this lover culls the darkness
she hoists my heart up with it
severs every head i grew her
reanimates the bones i threw her
this lover calms the darkness
-This Lover April 19, 2006
we are careless with our wishing
with the truths we tell through teeth
you'd be careful what you pay for
when the soul is your receipt
-In The Morning Linda Dies April 29, 2006
it was a night just like tonight
a dark & stormy night
oh, and my mouth was a machine gun
shooting stars into your eyes.
when it rained - my god, it was porn.
when i was strong enough to hold you
you were lost enough to follow my lead
oh, i was lost enough to look
for someone lost enough to follow my lead
oh, when i was really out in orbit
you were lost enough to follow my lead
-Something Else May 5, 2006
count on the world
to count backwards from ten
close your eyes
lean your mind on the wall
every brain
is the stuff of a big ticking bomb
every heart
knows its clarion call
who let the world let you down?
who let the world let you down, little girl
it was you who let the world let you down
-Let The World Let You Down May 13, 2006
i wonder if it's true
if we'll inherit the earth
or was that rap a tasteless joke
a bit like sex in a hearse
you know they say that when we die
our life it plays in reverse
it's just one of those things
that we don't want to think about
-Ultraviolet May 15, 2006
when love gets quiet
you turn it up a notch
when love runs slowly
time to wind the watch
cuz love gets quiet
-Love Gets Quiet May 20, 2006
when i get to the top
i'll stop.
i'll throw a rope
made up of keepsakes
made of moonbreak
made of hope.
i am fixing to die young
or die trying.
trying.
-Die Young Or Die Trying May 22, 2006
dry your eyes
for when i fill your cups with life
though they are bound to spill at times
i build to last. i build to last.
such well-laid plans
even in sickness, still in health
these bloody stumps of hands i'm dealt
will play their parts, and play them well.
-To Last June 12, 2006
i'm starting to believe
these are the best years of my life
so i'm living them just one day at a time
deck the halls with photos
from the best years of our lives
close your eyes they will be shot one at a time
-The Best Years Of My Life June 14, 2006
ever wonder what you would have been like
if you were born in a far away place?
in the dark, like the sun,
she has her moments
do you believe that when we leave this life
there remains some indelible trace?
in the dark, like the sun,
we had a moment
she said the two of us were fishes in a river
coming up to take a breath of the light
we traded notes on the loves of our lives
and the ghosts that they became for us at night
i wanna know what you were like as a child
were you shy as the devil in love?
in the dark, like the sun,
she has her moments
we wondered if a sort of god exists
being together made us sure he surely does
in the dark, like the sun,
we had a moment
-A Moment July 5, 2006
what's mine is yours is ours always
i am looking forward
to looking back
on us
i know i'm easier said than done
but i am looking forward
to looking back
on us
i knows we've all lost some things
on steps dejected clutching rings
i am looking forward
to looking back
on us
-On Looking Forward July 1, 2006
hope is a paper boat
get in & let's go
say that you'll follow me anywhere. let's go
say that you'll come with me everywhere & let's go
i was once a little boy in a little world
-The Rabbitfoot Tree July 12, 2006
it's not perfect
nothing's perfect
but it works
when money talks
what does it say to you?
when money talks
what does it mean
when money talks?
what does it
say to you
say to you
i will take all your blues away
i could take all your blues away
-When Money Talks August 4, 2006
the truth does not wear a watch
the truth always drags his or her feet
the truth always arrives late, but always arrives, and arrives well-dressed
the truth isn't here yet
the truth prefers we get seperate checks
the truth would throw its coat under me
the truth speaks three languages fluently
the truth spends the whole car ride on the phone
the truth always says the perfect thing at the wrong time
don't call on those who won't be called on
don't call on those who won't be called
do not trust someone to catch you
if that someone's known to never fall
if that someone's known to never fall
-The Truth About Timing November 25, 2006
to hell with your organs.
bury me with my machines
see for yourself
i see only what i wish to see
my formidable.
my formidable foe
oh, all your light in my eyes.
there is no bigger soul i know
true
i have known
no nervous truth
to pierce my tongue
but i swear by the rain
in her hair
she could be the one
lying in our bed
she goes over my head sometimes
her hair makes a kind of cathedral
between our eyes
my face is the floor
under her stained glass skylight
rise when i call to you.
smoke to the top of the sky
lying in our bed
she is two grades ahead of me in school
she says she wants to be held back.
she wants to.
she is no fool
the first to the front lines of life
they are the first to die
their faith
like the faith of the moth
in a smock of fire
the slow and steady sun will surely rise
and we may open up our eyes
but we can sleep a little longer. it's alright
it hurts when i walk
these shoes they gnaw at my heels
like it hurts when i see you
i thought that we had a deal
coke rots my teeth
and my eyes are leaves of grass
still life is the hardest drug.
it just lasts to the last
lying in our bed
how we make and we unmake friends
we are talking a storm
like the fate of the world depends
shame on your pride.
the pictures here hang like scabs
shame on your shame.
this dream that i dream went bad
the slow and steady sun will surely rise
and you may open up our eyes
but you can sleep a little longer. it's alright
bird what do you say
this is the story of our lives
how we get eachother through
how we get eachother through the night
-Three Stops To The Big Dream I Dream November 30, 2006
once you let loose
things you love
they will not return to you
that is, not without a fight
i'm all that i have
i say that a lot
and though my brain is full of plans
i can't see the future for the past
but give me one more chance
-Forest For The Past/Future For The Trees December 7, 2006
you and me like wisdom teeth
coming in sideways
like two things living underneath a sink
we don't see light nor day
i have seen their light with my own two eyes
i close them just in time
nations behave like fighting words
denying that they rhyme with an illegal
-Love With An Illegal December 23, 2006
love is my favorite movie
i have never seen the ending
love is my favorite ending
love is my favorite country
you don't respect my boundaries
you don't respect my boundaries
love is my favorite boundary
plant your flag and found me
love is my favorite color
-Favorites December 27, 2006
bedrooms
with no beds in them.
i'm learning peer to peer
my dears
if you become my eyes and ears
then i will be your mirror
the wall is fake brick.
fake wood. fake a marble smile
what will it take
to fake it til you make it
mile for twisted mile
she doesn't hear a word i say
she's all but staring at my mouth
the teeth go up down
up down
trapping vowel sounds
ahead the skyline
like an ash black mangled claw
paws at the sky
and like i lived
i'll never die.
my songs will walk your street at night
i am one thousand ghosts.
a thousand haunts.
i have fricasseed my soul
into a list of things i want
and things i have
and things i don't
and all the people that have crossed me
cross my heart and hope to die
all of our hands reach out
for hands
all of our eyes look out for eyes
we set the table. clear the plate.
a little help from jenna's pets
our mother nature hits the fan,
my peacoat pockets lined with debt
our generation may hit the bottle hard
but at least we know that wealth
is catching colds
and having someone there
to nurse you back to health
will it be carie
who i buried
in the evergreen northwest?
or has she once and for all
sworn off being my lucky safety net
all of creation is in question
all her trust in me in doubt
i have gone over this
and over this
still i can't figure it out
not here
on the roadworthy warpath
from here to misery
missouri waits for me in shadows
cast from frozen ozarks trees
babe i am sorry i give you freely
what you'd rather have to steal
and i am sorry too for choosing you
without a chance to heal
but i'm a good kind of distraction
you've become my master plan
even the sea changes its mind
how can i make you understand
if i had something to fall back on
if i had something to fall back on
i'd fall back
i'd fall back
i'd fall back
-Something To Fall Back On January 12, 2007
you are a pretty good investment
think i'll keep you around
i'm not going nowhere
nail your gown to the ground
you are two sips of biker's coffee
take my heart to the pound
you can save me from a rainy day
save me from a rainy day
you are a pretty good investment
think i'll keep you around
save me from a rainy day
-Love Interest January 22, 2007
snake eyes roll from town to town
like marbles on a map
we humble creature know no comfort.
judas chair for luxury's lap
we simply take the wheel of fortune
and we strip its lucky brakes
and go careening down the mountain
through the wind tunnel of fate
we have grass stains on our eyes
from all of the world we have to see
in cities like some fool's crush
we love and then we leave
i am one wall. you are two walls.
we are three walls. a house
i am one wall. you are two walls.
we are three walls.
a house
my antique spirit is my living room.
my heart my leather couch
i strike the tambourine against my hip
and hit the road again
the folks who take the bravest risks
i bet they never had an accident
you set a course for the world's end,
you will find the end is endless
as the darkness
and the ocean
and the panic in titanic
when it sinks in
that forever is a very long time
so i will skip these hopping trains
and face the body of my fears
ring a bell around my neck
to have your jingle heart be near
i could lay inside your love for me
like a tiny raft in a tiny stream
untie my name and be known only
as the ellis island you see in me
we'd flee to little egypt.
grow a garden by the lake
you lynch tomatoes. i kill the chickens.
we knew all of them by name.
plant a sunset, watch a tree,
i hold her hand when it gets dark
the purple sun is just another star.
the earth another yard
and then it sinks in
that forever is a very long time
think i will take up quitting drinking
take the bottles out the fridge
out of the cupboard and the chimney
strange and stranger places hid
i will collect them into bags.
collect the bags into a can
that i will place beside the house
where garbage meets the garbage man
look at them all in there.
their different shapes.
their different colors
like a sack of severed heads
of new and old and older lovers
it is too soon to say goodbyes.
i miss their hands in my insides
and the way their gentle fingernails
would scratch the back of my mind
i won't take you to the street tonight.
i will have you one more time
like silver fillings to a cavity.
i am yours and you are mine.
we let it sink in
how forever is a very long time
forever is a very long time
-Forever Is A Very Long Time January 31, 2007
got a killer view from the mountain
of the path i should've walked all along
on the day i disappeared for the thin airs
i told my lady i would not be gone long
mom will find a job with the grocer
pop will clean the houses of friends
if the shoe don't want to fit you must force it
mister clock has got a gun to our head
where there is a will, there's a highway
a hammer must be tougher than nails
love you give me nothing but trouble
hope you give me nothing but hope
faith you give me things that are too big
too much mountain and not near enough rope
-Mom And Pop March 2, 2007
i had a dream i was a mountain
and they turned my guts to guns
my wisdom teeth to wedding rocks
and concrete claimed my sons
when i woke snow drifted in my hair
and dirt on two of my feet
suppose somewhere there is a mountain
dreaming dreams that it is me
i had a dream i was a rich man
scouting for a trophy wife
to make a living off my death
once i had spent away my life
i woke up with contracts in my mouth
and checks bounced on my knee
somewhere there is a rich man
dreaming dreams that he is me
i had a dream i was a window
but i may as well been blind
to see the same things every day
when i come home late at night
some hope leftover in the fridge
i kick off my heart and soul
and hang my dream up on the door
like it was just another goal
words carry words across the page
to clearings in your minds
might as well read the ending first
and save yourself some time
behind the mirror, another mirror
behind the scenes another scene
suppose somewhere a window
dreams a dream that it is me
-Somewhere There Is A Mountain March 29, 2007
when did all of this get so heavy
drained my lake to make a well for one wish
with every bone in my heart just shattered
life is a fight you don't win
not a day goes by
world turns all the way around
deep down somehow
not a day goes by
soon i turn my back on my family
soon i turn my back on my friends
but you miss the things you wouldn't think matter
the math you have to learn over again
not a day goes by
not a day goes by
not a day goes by
that i don't think
of what it would have been like
if i had never left your side
-A Day Goes By April 6, 2007