Undergrounder

You're gonna lose her before you even found her
Lost yourself somewhere in the space around her
Wouldn't choose her to end up such a downer
She's the life of the party and you're the undergrounder

Can't Sleep Tonight

Another shot from a cop took a young boy’s life
Another jury’d rather hurry it and fails to indict
Another mass chokin’ gas by the fire light
I don’t know bout you but I can’t sleep tonight

Well, they were fishing for suspicion around 3:45
And then they guessed he had possession when he caught their eye
11 times he cried that their hold was too tight
I’m breathing fine, I guess that’s why I can’t sleep tonight

How many must fall before racism dies
How many news stations mute these parents’ cries
How many bullets fired and then nobody’s tried
I can close my own eyes but I can’t sleep tonight

Insufficient politicians call for peace and quiet
Always ignoring while we’re snoring the reasons for a riot
We’re safe and we’re privileged because we’re white
And that’s the whole damn reason I can’t sleep tonight

Another shot from a cop took a young girl’s life
Another jury’d rather hurry it and fails to indict
Another mass chokin’ gas by the fire light
I don’t know bout you but I can’t sleep tonight
I don’t know bout you but I can’t sleep tonight
I don’t know bout you but I can’t sleep tonight

Seismic

Imagine
A pebble.
This pebble is
My imagination.
Imagine the
Pacific Plate,
Shifting and shaking
The world. It is the
Imagination of
My inferiority.
All of me is
A Pebble to the
Tectonic fathoms
Of my mediocrity.
Oh the immensity
Of my potential
To imagine
The fault,
Any fault,
As mine
And shrivel
Through the cracks
Of such expansive
Ineptitude.

Degradation

Why do we think it a full life when I do little but much is done to me?
Why do we think it an empty life when I do much but little is done to me?

Easier to stand in line, even if I don't know what for.
Easier to mute my mind, ever amused and used and bored.

Easier to hold onto what I've been handed.
Easier than making the effort to reach.

The struggles I struggle with are expectations.
The true villain is not time, but the clock.

Forgeries Upon Forgeries

Open eyes flicker firefly signs
Across ocean skylines
Phone calls on hardlines
Try to remind me of who I am
And who I could be among the rest of them
The best of them is still less than when
We were the kings and queens of a foreign land
We had flower crowns and roots in the earth
We were worth more at birth than the girth of their mirth
It was easy to hold onto heaven when we were in hell
But the promises we make we can only undersell
If everyone is here, then where is everyone else
I look across the room and meet eyes with myself
The wealth of nations has paid for a funeral dirge
But I urge you to stay for the reception
There will be laughter and tears and one hundred years
Of more homemade, patriotic deception

The stabbing pain you feel is normal, I'm sure
I'm well aware of the lidless hours your eyes have spent waiting
If time is worth taking then, waking, we'll be there
(Where is love found more than in an abundance of hating?)

Fraudulent Fascination

I don't know how to ask you
I don't know how to say
How much you ripped me to pieces
And spread me across the barren earth

I don't know how to convince you
I don't know how to tread
So just maybe you'll respond in kind
Instead of hiding from me all over again

I don't know what you want
And I'm too afraid to ask
Why did you run
Should I have been waiting?

Take Your Meds

They say it's like a broken bone.

Just gotta give it time to heal.

But no split wrist ever made me insist that

Some imaginary shit was real.

RebelRebel

I've seen a brain

In a round jar

Mine, currently

Resides in a round

Skull

Yet still, my

Mind, I imagine

Must be kept in

Four walls

A low ceiling

And a hard

Floor

By law

Ally

Can you make my point, can you argue for me—

Can you destroy all the other stories—

Can I hold you up as a flag to wave—

Can I be the coward when you act so brave—

Can you save me from my ignorance—

Can I wash my hands in your common sense—

Can you take my place, can you hurt, can you bleed—

Can you take my life and die for me—

Can you be my hero instead of simply an inspiration—

Can you make up for all my failed imitations—

Can you drown while I hold my breath—

Can you feed me what's left—

Can you starve while I feast—

Can you take on the most, while I ignore the least—

Can you illuminate while I cower and cry—

Can you deliberate while I rush my goodbye—

Can you stand where I lie—

Can you do while I die—

Can you scream while I sigh—

Can you be my only alibi—

Can you be my ally?

Friendship

You and I may sit down
At the table of peace
But our seats are too small
For nations
And the meal will not satiate
The hunger of incorporated
Warfare
Yet still we will sit
And break bread
And misunderstand
One another
And be just enough
In our idealistic
Inadequacies

Padre de los Padres

those on earth who hold the most expose us every hour
so why should I lean down and bow for a god who has all power

compete in song and architecture, and lock your gilded doors
you can feed the world but you'd rather bleed it for His wars

this is not some outside view, a pointed finger from afar
I am a preacher's son who one by one will show you every scar

there is a machine shaped like a cross that's gutted out our history
in the name of love and righteousness and filling out the mystery

indoctrinated by those men who taught me how to hate
look down upon those other "them" who question and debate

"love each other" oft gets lost among the many sins
no faithful care to count the cost so long as their side wins

twelve men feared a storm at sea, annoyed he calmed the waves
but millions die by tsunami, and Jesus doesn't save

Dubito

Some thoughts bleed deep into these streets like raw meat
Soap scum of good intentions undone by the stink of flesh in heat
Reap the seeds of trees before they can creep toward the sun
We crave to be numb then flood our veins with feelings
Sawed off shot guns
And the shells
Hells we make for ourselves encapsulate a welling up of hope
Questions, interjections, emotions like tugboats pulling terms like also
Even though, who knows… 
Afloat along songs sung behind doors flung 
Dusty carpets out of antique stores
Ideas too age when paraded around, sanded down, or marinated
With too much praise ignored by bored borders scored with sores
Sage advice waged against the weight of loan debt
Grad caps fall back down
Even if our young adulthood hasn’t quite hit the ground yet
So absorb this concept quick, get bit like horse shit lifestyle revelations
From the espresso-sippin’ hipster babies to the CEOs runnin’ nations
All the pale folk gather in a square, stay fair, unfair
Never dare recognize with our bright blue ignorant eyes
Catch me by surprise with any mention of pretension
Like humanity was a sunburnable invention
Hackin’ trees like beats, we beat down
But don’t mean our own presumptions
Men of earthenware expectations, crackpot assumptions

Why we battle each other, our mothers, not nature, and hate ourselves
Rather let’s gather as many lights as we are able
Remember to let you pick the menu not just sit at the table
Maybe unstable, each leg set up on wild whims
Beginning to concede your needs are sorely underachieved in meeting
And time can’t close the doors that history keeps beating

But if I believe in anything, maybe anything believes in me
And if my past is a labyrinth I ain’t havin it with these minotaurs
Minicars crashin the ashen lanes of bashful brains
Where do I stop and you begin
And wherefore is the line, why I resign my mind’s bolder sin
Shades of tethered thin skin, illuminate
Backlit wounds we can’t exaggerate
I’ll age in my madness, rage out of cages built in sadness
Devote the tragic to magic habits
Like “love one another” and “give peace a chance”
Dance, dance Ponyboy

Thursday

The world came to an end on a Thursday
And it wasn’t that bad
Wasn’t even close to the worst day
That I’ve ever had
I suppose we all should’ve noticed
When the seas met the sky
Or at very least when all the animals died

The world came to an end with a whisper
Though more like a sigh
Like some greenhouse gas had passed or perhaps
More like the moment passing by
It was all far too sudden
Yet we’d waited so long
I don’t mean to sound disappointed
But hey, my planet’s gone

The world came to an end, and now it’s over
Guess we all should have known
What’s the point in ruling a planet
That will leave you alone
And the few of us that made it
Have made a decree
Never again to start fighting
Well, I give that a week

Sea Legs

Of that old cry,
"Give me a sign!"
I'd take the weight of a scent
To test against my lament
On a breeze of uncertainties
Even ragged sails may carry me
All these rotting beams of memories
Creak and speak of calmer seas
While storms rage in the decks below
Such as the waves may never know
Some lighthouse yonder to guide its wander
Would this old boat lead safely home
I'll raise a toast to honest coastlines
And here resign, "Give me a sign!"

Hazard Lights

Forget good intentions, I’m content in my inaction
Don’t give me a vote, I want a brand new distraction
Don’t give me a choice, I’ll take my bread and my circus
If you can’t give me bread, I’ll still ask you where dessert is
I’m drowning in the open air, I’m sinking through the floor
I used to be land-locked, now the ocean’s at my door
I’m in for a whirlwind that’s for sure, and what’s more
There’s a hole above my head that I just can’t ignore
I’m the product of these products, and sold like I’m the odd duck
For wondering what the fuck is up with all these dump trucks of
Love for institutions of pollution, our daily contributions
The landfills are full and still pull the bull from congress resolutions
An infusion of illusions have kept us counting two by twos in
An attempt to fill an ark we cannot build with some half-truths and
We’ll all be sorely losing, but especially the lower class
While the rich are getting richer and the shrinking middle craves their cash
In the puddle turning slicker, the population’s sicker
The air is growing thicker, so please here take a sticker
Sing a song for planet earth and then drive home so bitter
If it’s father man and mother earth, tell me why does we hit her?
Can’t keep down our liquor, spend our checks on pitchers
Running up the debts, so christmas comes and you can get yer
Happy little new toy, watch the lights and oh boy
Throw away the old one, it was made just to be destroyed
Happy little people, crowd under the steeples
Pray to the god of excess, for a sale on some more sweet bull
Everybody bow down, the cow was made to chow down
Don’t care how it’s made ‘cause what we crave is more and right now
Pound by pound we pound out, sounds till we can’t sound out
Pop ain’t art without a heart, but start now and you’re drowned out
All this is a folly, a chasing after breezes
So go just pop a molly, or kneel before your yeezus
Don’t need a constitution, don’t need a revolution
Maybe a new atom bomb, but certainly not a solution
We are not the future, we are not a cancer
We were born just like you and do not have the answer
This is not a hope song, this is not a love song
This is an I am sick and twisted and had quite enough song
Shake me from the inside, take my hand, demand me
Herd me ‘round and hurt me, brainwash me and brand me
I am not an icon, I am not a profile
I am not a number, I am not on mobile
I am not an issue, I am not ______ist
I am still a problem, I will not be dismissed
I am here for peace time, I am here for warfare
I don’t want your savior, I like you am very scared

Tenderhearted Ares' Son

I used to get drunk every night
On the lies you let slip
From the corners of your creaking
Mouth, but lately I've been
Stumbling 'round
The truth of my bruises
And calling you out
Of your own crimson curtains
Like it's any business of
Mine which worlds
You destroy.

X^x

Some say it's its aspirations
Which define each generations'
Reach, but who needs definitions
When all the haters are in perdition
New dawn, new day, every day anyway
And the old crazes faded like phases, chains break, replaced
By new faces, with new eyes, still shaded the same way
Or blinded by the brightness of the lightness of decay
Swayed by patterns, what really matters here on death's door
Knock once then run, ding dong ditch that son of a gun
Fired from the womb of time, with rhymes to spare
Just get in line if you do or dare
No staring or glaring, can't repair the past
Wonder how you'll fair if the fare over Styx is in cash
I'll be chillin' with my dog Cerberus, just passing
Questions asking and relaxing to the tune of ferries crashing
When the ferryman finds you've cheated your passage from the poor
Who made it this far despite your every attempt to get more
Squeeze the blood from every corner of the door
And rip the hinges and the jam and the frame and the core
And the galaxy inside of me screams out for justice
Spinning and grinning always knowing it can't trust us
Tricksters and wicks alight with a might we can never comprehend
I am the enemy of ignorance, yet folly is my best friend
Call a cab for the kid who lives somewhere 'round the bend
I am the architect of entropy, long live something left to defend

Deeds

Was out walking beside a field the other night
Whose field? Who knows?
But why should or would I say "whose"
As if land can belong, and yet
Doesn't it?

For the house in which I type this, contrive this
Concoct this
Has a mortgage to pay
Doesn't it?
And my house
(oh I say it was mine but really, well)
Had a rent I split
With a housemate
To a landlord--
Lord of the whole land--
A nice man with a nice yard he
Kept.

The field there reminded me
In its wild splaying reeds of
Winter-denying
Death-belying
Expansion of
A wider, gaping mouth
Whose teeth
Visible or otherwise
And grass-stained lips
Would be marked on some
Vaguely ancient parchment.
This parcel to delineate
Ownership
Has the name of
Deed
Not good not bad
But deed all the same,
Doesn't it?

In this state the States have stood
Erected as if to prove they could
From, let's be morbidly honest here
More than a drop of
Scarlet deception
Quite a whole lot more, in fact.
And we, who say
Whose is whose
And where belongs to whom
Make such fertile landfill
When all debts are paid
And the landlord comes back
For the rent,
Which starts to seems so steep,
Doesn't it?

nobody

nobodyleavesthelightson
'causenobody'scominghome
nobody'sinthebasement
playingguitarallalone
nobody'satthemovies
'causenobody'sonthescreen
andnobodyknowswherenobodygoes
'causenobody'severseen
nobody'soutthere

9 and 9

I'd like some closure if such a thing exists
I won't pull you any closer if you only resist
I will not force you to speak a word to me
Only reinforcing irresponsibility

If I hurt you I apologize
But why should I say "if"
We hurt each other, this I realize
Ain't it about time that we quit

I would only like to tell you that you mean the world to me
But the world just keeps on spinning and I've spun right underneath

And all your promises
Line my mind like newspaper round a glass cup
Chipped in places
Far too many to be saved yet for
Sentimentality

I am the foam of the ocean
You're the salt in the breeze
I can't stay outside the water
You're always outside of me

I'm the palm branch on an island
You're the signal fire home
I will give myself to light you
I will burn out all alone

The Weather Channel

Person A is hiking through the woods, and about five miles in the clouds roll in, thunder claps, and it just starts pouring down, like wall of blinding water right outta nowhere. The weather report that morning said nothing about rain, and the canopy above does next to nothing to prevent Person A from getting drenched. Thankfully, Person A remembers that there's a cave about a mile and a half back just off the side of the trail. Through the pounding rain and the ever more slippery ground, our hiker finally makes it that mile and a half to find a mostly dry respite inside the small inlet of rock.
Now, while Person A is attempting to catch some breath and wait out the storm, Person B happens to stroll by in full rain gear underneath a huge umbrella. Not a single drop of water has come anywhere near Person B, save the bottom of those top of the line designer multi-terrain boots.

"Hey!" yells Person B through the storm. "Get out of the cave."
"I'm only staying in here to keep dry," says Person A, "I'll leave as soon as the rain stops and be on my way."

"No way," says Person B. "I was prepared. I have all the gear and the coat and the umbrella. It's my cave. I deserve to get the cave because I only came out in the rain once I made sure none of it would get on me. You don't deserve to be dry because you weren't prepared and got soaking wet."

"Well," says Person A, "I'm only soaking wet because I didn't know it was going to rain today, but as soon as it started I got to the cave as fast as I could. I worked really hard to get here and now I'm almost all dry. Besides, if you'd like to come in, there's room for you too."

"You don't get it," says Person B. "Why should I suffer and have to share that cave with you when I was prepared? You might get me wet if I go stand in there next to you. Only dry people deserve to hide from the rain in the cave."

Later that day, the body of Person B was found at the top of the hill after a giant umbrella, now missing from the scene, was struck by lightning.

Mystery Fiction

My mind is half a serving of scrambled eggs
left cold near some toast on a bill-piled table
each marked overdue like the books of
philosophy and mystery short fiction
having assumed precious real estate
beside the dust outline of a black
alarm clock now
smashed to utter ruin
on the recently rain-drenched
underbrush of coffee-stained
carpet, they
remain marked at
pages 402 and
15, respectively,
each 365 pages from
their last word while
another last word
hangs poised
in the musky morning
air of an open window
and an early rain like
tears preceding
sorrow like
burning a corpse:
fever should generally
precede fatality.

lost in the mail

how do i end
this letter i can't send
i can't use "love," because i don't
i can't use "yours," because i'm not and i won't
use "sincerely," because clearly
it's not so serious, maybe i'm delirious
maybe it doesn't matter, maybe it's all the same
i'll just say "cheers" to settle my fears
because at least everyone here knows your name

from this distance
can you still remind me of how i’ve failed
insisting
that after all of these lies the truth will prevail
but i’ll stay up all night
with nothing left to write
to capture the complexities of that long goodbye
getting lost in the mail

how much for a phone call
how much for a text or
any kind of word at all
am i not worth the cost
or did your letter get lost

Gargoyle Eyes

Where pits of peaches fall and jumping needles crawl
And the whole wide world stretches out like dough before us
In a half asleep dream of memories and prospects
The hope of calloused hearts shaves off layers
To the fresh and tender flesh of recklessness
Scalded and racing the tempest for flight
With the passion of daylight circumnavigating the hallways
And in the distance the crackling of the river rocks
And the ticking of second-hand counter clocks
In dim reflection
And an itchy sweater's habit
Of gathering friends from
Nature's shed skin