lying in the street
a thin shell
and broken on the inside

some ****** with a gun
rifles for the kids
at the storefront

let them learn
before they can’t forget

i say
this will run
as deep and dark as you allow
whether or not you can tell

         get on your feet
          it’s a thin wall
         and won’t weather the shells

i tell you
we americans have agreed
you are either prisoners or refugees
and we must know which

although,
if you are prisoners
you are criminals

if you are refugees
you are blameless

there is no room in our heads
for honest prisoners

and no such thing as
a guilty refugee

tell me brothers
what crimes have you committed
to be in such a prison
how black are your hearts

tell me sisters
what monstrosity displaced you
what savages took your home
let me help you

a man from here once said
let those without sin
send the first rocket

tell me, friends
who is to blame
because we in america
need to know
who to root for

the vulture grins at a boy with a stone
he’s been watching since before i was here
and the soldier cried when his daughter was born
he says he cried both from love and from fear
and the fair skinned man who sold him a gun
says "i’ve got better things to do than be here
when the smoke all clears there will only be one
and i’ll be laughing at a bar with a beer.”

a shell of a boy steps
out to greet the chill
seeking to be filled
he sits near a street light
but not too close, see
he goes at night
for the stars
his excuse is the cigar
he reaches for a light
and fills his lungs with tar

a small, filtered conduit
the moment slows and stops
he finds himself withdrawn from it
he doesn’t check his clock

time is a luminous ember
moving toward his finger
he decidedly remembers he
won’t try to make it linger

besides,
it’s long since he believed
he is ought but little more
than the smoke he breathes

a shell of a boy
steps inside
filled with smoke
but filled
nonetheless

ringing ears
running fast

             silver bells
             silver bells

broken door
speckled grass

             it’s christmas time
             in the city

arab spring
stinging air

             ring-a-ling
             hear them sing

rubber bullets
clotted hair

             children laughing
             people passing

burning tire
siren blast

             and above all this
             bustle you’ll hear

steel shell
rebel yell

             silver bells
             silver bells

silver bells


                    silver


                            ­   bells

We spoke in riddles                                                          ­ holes in the middle
“Darkness” we told me                                       darkness will mold me
“Utter darkness”                                                        ­           carcases, carcases
                                                     (maybe they marked us)
I liked how it glistened                                            I shouldn’t have listened
“Trees, rivers, mountains” we told me             return to the fountain           
“I need you to focus”                                               the skylark will show us
                                                     (the sky is below us)
Suddenly it was quiet                                                            ­                     see I
“Here you are” we told me                                                               ­         saw
“You can’t turn back”                                                            ­                          a
                                   ­                  (just me on the)
I saw a cabin by the water                                                           teeter-totter  
“It’s time” we told me                                                thought I oughta be
“The circle is complete”                                                        ­ plural, complete
                                                     (we’re obsolete)
Elevated, euphoric, fearless                          mutated, sophomoric, peerless
“Let go” we told me                                                         let go of me
“You’ll fall forever”                                                
        ­                                                           or
                                                            ­               we
                                                            ­                          will
                                ­                                                                 fall
                                                          ­                                                  *forever

I wanted a metamorphosis
To accumulate until my meager brightness
Became supergiant

I wanted to burn brightest and biggest
Subduing galaxies with my gravity

I wanted reflections of my light
To echo through the void

I wanted to grow in blindness
Of my monstrosity until
After millions of years
I could collapse
Into the blackness of singularity
That I might wait patiently for the day
I would be scattered throughout eternity
In a moment of unfathomable
Destruction

a song for the innocents
living in the trees
swinging from branches
limp as puppets in the breeze

the white rider
a blessing and a simple prayer
give em up to heaven
but first, tie an anchor to their feet

a song for the daughter
listed as a casualty
a bomb while she was sleeping
hit her home and blew her into three

a song for the father
who told them that he wouldn’t leave
he left on a stretcher
with bruises and a bullet in his knee

the white rider
a blessing a simple prayer
he’s looking up to heaven
but you know he’s at the devil’s feet

we're looking up to heaven
but you know we're at the devil's feet

she told me i made her sad
that i had had
too much, too fast
like i was running from the past

or something bad
some iconoclast
who would drag me down
at last