LYRICS TO SONGS UNFINISHED: girls with 'A' names

I sing a song for girls with A names every chance I get
There’s nothing new to this
Lewis don’t do us like this
I sing a lullaby for each one of you I forget
Is there something in your hips
Telling me to take that kiss
I break a bottle every time I get a chance to fly
Don’t waste nobody’s time
Pitiful young concubines
We get down to it, push on through it, leave it in the park
We’re moving in the dark
And stripping down the bark
If you ever find you’re waiting on a moment, girl
That won’t come to your world
In fashionable curls
Remind yourself of every mother who devoted time
Memorizing nursery rhymes
regurgitating countless lies
integrity and mystery abound in you
but nothing that we do
can disconnect the glue
so hold onto the moments where we all look fine
allow yourself the time
to go out of your mind

inciting incident

how much can my insides sink down
pulling at the speed of gravity
ulcers tickling burnt lining
time bomb ticking in reverse
tears breach the edge
of the reservoir and grief climbs
out of my skull hovers overhead
then soars toward your memory
or my memory of you
or the memory of what I projected
onto your creased screen, blind contours in the fabric of time and light
color gels dull by the time we reach the plot’s inciting incident

work

put your nose to the grindstone son
and you’ll have won
self-respect comes to those who
put on the chains by choice
but the kink clubs all fill
with ones who need to
be beaten by strange hands to
find the means to roll out of bed
iron their jeans plug in the electric head lamp
and stare into the heated coils of their american futures

education

what did we learn?
the word that burns
unseen never
heard or over-
turned

flight case of a
traveling fool
waiting for the
departure from
portland to my
fucking house in
the islands i
bought

cash was no way
to compensate
the greatest piece
of fantasy
i ever did
hate

we're drunk now at
the time of day
when i should be
getting sweaty
all times of day
are ripe for sex
or exercise
exorcism
of my hopeless
expectations

salutations
my good sir, what
do you have to
learn from today?

the only one losing sleep

It’s the urgency I’m ashamed
to say I can’t shake
play out in my head
a silly scene
calling you up in the morning
when there’s almost no
chance you’re awake
only to stammer out invitations
to parties we’ll invent
with fermented spirits
cigarette taxes
filed down to nubs
of petty income
expendable like our labors
neighboring counties
place priority on secrecy
tune in coastal frequency
a binaural tragedy
come to me
believe me you’re not the
only one losing sleep
tumbling forward
I want only to
break up the
monotony
perform ultimate
lobotomy
on me

dare

it doesn't seem to matter
how small i feel
i will still manage to drive
myself too far
into view in front of you
shouting the truth
in whispers of small talk i
regret planning

-but yr cool- no spin on men's
self delusion

felt right then the need to shut
the fuck up Now

who even listens to the
voice within that
protects me and you from the
folly? saying
out loud what no one cares to
acknowledge. dare.

bread crumbs

these adhesive
things
on back of
certified mail forms
are forming a trail
in this office
from a
fat man’s desk
to the toilet
in the
men’s room

comedy gold
to be sure

lucky for us

it takes a lot
of poor people
to take out
rich people’s
trash

we miss the proper storms

the talk turned to lighting
back home
then
wind rain and hail
outside she smoked
he spoke
and the octopus squirmed
in his cage

conversations where
nothing happens
ain’t adequate
so morbidity ain’t
nothing
to me

this morning I notice
a bruise on my leg
I’m sick to my stomach
With fear
deep-vein thrombosis?
panic attack
breath short
some adventurer.

analysis

oh what a crime
I’m too cerebral
for the girl who is
bragging about
taking nitrous in a hot tub

oh what a crime
I’m too callous to
empathize while he bawls
his eyes out over a mental case

I never asked for this
I only wanted to
test the waters
til they went
splash but then
there was blood
then there was blood
and tattered limbs
pink water thinning
and what did
we want to do
with you
again?

the bats from that poem the mouse reads

stroll through the neighborhood
ambient blanket of pitches
spreadin' 'round like sloppy watercolors

last night
i saw a dancer
who smelled like cocoa pebbles
when she leaned in close

russian illustrators never
dreamed of bats so ornate
and so high-tech

sonar clicking outside
our realm of hearing

a wash of pitches
doppler diffused

floating on decongestants
bacteria fighting one another
i splash through the rain
for breakfast

wind up head in sink
choking up bile
and antibiotics

splash away tears and
snot - coldest water
i can find
wipe the sweat off

get back, get better,
get rest

the random sounds
splash 'round like
sloppy watercolors
or chalk from the kids
in the driveway next door
streaming down the sidewalk

no news

shamed because i didn't save any cash
didn't enjoy my weekend
didn't get over it
didn't earn any overtime pay for next week
didn't even stay up late
didn't taste anything

i did show up
a few times, but
i missed the exercise
i missed the opportunity
i missed the game
i missed the bullseye
i missed her lips
i missed the camaraderie
i missed the tips
even when i have time
i yield it to
futile pursuits
mental bland fruit
soured or bruised
we bring you the news.

human after all

I have this
friend who believes the
Saudi royal family,
and the Kennedys
belong to
a different species
with reptilian features
like scales and tails and
cold, cold blood

he turned us
on to battlestar
and i have to admit that
it is pretty great
for a sci
fi type of story
endorsed by friends whose
philosophies I
truly do
admire, but whose choice
of beliefs in alien
overlords seems at
best a sort
of entertaining
and willful self-delusion,
and at its worst a
"human" flaw