 
If I’m mean to 
Scald my tongue 
Never gonna walk past that 

Explain to me 
something, anything 
Repeat 
a very good spell on me 

Four years sanctioned 
by the state 
Got that paper 
in a drawer 

If I’m running in the shadows 
If I’m calling you babe 
that’s me reaching 
for something that isn’t there 
Off with his mind 
Off with his mind 
Keep yours and mine 

Our hands are tied 
together with twine 
A thousand needles, 
a thousand eyes 
Jack of diamonds is 
a hard card to find 
But we found it in time 
on the borderline 

Nightlife in the dead of night 
Life after death 
Living dead, is it, then? 
Learning to be a person again 
Learning to be free from, at least, 
one particularly toxic symbology 

Yeah, we criminals 
Illegal against a vindictive 
and hateful world 
falling further into 
fash tendencies 
No halos 
A one star review

Off With His Mind

Witches flying 
Boy 
Child crying 
Reaching the edges of my mind 
Substitutiary locomotion 
Suits of armour full of life 
Word magic, act magic 
A reason to believe 
Lest we break the spell 
and all fall down 
Eglantine, Eglantine 
Oh, how you shine 
Mobilized against fear and ignorance 
Oh yeah 

If you’re feeling down 
You can talk with me 
I’ll be around 
We can enjoy 
the pleasures of 
the apartment block 
Tea or alcohol 
Images in the smoke spiraling 
again toward midnight 
A glass held to the moon 
awakens ancient memories 
Secret family, secret history 
Peacock angel 
Conjuring djinn 
My private sorcery 
The sigil worked! 
And now I live in Toronto 
With you 

My great grandmother was 
born in Asia Minor 
seventy years after 
the Greek Revolution 
Seventy years being 
two and a half times longer than 
I’ve been alive 
And thirty years less than 
the hundred she lived for 
Paths crossing, world turning 
Endless and always ending 
Each day’s chance, like 
An odd toss 
The past is always there 
to draw and learn from 
I am thankful for this 
You fell asleep next to me 
as I looked at scans of the 
Kitab al-Bulhan 

And I wonder 
Where’m I gonna go? 
Who’m I gonna be? 
Who’m I gonna I know? 
What’s that calling out to me? 
And I wonder 
And I wonder

Liam the Younger

Popular tracks