the stars, the sea, and sleep.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Totem

The drive home made much less sense.
Thoughts woven, stitched more tightly
Than the brake lights and blinkers.
I couldn't put a finger on it,
But five kept me safe on a tether.
The puzzle pieces were stacked together
In loosely packed layers,
All dependent on interpretation.
To wake is just to open your eyes,
But to breathe is the mind's hesitation.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

The Lost City of New Orleans

Dearest, I heard your darkest fears that howled on through the night
They took down all the telephones and twisted our fingers tight,
Tightly bound like the leather book that bled while in the rain.
You shook out every word you knew but the blue stayed just the same.
So I hushed your lips and broken ribs that rested on restless lungs
For every breath diminished was unfinished, groaned and done.
The darkness came in flooding like the moon between the trees,
And this love was swallowed deeply as it wept into the sea.

Drinking and Cursing

Into warm rust is a bag of bad blood,
Spoiled, left out in the unforgetting sun.
The honesty is the exposure
Of these pictures and numbers, 0-9
Until the roll goes bad and
Tumbles over the skeleton's spine.
Unnecessary invisible characters
Just wrestle between the unread pages,
Pared off from the brevity,
But stained to ink readily.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Relay: 3 (Scientists)

Simple tones.
Single notes and brilliant words,
A shaky ghost seeps out the sleepy heads.
I start losing grip on the session,
Passing in and out of
Soggy bread and chimney smoke.
Ask me the question again.
The scientists note it in black or blue pen
And tuck it all in deeply contrasted skin.
The names become a hole that doesn't bury,
Skeletons gasp for warmer dirt and find it.
They wind it in a plastic sheet
And play it on a quiet street for
The forever fading nightlights,
The high life in a higher sea.

Mumble Your Diction!

Sit for a while on the traffic light grid,
Some put more time into mixes for exes.
Oh, I've forgotten how to hug the edges,
Kiss the marker on the plastic,
Streak the reflections across the sky.
Clever's on the collar when it hollows out the night.
Clutch the down blanket
For the goosebumps that you hide,
Shiver out another
Knot untied,
Just to sleep tight.

Monday, July 26, 2010

The Stable Life

Breathe in, wake up, put on your shoes.
The morning comes in golden blue.
Warm up, drink in and walk outside,
Slip into a steady stride up to
Where you knew the anthem best.
Starting from the top
Working your way down the rest.
Catch your breath after losing all the words.
Pry into the produce that you bought the night before
That filled up your plastic bags, unit price : $1.94.
There's no use in beating traffic,
Everyone leaves before everyone else.
Content to let the engine hum,
The day's begun, you're doing well.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Your Identy Is Safe Here

There was no Superman, but Waldo came late.
I'll keep in 6/8 if you can find it in time,
Acoustic beatbox over an indie bass grind.
He played her guitar under the pear tree
That took up a pocket of silver moonlight
Before losing the fight and then going to sleep.
We are related by virtue of the card and the cup
From Alpha to Zulu with the Foxtrot,
Strictly vinyl, scratching my itchy skin.
A warm summer night so honeycomb sweet
Coats over my skin, calling bloodsuckers less known.
So go on, tie your cape into the prettiest bow
To rest on your head while you sleep yourself home.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Ten at the Table

We balance on the concrete around the pool,
We take our plastic light-up chalices
And toast. Some ghosts live as reflections
At the bottom of the water.
Sometimes one cup of exorcism
Is simply not enough.
A new warm light clasped between my hands
Spills onto my lap before the wine
And between the crack in my lips,
Tight from holding back a smile.
But when you excuse yourself and walk away
And a smaller ghost gets carried away,
Maybe the reflection should have been more feared.
Maybe what was forgotten is forgetfully near.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Solar Electronica

I can show you what I meant to see
When reality won't hold my dreams,
When investments for the sake of pride
Can't ride out past the groaning gates.
The irony is rusting over
And it's hard enough to trust me sober,
So read me like the Sunday Times,
I'm eleven more just for a dime.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Heavier Than Water

All of the rudders are slowing now;
Our twirls are tangled in molasses
From dancing through the sweetest thing
I've been in for a while.
We are victims of imminent motion
In an ocean of pocket pictures
That shone bright in the red rockets we let free.
You are the blood, it seems to be,
That keeps my heart from freezing
After wading in the water for the best place to drown.
Now the stars start to fall and the ghosts get their gowns,
The calendar tips as she starts counting down.

Ironic

Ready strokes of a pen
Cramp in these digital synapses,
So a digital copy it remains,
Hanging like ready coats draped over my arm in
Dampening warmth to keep me from harming.
Now everything is stained monotone, colorless.
I hope not forget just where the sun is
Having left promissory notes on
Mountaintops and seascapes,
So I could save it all for later
In hopes of mercy for my leeway.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Behind The Moon

With my retinas still burnt from the oceanic luminescence,
I swayed back and forth until I washed up on shore.
Warmer water came waveless down my back
As it dissolved any salt still intact from before,
But I could still taste the flavor.
We savor what to say
Once the light turns shy from bluffing,
The seas recede a moment
Showing these eyes are safe from nothing.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Six Reasons Why...

An idea turns to light for a house on a hill,
Amidst the good morning marine layer chill.
Maybe I forgot to wake up...
Maybe an optimistic CD had too much to take up
Because there were no clouds today,
But we saw things in a different shade of light
(At a discounted price, six for forty-five).
We toppled over each other in laughter
Like the overlapping harbor waves
On the larger rocks that kept us safe.
With the credit of independence on the back of my head,
I found the value of bad dreams that drifted
Past the Mary without the mirror to look back.
I'm Frankly lucky to swim with the sharks,
They tear through tough skin
And cut straight to the heart.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Missing The Magic

Dreams gave you a castle in the smog
With a moat made of asphalt
And friendly ghosts under the table
That made the dinner setting float.
You always went straight for the dessert,
Fork and knife would scrape on the uneven porcelain
Until your appetite chipped off and stained the cloth.
Your possibilities turn into simple fractions
That reduce to flight plans and hour blocks.
You jump off, but can't get your career off of the ground.
I disappeared without an act and my applause never did sound.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Pretty Voice With A Melody

It opens to the picture in motion, out of sight.
Always in mind when you hold the door
And hands still gently press against the glass
In a lapse of distrust. Double-crossed,
Fingers behind the back
Just to keep yourself together.
Come in parts and fall apart
Like some 80's sitcom poorly shot,
But valued for its irony.
The reel squeaks on, unoiled where it touches,
But the emotion still slips through
With the help of a little fishing in warm rain
For what matters and what's true:
Your dreams are always cast
Before the lines can speak to you.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Watercolors

The paint brushes dry against the clouds
After gracing our faces with something twirled up,
That kicks up dust from the model set down below,
Building plans that made themselves
When ants moved on from hills.
The stains bleed into dissolving cotton
Candy melted in the carnival sun,
And lifeless birds learn to fly
Leaving a path of silly strung droppings
On the burnt sugar funnel cake stand.
The children cry in line for their fears,
They say they want to go up,
But the view's fine from here.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Okay, Jay.

I sip my cup of pretension and burn my lip before I speak,
A kiss from the devil where my intentions meet.
I couldn't trust me if I told you the truth.
The third person dissatisfies and calls for my youth
That once called for the future
That now calls for my youth.
The evolution of contradiction gave me the legs to walk
The onset of blindness gave my eyes the time to talk
Out of turn, this tongue spins out of control.
Daisy games say I love to so
Comfortable in my plastic sleeves
And I will believe for as long as I want,
Because I push the clock and I burn the fire,
Depriving the flame for the thrill of desire.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A Crutch for the Sun

Anxiety is dark trees and rocky cascades,
Mix tapes played backwards to get back what I gave.
This is mirrors and molasses
Your sundress and my glasses that you thought were cool,
So I never wore them again.
I never want this to get old,
Let it warm you when it's colder.
You have every pedal to shed,
Each one you let go is most certainly red
And returned like a handkerchief
That briefly decorates the sidewalk.
I lay this head to listen for something concrete to dream on,
The summer chalk makes flower beds
For the one it's found to lean on.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Latency

Light elbow creases reflect
The too many nights you spent at your desk
Filing papers as your letters tapered off
Sooner before the next sentence,
While your toes started to bloom in the sand of sleep.
Your light dances on the water
And plays with the tide drawing veins in the sand,
Bringing everything to life.
This soft smile cushions the fall to a glide,
Hope you're alright,
I'm glad you're alive.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Bad Skin

Always a day late and a bit too long
So that salt starts collecting on the corners of my lips.
My finger tips start to prune as they drag in the water,
Trying to keep myself stable, but mobile,
As I drift through shifting synthetic seas.
An idea can be re-gifted only so many times,
Until the surprise is worn out like weathered resin;
I am taking in water, but my voice still cracks
As it bellows out, shouting at a shattered sky.
The reef can keep my broken ships,
My anchors left deep scars.
I can stay above the fathoms
Safely moored on fading stars.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Time is Love

Stability is a destination with detours as you see fit.
Some check their blind spots and signal,
Others swerve over the median.
But I ignored the hazards like it didn't mean a thing,
When bringing someone in
Meant getting pulled out the driver seat
For a fist fight greeting in the emergency lane.
So here you are,
Rubbernecking with your foot on the pedal,
While the others shout out brief hello's
Over the screaming asphalt.
Just whose fault do you think it is?
In meters per second or miles per hour
Or the second chances that have been devoured,
It is what it's been, what you know and have shown,
Your time is your love and you're so quick to go.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Not So Despicable, A Little More Me.

I put on the brakes as the week came to an end,
Easing into the driveway, rolling through the door.
My room was a mess,
So I started picking up where I had left off,
Breathing in before returning calls,
Replacing the things that gravity got the best of.
An empty bed won't echo like some places do,
But by the time you don't mind
And everything that must go is already gone,
You will have already given those cardboard memories away.
The house is boarded up and the quietness stays.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Work, Play, or Stay?

It's been a couple days
Since I've seen what I've been used to.
From three to four to one so quickly;
Apologies if you have missed me.
I walked out the door when you were sleeping
And said goodbye with my eyes,
Left a message on your lids.
I tell the kid that this is growing up,
Owning up to showing up late
Or never at all.
I've got a necklace made of dates
Placed right next to one another,
Making time to be the son,
The longtime friend,
Or older brother.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

To Drive East on the 90

For one day let it not make sense,
For one day keep those dents in your car
Left from late nights spent
Trying to find out who you were,
Reversing in your tire treads to catch up on lost ground.
Sometimes the world just falls apart that easily
And all that's left to pick up is speed.
A town is swept under the snow
And tucked into a pocket on the mountainside.
The faint ambiance reflects from the trees,
Witnesses to the bliss of when the road and your headlights
Gently collide.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

RE: r #006

I justify my life with the words I hide behind.
I want to remember, I need to forget,
I don't have a choice.
I once was a boy with an itching within,
Now I'm a man with ill-fitting skin
Scratching like the record that plays
The same old story with the same faded glory
Turned to scar tissue to blow my nose.
I intend to wipe it all away
With some combination of
32 characters, 26 letters, 10 numbers
And whatever is left inside me
After the sun loses interest in flight,
The ocean sinks into the night,
After the tears and the kisses,
The "good bye" or "good riddance"
That sticks like a post-it keeping tabs
On bank accounts and hospital bills.
I am getting sick of the conversions,
So you can count on me to
Take the money and run,
Leap over the heap of nothing gained,
But lung sacs filled with breathing deep
To let out hot air when lying on ice.

I don't want your daughter,
I just want her time.
I know I need water,
Just need the right kind.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Unique Palms

They read me more than I could read them,
Prickly balls from this high.
They are dust bunnies hidden in the overcast,
Waving in every direction
Because I don't know where I'll land
The next time around.
Not everything shines at night.
There are runways for guidance
And guardrails for flight,
Clutching arms extended
From the elbows to the finger tips
To the edge of my tongue.
They calm the numbers spoken under the light,
Specific pacific, but the same 405.

Monday, July 5, 2010

No Moon In Kirkland, WA

I'm on the edge of my dreams,
Balcony déjà vu with the smell of gunpowder
And tiny sparks sprinkled over
Tiny stars aimed up at the sky.
She responds in liquid state,
In softer echoes from the lake.
It all fades before it falls,
What I gave to take it all back
For synthetic lightning and thunder snap;
I wake from my cozy hypnosis.
I see the light tonight,
It's real and I know it.
Just wait for time to make you known
Just wait for time to take us home.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

What am I missing.

Let's not put counter-pressure on the gear with a stressed pin
The point has been driven home,
And it was time that conclusions were drawn
When walls crayoned with their words
Began to breathe, singing Home.
I checked the pulse against the clock,
I left my hands to try to stop it;
Cover your eyes, child.
You've already seen the train come in,
Come in, come in, the door is always unlocked,
So I took a step outside to taste a different air:
Used cigarettes and laughter,
Scrambled eggs and smoky hair.
Secondhand hints to the second hand's splinter,
Etching the light of a lesser known glimmer.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

The Poor Kid Who Dresses Well

Overcast Seattle keeps its dreams under the blanket
Trying hard to keep them warm.
I could have sworn I had everything
Before I came here. And now I'll leave
With a bit of the dream to sleep on,
To keep pressed against my ear.
It whispers in drips of Puget Sound
And aside from condescension,
First impressions during second rounds,
A little bit of distance has brought me closer to home.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Confirmed In Response

It's the day that I've been saving for
And the change was building up in the pockets of my eyes
Trying to slip out, dying to crawl between the couch cushions.
I spend every day erasing solutions,
Then retracing their faint outline to claim a new idea.
And these aspirations would find their way
Into neatly labeled cardboard boxes,
To be squared away to even out the losses.
The ceiling collapsed when that attic got full
The panic collapsed with a routine breaking rules.
I peaked at your back when you undressed the meaning
And I kept my shoes on as I followed every step.
What is regret if you forget it was broken?
The soles have worn down, now I walk with hands open.

Blurday

Law from theory turns my flaws into a series
Of criteria for cheeriness override,
Forcing the dive from a rocking boat into rocky waters.
Your sweet vocal bubbles got soap in my eyes
That I rubbed with this blue leaf,
But I couldn't be you.
Balancing on your head is
The silk you dropped on the ground,
Which you had spun like two records
Both playing the same sound.
I expanded my ribcage for the incoming swell,
Your eyes drowned in the color that I know so well.