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careen: verb-  ca·reen \kə-ˈrēn\


1. to move forward quickly and suddenly, going from side to side in an uncontrolled way
The car hit a guardrail and careened across the freeway.
Synonyms and related words
To move somewhere quickly: fly, hasten, speed...
1.  to be in a situation that changes quickly in an uncontrolled way
careen from/toward: The country has careened from one crisis to another.
an economic system careening toward collapse
Synonyms and related words
To be in, or to get into a difficult situation: run out of road, suffer, undergo...
1.  to sway from side to side :  lurch
a careening carriage being pulled wildly … by a team of runaway horses — J. P. Getty
1.   careen: The car careened down the hill.

SICK

SICK

Step right up, come hear the gospel

Of the great/saint zen poet hobo

Wailing on a broken homesick trombone

From a sidewalk tagged with hope


In this era of unreason

Every word we say is treason

Every thought we think is freedom

from this soapbox that we scream from


so what you need is what we fix

you feel unwell? We cure the sick!

and if you look inside our bag of tricks

you'll find we have your medicine


And here's a Molotov martini

With a side of IED’s

garnished with the burnt debris

of their house of worship and disease

 

So lets give them hell, it’s what they’ve wanted

it's time to get this party started

all we need is alcohol, phosphorous, and palm oil

when all is coated with hopelessness

and going nowhere feels like motion

and all the poems seem empty and broken

with the words that you've misspoken


we have a cure for your ailments

cause just like you, we too were sick

we'll soon have you up and moving

and riding lightning to our music


Can you feel it?

That’s called spirit!

And now you can touch and see and hear it

and as you dance you'll feel you're smirking

that's how you know that it's working


we'll use their crosses as our kindling

as we burn what they are building

and we'll inflame the arising range

till it explodes from going sane

 


So give them hell, it’s what they’ve wanted

it's time to get this party started

all we need is alcohol, phosphorous, and palm oil

DIAMONDS

DIAMOND

There's flowers and photos lying by the roadside
near a grief stricken mother standing where her son died
Crying: "You'll be here too one day fighting this fight."
as the cameras pan to take in the sight 

And in its quiet desperation the world felt the spark
As the fires in Ferguson still burned in our hearts
There's a storm coming so you better hold on tight
There's a rage growing and you must pick a side

There was a dream that was lost in the undertow of the tide
and swept out into a sea where memories go to die
A tear in an ocean in a hurricane of lies
A whirlwind of injustices  and 'unalienable' rights

 

We're falling faster through the madness
past the bullets and the badges
to the Diamond shining brighter than the moon

To the embers in the ashes
as our silhouettes dance
in the glow of the smoldering ruins

Forbidding statues tower over our children
as the policeman preachers demand you obey them
And they will take you and break you and put you in their trough
where they'll chew you and eat you and then spit you out
    
With some luck you can scratch the itch on the backs of the rich
as the poor go to war over the crumbs that are left
And our burning garbage makes the sunsets more pretty
as we turn the forest into another machine

We're falling faster through the madness
past the bullets and the badges
to the Diamond shining brighter than the moon

To the embers in the ashes
as our silhouettes dance
in the glow of the smoldering ruins

To the forgotten convict
the restless and haunted
and those holding on by a thread 

To the wind in our sails
and to the end of the world
We salute you forever and again

And the children look on as the hurricane rages
while the law kills their parents or puts them in cages
And the reverent and righteous have spread like a virus
as the desperate and fearful promise to fight us

So let the bastards have their Sundays, it's not worth our time
and we'll get it all back later after we make things right
And our spray painted flowers will cover their ruins
as the powers that be drown in their sewage

We're falling faster through the madness

past the bullets and the badges

to the Diamond shining brighter than the moon

To the embers in the ashes
as our silhouettes dance
in the glow of the smoldering ruins

To the forgotten convict
the restless and haunted
and those holding on by a thread 

To the wind in our sails
and to Diamond Reynold's
We salute you forever and again

MARGARITA

MARGARITA

 

I remember

lying on your floor
the after sex cigarette we shared as we blew the smoke out the door 
and I remember
staying up till dawn
oh these dreams and memories just have me wanting more

oh I want you want you want you
on a beach in Mexico
where the moon can hear us howl
as we blow away the clouds
I want to feel you rise and fall
like the tides in Cozumel
I want to drown inside your eyes
as I kiss your breasts and thighs

if there was only one kiss 
left in the world
I'd fight an army of ravenous lovers 
to be the one to bring it to you

please take this bouquet
of wistful craving
I want to feel your body exhale
as the serpent eats the tail

and a rose is a rose is a rose
I want you naked, now, and close
I want your echoes to be mine
As I take you from behind
I want to kiss the nape of your neck
and grasp and bite your breasts
I want to watch you please yourself
as you gasp and cry and yell


Klaseevaya neba moya
oh my bittersweet beauty
you make me feel so dirty
dosha moya
moy meeylya princessa
i want to eat till we are fat
and drown each other in our madness


I want to feed you grape by grape
while the sun beams through the drapes
as we listen to the morning sea
In a hotel room on Crete
I want our sex to become legend
of what to do when you're in heaven
I want the gods to be jealous
as we fuck and moan and hiss

 

GASLIGHT MASQUERADE

GASLIGHT MASQUERADE

In her private bedroom theater

In a room of smoke and mirrors

Dances the temptress puppeteer

Her every move pulls you nearer

 

And she climbs you like a serpent

As she wraps you with her words

She places your hand on her breast

And her nails into your neck

 

Just so you know, I am leaving

I can’t wake up but I’m not dreaming

I can feel this house is haunted

and can’t stay here another moment

 

In the gaslight masquerade

Her puppet strings are taught but frayed

As she draws you across the stage

And makes you question everything

 

We are two ghosts in the same play and nothing can be believed

She’s not liable anyway and has no memory

Your insecurity is her alibi

Her every move is a tease and every other word’s a lie

 

Oh how the moon would catch her eye

and bath her body in its light

Oh how I’d trade a thousand nights

to put my lips between her thighs

 

And lost in reverie, she always wore a disguise

And in every twist and tease was another hidden lie

Made it hard for me to see, blinded by her gaslight

Did she even ever love me? Or was that too another lie?

 

Just so you know, I am leaving

I can’t wake up but I’m not dreaming

I can feel this house is haunted

And I can’t stay here another moment

THE BUTCHER

“I’m sorry.”  said the butcher to the lamb on the counter
while lighting up a cigarette
“you see, a man’s got to eat, so a lambs got to die
forgive me if it don’t make sense.” 
“You see, between me or you I am gonna pick the one who
can weave a cleaver with his hand.” 
“I’m sorry.” said the butcher to the lamb on the counter
while cleaning off his apron.

 

And he might write you another lullaby
Something to keep you warm at night
Something to turn off the lights
Cause he is his own alibi

And how he came to you crawling, begging to hold him,
drunk as an out of tune violin. 
Saying “why won’t you come to me, you’re my mine, you’re my everything.  
I am different, baby I swear I have change.”
But you know this pattern, yeah you’ve seen it all happen
somewhere before in a dream
And tomorrows forever, and you know there’s no never,
white knuckled you pick up your pen

Well he’s a snake charming, knife sharpening, cold hearted,
motherfucking, crabby ass son of a bitch
He is your butcher and you need him but you ain’t got to feed him
just eat your meat and be quiet
His silver tongue is polished and he smells of licorice
when he leans in to give you a kiss
He is your butcher and you need him and you ain't got to feed him
just eat your meat and be quiet

And he might write you another lullaby
Something to keep you warm at night
Something to turn off the lights
Cause he is his own alibi

THE BUTCHER

LIES

Lost amongst the poet’s choir the conductor must be hung
He is high on song and drunk with power I say we string him up
It is freezing out lets have a fire the kindling is this town
We can laugh and dance and aspire to burn the whole world down

Well I got nothing left to lose so I think you should to
And if you agree with me you deserve what I will do
First I’ll start with your heart then slip into your shoes
You’ll think you know who/where you are, but this dog is walking you 

 

Lies Lies Lies

Pouring from the poets mouth
Lies Lies Lies

As the words come flowing out

Prophet sneezing, asphalt preaching, soap box medicine 
Fever dreaming, heartbreaking, snake oil in a pen

Like autumn leaves the carpet is pulled out from under us
Groundless as a coma victim trying to wake up
Hopeless as the love affair of god and religion
Aimless as the words that are rolling off my tongue

And if we find ourselves able to write the right words down
Through the hoops and obstacles that comes with music now
Riding rhymes like writing rails through the beat of a mainline
Dancing through the sweat and mess of the poetically sublime

LIES

RED BANDANNA

If you don’t follow the rules
They're gonna put you in their cage
And if you’re the color of the earth
They will teach you how to behave

New York City lights look so pretty and bright
from this graveyard in Brooklyn
And I can't understand why it is I pretend 
that below isn’t my friend
And I remember your red bandanna 
waving like a flag
in the middle of nowhere and without a care 
of where we were going
and you said:
"Lay down your compass, your crew change, your whiskey
Dump forty ounces in the ground for me
Don’t you know you can sleep when your dead"

And if you see the others up there
Tell them 'fuck you' from me
You didn’t hear their mothers scream
You haven't seen what I've seen

And in the echoes of my room
I hear you call my name
And in the subways downtown
I swear i see your face

RED BANDANNA

GYPSY TERRAVAN

 

From the thunderclap of the Kalashnikov

to the metal jungle concrete block

the bullets soar out to the stars

with the angry mobs applause

In a world that's found forever

in a binary of ones and nevers

Where here is over there

and when is also where

 

Across the horizon of mountain tops

shines the antennas to our gods

as we worship the satellites above

who have gifted us with instantaneous  

A thumb typed complaint

is taken for a prayer these days

as we bundle what we say and send it light months away

 

And we can take you to the moon and back again

I've been riding freight trains in my dreams

in a cloud of information medicine

on our broken gypsy terra-van

 

News bearing rockets are riding on ships

down information highways where they cast adrift

Through war torn foreign desserts where they collect jihadists

and is anyone ever really equipped to be killing children?

 

And the make pretend prophets

flood the virtual markets

with their distracting garbage

that has refilled their pockets

And all the food has been died

And a slave made your tie

and every sign is saying you should buy it

It’s a good buy, good buy, good bye, goodbye buy bye

 

 

Clown face painted killers are roaming the theaters

Like lonely street preachers punishing all who can hear

There's a ghost in the hallway of the school that had fallen

victim to another broken misguided soul

And the greedy old white men shout from their podium

About how we are all threatened

By the ‘coming insurrection’

Paraphrasing from scripture

Claiming God's against nature

In their rainbow of hatred

they only see the world as dead

 

And a stillborn seal fetus can enlarge your penis

we’ll have weather like Venus in a dozen or so years

And drones roam the sky

feeding the all watching eye

as the wounded soldiers come home to no one to belong to

 

“And the cancer’s advanced

but with enough money there’s a chance”

said the hotshot robot surgeon

while washing the blood off his hands

 “I’m sorry for your bad luck

Or lack of better income

Now could you please get in line with the other poor dying?”

 

I can tell by your eyes you been lying to me

its clear now the signs I didn't want to see

So I buried my head and got lost in the screen

I Didn't want to wake up cause its safer in my dreams

 

And I have to confess

That although I protest

All the waste greed and neglect

It’s still a beautiful mess

Meet me down at the spot

Near the wood floor coffee shop

Through the skyscrapers and ruin

We set our sights on the moon

 

And we can take you to the moon and back again

I've been riding freight trains in my dreams

In a cloud of information medicine

on our broken gypsy terra-van

GYPSY TERRAVAN

ANTHEM

All hail the underdog 
the liar, the thief,

the hobo, the dying 
the whore on her knees
The petty, the full
Those who just want relief
And the guilt ridden madman
who implodes once a week
The anarchist slacker
who hasn't a goal
The rats in the cage
The fish in the bowl
The drunken old man
who has drowned his own soul
And the mutated nomad
with his begging bowl
And the hopeless romantics 
frustrated with the world
And the broken heart poets 
that write for us all
The angry and bitter 
who saw they were dying
And any poor fool 
that has been caught lying
Any person that wears 
their heart on their sleeve
To just have it stolen 
in someones time of greed
And all those who fight 
to have nothing to need
Its the lonely and guilty
I'll forever salute thee

Some gypsy junky poetry these idle hands are choking me
You'll never be in empathy till everything's in jeopardy
You're giving into gravity, your holiday's a fantasy
The new Rome's growing into a home for the elderly
And now you're love's enemy as you rise above your casualties
The echo of their memories found their way into your dreams

You swear you hear their prayers on the stairs of your recovery
And you'd share but no one cares about your nightmares in serenity

You're not alright with your life

so you been taking hostages
And every soul that you could hold

you glued yourself and bonded with
You know your no one from nowhere

and you mean nothing to nobody
And in your sleep you greet the king

who put the ink in everything
But today maybe hopefully

you'll be hearing me through poetry
Metaphorically flowing out of me

and into you subconsciously 
This is for the minority

that I speak to need accordingly
I am you as you are me

I see and hear you Feelingly 

Now you can taste it with your hatred 
as your waiting for a train
In a station with your patience 
as your soaking up the rain
And you can't feel it as it heals it 
but you'll never be the same
So you do it cause you shouldn't
and you'll probably do it again
And you save it as you crave it
cause your greedy with your needs
And you play it with the favorites 
on a list of all that bleeds
And its beauty feels like cruelty
and it bites the hand that feeds
But you'll kiss this loving darkness
as the light begins to breathe

 

Like your sweet breath in the wind
Find your soul in the world
As you cheat death again 
till maybe tomorrow
And the moon will follow you wherever you go
And wherever you roam there's that bright grinning rose
Tell your love and your blood how much you respect them
And never forget to write yourself an anthem
An Anthem

ANTHEM

THE BALLAD OF THE LOST PIRATE

Now the partners they square in circles
and go round and round in a do see do
And the bar room looks like a massacre 
with all these demons dancing on the floor


Enter stage right this horned beauty 
With magnetic eyes for all to see
Like Mona Lisa’s thin smile 
Your caught under the devils spell


And so you whisper in the devils ear: 
“Say, this is a nice place that you got here”
Think to yourself ‘this must be hell’   
But oh my god how she’s dressed to kill
And like a flower in paradise, she opened up to your surprise
And there ain’t no telling what the storm will do
and there’s no eye for you to hide into

And the clock is grinning at you with its hands  
Seems time and space have packed their bags
But they’ve never followed the laws of man
And they’re nothing for you to understand 

 

And like a volcano will erupt 
This place seems kind of pressed for luck
Like at any time anything could blow up 
In a fiery explosion of hate and love

And you know she’ll hurt but it’s a treat  
Like eating candy with rotting teeth
Nothing in this world should be so sweet 
But don’t look now she’s go you on your feet

 

 

“Would you like to disappear my dear

“We can grab a drink and get out of here

I Got a little hole we can crawl into

Made for one but it fits two”

 

She grabbed you hard and pulled you close

And then kissed your lips and removed your clothes

Whispered to you “oh little man

I’m gonna love you more than I ever can”

Your wore a coat of thorns to keep her away

Your wore an innocent face to make her stay

Confused and bruised what could she do

But say “fuck this dude and the whole world too”

And so you whisper in the devils ear:

“Say, this is a nice place you got here”

Think to yourself: ‘this must be hell’  

But oh my god how she’s dressed to kill

And like a flower in paradise she opened up to your surprise

And there ain't no telling what the storm will do and there’s no eye for you to hide into

And the Gypsies take what the Pirates break

And the drunk ballerinas take to the stage

As the Devil applauds the mess we've made of the room

And the Dancers claim that they rose from the grave

In this hole in the wall there ain't a soul to be saved

Dream or memory it seems they sang for you

THE BALLAD OF THE LOST PIRATE

SLEEPING

  

I'm on the stoop singing tunes to the people I see

Like I did yesterday

There's hearts and names carved on the side of the tree

that we would sit beneathe

Ambulance sirens are crying their way through the heat

Like a new born baby

Drunk look like kites flying their way down the street

Like I did when I was

 

Sleeping

Wake me and tell me I'm dreaming

kiss me and tell me I'm crazy

that you'll be here in the morning

Like the sun

when I wake up

 

And I find that sometimes when wandering the winding highway

of yesterday memories

the street of 'You' was as sweet as the fruit off the tree

that we would sit beneath

Never forget the feel of your breast and body

lying right next to me

and the silhouette of our sex in the early morning

while the world was sleeping

  

The silver light of the moon at midnight in your room

was as peaceful as anything I have seen

and the summer air teasing your hair with its breeze

just like you do to me

oh how you move so smoothly, nimble, and free

I've never felt so lucky

How your eyes glowed when I told you that I was leaving

please understand I was

 

Sleeping.

Wake me and tell me I'm dreaming

Kiss me and tell me I'm crazy

That you'll be here in the morning

And that everything will be okay

And we don't have to be lonely

There can be more to the story

Like the sun

When I wake up

SLEEPING

SANGRIA

Now the mountains are hazed in a vanilla cloud
The suns coming through with a burning to be proud
The breeze like a sigh breathing on her neck
As the smoke seems to hang from her sanguine lips

Like a stage, on a bench, off in the distance
a chiseled faced man covets a cigarette
Her body a tease as she gestures a kiss
To be blown away by her sanguine lips

And there’s music in the air and there silence is strong
Heaven only knows this is there song
Tapping the tune with his calloused fingertips
As she mouths the words with her sanguine lips

Saying “like a vine we can climb into the shelter of our arms
They’re where the rain can do us no harm
Safe in our love away from the storm
And the sangria will keep us warm"

Sanguine lips on no other
Oh my Sangreal
My darling Dulcinea
You’ve left me in hell
Insane and alone fighting windmills
Soaked to the bone
In Sangria

And his hands find her hands and her heart beats with his
And he holds back her hair and she lays on his chest
And he hopes to have everything that she is
Most above all those sanguine lips

And they dream of the day when the world is okay
With the love of each other and the calm it creates
He glares at the ground and pounds down his fist
Then she lifts his head up with her sanguine lips

And her eyes catch his eyes and then meet within
The snake found its tail the puzzle piece fits
Off you go my pirate back to your ship
She says so softly with her sanguine lips

And the world is there for him to conquer
But at sea he can only seem to dream of her
No treasure on earth was better than his
Lovely little girl with the sanguine lips

So he yells to the crew turn this ship around
And he searches for her but she can not be found
And as the story goes you know there’s no end
He’ll always be searching for her sanguine lips

SANGRIA

DESPERATE ANNIE'S

Now Desperate Annie calls you 
from halfway down the block
and when you walk into her open arms 
she wishes you good luck
there's a boozed up brunette pool shark 
who can smell blood from her throne
and the Irish boys trade war stories 
of going home alone

"so come out and play
its the end of the day"
is what the lonely sing
at the top of the hour the midnight crowd 
is wasting the night away

and the shady unshaved groping old men 
are scattered all around
Annie says there not welcome here 
so Brutus throws them out
he seems gentle but he is nine feet tall 
and his fists way three hundred pounds
he could probably bench press a Mack truck 
but your not about to find out

And she'll drown you in a sea 
of empty rambling
and the college girls with their thrift store pearls 
will make the jukebox sing
the locals hold to the foosball table 
as the grateful tip bell rings
and the bartenders don't care if you curse 
in the presence of a lady

at the foothills of the "barkeaters" 
is where you will find her
in the party town of horse loving crowned 
gambling amateurs
she is not the kind of girl 
you would want to wine and dine
but if you find the time she's located 
on a street named Caroline 

"so come out and play
its the end of the day"
is what the lonely sing
at the top of the hour the midnight crowd 
are wasting the night away

DESPERATE ANNIE'S

RAPUNZEL

Well you say you found love in the land of the lost
And you opened your heart like the oncoming frost
But where are you now my smokescreen my liar?
Where are you now my young gun for hire?

So Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair
At least let down your guard and pretend to not care
You seem lonely in that tower I am tired of climbing
Four stories to go, I suppose it’s worth trying

In the panic of guilt you are sick to your stomach
In this life that you’ve built you’ve obtained nothing
Your masterpiece is broken at best poorly drawn
Oh Rapunzel, Rapunzel where have you gone?

And your mother lives her life in a bullet proof vest
Like us all she prays for a quick painless death
But where is the fun where is the romance
Oh my dear Rapunzel would you care to dance?

So Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair
At least let down your guard and pretend to not care
You seem lonely in that tower I am tired of climbing
Two stories to go, I suppose it’s worth trying

Well the sails are on fire the ship it is sinking
Some blame the pilot and accuse him of drinking
I blame the captain he should’ve known better
He was locked in his cabin writing Rapunzel love letters

We’re all butchers and beggars in this deck of cards
And us Jokers are wild like the King of Hearts
And this black cloud will follow me to the end of the earth
Cause when it’s hot it burns and when it rains it pours 

So Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair
At least let down your guard and pretend to not care
You seem lonely in that tower I am tired of climbing
Well I fell 15 stories and now I lay dying
Oh Rapunzel, Rapunzel, now I lay dying

RAPUNZEL

CHURCH


Well I guess several thousand years ago
I suppose there was this one man show
Some say that he even glowed 
Most just like the way he spoke
I wonder if he enjoyed telling jokes?

And four thousand years before him
Rose from the earth the dawn of man
Tempting eve and dumb Adam
Feeling all ashamed in gods garden
Should I keep snakes and apples from my children?

And I know a lady who helps god sing
About fire and brimstone, his sons rising
How ya’ll burn if ya don’t believe
She is saved and we are all missing
I wonder if she needs god or therapy?

She says “god ain't here he is far”
He don’t care about me only her
Cause I like Jews gays and playing guitar
Having sex and going to bars
I wonder if he put breathing holes in her jar?

Well I tasted your forbidden fruit 
then ate the tree from limb to root
I did it with the help of my greedy hands 
and then thanked god for giving me them
Congratulations ya’ll finally made it 
the lousy little poets have graduated 
no longer need your diaper changed 
ya made it to the first grade

This is for all you homophobes 
You religious right fanaticals
You war hungry savages safe at home 
You abortion clinic bombing psychos 
When will you learn to leave the rest of us alone?

CHURCH

THE MINNEAPOLIS SONG

And who are these pirates singing for nothing? 
Hailing from freight trains like demons in heaven
And who are these mothers praying for something?
To take home from the bar and abuse there loving
Be you a gypsy or Russian at home or squatting
Just ripe or rotten or lost and forgotten
The winter is perfect if you like the arctic
The state birds a mosquito and summers a bitch

Minneapolis means whiskey and dreadlocked women 
staying up all night blowing smoke in your face
Minneapolis means whiskey and dreadlocked women 
full of lovely anecdotes and missing teeth

You’re making love in your kitchen you feel lost but not missing
The hung over television makes your home a more prison
And your tongues in a knot and rant like a zealot 
as you instigate riots swearing your gods’ pilot
Blushing with sarcasm do what you will have it at em
As your minds having spasms spouting words like a fountain
Like “don’t ya know?” 
No I don’t
I know dead bodies float and the live sink for the whole world to quote

Well I call it as I see it
I’m sorry, didn’t mean it
Just don’t cut it or make it like it did in my teens
And if you are taking offence I must be making sense
I plead innocence or guilty by circumstance

Minneapolis means whiskey and dreadlocked women 
staying up all night blowing smoke in your face
Minneapolis means whiskey and dreadlocked women 
full of lovely anecdotes and missing teeth

THE MINNEAPOLIS SONG

ABOVE AND AWAY

It comes like a train, 
that some have named fate. 
You can't navigate, 
there is no escape.
The nightsmares awake, 
and it needs to play.
The games have begun.
It's all or nothing. 
In your lonely kingdom,
no dreams of freedom
Or means to get some
and it seems to add on.
but sleep will not come 
as you feast or famine. 
or become the one 
that the God's are afraid of.
Your world is a prison,
what is more -- your victim.
The record is broken, 
you are forced to listen.
The storm is coming, 
the gods are laughing.
The clouds are roaring 
like crowds applauding.
And here the train comes, 
it follows the crumbs
to where they came from 
it knows where you've gone.
So it is time for treason, 
it's a crime to write songs.
With rhymes like war drums 
and cries of passion.
It has gone beyond love 
to almost become
what you have always dreamed of 
and hoped would happen.
So fuckin' hold on, 
you're riding the storm
And all that it wants 
is for you to wake up.

Beware, my friends, it is not safe.
From down out here, you seem above & away.
And when it ends, will you then pray?
Or will you remain
above and away?

So come down, wake us up,
and flow through us like blood.
turn us like a clock
till it burns us like a cut.
Wind us like a knot
And tie us to your flood
And spill into our hearts
And fill us back up.
It's already in your home
it's bleeding in your bed
it's breathing on your phone
it's leaving you in debt.
You're sleeping in your fears
you're dreaming you woke up
as we shout from down out here
can you hear me now, God?

Beware, my friends, it is not safe.
From down out here, you seem above & away.
And when it ends, will you then pray?
Or will you remain
above and away?

ABOVE AND AWAY

CAREEN

 

Sleep my child

in the arms of love 

and dream forever while 

your laugh fills our world

The shadows, they play on the walls, 

dancing with the candles in a waltz 

in a waltz

The three of us sway cheek to cheek, 

like a breeze blowing through the trees till they fall 

till we fall

Your words are cold, your eyes hiding,

like the wind love drifts away in a waltz

in a waltz

Your heart is gone, my hands empty,

the leaf it holds to the tree till it falls 

till we fall

 

Like a restless storm we swept through it all

As we swayed through the ruins of what used to be love in a waltz

in a waltz

And its 1-2-3 1-2-3 never let go!

Hold on to me as we careen, spin, and fall till we fall

till we fall

 

And we whirled across the floor like a lost hurricane

Your hand on my shoulder and mine on your waist

Around and around as the wind picked up strength

And pounded down with each step in our sway

 

And you bend in my arms like a silk willow tree

As we twirl and circle and drift and careen

In a manic swirl of hysterical laughter 

In a triple time glide spinning faster and faster

 

And the wind is a whisper as we lean and spiral

And matching our steps find our place in this world

Of diagonal cartwheels on sundered chess boards

Of unending waltzes in kaleidoscope storms

 

And like a downpour the crowd erupts into applause

As the music keeps fading in a dying encore

And I pray it never ends that we can dance forever

How could it end now when we have made it so far?

 

And the curtains are torn, the ballroom is empty

The guests are long gone and the children are sleeping

The storm has faded to a gentle breeze

And our waltz has become another memory

 

So here's to the onlookers who have never done

Here's to the mistake makers of which we are one

Here's to sleeping children safely dreaming at home

And here's to the lovers who still dance the waltz

CAREEN
LITTLE TAVERN (REKIA!)

THE LITTLE TAVERN (REKIA!) 

Well there’s nobody here, only us thieves 
All the rest are long gone or with god sleeping
In the filth of our guilt we are cleaned by the grief in our tales

And these long winter nights will make you feel old
As the wind cuts your skin and swims in your soul
And the fireworks in your heart are duller than a cold day in hell



There’s an old black cloud hanging over this awful town 
And the streets are asleep as dead leaves roam the ground
And us squirrels collect shells as we search for the nut in your skull

Gods not dead if you have spirit, he’s drunk again, oh cant you hear it
Where the lotus and the locust gather with the hopeless kids
He’s in the gallows with a bottle and he’s strumming the piano for the world


My condolences dear friends, it appears to be the end
It is time to sink or swim, so I hope you like drowning
And there is no higher ground because the sky is falling down as well

Like teeth on lingerie I want to hear you call gods name 
I want to love you in my sleep and dream you in my wake
I want our laughter to turn heads I want to love you until it is unbearable

DON'T FOLLOW

DON'T FOLLOW

 

One night looking at the stars 
and i realized they were greedy
Taking up the whole sky
leaving nothing for you and me
So i asked god 
if I could have that place between the stars
The place that nothing wants
because its empty and dark 
I'd call it mine, fuck it,
I'd give it dirty looks
I'd show everyone my treasure 
Put it on the cover of books
One day someone would want it 
and i would say: "i am sorry it's priceless.
i'm gonna keep it forever, cause it's umm my darkness."
 
Then on an off white autumn day a something crept over me
and whispered like the wind about how it all came to be
And with a message like a mirage
like a mirror of this moment
it filled out into the world
and this is what it said:

Dont follow your imagined friends
or hope for things you cannot have
Find yourself in someones dream
wishing you could forever stay
in the arms of the ones you love
who cant love you, your dangerous
unpredictably careless,
emotionally handicapped

Well there's many formulas of failure 
I've tried most of them out 
Like running on top of lilly pads
or speaking my mind out loud
Shitfaced on my doorstep
singing along to Leonard Cohen
You know the neighbors loved me
almost as much as i love them
 
They say: "my god, what a mess
what a stranger to happiness
if suffering played a game
then it surely met it's match"
In the world of the defeated
you must understand where you have been
to surrender what you believe in
And begin what has no end
And i will laugh and cry and sing
for forever and again
For all those lovely lonely thoughts
that get lost inside my head
And the words will flow out of me
like a burning derailed train
in the panic to undertand
what it is i need to say
 
Dont follow your imagined friends
or hope for things you cannot have
Find yourself in someones dream
wishing you could forever stay
in the arms of the ones you love
who cant love you, your dangerous
unpredictably careless,
emotionally handicapped

 


And I screamed through my guitar
while the words waited to come
as the world went dancing on
to the hopeless sigh you drum
and I screamed through my guitar,
a thousand words in every strum
as the world keeps dancing on
to the hopeless sigh you drum.

A broken heart, an endless night thereafter, followed by sex then silence.
Then smiling faces on the monsters of greed in a dream.
A call to arms this isn’t.
This is the old man longing for survival through the turbulence of love and hate.
We'll never to forget how beautiful you are
and how ugly you can be.
And it's in that graceful split, that makes falling seem like flying.
And the opening in between?
Feels like everything.
This feels like the panic of lost.
This is our song

Over it, depressed, so come tip toe the razors edge. No need for well wishes, we will just sell them to get you dance lessons.
Let's share a bowl of poetry.
Sprinkle a little forgotten dreams and top with a dash of hopelessness
There, now you get it.
Dancing does the heart good.
and a good hear will help you get

over it

"You all wanted to know and so I will tell you, but you should take care for I see a tumultuous cloud of music descending like a crashing magic carpet."
Babushka said, as she looked into the crystal ball:
"They'll be exploding brass 
and rebellious steel drums!
Firework displays and homesick trombones!
Punch bowls of desire will be offered, and garnished with the debris of a thousand broken hearts. 
As belly-dancers reach to the sky, 
beaten guitars will hustle melodies off into the oblivion
like a highway of runaway cars 
Growling singers will fill the air with tales of lost pirates, hangovers, and end times.
Love will be everywhere.
And oh the whiskey will be flowing.
Like a tidal wave preparing them all for 'the coming insurrection' 
It needs a soundtrack.
It's bearings are greased with the sweat of greedy politicians.
Powered by the blood of slaves.
And set free by the words in their songs.
The world's coming to an end brothers and sisters
So we might as well dance our way out"

SKYCRAPER REFLECTIONS

43 stories
lonely all the way down
the tv drowns the thoughts and memories of the grandmother across the street
she is alone too
there are no arms to hold her old dying body
she laughs at the tv
she looks so beautiful 
unique like everyone else
another of god's little broken ornaments 
as i stare out through this shattered mirror of humanity
hardly hanging on by it's fingernails
love arising like the spirit of a riot
eyes clenched waiting for the blow
that'll send us to our knees
like a train-wreck or the silence thereafter
our prayers will be heard

THE LAST BALLERINA

THE LAST BALLERINA


Now the last ballerina tip-toes in whispers
and dances for you blowing pirouette kisses
and with a silent tease she bends to your greed
the spring rain on the roof echoes of the sea
 
“Where does one go when nowhere is home?”
she says while kissing the tip of your nose
“You can't trap the sky in an empty room
I need more than words wrapped in a poem”
 
so with his heart broken by the hammer of her words
he vows to write her a poem like she's never heard
she knows his castle's in ashes and clothes are just rags
he's no gypsy prince but a nowhere poet
 
and words will be sought and love has been caught
up in his storm now that the writing's begun
it has hidden itself with the books on his shelf
like a fading memory thrown down a wishing well
 
And so god and you have been at war
You call god a cheater, she calls you no more
armed with a toothpick there was never a chance
you've always been good at making god laugh
 
and so you falls into the ballerina's arms
hoping she will keep her gypsy prince warm
and she knows you're a risk but its not all you are
the keys in her fist and love's a used car
 
and the cherry blossoms have fallen like a drunken fever
and your gravity's been stolen by the last ballerina
spring is a carnival drowning the world with its song
the theme of your life as you try to hang on
 
one more unforgiving waltz written for you both
one more page in a chapter as the story unfolds
it was fun, it was great, it was worth every moment
the last ballerina and the nowhere poet


 

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