Say hello to a world of ***** shots
Coloured pills replace jelly tots
Her hair is a mess when she comes downstairs
No second guesses at what they did up there
The room pulsates to an electric band
Welcome to Teenage Wonderland

Get caught up in a fast-ticking clock
Play with imagination's building blocks
Darling, you've no need to fear
They're just trips so get over here
Drop that bomb and taste that tang
Welcome to Teenage Wonderland

Come to dance with Satan's girl
Faster and faster the room will twirl
A glint is wicked in her too-big eyes
Calm your nerves, drain the bottle dry
Someone else puts a joint in your hand
Welcome to Teenage Wonderland

Your senses have fully woken up
Just one more sip from the golden cup
Then they have you smash another line
This feeling has got you in a bright-thorned vine
But it's too heavy, you can't withstand...
Goodnight to Teenage Wonderland

Casting the richest rainbow,
A princess-cut diamond could not be your match.
Barely a fraction of the glow
Your rose-hued skin does hold
Shadows the delicacy
Of an angel's God-given halo.

No cornflower, birthed from sapphire, would be even
One half as excellent as your arresting eyes. Then,
If a craftsman may spin sugar with gold, into a waterfall
Of fluid spider's-silk... Well,
I would laugh. For you,
Your hair - it will forever be softer to the touch.

That white willow-whip body...
No more beautiful would it be
If Poseidon adorned it
With the luminescence of a new pearl's sheen.
Hewn from perfection, you would be nothing -
Nothing more than this finch note gilded in sunshine.

Hey, Superstar!

Yeah, you - Indie Kid! Sure you are. You strut around as though all

                                                            ­ ­                                                    it takes

                                                          ­      is

a few too many Wombats Badges,

Converse, Ripped Jeans (Add one addiction to New York, and, of course, the necessary)

          Stupid f#cking Nose Rings and a Drop-Dead-*** exterior. Name three songs the Ramones wrote and I might not rip that shirt right off your back.
You pretend to love festivals but really, you’re just Keeping Up Appearances; we all know that - like you’re some bad reality show. (Even MTV wouldn’t touch you. There. I said it.)

And then

               There is her: a carbon copy eyeliner addict in her

       Stupid stupid stupid! boyfriend’s

F#CKING C-H-E-C-K-E-R-E-D SHIRT

(And the tunnel she stole from the girl that started this.)

Don’t even chat to me about red-head and dip-dye.
And when did AC/DC become your social suicide?

          You harp on about individual, rap on about original, well excuse-me-SIR-ever-so-sorry-MISS-but-dress-yourself-in-sheepskin-­­because MY GOD IT SUITS YOU BETTER THAN ANY PAIR OF VANS.

Haha. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Baa baa, Indie Sheep, have you lost your mind?

‘Cause your personality at least seems to have gone for a wander.

          And come back, in a FASHION -

Tarred in fake love for Nirvana and feathered with the only fatefellshortthistimeblink-182yoursmilefadesinthesummer song you know.

*Feathers? Really? I just told you that you ought to be woolly!

And at night, I no longer check under my bed
Because the scariest monsters are all in my head.

Moments like this
Are when I wish I had my Polaroid
An infinite moment to make me think
"This would make a beautiful photograph"
(The photographer's curse, darling),

I'm content to just let this moment be, though
Though at the same time, my mind's eye strains to see
What this would be:
We're glossed with sweat and crowned with messy hair
My teeshirt's too big; my legs are bare
My ******* poke taut in the cool, still air
Copper tumbles onto your shoulder as I sit beside
Tilt my head, and lay to rest

The sunlight glances and polishes your halo
Your dark gaze watches out of the window
Dust motes illuminate, suspended around your face;
I fancy that it's fairy-magic
Although you're not the hero of some story - but, maybe mine?
With the roll in your caress that's passed to my palm

I stare into the little gilded world with you
Stealing a little glance at your bare chest,
The elastic of your boxers clinging over tight hips -
Just need to remind myself that it's real
Picture perfect, but this perfection is real
Take the roach to my lips
Take a minute to appreciate this
Inhale, exhale
This moment is infinite

The smoke twists away slowly
My mind's eye sees how beautiful it would be
In gentle-focus monochrome...
Then, I let the notion go
I act so naturally, but in my head I know
This next motion is picture-perfect

My white fingers are slim
Hand not quite steady; I tremble from our workout
Not moving from your shoulder,
I reach around the cocked neck of your guitar:
Just relax, and let time slow
Hear the peaceful tune flow from your skilled hand
I press the roll to your mouth
The crackle of burning embers dances with the string notes
Smoke streams out as I lift it away
And there -

In that split second as I begin to move,
There the Polaroid would have clicked and immobilised;
This moment so high in too hot a day
Picture perfect in my mind's blue eyes

I can feel me
******* breaking under gray skies
As I dream of red eyes
And green grass
CPT Slime and Rasta's daft laughs
And the taste of tobacco on your tongue
While I wash up in SlimeyG's kitchen

Good God, if I wasn't there, that infamous week would've been filthy!

We can feel
The bass ******* it through the sideboard
SlmieyG's lounge walls are shaking hard
And we cackle bare
When Big Gay tumbles grinning downstairs
So I stick the kettle on

Good God, we caned a litre of milk in one round of teas!

I can hear
Those slimey green dawgs singing loud
When we bring Tom's cake out
And his face is a chuffin' picture
At the realisation of the six-layers' topper
So throw him a Clipper

Good God - eighteen, eighteen, EIGHTEEN tokes to clear it!

So, will you?
Can we all get together? We'll feel alright
For just one more warm hazy night
And when we sing these songs
Of freedom, we'll laugh in peace together. So long
To misery, my brothers

Imagine waking up tomorrow and being thirteen again.
If you could go back
Would you?

Skateparks and Starbucks nights
Blue Banana and stripy tights
Apple Sourz and staying out every weekend.

Remember when Megh was emo?
When Jack was okay?
When Sid used to sing
And Jessie was a Goth?
When Josh-u-a and Jones were the cutest couple around?
Remember?

Friendships and breakups
Laughter and comfort hugs
The Forever & Ever we used to believe in.

Imagine waking up tomorrow and being thirteen again.
If you could go back
Would you?

Some days,
It's all you can do to survive.
Tomorrow looks bleak
When you're barely alive.

Mascara tracking down her cheeks
From swollen eyes
Love is blind
She don't want to see

That shirt is all she'll ever need
The music will remind her
That it's not so good
To fall in love

Let tears fall and stain that shirt
From a broken heart
Mascara tracking down her cheeks
From swollen eyes

Love is blind

Girl.

I'm annoyed with you - catching my eye, as you do.
The lustrous auburn of your hair,
The curve of your white willow-whip body.

The dreams I have
Of where your cardinal pout may go...

I'm enchanted by you - teasing my mind, as you do.
The tight formation of your wit,
The pictures a stray word can speak to me.

The dreams I have
Of what your wicked mouth could do...

I'm spoiled by you - chipping away at me, as you do.
The cold cut of your diamond heart,
The rainbows it casts over my better judgement.

The dreams I have
Of what your tasteful lips could whisper...

You're sure to find a rabbit waiting
If you step to the tick of a pocket-clock
In the courtroom you'll be debating
Out of your head the Hatter will knock
If you go running through a Caucus Race
Your folks are sure to worry
They'll check your eyes and the set of your face
But the rabbit wants you to hurry
Skid along the checkered corridor
And neck the layered drink
I don't know what you're crying for
Because in those tears you may sink
Follow the smile of the Cheshire Cat
Down a rabbit hole you will fall
They'll ask if you're out of your hat
But the Caterpillar just gave you a call
Drop this quick and lets get higher
Swallow this and you'll come right down
The Door-mouse's eyes are getting heavier
The Red Queen is showing a frown
One more moment to hear a twisting Tail
Another to pour some tea
Grant one more to follow the riddle's trail
You'll never escape from me.

I'm not home until I'm there with you
No parent's house or old primary school is home
Home is a hardwood bench, a gap in the hedge, a hill atop a carpark.
But that still isn't home
I'm there now, alone
It's a graveyard without you, I can't call it my own.

I'm not home until I'm there with you
No childhood bed or favourite city is home
Home is the dying fire, sharing a cigarette with you, a quiet road in the cold.
But that sill isn't home
I'm there now, alone
Just haunting it without you, a dead weight in my bones.

I'm not home until I'm there with you
No grandmother's kitchen or familiar view is home
Home is a bear hug, the scent of a midsummer's breeze, a cuppa in your garden.
But that still isn't home
I'm there now, alone.
Tears streaming without you, my heart turns to stone.

I cannot be doing with this peering into the darkness
This wondering and dreaming is a little tiring, my darling -
As tired as the dusty cornflowers, once upon a time, beguiling.
Your heart - perched and sat - is being wasted, love pouring
Upon something that will be, nevermore.

Remember the day we caught the train?
It was never the start
A change of heart, maybe
But I know
We were too young and blind to see
That I’d end up sat on the train; a passenger
A stranger to what we could’ve had.
We rode the coast
But you smashed the solid rock over my brighter day
Write another song to capture my pain.
If every time I wanted you, I could go home
Ride the coast with you, step into the sky, why
I’d never stop
I guess I can’t anyway, though
Or I wouldn’t know what it’s like to be sad.
Maybe it’s time to let go for a while, stop counting the days I’ve missed
Don’t you want those days?
No. I’m just a passenger. This isn’t right.
I know you, and I shiver inside. Do you even see
That it was never the start
Was there ever an end? It was your change of heart.
I’ll wait for another now, so that I can have
The taste of smoke on your breath when we wind up in our favourite coats.
Step through the door and this empty gray will transform
Be a golden June again
Or a fluster of snow and the firelight on your back.
I guess I’ll have to content myself
With the memories
When things are getting wild.
I guess I’m just not the kind of girl
Not the sort you can see in your world
Just a passenger; a stranger to all the things I could’ve had.
I’ll sit all alone, let it hold me down
Hope I roll my lucky number so that you’ll hear
“You and I should ride the coast…”

You are the only one I need to tell. Smooth, blank, neutral.
You wait. Wait, wait, wait.
Forever waiting.
For I am never exhausted; never will I tire.

Out of my head and out of my heart, in this half existence
I am suspended,
Pen over page.
And you wait, unbiased and unprejudiced, for me:
For me to scar you with my words.

I can see how it will go,
But I always say we'll never know
and I run after you
I still set myself up for the fall

Still suprised when I break
Forgot that everyone will take
but I'll never learn
I'd still follow you into the dark

Just the strum of your guitar
Nothing less, nothing more.
Just the comfort of your voice
A mistake, a bad choice.
Just something that felt right
A warm touch, the lost nights.
Just one thing that I’ve learnt
Bob was wrong -  music hurts.

I do not want to be thin
So I say.

And yet, I,
Me, myself,
Carefully controll
Meticulously manage
22-inch waist,
And still shrinking away.