ornament

hold your breath and count to ten
feel my heart inside your head
and as we fall into the everafter
if after all is all we are that matters
we'll change the dark we'll be a single spark
a red balloon, a shoe lace tune; to the moon and back
there will be no need to pack
pay this no mind, darling we'll be fine
we'll just leave it all behind

the drop

hold me down beneath the water
bury me beneath the tide
drown me out with all the others
lay them by my side

if all the stars just fall apart there in the dark
would we still be together
is this all forever

or does it stop and just disappear
the buzzards call, the tigers paw, the antlered deer
the shortest straw, the closest call, the shattered mirror
the chimneys fall and the ashes spread so far away from here

from time to time, place to place, face to face with empty space
i cannot help but wish we'd never met
death's disguise, a lover's mask
hallowed be thy name in flesh weening off the amber lit sunset
hold my hand, taste my skin
tied and dyed with bloodstains in the selfish saviors shallow fishing net
tranquilized by trinity, trapped in time with tyranny
take me back to new york state instead

but all the places are replaced with this
and all the faces are erased with this
and any trace left is a space not yet met
oh, how i hate this, the nameless shapes of our death

the buzzards call

twenty-something and he folds in half
drove two thousand miles just to buy some gas
a hole-punched deck of cards for tricks and a loaned guitar made of pick-up sticks
dressed to spill and he spills his glass 
just to watch things change, just to stir the past
twenty-something and he folds in half 
drove two thousand miles just to buy some gas
 
no need to run, we know the sky is falling
no need to run cuz everyone is dieing
no need to run

only nineteen and she's seen too much
got a heart of fire yet a gentle touch 
cold wisconsin and a pile of books
pot of boiling beets and a cat for love
dressed for comfort though it's not enough so she cuts herself and she writes in blood
only nineteen and she's seen to much
got a heart of fire, yet a gentle touch

i know i'd give it all to her
i know she'd love me if she could
it's just a silly, selfish dream but i still love this odd lady
i'm just a silly, selfish creep


California

she's confused and who the hell knows what she wants
she's the pilot light
he's the cold turkey in the oven stuffed and she won't turn off the night

winter's here and summer's fun is lost in the snow so let's make it a man
build him up just so we can watch him melt and go to sleep in the sand

if nothing else, well, hey i had a good time
our love is always about who can tell the best lies
and i'll keep trying to close your opened eyes
back off i love you most of the time

the color blue is an ocean to drown you out and i'm the deepest color blue
washing over you

prussian blue

there's a light in your head
there's a star in your eyes and it burns bright red
there's a light in your tears
there's a song in your cry and it goes like this:

baby, i don't wanna die alone
take me with you down that exit road

there's a flame at your heel
there's a fox in the road as the headlights glow
there's a seed in your voice
dirt old bones in the soil where this young girl grows

lady, i won't let you die alone
bury your love and watch this garden grow


Garden Road

blackberry picker rolled up in wicker
cold water mountain blues
these are the things that we lose
the things we choose to see right through
to split in two and cast aside to form a path
in search of what we always had; in all this good we find the bad

but who are you and what am i
what are we; why can't i see
though hard i try
still i am lost
please tell me why before i cry

strawberry licker tied up in ticker
hot summer concrete blues
these are the things that we choose to hold on to
to pile through until inside we're emptied out t
o form a hole in which we hide inside ourselves, this broken shell, a frightened soul

and what else is there up in the sky beside these clouds
beside these stars
beside these holes
nobody knows
but when we dream we split the seam
we learn to hope
we learn to fly
and then we die

(ghostly crooning)

Cold Water Mountain Blues

The basement recordings of a hapless musician lost in Wisconsin.

the nameless shapes

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