Irish Wristwatch   

I won’t talk, I won’t phone call 
Hard to describe 
The whole notes, hollow tones 
I’ve got inscribed 

Here’s two leather bands 
Irish wristwatches on hand 
One works, one’s for show 
It rests seven minutes slow 

Once is not enough to know 
To read what we wrote 
You’ll need every footnote. 

Last fall you made it play 
That song ringing with decay 
These days I hear Nico 
Only on the radio 
We can just sing it soft and low.

 No Other Women

Oh, Ella, what you gave me 
Was more of a hole, you took away me 
Stop my hair from falling 
Now it’s growing into balding 

Every bit of it, each curly lock of it lost to the floor 
No other women could dig in so far as you did to my core 

Oh, Ella, I was a ripe peach 
You dug with your thumbs when you pried me 
Your hands, so strong, caused damage 
The blood on your tongue, all the carnage 

Now I am impotent, a bowl of old peach pits rolling away 
No other women could dig in so far as you did to me 
No other women could dig in so far as you did to my core

Chips of Paint

I forgot to fill out the forms 
So how am I going to be normal? 
Pick a name that sticks like Jones (Mike Jones?) 
I didn’t even hear my house foreclose 

When the walls turn pale 
And fall in when I cave 

In the pockets of my pants 
I thought I kept my manners 
But all good clothing comes unstitched 
Thought at last the seems they’ve split 

The walls turn pale 
The falling chips of paint 
The walls turn pale 
And fall in when I cave

Cold Wave 

How can I erase her for a summer or maybe more 
She’s stubborn but will she stay? Stay 
But I gave my rights up. I fucked her whole world up 
Suddenly in some black black lake, some Mediterranean Sea. 

Dark night dark 
Swam away 
Sparks bright sparks 
Swam away 

A cold wave came over first; it was slaking all our thirst 
It tasted like falling far away 
But my throat was so dry I hoped for the winter tides 
To roll me back home from some Mediterranean Sea. 

Dark night dark 
Swam away 
Sparks bright sparks 
Swam away

White Noise Bed 

It is so hard to wreck a home 
When it was made to stay afloat 
We took our time and it’s up to code 

So if it goes down and we are sliding 
Into the open mouth of Poseidon 
There’s enough rowboats 
So everyone inside keeps their lives 
Not just children, not just wives 
Not just brides to be 

We’re living on and on the o… 
We’re listening in on on the o… 
We’re living on, we’re sleeping in 
The ocean’s white noise bed 

(Everyone swims, everyone wins 
And when we all swim, we foot the bill)
So no one’s bucket spills (that’s the rule) 
Not just dauphins not just dukes 
Not just he bourgeoisie 

We’re living on and on the o… 
We’re listening in on on the o… 
We’re living on, we’re sleeping in 
The ocean’s white noise bed 

Every night there is a marriage 
It is in concert, there are no tickets 
Everyone comes, everyone sees 
The sunset on their knees 
And something’s gone 

But not just sailors and salty dogs 
See the red in every dawn 
Not just babies, not just moms 
Know that all birth take some blood 
Not just babies and their moms 
Not just doctors and priests

Overgrown

I want no part of a path 
I want no part of a garden grown in rows 
I heard Tiger Lily laugh 
Overgrown 

I held my head up very high 
I gave my face to the sun-stenciled shadows 
My eyes rolled back I could have died 
Back in my head I should have known 
Overgrown 

I think I fell down just to land 
Among the nights among other thorny forms 
I think we might have shared a bed 
I think we almost had a home 
Overgrown

When I Couldn't Move 

We had a deep song long before our language 
But my love was made up of pages, pages, pages 

Under her thumbs I squirm 
Willing away from her world 
There was a time when I couldn’t move. 

Deep song off our tongues was ringing through the rafters 
But when we howled, she scowled at rapture, rapture, rapture 

Under her thumbs I squirm 
Willing away from her world 
There was a time when I couldn’t move 

We sewed a deep song down into our pockets 
Where inside she finds some problems and just drops them 

Under her thumbs I squirm 
Willingly free from her world 
There was a time when I couldn’t move

Merry Ann

I’m nervous in kitchens 
She fills up copper lungs 
Merry Ann is not my girlfriend 
But she still sings along 

Like whistles like kettles 
Shouting out day has come 
It seems right; the sound’s bright 
At midnight they’ll be dumb 

I’m deaf darling 
Anyway, sounds perfect Merry 
Anytime of day 

She rolls up her silver 
The quiet knives under the moon 
It seems right; they’ll shine bright 
Come twilight, they’ll be used 

I’m dead darling 
Anyway, sounds perfect Merry 
Anytime of day

Bat Suite  

Underneath the lanterns we made plans 
Planted heels so tense before they took to the air 
Underneath the lanterns we made plans 
The lazy light behind the hanging vines fell on our hands 

The tops of our hands, the wings of the bats 

We flew around for forty hours at best 
The fallen fruit caused you to lose your shoes 

And all of your stress came off like a dress 
We don’t need a home; we just want a bed 

All of the stress 
Comes off like a dress 
Don’t need a home 
We just want a bed 

We are blind 
We just fly overhead 
We are blind to the time 
When we might have to land

Dragonfly Papers 

I won’t hold you to the phone 
Or the stones that you through 
It’s happening now with far fewer tears 
Than I could have dreamed in all these years 
You’ll ride that balloon, your way home 
To impending doom, volcanoes. 

You’ll read it in the papers 
They’ll show it, they’ll show you 
Just another take on the moment 

The secrets you sing through the clouds 
Have dragonfly wings, loose-lipped crowds 
They’ll hear what they hear and think that they know 
Your hot air above I’ll hide below 

You’ll read it in the papers 
They’ll show it, they’ll show you 
Just another take on the moment 
The dragonfly papers will show you 
Just another take on the moment 

Here underground all that transpires 
Is easily seen with one small fire 
They’ll hear what they hear and think that they know 
Your hot air above my sub-zero

Neighbors & Cousins (Are We Lovers?) 

Are we ill-fated star crossed wonders? 
Are we old neighbors kissing cousins? 
Isn’t all summer a chain of islands? 
Lost our mothers--we defied them. 

Are we wearing suits like soldiers, 
Women’s fashion fishing farmers in overalls? 
Isn’t all summer a chain of islands? 
Are we lovers dressed in violence? 

Are we growing lonely gardens? 
Hoses flowing—have our lives just started? 
Isn’t all summer a chain of islands 
Upon the waterbed of violets? 
Queen Anne’s Laces keeping quiet 
Are we lovers dressed in violence?