1.
We’ll negotiate with our friends and threaten our enemies.
If our friends can’t negotiate nicely,
we’ll threaten them.
We’ll negotiate with our enemies,
once they’re ground into the dirt.
We’re honest brokers, buying low and selling high.
Life is a gamble; make sure you’ve got collateral to damage.

2.
Abraham sacrificed his sons for God—
Rows and rows of them, in airplane bellies,
boxed and wrapped.
God let him have Isaac,
but inflation drove up the price of God’s love.
No more token sacrifices accepted--only real sons now.

3.
Adam will take back the Garden of Eden,
No flaming swords will stop him.
A fig leaf covers his nakedness.
Why aren’t Cain and Abel getting along?

4.
Blessed are the poor in spirit;
they don’t need our handouts.
The meek will inherit the lowlands.
Let them build an ark when the rains come.
Suffer, little children.

5.
Like the fruit fly, we multiply.
Our swarm will cover the earth and feed on its ripeness.
Eat it down to the pit.
We came 5,000 years ago
and stayed just long enough to enjoy the fruits of God’s labors.
We’ll be reborn as angels stuck with pins in God’s collection.

[These are quotes taken from a New York Magazine article around 10 years ago. They are all from firefighters]

"doing funerals....getting the bunting, hanging the bunting...step by step...

When it became a myth, the whole event...

people were terrified, crapping their pants...a woman in the lobby...no legs...her face...like someone took it off with a saw.

Why did I survive?

...None of 'em were ever found. Not even a tool.

I didn't see victims. They were dust... When the wind blew, you couldn't grab them.

long spears of glass...Huge panels turned into shards...a piece of window, a small piece....It's right here in my hands now.

...can't look at a plane landing"

Like water, like flowing rivulets,
notes fly from fingers fast on frets.
Slippery sinuous shimmering tones
(complemented by brash bluesy Bones).
Like storm’s thunder and lightning a chord
brings the sky to us on earth—
or is it that we fly , then die until the rebirth
in gentle reverb of a note two octaves higher?
Strange how rain coexists with fire.
Drench us in the cascade born from your desire.

It's a quiet little love,
Doesn't have a lot to say,
But it works its quiet magic
Without penance, everyday.
It listens without judgment,
It shares both joy and pain,
It never hides itself away
When sunshine turns to rain.

The movements are so subtle
That she oft forgets it's there;
still it moves to lift her spirits
Any time and anywhere.
It's not what she's been looking for
But when push comes to shove,
She'll find a certain comfort in
That quiet little love.

I dreamed about you just last night.
Woke up, and the world's just not right.
My head hurts from the blast of daylight
My heart hurts but I play I'm alright.
I pick up as the day rolls on,
Chin up although my face is long
Fresh reminder you're really gone
I feel weak from acting this strong.

I'm doing well enough, you'd be proud.
I've learned to walk against the crowd.
I don't play my music as loud.
Feet on the ground, head in the clouds.
I remember all that you told me.
Each praise, each time you'd scold me.
Trying to live to be an old me.
Trying not to become a cold me.

The hardest part of life is that it ends,
That we say goodbye to kin and friends,
That's why I work on making amends,
Instead of keeping up with the trends.
Though you taught me to be a man,
I feel like a child now and then.
I face life with a will and a plan, but
I'd trade it all just to hear you again.

I move on, man, I'm strong enough.
I've been doing this long enough.
I've sung my old sad song enough;
Now I shut up when the road is rough.
But if it's weakness that I cry at night,
It's not a point that I'll try to fight.
I feel weak, and my chest feels tight,
I need to hear you say I'll be alright.