The phone rings and it's 2:00 AM
I hear your voice on the other end
You're cryin' and it sounds like he'***** you again
Sure, I'll come get you and I'll take you in -
while you try to work things out with him...

Because I'm not rich enough
I'm not tall enough
I'm not hot enough
But I'm the nicest guy you've ever known...
It's why I'm in the friend zone

A few weeks later I hear your ringtone
You're whispering, so I know you're not alone
He came home drunk and angry tonight
Now he's breaking up the house and he's looking for a fight
You ask if I could meet you at the end of the road
and if I'd mind bringing a change of clothes...
Of course not, I'll be there in 10,
just to get you away from him

But you know...
I'm not hip hop enough
I'm not redneck enough
I'm not bad boy enough
I'm not Tik Tok enough
But I'm the nicest guy you've ever known...
It's why I'm in the friend zone

I'm out with the boys on a Saturday night
County sheriff tears by screaming sirens and lights
The music's playing loud and I'm halfway gone
So I pay him no attention and never looked at my phone
5 missed calls and 3 texts unread
"Help me please," was what the last one said

But you said I'm
Not this enough
and I'm not that enough
And I live on the wrong side of town...
But I promise, I promise
I'll be there...
When they lay you down.

going home isn’t always
returning to a place.
sometimes
it is returning to yourself.

Even if life was 99% pain and 1% joy,
I would choose knowing joy every time.

All morning & into the night,
Searching the universe for words
That might move you this way again;
Wishing they were available,
Or could be cobbled together.
Suggestions are welcome,  I'll pay
What I can--a nickel a word,
A sawbuck if you keep it short--
Maybe eternal devotion
For the time we got left,  enough
If we stretch it, to storm heaven.

words belong to this world
words flip-flap
and fill the whole sky
like heavy clouds
white or dark
they shed light
and lead hearts at night
but they too migrate
leaving the skies all empty
silence remains
when words fly away

picking ripe plump figs
each one marred by pecking holes
~ pleasantly plump birds






Mark Toney © 2021