Innocence Loves Me

Innocence loves me
Like the stars love the night
Like Eden loves the apple
Like fascination loves the fight
As the ear loves a whisper
And a secret loves the mute
As the lotus loves the murky
And the petal loves the root
Like a breeze to the pines
It lingers through the thorns
Innocence loves me
Like the healing loves the torn

Mama Says She's Broken

Mama says she's broken
That her feet no longer hold
That a shattered heart punctures her airways
That she rests on broken tailbone
Her son took her husband
And that duo took her strength
There was a time when she lusted for life
But now a moment has too much length
She tells me she's ready to go
That she needs a little rest
I ask her if I should weep for her
When we lay her down on satin bed
She raises her head and tells me no
That she's tired and wants to go home
She knows a peace awaits her there
A peace this world has not let her know
And if anyone should understand that
I guess it would be I
Mama, I will not cry for you
I'll run hard to be by your side

For Strength

Dear Mother who stands so strong
Is this what sowing reaps
If this is the prize for a broken back
I refuse to stoop and plant more seeds
When I was a child I dreamt of sunflowers
Imagined the intoxicating scent of peonies
I thought I was made of rainbows
And that God would never leave
But here we stand in a valley of ash
All the colors have taken to bleed
And where their hue has fled to
That same God has damned us not to see

This must be the chill you spoke of
When I was told to count my gifts
You told me they would run thin one day
And Mother, they finally did
I can turn to flesh for comfort
And I can turn to Script
But what is the benefit of either
When a depression follows their lift
Both will advice me of strength
To fracture another bone
So I can feast on another weed
For that is all strength loans
It will carry you through another day
And they claim that is the prize
But if the days are strung by razor wire
Then for strength, I no longer pine

The Stars Tell Me Secrets

The stars tell me secrets
After you lay you down to sleep
Sometimes they break through the twilight
And sometimes they drown in the deep
They whisper to me of colors
So beautiful only God can see
They say you can taste them for a lifetime
And that a lifetime is eternity
They explain why no birds can fly there
Though they love to watch them sail
That they breathe in the universe so greatly
That their muses would be inhaled
They talk to me of implosions
How the sky blisters from the burn
They talk to me of blackholes
From which their friends have never returned
And when they mention friends
That is when our eyes finally meet
Me from my iris
And they, from their gleam
They miss you in their light
And how we taught them to shine
They say that they don't see you much
Now that your friendship is not mine
I tell the stars to not dim
To not let go of their glow
Don't let longing overtake you
It is your job to lead and show
So when you look up into the sky
And you see the stars suddenly dance
Don't think they dance for another
Don't think they twinkle by chance
The stars that tell me secrets
Want me to pass one onto you
They say they weep through the night
And you mistaken their tears for morning dew

M

You can come out of your corner now
Rise up off your knees
To hold your breath doesn't clear the air
To close your eyes doesn't stop the scene
This train has been set in motion
It would serve you well to lay the track
Swing your sledge and sweat
Cover you in callous and strengthen your back
Shadows don't protect you for long
For they are always on the move
Silence doesn't muffle the scream
And denial doesn't save you from truth

All, Take Everything

All, take everything
And make sure you close the door
Leave in a rage or in a whisper
Maybe with the grace of a whore
Leave on my hand a smear of lipstick
Something to set my eyes upon
To watch it wane with the shadows
And to see it glisten in the sun
Break me gentle and slow
Or break me wicked as a fiend
Put a smite down upon me
That even God has never dreamed
Make this one last
And in debt, I'll forever be
Be the spark to my fuel line
Take it all, take everything

Vilas County

I will smoke a million grams
In the river walks of Amsterdam
Sling a thousand pints in Dublin
Vomit to the mocking of a mandolin
Fly with cheer like Peter Pan
Through the bombs of Afghanistan
Nothing in that desert can scorch me
Like the ulcer that is Vilas County
Like a beggar to a bottle of vodka
Like sin to the city of Gomorrah
Like the power of LSD
That is the energy of Vilas County
So I will sail to Egypt
And lay me down in a slaves crypt
Cleave through the jungles of Africa
Open my intestines to the jaw of a cheetah
Rest upon the levees of Orleans
And pray the floods wash me clean
Of the memory that infiltrates my dream
The haunting of Vilas County