Your secret wrenched
                                              my breath
                    away from my lungs blithe
    their unguarded life

left in its place a field
    of burning pride, singed tips
of innocence i felt for you,     glowing
    flowers in the fire

    my stomach jammed with jagged
                    stones which ground and bore
           against themselves as if making meal

      all these things until whispers
of surrender contrived
   nests within the eaves
  of my torrid mind

and with it returned the ease
of a sleeping child.

Into your mind



S h o w  m e
Your deepest thoughts



F e e d  m e
Your darkest lies

I am a liar
I told her I loved her
so as not to start a fire
but now that she's heard it
I must say it again
if I said "I love you" 7 times
I have lied 7 times
I don't even know how many lies I've told
even though the context of every one is the same:
I love you
this made a new truth in me
a truth I tell myself as often as I tell her a lie:
I hate myself
now that feels much better
the twisted honesty of it restores me
so that I look for a reason to say it again
I love you
I am a liar
I hate myself

My disease makes me feel happy
When I'm alone I feel alive
I'm drinking bitter poison
And loving the taste

My sickness makes me healthy
When I hurt I feel the hope
Of a better day that's coming
Something to look forward to

And as I'm floating through the void
That even light can't reach
I'm thankful
I have my space

Spare me a dime?
I know this girl
Well, I kind of know her
And she has to make a call
So on her behalf
I'm asking around
For change
Spare me a dime?
Because I know where a payphone is
And she can use it

I was bowling and
I couldn't pick up the spare
And on the drive home
From the alleyways
My tire went flat
Spare me a tire?
It can be a spare

Its just I have to go see this girl I know
Well I kind of know
I don't really know her
But I want her to make the call
If she needs to
Spare me a dime?

I'm asking around
For change

I was seven
Sitting in a sandbox
Playing with words

And a kid would scream
"Tag, you're it"
And I would bleed
Because I was

I was drunk
Delivering my daily diatribe
About symbolism, and feeling, and energy, and

Love

And the cop would pull me over
Because I was driving in two lanes
Talking to a ghost
Who couldn't understand

I told him
"I've been waiting for you,
And I didn't even know it"

Mr authority who I deplore
Was inspired by the poet
He let me go
Just like I did before


And later I thought
How senseless it really was
To be sensible

I close                                                    My
eyes
And in blind                                        Faith
Take another step

Right off a cliff

And as I'm falling
The crow                                             Is
                     calling
The way that I was hoping
Would only leave me                       Broken

You found your freedom
Through incarceration
Prison walls and prison guards
And steely cold metal bars
Your conviction became your conviction
Your story my inspiration

You can keep a man in chains
But you can't keep him from freeing his mind
From reaching someone
He'll never be able to touch

And light radiates
Behind your words
Fiery purple imagination
Images of thoughts and feeling
And how you found your freedom
Behind penitentiary walls