windrainpaingainagainain'tsane

need some river gravel under my boot
some whiskey on my tooth
need some hills folding out of view
some railroad tracks slick with dew
need some midnight car ride
down to the muddy river side
need some smoke choking whistles
fields full of cow and thistles
need to grow out not up
give the guns to the pickup truck
light the fire under tires
of black silt slick with prints
cowboys and indians ain't shit
when you're sick with spirit

whiskey riffs

there ain't no silver linin'
wasn't ever nothin in the skies
but thunderclouds and blindin light

you can carry what you want to hold
but remember not let it go
if it falls, it folds and there's no way to know
where tomorrow catches sorrow like a stone

there ain't no golden angels
band a-waitin over yonder jordan
buried in the mornin glory just a bunch of sand

filling stations with thrown cylinders out back
craggy bricks and oil slicks
fighting for space in an eden, even if the evening resists
the crowding of senses into the shallow

there ain't no storied lives
or nothin of that sort of black jack
champion bull-frog leaper of heart

you know the rusted trusted trustle
the silent night tussle and loss of control
the spilt anger danger of another strangers overcoat
bolted to the floor and boarded over windows

there ain't no death on the other side
just cowboys and indians man
and crab cakes the size of rhode island

Mistress Harmony

You can't be my mistress, harmony
It's not fair to the one I love you see
Sun comes up and I'm all alone
Trouble's lyin' by the bedside phone


But you can't be my mistress, harmony
you won't ever be a part of me
Sun goes sinkin' like a rollin' stone
you'll still be the one who's all alone

inst.

When every bird is seeking oxygen
Every man is what he hasn't spent
Every life is just an accident
Every death is just a door


You can't be my mistress, harmony
It's not fair to the one I love you see
Sun comes up and I'm all alone
Trouble's lyin' by the bedside phone


But you can't be my mistress, harmony
you won't ever be a part of me
Sun goes sinkin' like a rollin' stone
you'll still be the one who's all alone

Mule Rising

the lake bed is drying

the fire is rising

the cracks in the ceiling won't mend

I can see through the starlight

the moonrise is past time

and the mule has been dipping his head

but the lioness purrs

like a murmur of birds

when you can't tell which way's the end

so we park in the field

where the whiporwills wheel

and the sunlight is nobodies friend

oh bright spokes of fire

burn out before liars

a thousand to one, but the one always wins

and your mystery satin

your fine dress and hat pins

can't cover up none of your sin

forestry service lookout tower falling in the wind.

i used to circle dreamers;

read their dying wishes

out loud and fall beside them

crying.

i looked like chalk and paper

sidewalks and lasted for nights;

fell and fought with the best

when i felt like it.

i scrabbled words and dictionary

meanings, left my lungs tied to

two trees and watched the bees

honeycomb my spine.

it was desperate and sad

and everything i felt was

swallowed by indefinite

indefatigable silence.

...but this didn't last forever.

nothing ever does. not because

forever is a long time, but

because, forever is impossible.

choreographed graphing paper napkin

i spend my mornings killing

flies, my evening watching

the skies turn starlight through this

thin veil of atmosphere. 6,800 feet

in the air feels like watching them back

home St. Francois mountains;

sky-stained humidity-shimmers

and dog-fight planes. despite this light

pollution leaking business park,

you hide on the dark side

of a building and the milky way

leaps out from behind the trees!

today the jet trails stay all day

the sky a reflection of the blue i feel

diving directly into the pine blight peaks

it's really nothing, just like Buddha.

it's nothing, really.

Instructions for ignoring instructions

darkness on the edge of the night drive tunnel

tunnel stardust back into our being

being split grass seeds and milk money wrist watches

watch as it all flows away and on to the first light

light the way for black fringes of cold leather jackets

jackets brough back from the depth of two eyes

eyes that see starlight as porchswings and porchswings as starlings

starlings bursting toward the sea change

change change change change change change

change nothing, feel nothing, change everything, feel nothing

nothing changes nothing, nothing ever does.

does nothing, eat starling, pray light, bathe naked, feel foolish,

embrace your own stupidity and run off with your mistress mysterious.