I saw a car burning on the side of the road;
Two passengers and police standing around it,
like a campfire;
I'm not sure if someone was still inside

…But I saw a gap in traffic
and turned away,
knowing I could drive faster down the 405 --
if only for a couple seconds --
and look in my rearview mirror
having forgotten where the smoke
was coming from.

She breathes in deep,
like holding her breath
until her next fix.

She doesn't sleep,
but daydreams,
harmonizing with lullabies

You've had memorized
since
you first met her.

I packed up and went to Montana --
a place that I'd seen once before.
Then to New Orleans, Louisiana,
by way of 90 South and skipping tolls.

I lost my logic in their lingos --
from Back-country boys to French Creole.
This gypsy man, he needs no intro --
he arrives, and then, in time, he goes.

Drunk and ******, but still standing,
like Van Damme on death row.
This silence is a grave reminder,
that death will meet me down this road.

In time, I'll find I've made my sorrow,
but I still hear you crying close behind.
Since you're the reason for my roaming,
maybe you're what it is I need to find.

****.

NETFLIX sits like a neon sign
In a purgatory-like trance I
stare at the ceiling wondering
whether or not I'd like to live
by night
Take it's hand, have this dance;
When my eyes are open though i should be sleeping; I

react to every creak in the floor
every raindrop that lands
outside my open window
Hearing heated whispers from the fireplace
i've since extinguished and
my eyes are open while i should be sleeping -- in this solitude

i find company in the creaking
Inviting the gentle side of my paranoid mind to
keep me from filling my head with
half-baked questions i'm impatient to pass over
Foolishly drunk-dialing my subconscious
when I know I'd have nothing to say
if she actually answered.  But

2am is a time for dreamers
and if i know you
your eyes are open while you should be sleeping
Now I close my eyes to cover
the glow of my empty outgoing message;
Hearing your footsteps in each creak;
Feigning the feeling of your warmth
in the extinguished fire;
Finding company in solitude
because i haven't thrown out your toothbrush.  All this

ever since my eyes were open while I should be sleeping

You sit patiently
            in the back of my mind;
A cold and barren place,
            but safe
      from the monsters I made.

I saw you little bird
And I told you to stop chirping
I saw you flying by little bird
And I told you to stop chirping
I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing wrong
But attempts are hardly working

I told you to leave little bird
I told you to leave and you kept coming
I told you to leave little bird
I told you to leave and you kept coming
You always follow me little bird
So I guess what’s the use in running

Now you’re still here little bird
You’re still here and I’m hardly moving
You bring me to tears little bird
But now your soft chirp is almost soothing
If you ran away little bird
I’d no longer know what I was doing