Twist ties are for pretzels
Not killers of dialogue

Unless, of course
You dream of
Stalking wire pieces

Yesterday morning, I woke up to find birds of all colors swirling around me
Yesterday afternoon, I cooked lunch for my friend Steve (he's an elephant)
Yesterday evening, I composed a symphony and entranced sixty hippos with it, lest they should be unhappy
Yesterday night, I died in the arms of my enemies

Tomorrow, I will be born again.

Cheers to the one that
finally makes it work, the
time the door stayed wide long
enough for a fall breeze in loafers or
corduroy pants to blow down the
walls of your heart and sit you
down on his patent leather futon

the laugh that stuck around to do
battle with every grizzled teardrop in the
middle of the afternoon

the chance worth taking because all
things can be generalized, but the
best can break free

They've turned life into a numbers game
At least we agree there's no right answer
But joy cannot be found in forever counting up because
We start at zero and finish at zero and no matter
How large our numbers got, this fact does not
Make us any more "here" now, does it? No
Good old George rising from his casket on
Account of all the quality investments he made over
The years, that's silly

I count. down

From birth a finite number of seconds allotted to
Running risks by the hourglass like elders
Skydiving when the grains are so few who
Cares when we go but how

                           How is the question

And words will always
                               always trump numbers

I'm a night owl when I think
           usually I sleep soundly when I don't

Flawless
We like to think
our minds and their creations
can only be described as such, can
only be compared to perfection, machine-
made fabric and glass and hugs and love all
wrapped in cellophane and shipped (free of charge)
to Tahiti and Cozumel and other exotic places well-known
for their supposed perfection with brightly-lit, carpeted floors

                                                               ­                                            But our tendencies
                                                                ­                                           Mislead us

It is our flaws that define beauty when true heart is lost among neon
advertisements promising change and retribution only to deliver
the last things you'd expect, the last things anyone would
want: a remote-controlled vacuum, a light-up fish, a
sock that chills your foot rather than warm it in
the night. What a joke, what a sad turn in the
progression of our society. Flaws are and will
always be prominent parts of our lives with
good sound reason backing up this fact
It all comes down to whether you can
come to terms with the reality of
your situation and the little
scratches in your self-
image or whether
you will remain
content to fall
endlessly
into a
lie

Gentlemen, treat the ladies with respect
         Ladies, return the favor

Twelve shirts and six
strings to feel like home

responsibility slipped over
my head like a cashmere sweater, warm
and welcome

and I drift off to where you
are still sleeping, reach out
to brush the hair from your eyes
and wake up, refreshed and
yearning

you are my sunshine, my only
sunshine

and I am the graphite, I am the
ink beneath your fingers, happily
joining words of life on the horizon
to the fresh, green-growing present

the cozy, the comfort, if not soon then
later but ever closer in my eyes, ever
brighter in yours

remember,
         you are
         my sunshine with
laughter like rays and
   thoughts like hugs,
                             our
                           love like rippling
                           glass, ever beautiful and
                           all our own, a wonder set
                           firmly as a fiery and true
                           gemstone in your golden heart

No frame can hold this hope
   not a line,
                a touch,
                        a song

please help me carry it
        (I have faith in your strength.)

Away do I sing, away with the wind that I've known
I used to believe in love, but that's changed since I've grown
Call me a liar, I wear that I don't know how
To take back the moments that
Brought me to here and to now

I found your old shoes, left on the side of the road
And what will you do, when your feet are tired and cold
Write me a letter, telling me how you are
God knows I miss you and pray that you've
Kept safe your heart

I see you there, standing next to me
And I know you care
So I try to let you know
I'm on your side

dreams as validation for smooth
     rhythmic notions cascading like
              fingers, waterfalls slipped from
          tongues laced with crisp sheets
  
  (the ivory ladders fallen sideways and
    forgotten in the wake of racing hearts)

            slow down, reconvene behind mirrored
          aspiration, compose stars that pulse with each
             ache for your company, flicker to the pace of
                   water running, an escapee from the space of
                 world around you conformed, blanketed
                        sleep like a waterwheel

the first step (to
   one two three life)
        is this place
     looking back at the red cliffs
and remembering our jump
             so many months ago (it
                feels like a second and
                         then twenty years)

       in its footsteps (dreams win
            all the races), we find I'll
          carry you will carry
                   me and leave now
               from the rearview, roaming
                       to wonder when
                    nothing can
                            find the way
                  your laughter conjures
                       my smile
                       
                                (rally around
                                       shared heart)

glitter in the light we'll
            give birth to pouring
       warm wax
                      
                        fire inside
                  eyes ringing like
             xylophone bars while
                              we remember where
                     these times find us (and  
                          why the only nightmare is
                                   waking up)

while you were sleeping
a child learned how to fly
quietly slipping away behind
blue paper curtains

I'm going to capture you one day
When you least expect it, all
           sneaky approach and
quick action

You won't realize it until it's too
Late to protest and assert your
Presence in the present, which
Might not always be the case so

I'm going to capture you one day
When you least expect it, all
           sneaky shutter and
quick flash

And a smile of yours to pin on
My wall, personality
In a picture

Is there any reason why it
should feel so wholesome like
a warm kitchen smell ten
minutes before dinner
when your fingers seal off the
gaps between mine?

or why silence carries as much
meaning as the words
blinked from your mouth
while eyes seek eyes?

This day is not complete until
           I've eaten watermelon
             danced in dizzy circles
                and napped with you
                      in the forest

             And the sun hurries us along but we
              make him wait for

                          just a moment

I need some help tying off
         knots in our

      l o o s e    ends

A sliver of sky, soft framing, green eyes
Her smile peeks up from my shoulder

In days sharing time, the comfortable try
To imagine when they are older

(do not follow your heart)

do not follow the resolved feeling, the
         benefit of the doubt a hundred times over and
                        bent over backwards and hollow

do not forget numbers, multiples of being alone
         prime and so easily covered with the foam that
                 washes away, worthless
    
                  do not follow.
                  do not forget.

take these foundations you insist upon dispersing like
ashen arms, gritty sand wiped into an eye by mistake

        take these.

                take these compounded days and
                take these dug out pits of stomach and
                take these falls and

    get the hell out.

Say when in a heartbeat will
light dwindle down to the
dance on a taper and mirror-eye
bells?

Say how long a lifetime im-
possible it's quite im-
                                      possible
(expecting that wilted
red flower sunk into
its vase to rise up and smell as
though)

            what's that?
alive?

I would ask you for clarity
  a wafer-thin string of words to
    melt on my tongue and
       sing me to sleep
                                        because clocks keep us apart
                                          and the closeness drives me insane

but I won't.

                        I'll keep safe harbor like a lighthouse
                            and wait for your ship to come home

seeing the same colors, not
all about interpretation but perspective

overanalyzed ice cream breaks down into glucose

overanalyzed puppies break down into proteins

only overanalyzed love continues
to defy all constraints, eluding
mental grasp as easily as an eel
in a bathtub, sought by a spoon

A long while has passed since I poured my heart into a work
The last few songs have consisted of stories, wishes, falsifications.

Substance is vital to fuel passion.

Excuse me while I search for it.

When I lap like green-gray waves at rocks grown
    tired of holding themselves upright, collapsed into
          weary sand that props toes like a damp pillow

And you breeze, clouds tasting raindrops like children
    forever adrift, sailing between future hopes that shine
               through dark blue sky like candle-flame eyes

Our worlds collide in a marriage of foam and spray
                 harmony at its finest

You're warm
A welcome change in temperature
from my surroundings

Not to say they're cold
Just not as warm nor as
comfortable
As I find you to be

It's more of a preference, really

So anyways...

I can see the light
That is, transportation
The ability to drive myself places
(to go visit you)

Maybe we could go get some conversation?

I hear it's delicious.

Only for two though
Which is funny
but warm.

Like you are

for the first time
I can't wait
until the morning
comes around
to
pluck me
from my idleness

Listen up, sweater.

   take good care of my love now

         when her joy is boundless, hop around like a fool and
         revel in the excitement of each crisp little sound

                and in the cold nights lay warm beside her, whether as
                pillow or cuddlee and be the soft whisper for hands to hold
                the mooring point for beautiful dreams

                       (you are hers while I'm away because
                             I am hers no matter where I go)

            and in that rustle of fabric, that cloth to smooth skin
            do speak my name
                                 and retain all our scents when we laughed in her
                                 arms so she'll smile and close her eyes and
                                 burrow into you

listen up, sweater.
               take good care of my love now

No matter how the glow from inside draws me
The rabid dog barks at my door
Forever distracting
Someone **** that dog.

I'll throw myself under the bus every now and
again to see how I take it, an
      interesting game for a bit, but
                                 having watched this new man come to terms with
                    my self, I am joyous,
                                        elated,
                                            sprung up like a forget-me-not from the
lack of a pillow, misty mornings, love over my
              head like a river

                            still, rains are heavy - every single night changes something, the comfortable
                   shades of wet, defined puddles reflecting porchlight

do memories really die with us?
  
         no.
                   they are twin steps ahead to immortality, Westward smiles like plains and hills rumbling
                      as mountains of epiphany

            I'm trying to make certain of things that are impossible, goodness
that's enough of that, suppose stubbornly a
                                 change of scenery and open heart can achieve
                anything worth trying

      and she'll never know the picture half strung-out on forgetful
                    chemistry, unless I
                                  paint it just right
at least, that's my
          point of view

Let's go somewhere, let's
   do something, let's
       be the people we are
    meant to be

today with eyes gently closed, sketching
   my wish,
          a lifetime atop liquid satin

   sail me away in the dark, sweet you until
          stars wrap your face in
              a hug, pull away out of
                    jealousy

one of these hours I might pop with the
      taste of sincerity,
                        of laughter you
    bring to me quietly
                              
                                  were it not
             for the disulfide knowledge
                        the unmistakable now
      where everything is right
                and you are everything.

these words are
meaningless, paling in
comparison to my vivid thoughts

I can't wait for
tomorrow

there's no sense in wondering
at what might have been three
weeks ago when
right now is a serene place and
two people walking in the dark
share such a
full-moon epiphany

Laughter is the sound of a flame
deep crimson take-out in
neat little white boxes

And fire is the flash of teeth at
the end of a sentence, speaking
with certainty as all language
fails again

Have the time it takes to
love someone unconditionally



love the someone, the having time



laughter, once taken, gives the love
someone unconditionally wishes



murmur someone murmur love murmur
indistinct laughter



touch the indistinct time, the laughter, the
someone



have the someone to murmur touch, give
distinct love, unconditional time

the feeling when you
  s
    t
      u
        m
          ble
                 somewhere
                          you
     shouldn't, sweet-gum
                  letters
          gathered for a solitary
        rendezvous
                        then casual
              destruction
                             glimpsed from                                                                                                                    afar

everyone wants the shoes to
fit, but
    I've worn those and
                          many others in my time
and the heels always
blister

Is that all you've got?
Hit me, come on, hit
Me one more time right there

I have more blood to let

the memories I want to make in this place
are no longer on hiatus, they
peer between laced fingers and
whisper your name

You know that moment
when you are certain
beyond reasonable doubt
that nothing could possibly
get any worse?

when you're stuck with work,
the heat's broken and you
just realize the bread for
your sandwich is green?

it passes.

I miss you.

And you're right, it should be easy.

In the name of our failing country, tomorrow
Night will be spent floating in and out of realization
With candles and fireworks exploding about my head

Happy fourth, every \ body

Insufferable the
rage of a thousand
fires in eyes
embers of a day

Thoughtful, happy folk around
a campfire, making music in-
between the stars in their eyes
and those above

I'd like to paint
you in an atrium of colorful
echoes zinging past your
face like hummingbirds

add in a touch of forest green, the
murky-gray lake water, white triangles
sketched for carefree sails

burnished by unusually honest conversation,
only sky blue and gold for the looks thrown
in each direction and inexplicable smiles

a rainbow,
         a myriad for the future,

but you stand alongside me
      as breathtaking landscape

and no art could do that justice

You stole a moment from me
A delicious morsel of life
En route from plate to lip when
Your "hello" dashed it
Burnt and broken on the floor

It's late and I'm tired
But I can't go to sleep

There's too much to do
Too much I haven't told you
Too much I want to hear
Too much to listen to
Too little to waste

There are adventures
not yet experienced
There are voices
unheard
There are thoughts
unvoiced
There are songs
unwritten
There are kisses
unfelt

And I have adventures to experience
And I have voices to hear
And I have thoughts to voice
And I have songs to write
And I have kisses to feel

And I have you.

Oh, you.

Who are you?
I certainly haven't found you yet
Actually, I thought I had, but you went away
Now I fear I will never see you again

Oh, you.

You with your saddened eyes
You who have endured so much
You who deserve so much more
You who I try to help but
You who shy away to
You who are gone.
gone.

gone.

It does not make my thoughts any clearer
It does not make me feel any better
It does not make my eyes any drier
to write.

But it does help the sunshine keep a little longer
It does let your kisses linger in the shade
It does help my weary head resurrect
The light from whence we came

And I know that someday you will return
And I won't let you slip down down again
And my time awake is time well spent
So I cannot sleep.

I cannot sleep.

You know what I mean when I say that it's strange
To come down from heaven and walk through a range
And serve as a target for all of your pain
You should know what I mean by now

                                            You know what I mean when I say that it's true
                                             I haven't found anyone who's close to you
                                             But I couldn't start looking because I'm a fool
                                             You should know what I mean by now

You know what I mean when I say that I'm tired
Of all of the cheats and the ****** and the liars
Yet I'll sit and roast with them above the fires
You should know what I mean by now

                                              You know what I mean when I say that I'm done
                                              And your little mind games have lost all their fun
                                              And I'm through with sitting here, I'd rather run
                                              You should know what I mean by now

I lift my eyes
Up from the dirt where I am standing
Up from the hurt that I've been handed
To the river where I find myself again
To the hands that offer me a second chance

at times, the
  urge to give in, to
possess the incendiary second wind
          
erupts like a vice

we need more simple things
   the kind that quietly persuade
   us full of earth and sky

who says love
has died?

he's alive and well, reading
a newspaper by the corner store

and shaking our world together (turn
to page 5)

Do you know the bird?

Of course not. each
   updraft a soaring appreciation for
worldly things, textbook happiness
drowning distraction in a pond plump with water
lilies and tadpoles, sinking down to the
       dirt, belly raw on dizzy ground, feet
scrabbling for a safe touchdown, sure this day there
must be a rock or a tree trunk, some natural end to the in-
between where a bitter desperate aftertaste singes the mouth, certain
   nothing else will be known, that this sour tang is only to
remain on this tongue forever, no

asking you if you can relate is like expecting the sun to
rain down and openly weep itself out, quite
   impossible, come on - remember, you
must see clearly - here

comes the lift again, fondest flying above, fully
forgotten panic until winds falter once more

I know the bird.

My good friend Katie and I have entered the running for the show of a lifetime.

     I come to you wonderful people today to ask for your help.

We need to network via all the social media and amass as many "likes" and five-star ratings on the site as possible in order to open for Tyler Ward in Atlanta this winter.

Simply go to this web address: http://www.topblip.com/w/15262

       Listen to our song, click on the fifth star and connect through Facebook to give us a
STAR RATING (the vote number should instantly increase by five), "LIKE" our video, and SHARE IT with your friends, please!

                   You can give another STAR RATING ONCE A DAY for the remainder of the contest!
                       (if everyone reading this goes and does it, we will win.)

             Thank you so much for your support of this new creative jaunt of mine, I really
                         believe we can land the show with your help :)

(As some incentive, we're about to release a lovely CD, and I would be happy to send off the    tracks to helpful souls like yours!)


Banjo Song

Did you find what you were looking for
Did you walk across the golden shore
My dear, I wish the world for you and much much more
I hope you find what you've been looking for

Do you cry when the day is done
Did the strength you needed never come
When the world is turned against you and you're on the run
I hope you find the strength to carry on

Have you forgotten me, my friend
I love you know, I loved you then
While you were out there in the world without me

Do the city lights excite your soul
Do you walk the quiet country road
No matter where you choose to share your boots, somehow I know
That's the place I wanna go

So meet me by that old porch swing
Where we'll sit and talk and laugh and sing
There ain't no place in the whole **** world I'd rather be
Than right here with you next to me

All my love I'll send
Cause our crooked paths are sure to meet again

Do you hear me when I call your name
Do you choose to walk the other way
You said time ain't gonna break us, but I guess times changed
When you were out there in the world without me

I believe that
           no one really means it when they
         say it's time to go