None but the Imbalance

I think I like to remember life better than it was
  But that's only because
  I know if I go searching
     Deeper and deeper
There's no reason
             For my kind of crazy
Only me

So I picture the summers soft and warm
 With lessons to teach and a more apt pupil
  Widening gates that flew open in the wild breeze
   Flicking leaves upon cobbled paths
  I knew in my heart you wouldn't last
 dear Mystery
I still reach for you

     And I scribble notes of winter's branches:
    Heavy coats
   The bus comes
Snapping, crunching, sweating cold
   Deliberating over blue eyes
    Waking to a foreboding calm
     Stepping back a ways

Autumn is pretty but it kills that summer vibe
Putting it to bed like some rotten kid

And Springtime is a runny nose set to a pretentious soundtrack
But don't we always put up with promises

Believe in me, please
        like I Believe in you?

So we can go searching

So you can egg me on

Crack me on the edge

And pour me into the pan

Watch me twist and sputter in the heat

"Wants salt."

Oh, Little One

We watch the water rise and fall
And no surprise you're all about the moon tonight
Your hands are cold but they fit in mine
Till I wake up and trace over these dotted lines

So don't forget your helmet if you go outside
'Cause the man on the screen said...

And grandpa remembers when trees were real
Back when the house didn't need a plastic seal
Before ohio had a coastline
And your dreams were mine

So don't forget your helmet if you go outside
'Cause the man on the screen said the sun is almost dead
And don't leave your pills on the counter again
But you said "I already ate today"

The Melancholic Martian

Some fleeting bits of poetry are gnawing at the edge of me
As once again the crumbs of consciousness run up ahead of me

My hand is shaking in the car which drowns itself in the garage
My head a twisted, tattered mess, confessed to leave the engine on
But to go inside and then resign, hoping to find some meaning for my vacant life
I'll eat a meal of what may cause my heart to shine its own "check engine" light

But what does it matter if I ever reach a ripe old age
Around this sour fruit you should probably put the pills away
But I often get nostalgic when I'm lonely, so if you're hearing this
I'd like for you to know my life has been a learning experience
So far...

And yes, I do recognize the moments where the weakness wanes
Where choice is almost evident and I know that I give in to it
For what is a moment's happiness to soothe a second's sorrow
When every thought of healing is no more real than is tomorrow

There's a snapping sound at the very top
In ecstasy and aching
And I dare to hope it will not stop
Just as my hand starts shaking
Then off the ladder I will fall
And back again to dark and desperate
But down here you're all so damn beautiful
And I a blight on your collective

Ballad of a Weatherman

Ever since he was a young boy, meteorology
Was all he cared about so he could be like the man on the TV
He would watch the skies and chase the storms and map the ways the weather formed
His interest rose like mercury when the world was warm
And all he had were his dreams

All he wanted was to point behind him and tell you what lie ahead
With a smile and a wink, no need to think about a word he said
You could trust him, yeah

He made it through college and even grad school
Could trace a pressure pattern in his sleep if he had to
So he started work at the local station with the highest hopes and expectations
Fetching coffee and making copies and dreaming of precipitation
Working hard for the man in the suit

All he wanted was to point behind him and tell you what lie ahead
With a smile and a wink, no need to think about a word he said
You could trust him, yeah

After years of working at a desk
He was almost ready to give it a rest
But still he did not give up hope of keeping the townsfolk in the know
So one day they sent him out to track a cyclone all alone
And he swore to the team that he would do his best


All he wanted was to point behind him and tell you what lie ahead
With a smile and a wink, no need to think about a word he said
You could trust him, yeah

Through the wind, across the waves
In yellow boots and coat he taped
From a tiny boat the story of mother nature's wild glory
And though the scene quickly grew quite gory
The remains of the tape still heard him say
"Well folks, I think it's gonna rain."


All he wanted was to point behind him and tell you what lie ahead
With a smile and a wink, no need to think about a word he said
You could trust him, yeah

Lonely Wolf

This must be the town where all the heroes go to die
Where all the legends lay to rest
And all the secrets don't need keeping

This must be the place where you know a person by their face
But never take the time to know their name
Though you can watch them sleeping

This must be the street where all the people that you meet
Are in every single cliche song
About how great it is to live here

But I don't mean to assume
Don't mean to bring you down
No, this could be just another tired town

This must be the house where you know you'll die alone
Though your mouth still makes the shapes to say
That it looks just like home

This must be the room where you'll take your dying breath
Though if you can move down that donor list
Maybe it won't be your own

But I don't mean to bring you down
Don't mean to assume
No, this could be just another empty room

Place the cigarettes and candy in her casket
Right atop the blanket like a lonely shopping basket
But you make sure the beer's in there, somewhere where she can reach it
Heaven's on our minds, Preacher, but hell is all you're preaching

Smoking at the Gas Pump

There is a shadow upon the wall
Can it be mine? No, it is far too tall
Here in the corner I feel so small
So near to the shadow upon the wall

Here in this small town made of clay
We wait for the rain to wash our world away
We built up our houses, a safe place to stay
To find comfort and leisure and the weight of the waves

Here in my head there's a thought slowly spinning
The dark, woolen web that I walk is now thinning
To the look of a hundred teeth slyly grinning
As I round the next lap of this race I'm not winning

Here in the dark, there's a soft, hollow laughter
That chips and that clips at all dreams I chase after
That uses no words yet still names itself master
My hands, strung like puppets, bid nigh new disaster

There is a shadow upon the wall
It used to be mine; now it's twenty feet tall
It scrapes at the ceiling, for the wall is too small
And soon it may take us, this clay house and all