simply lovely

people are simply lovely
in the evening light
sitting on the patio
coffee cups at the lips
lifted
this is a picture of reality

i remember evenings
sitting in the garden, the light was pale but heavy with
possibility
i forgot those days
and now they look like dreams
and i wonder if i ever really saw those nights
or bathed in those summer days at all
if the silence can mean anything
then it ought to just at least give me a clue

tear away

tear away the old screen door fabric
that covers me from head to toe
just like a shroud
i'm not in mourning anymore
invent new words, invent new sounds

Columbus

Christopher Columbus
Your many trips across the ocean
To the ancient world
New to your eyes
There was nothing there
You took nothing from a dark man's hands
Took the pencil from his pocket and
Drew yourself a map

The best thing (fragment)

The best thing that someone like you can do for the world is know as many people as possible

The best thing I can do for myself is to know more people like you

And know them more
And let you know me

It used to be

It used to be
Me and you
Dancing together in a Bollywood film
Singing together on a Broadway stage
Moving spirits in a wedding dance

It used to be
Me and you
Lost in each other's eyes
Lost in each other's world
It used to be

Where was she running off to this time? you asked
Where was she going now
Where was she running off to this time? you wondered
Will you still be there when I come back?
Will you still be there when I come back?

It used to be
Me and you
A pretty painting on the wall
In a museum now it hangs there

I went to be where
Me and you went by ourselves
And I asked myself
If you would remember
I still remember how it felt.

FRAGMENTS

It if wasn't a little bit scary
It would be no fun at all.

The best therapy
Is a new day

This must be freedom that I feel
It's just so new to me that I'm not quite sure

Believe reluctantly

Did I do that, dream it, or see it on TV?

We have our marks

All over each other

Dancing with a bolt

Dancing with a bolt of lightning
Up and down the neighborhood streets
Past the streetlamp and the garbage cans
Down the asphalt river

Dancing with a flashing wave
Slapped silly with vigor
Against the wind my body clashed with time
Beneath stars that burnt out years ago

Here's a hot flash in the pan dance in the night
Here's a river for you
Here's a wild guess at every distance
A wild guess at the number of those deadbeat stars

Leaning In

Speak to me
I see you in the shadows
Your form is so unclear
Sing me your song
The distance is enough to make a whisper hard to hear

Finally laying down
Staring at the clouds
Listening to the wind
Finally letting go
Staring at the ground
Listen for a heartbeat

Sing to me
Your silence is revealing but I need to have you near
Touch my hand again
Press it up against your face

Finally standing still
looking at the stars
listening to a whisper
Finally reaching out
Feeling for a hand
Not so far away

Leaning in to listen, leaning in to listen
Leaning in to listen, leaning in to listen

Leaning up against you, takes a little dying
Every time we step
Resting up against you, pebble in my pocket
Ashes for your thoughts
Place your hands inside me, draw a little closer
Take a little more
Broken in the center, torn before an altar
Take a little more
Tell me all your secrets, burn away my answers
Anything you want.

Lighter than the wind

Give me just a moment
I need to take a minute
Let me catch my breath

Oh, I feel lighter than the wind
And I can't remember where I am
You caught me without warning
Yeah, you caught me by surprise
Like an early summer morning
Waiting for the sun to rise
I can barely hear you whisper
I can hardly see your face
So clear but so unnoticed
Like a shadow at my back
But I can tell when you look at me
You give a little sigh and smile
In your arms can I just stay a little while?

Come with me to arizona (fragment)

Come with me to Arizona
We'll see the desert night and feel the wet earth
I know how to bring the rain

We'll see plain language written
Upon the wall for the first time ever

TOPICS

• The aunt and neice story


• song about moms


• song about dad - many


• wetting the bed as a kid (funny song)
• what happens when dad dresses you as a kid
• what it's like to be shy
• what it means to be a maclean
• quotable people - Monique, Brooke, Mere...Club Clueless quotes
• Club Clueless
• dad's snake skin boots
• about how dads know random stuff. "stuff i know" by dad.
• things that are better than therapy - like a new day, morning coffee, growing basil, etc.
• write about carmen's puns

I'm not sure what's out there anymore
Beyond the oak trees
Puffed up, resting heavily and dark against the sky
They protect the night.

I'm curious as to what's in there
That twinkling yellow light
Brazen around the hearth
Resting up against the windowsill

I'm not sure I want to know
But I'm desperately looking in.

We'll be ok

They say, they say they say
there's just no way.

They talk all the time
no reason and no rhyme
just noise, just sound,
hear it humming all around
all around me all the time.

I must become free.
Become me.
I gotta quarter of a dollar says I will.
I'm gonna try, I'm gonna try
Baby, I'm gonna try
Till I know
Till I know I'm finally home.

It's gettin' quiet...it's gettin' quiet,
I'm comin home.

Disliking

watching, looking, overextending
looking, leaning, learning something
wishing, hoping my disliking
isn't simply hanging
making, moaning, wishing, groaning
yearning, burning, reaching, turning
spinning, pinning and disliking everything.

hearing, finding
hoping, knowing
reaching, teaching, slipping and gripping
everything dizzying
we can't get off this ride now.

mad writer

a sponge for words
not sure what i heard
transcribing
shots in the dark
eye the quiet
missing parts
like an island
so very alone
afraid to listen
to words of your own
afraid of going hungry
afraid of going mad
my list is empty now
this is all that i had.

mostly cliche

I think it was last Sunday
When I saw this fellow sitting at the table outside
Patio-seating finished with his coffee and reading a book
Just taking up space

Today is Sunday.
And I see the exact same man but he looks 30 years older now
But I just know - I just know that's him
Same look of restless wonder with the world
Same content yet dissatisfied innovation

Some go left and some go right
Why can't I just look you in the eye
And let that be enough?
Some push through and some stand still
But I don't know why it matters
Oh I wonder why it matters to me at all

I write the first thing that I think
Say the first words that I see
There's no other way to go for me
I watch behind a camera's lens
I watch for words, I watch for someone's life story to come to me

Come pictures and come fireflies
Come muses singing lullabies
Come put it down, come set it right
Come all at once or with the night behind you
Asking you
What could all this mean?

will i ever see

Will I ever see like I saw before?
Will I ever see like I saw before?
I flip through the pictures of myself
Like shadows on the wall
But I don't want to pin her down
She has a face I don't recall

Will I ever hear what I heard before
Without having to strain
I'm hearing echoes of laughter from somewhere far away
I hear laughter from somebody else
Somebody else's porch

some words (fragment)

I'm loving you
Loving you
Loving what I have to do
I'm waking up
Going out
Getting through and getting out
I'm on to you
And on to this
I'm with it now, I cannot miss
I'm looking up, bending down
Reaching in and pushing out

For a time I had to

For a time I had to

For a time I had to

Had to stop the clock

Americano swirl

I get those two drinks mixed up all the time

For some time I had to,

Wind the hands back

Just an hour

Suck back up some sand

This time I had to

Had to bend the rules

Bust through them and find out

They are made of paper