Blink

Hey hey close your eyes
And you might miss me
But not like I miss you

Hey hey I wanna be with you
And I want you to be with me
All day all day

Would you close your eyes
To meet love
And it’s first kiss?

Baby look me dead
(But don’t see me as such)
In the face

Such grace you hold
Casting your spell on me
And I’m blind but for you

Run your hand through your hair
Here let me help you
Dear dear you

Hey hey hey hey hey love
Close your eyes and miss me
But not like I missed you before we had now

I’ll always long for you
Baby baby you tattooed yourself on my heart
And I wanna dance with you as the drums beat their tattoo

Wild dreams can’t contain
My heart beating faster
Than wild horses

Hey hey close your eyes
And I’ll kiss you
But blink and you’ll miss me
I don’t want to have to miss you again.

Upon Hearing These Words the Queen Approached the Jester, Curtsied, and Allowed Him to Take Her Hand and Gently Kiss It

Love…
Free for the taking
And the better for the giving…
Ladies and gentlemen why do you sit here!?!
To give ear to the jester?
This is the season for love!
And perhaps
Perhaps
Perhaps
My audience thinks I know the way
Your fears I will allay
Today
I say
That love indeed is a quest,
Indeed the best,
And far more nobler than all the rest!
But what does a jester know of this love,
This indwelt treasure bestowed from above?
Dearest majesty grant a lone request
And I could bring a smile-
At least for a while
(Until you give voice to your heart
And inquire after its art
Wondering if I am maybe more than a face
Painted
Smiling
Playing a part)-
For that is the one favor I ask
That you smile, my lady
And you do so daily
Outlining a portrait of happiness
Nothing less.
Your dress!
It betrays feeling
Sending me reeling
My thoughts sealing
Their way inside of my heart and lifting it up to the sky
Whose paint is peeling,
A pale imitation of art,
Fading into nothing
Nothing
Nothing at all.
Dear Queen
Ruler of this land
(And my heart, which longs for your hand)
And its waters
(Across which I loved you)
And its daughters
And sons
Each
And every
One kiss is enough
Let me just brush
Like paint
Against an easel
Creating a masterpiece
Without you I have no peace

And ladies and gentlemen take no heed
Of this speech, my humorous deed
For I am a fool
Just a tool used to coax the embers of giggles
Into a fire
And such is not the way of love
For what have I to kiss my face
But collar of lace
And paint of blue
But never you
My aim is true
But holds not the courage to fly towards the mark.

28 Degrees Fahrenheit

Lately
I spend most of my days
Trying to sort out where
My head is
In relation to my heels
And I don’t know what is up and what is down
Is that why you are laughing?
And how can you?
I’m down…
But at the same time
Up
Up
And away I go
Like a needle threads the tight rope I walk
Through the delicate patterns left by the holes in my heart
As a guideline
And a warning
And instructions for warming
Heat at whatever degree you want
And for however long you desire
It’s cold outside and you as the fire to warm me sounds nice
Ice clouds my vision
I’m just sitting here wishing
I wasn’t so cold

Sleepless

It's the dead of the night
And my one-track mind is keeping me awake.
This waking dream that is life with you
Cushions me like an air bag
For without the dream I would die.

I talked to a drum major today
She asked about you,
Though she didn't know it,
And I answered in the polite YES's and NO's
Which I wish were all positive
And I went into a dream.

I talked to a would-be world conqueror today
I told him about you
And he said I needed help.
I just need a hug
To give me breathe to hold through the night.

It's the dead of the night
And the residue of your smile won't let me close
The eyes of my mind
For I can't stop seeing you
Nor do I want to.

Broken Record

"She said 'I know what it's like to be dead.
I know what it is to be sad'
And she's making me feel like I've never been born."

CLICK

Yes?
No.
Yes?
No.
Yes?
No.
Yes? (I was that shiny new album
Gleaming vinyl slipped gently from its sleeve-
My one shield-
By your gentle strength)
No. (You spin me around
And around
And around
And around)
Yes? (Memorizing my lyrics
Embracing my words in combination
With the melodies and harmonies
Of my feelings for you)
No. (Around, around, around)
Yes? (Track after track,
Beauty bleeding into beauty
And you beg that the music not end,
That it be true,
And not too good to be)
No. (Was it only my words that made you,
Like a record,
Twirl around in circles,
So hypnotic?)
Yes? (And Icarus had potential
As we both know so well,
For we too have potential)
No. (Are you determined that our wings
Be destroyed?)
Yes? (Please?)
No. (And we’re both sorry
And at least one of us knows it)
Yes? (45’s and 33 1/3’s are built to specifics
And I...
Am like a record).
No. (Put me back in my sleeve, then)
Yes? (I was that shiny new record
You couldn’t stop listening to)
No. (And you broke me)
Yes? (I ask)
No. (You respond)
And the broken record skips, repeats.
Yes?
No.
Yes?
No.
The record cracks
And breaks,
But won’t stop spinning.

Mythology

There must have been a great fire
Or natural disaster
That destroyed all the temples
The ancient world set up for you.
It could have been the Titans I suppose,
They were known to be your enemy.
What other explanations can there be
For the absence of your monuments?
Perhaps your servants found the highest mountain of all
Building your home like Babel
Until Zeus too succumbed to jealousy
And of course you would have let him continue
In his fit of manly rage,
Imitating the power that you are,
As in all his existence.
Lust is not true love,
Or love at all,
Though it’s often mistaken for such
And maybe that’s why
None but I noticed the absence of your cathedrals.

I must be
A natural disaster
To erase the traces of love from your face.

Lies

Beauty walks by
And I think about halting it’s progress
To take it in my arms,
Running her long silky hair
Through my fingertips
(Where so much slips through my grasp).
The smile is for me
With its sparkling teeth-
Perfection-
And she laughs,
Cool and clear
Like beauty sometimes does.
She could have time for me,
Acknowledge my existence,
Be part of a fairy tale…

But no,
She is a lie.
Though she doesn’t exist
She is not a fairy tale,
Because the fairies impregnate their stories
With love,
And she could never have my heart…
For she is not you.

New Patriotism (Broken Heart, Broken Hand)

Pain,
A drug:
I shoot up,
Again,
Again-
Adrenaline friend.
Truth,
Daggers,
Shatter my dream,
Drowned
Scream-
Gargle before drinking.
Pain,
My drug,
Sell me some.
Bruises,
Embrace,
One and the same

I pledge allegiance to pain
And to the broken heart
For which it stands
One me
Without you
Easily divisible
With plenty of tears
To get through the night

A Rock, A Chance

What if mirrors are only panes of glass
Windows into other worlds,
Only offering backwards imitations
Of our lives
By chance
When’er we happen to glance?

Would all those people,
Oh-so-vain,
Check their reflection
Again and again?
Wisdom dictates they not do so
For fear they fall in love and go
Through the glass
Like air
Then water
Air again
(The lake, just a film)
To be with a creature,
So beautiful,
That they could pass as a twin
Of those who gaze.

I might look more,
But not to follow the trail
Blazed by Narcissus,
Instead to guard,
Make sure my clone-
Reflection-
Does not leave,
Run away in fright,
To join the shadow
Of that other Lost Boy,
And also to watch
To see if I can
Catch it in the act
Of changing
Into one of the many
Me’s.

What if there are no mirrors,
Only looking glasses
That point to other realms?
I suggest you let them be,
Not calling forth reflections,
Under pretense of observation
In the vein of those great explorers.
Don’t give the reflections
Excuse to be vain.