breakfast in america

every time you pull
your buick door closed
to go off
see a different world
if only in language
so fuck it
learn the new language
play the game
feign understanding with a half smile
and a sigh
before people
who'll never understand
in any language
you die a little
in cheap hamburgers
and instant coffee
apple pies
aluminum siding
you push
and you push
the stone for what
for someone
to take notice
for someone to admire
the push
and the pushing
cheap hamburgers
instant coffee
leisure suits
broken language
someone to see you
shine
oh shine
by your terms
on your fields of play
may as well be elizium
for the world to know
for her to care
see you shine
atop the whole world
especially in your heart
beyond language
logic
meaning
and beyond what you can control
still every time you pull
your buick door closed
you just go off....

twin peaks

and as water is to sand
a boy is to a girl
like a bird to the sky
like a candle to the night
he coughs
she hurts
he cries
she pounces
down
he laughs
she takes out knives
to make illusions
for aspiring backstabbers
beware
beware
be gone
he will die
then so will she
if you know what i mean
and you know what i mean
like a rowboat
without oars
upstream
she'll cup her hands
then paddle
she'll cup her hands
then scream
to anyone at all
to catch her fall
after the fall
of the only part of her
that did not blind her eyes
in mirrors
and car windows
be soft
be not unkind
and avoid the wrath
the judgement
the glacier-chilled glare
of her own reflection
cup her hands
then drink
from the well of suffering
bound to run out
just as soon as suffering
signs the cross
on the forehead of a child
and bids the world
adieu
mon vieux
adieu
cup her hands
call out
adieu...
to this beautiful day....

the blood (prologue)

for black
the last colour
like the night
before the light
for yellow
a sun
another
then one final son
and for red
like blood
thicker than water
so you said
thick
as a brick
the blood
in a wave
like a million
waves before
and ever after
goodbye
goodbye...
oh, hello there...
such a beautiful day
hello
hello....

The Untenable Fire

like ghosts
of men
locked in towers
european sons
setting
til night do they part
for mercy
a grace
amazing for its silence
in the wake of so much noise
like someone scratched
the needle across a record
and then lifted it
for goodness sake
for silence
we are seconds
in time
waves
in oceans
in significance
yet we shine
here
alone
like a man in space
for a naive construct
of what is love
or our blindness
in the face
of inevitability
our place
and the perverse magic
in between
color
against the norm
screaming
from beneath waves
like we kick
like we kicked
and we kick
like we kicked
against pricks
we kick
like you kicked
but we kick
against the pricks

the discomfort of belief

when even the view
from the hill
looks the same
and your shadow
surpasses
the travails of sleep
you slip behind the camera eye
put your head
behind hands
once used to conceal
your eyes
in games with children
and
pray
like you did as a child
when you still believed
in something
believed
and the promise of days
greater
than those behind
taken for granted
never again
all hands on deck
brothers
all hands on deck
to behold
the way the dawn
imposes its will
upon the night
after night
by day
proud
defiant
like god
like the boy you were
and remain
if you believe it so
in hiding
ever doubting
yet ever wanting
to impose your will
on days
like god
and nothing less