. Pressed In A Book .

Doted on like seeds planted in rows 

The untied shoelaces of you life 

Nutured all year then presssed in a book 

Or displayed in bad taste at the table 

Problems arise and you fan the fire 

While there's a wild pack of dogs loose in your house tonight. 

Cut from bad cloth or soiled like socks 

Add it up and basically people never change. 

They just talk and make plans in the dark 

Or make haste with ideas that can't help 

But creep good people out 

As you talk to me too much you're assuming 

We don't always want what's right. 

Did i strike the right set of chords? you're annoyed. 

The goal is to ignite you then move on. 

You feel ill at ease. you got no squeeze. 

And the wise cracks won't make you more stable. 

You've learned you lines to scale and to time. 

Why must i remind you now i'm only less able. 

Cut from bad cloth or soiled like socks 

We're ordinary people we can't help but to change 

As we walk and make plans in the dark 

Or make haste with the boy who can't help 

But creep good people out. 

As you talk to me too much you're assuming 

We don't always want what's right. 

Two fallen saplings in an open field. 

Snow padding gently on an empty bench. 

An old woman's jewelry lying unadorned. 

Colo nesting robins allied for the first time. 

I know when you hear these sappy lines 

You'll roll your eyes and say "nice try".

. Your Algebra .

You may notice certain things before you die. 

Mail them to me should they cause 

Your algebra to fail. 

Cole and macey lost their eyes 

On the finer points 

Roll them up in coffee cake and dine.

. Girl Inform Me .

Girl inform me all my senses warn me 

Your clever eyes could easily disguise 

Some backwards purpose 

It's enough to make me nervous. 

Do you harbor sighs, or spit in my eye 

But your lips when we speak 

Are the valleys and peaks of a mountain range on fire. 

So let me walk these coals till you believe 

I can cut the mustard well enough 

Cause you know as soon as breathe we scrutinize 

Unknown quotients, you must be using potions 

How else could you tie my head to the sky 

This new convection has left me wondering why 

I can't concern myself with ordinary tripe. 

Like what's this morning's paper got to say 

And which brand of coffee to make 

This is no umbrella to take into the wind 

And before we begin is there nothing to kill this anxiety. 

But your lips when we speak 

Are the valleys and peaks of a mountain range on fire. 

So let me walk these coals till you believe 

I can cut the mustard well enough 

Cause you know as soon as breathe we scrutinize 

The paint away.

. Girl On The Wing .

One wound up punch of intuition 

Lays flat my whole take on us. 

You're the girl on the wing of a barnstormer 

The tidal rabbit who came of age before her time. 

We could have been so good-natured 

If i'd relented when you insisted, 

But we've been backed against 

All nature's walls far too long. 

You felt abandoned by me, 

I recall the sunshine as you were melting 

And though the comedy softens the fall 

They still hear us with their ears to the wall. 

I sold all my evil motives, 

No icicles stuck in my hide. 

I'm through with riddles, i know we're little 

Just help me feel warm inside. 

Before we take this ride and let it slide 

Into the cracks where fall and winter collide. 

I surrender all my gall in a song of modern love. 

Remember you're the one who summoned me above any other kind. 

We could have been so good-natured 

If you'd relented when i insisted, 

We take a week off, let the garden grow by itself 

And let the gluttons fill themselves with all the worst of the gory ninties. 

And though the comedy softens the fall, we stall fall short. 

Before we take this ride and let it slide 

Into the cracks where fall and winter collide. 

I surrender all my gall in a song of modern love. 

Remember you're the one who summoned me above any other kind.

. The Celibate Life .

The dust from a four-day affair is now landing 

All over the floor and your brown legs 

The glod plated legs of my rival 

Whose eyes had no reason to fall. 

You led no celibate life no skirt while chemicals danced on your head. 

You stole the keys to this ride and your fables are falling tonight. 

Because of your struggle to make them. 

Their taste for your past time is fading 

Remember the girls in the middle are always the first to fall off. 

You'll learn to live like a mouse, 

Searching the cracks in the floor to remember 

All the dregs in the crowd you barely recall 

You led no celibate life no skirt while chemicals danced on your head. 

You stole the keys to this ride and your fables are falling tonight.

. New Slang .

Gold teeth and a curse for this town were all in my mouth. 

Only, i don't know how they got out, dear. 

Turn me back into the pet that i was when we met. 

I was happier then with no mind-set. 

And if you'd 'a took to me like 

A gull takes to the wind. 

Well, I'd 'a jumped from my tree 

And I'd a danced like the king of the eyesores 

And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well. 

New slang when you notice the stripes, the dirt in your fries. 

Hope it's right when you die, old and bony. 

Dawn breaks like a bull through the hall, 

Never should have called 

But my head's to the wall and I'm lonely. 

And if you'd 'a took to me like 

A gull takes to the wind. 

Well, I'd 'a jumped from my tree 

And I'd a danced like the kind of the eyesores 

And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well. 

God speed all the bakers at dawn may they all cut their thumbs, 

And bleed into their buns 'till they melt away. 

I'm looking in on the good life i might be doomed never to find. 

Without a trust or flaming fields am i too dumb to refine? 

And if you'd 'a took to me like 

Well I'd a danced like the queen of the eyesores 

And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well.

. Weird Divide .

Several days a month you made 
The mile to my house, 
And had me do a stroll with you. 

Far below a furry moon 
Our purposes crossed 
The weird divide 
Between our kinds 

The silver leaves of ailing trees 
Took flights as we passed so long ago 
But a short time i know. 

It pleases me this memory 
Has swollen up with age. 
Even time can do 
Good things to you.

. One By One All Day .

"Howdy, lem," my grandfather said with his eyes closed 

Wiping the eastbound dust from his sunburned brow 

A life before doubt. 

I smell the engine grease and mint the wind is blending 

Under the moan of rotting elm in the silo floor. 

Down a hill of pine tree quills we made our way 

To the bottom and the ferns where thick moss grows 

Beside a stream. 

Under the rocks are snails and we can fills our pockets 

And let them go one by one all day in a brand new place. 

You were no ordinary drain on her defenses 

And she was no ordinary girl 

Oh, Inverted World 

If every moment of our lives 

Were cradled softly in the hands of some strange and gentle child 

I'd not roll my eyes so.

. Know Your Onion! .

Shut out, pimpled and angry.

I quietly tied all my guts into knots.

Gave up on trying to make them,

I figured it'd take them too long to look up and besides...

It was undeniably clear to me i don't know why

When every other part of life seemed locked behind shutters

I knew what worthless dregs we've always been.

Lucked out and found my favorite records

Lying in wait at the birmingham mall.

The songs that i heard,

The occasional book

Were the only fun i ever took.

And i got on with making myself.

The trick is just making yourself.

But when they're parking their cars on your chest

You've still got a view of the summer sky

To make it hurt twice when your restless body

Caves to its whims

And suddenly struggles to take flight...

Three thousand miles north east

I left all my friends at the morning bus stop shaking their heads.

"what kind of life you dream of? you're allergic to love."

Yes i know but i must say in my own defense

It's been undeniably dear to me, i don't know why

When every other part of life seemed locked behind shutters

I knew the worthless dregs we are,

The selfless, loving saints we are,

The melting, sliding dice we've always been.

. Caring Is Creepy .

I think i'll go home and mull this over 

Before i cram it down my throat 

At long last it's crashed, it's colossal mass 

Has broken up into bits in my moat. 

Lift the mattress off the floor 

Walk the cramps off 

Go meander in the cold 

Hail to your dark skin 

Hiding the fact you're dead again 

Undeneath the power lines seeking shade 

Far above our heads are the icy heights that contain all reason 

It's a luscious mix of words and tricks 

That let us bet when you know we should fold 

On rocks i dreamt of where we'd stepped 

And the whole mess of roads we're now on. 

Hold your glass up, hold it in 

Never betray the way you've always known it is. 

One day i'll be wondering how 

I got so old just wondering how 

I never got cold wearing nothing in the snow. 

This is way beyond my remote concern 

Of being condescending 

All these squawking birds won't quit. 

Building nothing, laying bricks.