and a leaf (draft)

the breath is fast and fading
a gleaming and a leaf
the beating pulse is slowing down

Iconic, unrelating
the story of a leaf
Lives, changes, falls down to the ground

A common wonder, beauty
dew resting on a leaf
It starts from nowhere, falls in line

Once resting at my hairline
my memory of a leaf
Deep colors have my memories now

Death, motion, random placement
the falling of a leaf
Once always and forever now

you are fair

You are fair-minded, just and years from now
Than you came in? literature,
And loving.
Q: hard going in and one gets
Such wholesome returns
Of Glive soon.
Never look up
Hope. IN the space of one million three hundred
And
Reason. John Keats you
Are fair-minded, just because
The Mississippi will pass away
Very quickly.

the reeds sing

the reeds sing in a way few ever hear
the song is sweet but a little sharp
a cunning ear will learn to see with
foggy light cut by the snow

a passing ambulance rides on water
the bugs about are all in trouble
a clever eye can sense the danger
these are the things few ever know

a cloudy day, a bit of sunshine
beams of light break through the white
a delicate touch can feel the difference
but sometimes people stay below

unfortunate trodden tulips flatten
as the boy sits to sniff the daisies
the scent is only slight, conflicted
lights the path for him to follow

louis is thinking

louis is thinking, his thoughts are not linking
roddy is ready, he now has his teddy
josh is still sick, he's strung on a stick
melissa's in queens, she lives how she means
molly's not sharp, she stills the black harp
stuart is rotton, and rarely in cotton
kacey's snot rocket is bound in a locket
but kate has to wait, she hates to be great
red fox still rarely keeps to himself, but runs about around the field
small rodent fixates on a shell, until its broken leg is healed
large bird circles, finds the mouse, a louse jumps up off into the lake
red fox sees mouse and starts to chase, and bird gets fox, a light mistake

karma snake

my advice is lost to you
consolation is a fruitless struggle
sugar from the karma snake

hate

I have trouble being angry with people, but sometimes I just can’t let things go.
I hate people with a message. I hate people with a feeling. I hate critics. I hate complacent people. I hate fights. I hate collars. I hate people looking for a self. I hate short people that hate themselves. I hate people that hate themselves. I hate people that try to be like me. I hate people that hassle me about my beliefs. I hate evangelists. I hate angry people. I hate an angry me. I hate confident people. I hate arrogant people.

angry
confident
arrogant
critical
evangelical
abusive
controlling
correcting
complacent
collared
imitating
convicted

a young man sitting alone in the gym

a young man sitting alone in the gym
his heart is sore, he works too hard
he can’t see much, the lighting is dim
so he goes upstairs and retrieves his card

next he’ll try to ride the lawn thing
but he doesn’t like how it’s going
and he’ll try to hide and just be
what he cannot see

(accelerate)
Leather jacket, helmet clasp, bootstrap
foot peg, handlebar, spark and clap
stop sign, left and right, and back again
parking space, TV box, find a pen

(slowdown)
a cleaner Joshua watches TV
his eyes are sore, he sees too much
he cannot think of what to do next, see
he cannot think of what to do next, see
he cannot think and he’ll take to the clutch

green fields

green fields, the caravan rolls out and the door lets everybody out
three men with a top had and cane and monicle each help three ladies down
the driver, a punk with black and hints of dirt brown spikes, opens the top hatch,
stands up and jumps off the top, the metallic boots sinking into the grass
lest they should become sleepy, driver pulls a tazer out of the belt
a happy tazer, used for energizing, not for pain, called an electrifier
they set an electric fire on a tree stump that’s taller than the man’s hat
and let their children out of the car, dressed in dresses, boy and girl
they are pressed to play a game, to reach the electric fire
the stump is too wide around for two to even join their hands around it
they all must participate, forming a ring and walking up the surface
it’s not far to climb, but the cooperation is the trick.
father 1 trips on a rock and becomes distracted with the hidden wildlife beneath the soil
he can see bugs and very small foxes fighting over a bird’s egg,
smaller than a thumb, but larger than the predators involved
cledo, boy three, curiously joins father 1 and trips over sasha, girl 3
she offered to kneel and tie her shoe, as there were no other large rocks to trip over
she’s a very understanding little girl, actually seventeen
in fact, she’s a little maniacal with her projects, exploring the elasticity of small animals
she will grow up to be one who kills with the motion of her killing stick
families two and four accept the challenge, although ladies two and three switched
lady two had a run in her stockings and couldn’t participate.

resting on a stair

resting on a stair, is it here? is it
anywhere, in another place? if
we can see it there, we can see its face
isn't it like a man wearing lace

in another time, in a whole other
atmosphere, we might see a role for
lacey men to play, somewhere they could stay
like a dog in a cage out in space

closing fast on a farm a speeding bo-
dega rushing on with a little reci-
pe for me to rustle my fingers through like parrots in
locked-up wire-frame houses, and

resting on a stair, is it here? is it
anywhere? in another town? if
we can find the town, we can take it down
dress the man in a white wedding gown

in the river (old lyrics)

In the river, it flows upstream

It goes by the names of those it loved

embraces of its subtle pull circle and encapsulate

those it held the closest grew in a couple special ways

when I think of it now,

all I can see is a diamond shape

I like to remember what I can,

try to recall, apply and master my lesson

but I can never remember

why I try, what was real

I may never recall the color of its eye

where it was or the first thing it said to me

I can always return and try to get it right

In the river, it finds a peace

nothing tries to fight its friendly pull

those too bold never find their way back to the gentle stream they knew

this is about dreams

in a room with angles

in a room with angles

I like bouncing light around

and if I could hear the colors,

maybe they would move the ground

‘round her

where she found the red

and tried to catch it

burn down a cigarette

what’s the color of the burn

under soft light

there was a head

in a room with rounded corners

I would make myself a bed

not sure if I was on the wall or the ceiling

then I could leave the ground

and fall asleep

dreams engulfed in red

(I) tried to catch it

put out the cigarette

it is not too late to learn

hide in stillness

move a foot instead

under a ceiling with no walls

I could rest and feel the wind

hear it start, hear it move

maybe I would hear it come

I would push the sound

subsonic sounds of red

we tried to catch it

take back that cigarette

what’s the color of the burn

just like your hair

a red auburn

in a room with angles

I would climb up and out

in a room with stairs

you’d smooth, then slide down

in a room with colors

I can’t hear a sound

in a room with windows

your face would turn red

your yellow fingers

hand me the cigarette

was that the color of the burn?

Ants

Ants are crawling up the walls and

carrying bits to someplace all the

ants are black and blue from bumping

heads or when they sometimes fall

(chopping bits)

ants are crawling up the walls to

try and find a bit of food

the queen she wants some sweaters for the

babies till they've had their all

Rocks and sticks and roots and floor tile

digging a new hall - while the other

ants repair the one that fell

it wasn't built as well

their roofs are falling down

they don't make a sound

they'll build a another town

deeper underground

A stone

There's a town that I go through

and it's all that I know I never

looked at the forest before today

I decided travel was for me so I asked a

trader what I'd need, he warned of

tall hills to climb and streams to wade

(chilled out C9 AM7 C9 AM7 C9 AM7, Dm sus4)

Then I started down a path

after I bought the fella's staff

and then I thought to myself, this is the way

As I walked up to the forest

a group of trees spoke in chorus and they

told me that I would be okay

(Ben fingerpicking over c# f# b AM7 c# f# b AM7 hold)

s-s-s-s-suddenly the sinking ground held my feet down

and I could no longer see town

and my senses and my aches all fell away

then a stone told me that

it had just broken a slat

of its tastiest sulfur lemonades

(same as #2 but me on beat, Zach off, and Ben other)

So I asked it if my

tree friends would tell me a lie

and the stone said to me “I am a...”

So I asked it if I

if I was soon to die,

and the stone said to me “I am a... Stone!”

In the river (new lyrics)

in the river, she flows upstream
never before had she found it so easy to go along
in the shadows and in the ripples
she finds little broken pictures of herself and her world

Partial image capture
she can make her truth and her passion and she'll sell for a price

but in the river, the light can bend
sometimes the water flows backwards
and sometimes the banks go instead