the altar has grown
colder
heaven must have gone and
frozen over

i recall the night you
shrugged and said
(whilst drinking on the roof of a
baptist church
which was, the closest either of us
will ever get to heaven)
"we're just the crackheads of
hollywood
without the fame and
without the drugs and
we can't afford to die at
twenty-seven
so we go crazy on the dime
and that's all right
because life sure likes
to take its time
draining the stars
from our eyes..."

mirror eyes
fresh from the fight
i was the shotgun
and you were the
lead foot
and i need a hero
was blasting from
our lungs
revving to the moon
golden disco on the lake
strobing through the backdrops
chasing your cap and clutch
and you
bypassed our mailbox
just so we could
soar a little further
head first into the
morning light

(thank god it was
a long night)

oh, there's orion!
i point to the sky
the fool looks
for a human
oh, i thought he was
your boyfriend
or something
he grins
cheeks to eyelashes
the kid giggles like
a cigarette
like second hand
choking
bless all the bubbles
that airhead spreads

eyes on god
but hands on me
that was the summer
the bamboo swallowed
the peach tree

eyes on you
and hands up sleeves
awaiting the winter
the shingles cushion
the maple's sink

don't touch me
while our world dies

those branches
claw at the clouds like
black lightning
useless, yet
i can't blame them
for i would try the same
scratching my way out
if my roots had fallen
asleep, see
the ground
looks like home
looks like
a tombstone
but the sky, oh
how she sings of
mercy

watching
our rope swing tree
waste to
woodpecker city
awaiting
the glorious day
that sycamore crashes
down
and smashes this
jail cell of a
house
back to bricks

i'm ready to stop
growing up now