I'm walking down a crowded street.
I close my eyes, thrown off my feet.
The smell of unknown smoke and ***...

Feeling just
an empty
hum.

The flash of thigh across my skin.
Beautiful and full of sin.

I'm less than what the clock can count,
but more than in your bank account...


My lids fly up and see those eyes.
Full of
confusion
and peculiar surprise.
Apparently I was dancing down
the ******* sidewalk like a clown.

I stuff my face inside a book
and gave the government a look.
Religion too, but all I saw
were dead things and a vultures caw.

I'll never see the ******* point
at bending our souls out of joint.

I'd rather have you in my bed
moaning till we both are dead.



The smell of sweat and flashing lights.
Fiery ghosts aren't out of sight.
If we're the noise of generation now,
Then
****
the
static.

Refuse to bow.

Twenty-years old and still wishing on shooting stars
Because a part of you is still naïve and dying
A last breathe for who you are
Paper-mache hearts aren’t going to cut it this time
They can’t fix your house of fallen cards
And at the end of the day you’ll tell yourself
You’re worth it
(I am, I am, I am, I am)

Sometimes it’s so hard to breathe
It’s all you can do to pull your hair and put your head
In between your knees
Pray to God it’ll be over soon,
Because the emptiness is sinking you like lead
Dead-weight on the bottom of the ocean
But you’re worth it
(I am, I am, I am, I am)

You ignore their questioning looks with headstrong stubbornness
Though your nails are biting through your skin
You refuse to run from this
Not this time, not ever again, let them look
At a twenty year old ****** who’s never been on a date
Because she’s got more faith in herself
Because she knows she’s worth it
(I am, I am, I am, I am)

They don’t understand why you refuse the boys who ask you
And you won’t tell them it’s because they’re not right,
As a sure as the rising moon
That you just have to keep waiting and wishing
On How, Why, and Who
Keep on throwing those pennys down wells
When it’s all you’ve got
When you know you’re worth it
(I am, I am, I am, I am)

Nights are the hardest, you know from experience
It would be so easy to put on that little black dress and find a willing stranger
To break the rose-tented lens
To feel some affection, even if it’s only for a moment
To feel something different
Than desperate hopeful prayers to a paradise that doesn’t seem to care
But you respect yourself too much for that
And you have to believe it’s worth it
(I am, I am, I am, I am)

Some days are worse than others
And you lose yourself in music, choke on your frustrated screams
Try to convince yourself you don’t feel nearly as smothered
And suffocated, as you want to be
Even though you’re smart and there’s more to life than love
The only thing that can be felt is that someone missing,
And oh God, you pray you’re worth it
It runs like mantra pounding through your head
(I am, I am, I am, I am)



*(You are, you are, you are, you are)

once,
i held tight to
your words they filled
              this                  emptiness                  w­ith love  & passion  
    promises  you blew 
  hot blasted air
     a-drifting  
&
  i'm
      f    
                   i             
                                n                
                                 a         
                                        l      
                                              l       
                                                  y     
                                                     l     
                                                       e  
                                                           t    
                                                           ­   t    
                                                                i    
                                                            n
                                                           g
                                                             G
                                                                ­  O