The barking dog, disappearing, driving,
ashes, Eddie, Jake,
divorce, holes in souls, constellations,
I don't know, I am Arturo Bandini,
I am the sweatshirt that hugged her arms,
Stolen sweatshirt, smokey sweatshirt,
apologies, broken necklace,
whatever

Tell me you love me,
As you gaze into my eyes,
Leaving kisses for all to see,
In violet, yellow and cerise.

Show me your fiery passion,
As you scream out my name,
Expletives a mere expression,
Of feelings that drive you insane.

Make me feel your adoration,
With your bruising touch,
With the heart of a nation,
To make me love you as such.

I remember my sweet mother
Crying as my brother went off to war
As the train pulled out of the station
She whispered, have mercy on him Lord

If memory serves best it's been 10 years past
If not less or more
Time means nothing when your just a kid
And there's no one there keeping score

Moms been crying since she heard the news
Guess she can't wait to have him home
I've been reading up on what brothers do
Since he left when I was young

Mom she had me dress up real nice
Wouldn't want him to think any less of me
Hope he has stories of his daily fights
And that he shares them all with me

I tell my mother I think I see the train
As tears well up in her eyes
I hold her hand as best I can
At 14, don't need no reason why

As the train pulls up in front of us
There's soldiers there to salute
Guess my brother is a hero
But that's something this kid already knew

The war that day replaced my brothers smiling face
With that of a Flag draped box
One of the soldiers said something to mother
As she whispered, Lord have mercy on us

I never did get to hear all the stories
Though I talk with him all the time
As I try and make it daily
To his grave up on the hillside
While my mother sits home and cries

Excuse me,
Could you please
Watch me
Take my picture.

american pride
that natural high
the birds in the sky
they soar when they fly

the flag it will wave
on t-shirts and bedspreads
coffee mugs and windows
and even on graves

so sad it's sold like that
like a trollop
for a dime or a dollar
so sad it's sold like that

american pride
that natural high
the birds in the sky
they soar when they fly

I really appreciate all of the poetry
But some of you are way too deep for me
I'm like a deer in headlights
When I read some of your writes
Some even cause my brain to slightly bleed

Of course I wouldn't say I'm surprised
Okay maybe just a bit
But when I order up writes
I prefer mine with fries
And a little something on the side I can sip

So please pardon me my stupidity
As this all plays out on the run
Like I said what I find
With some of your writes
My brain goes into severe deep freeze numb

In Hamburg I loved
A strange girl,
She put my whole being
In a whirl,

She spurned everybody
But me,
I made her happy,
In Hamburg.

But if she had
Spurned me,
I'd have looked her in the eye,
And run away,

And in my room,
I would have cried,
I might even have died,
In Hamburg.

I'm so tired of these same four walls.
Chalky and full of everything
I want and fear.
These walls know me
Like nothing else does
And yet they confine me
I want out
This is a comfort zone
I'm not getting anywhere.
I want to break out
And just be crazy
I want to know my dreams
I want these walls
To know a girl
Who is NOTHING
Like me