1. Barely (if at all)
  2. Drive you mild
  3. Villains
  4. Reverend Girl
  5. Cup of Tea
  6. Myself
  7. The Freshman
  8. Photograph
  9. Ominous Man
  10. Real
  11. Penny is Poison
  12. Cattle
  13. Veneer


Barely (if at all)


when my love complained, every word
a breath on my last dandelion
and so lovers will leave and their tears
souvenirs for the very first time

I searched the world reluctant
to find a lover enthusiastic
speak to me barely if at all

when I was a boy, funny things
water wings kept you confident
a belly of wine, similar
to keep yourself indifferent

and I scraped the bargain basement
bought a lover less than fantastic
spoke to me barely if at all

taste perfume that burns my throat
and I am free of envelope
squeeze an instant out of me

and she placed a hand between our lips
how could anything be so precious
she kissed me barely if at all

and she, with a hand between our lips
gave me what we now have in common
she left me barely if at all

Top

Drive you mild


and if I ever drive you mild, and
suffering this open kiss
and I'm barely juvenile
when everyone is outrageous,
and I alone will be sleeping through
the afternoon

and if I ever drive your style, and
suffering your day predicted
with no ability to rile

and every yawn is contageous
and I alone will be sleeping through
the afternoon

I should drive you wild

ever drive you mild
ever drive you mild
ever drive you mild

Top

Villains


I turned the volume up this morning
till there was ringing in my ears
I haven't felt this good in years

another villain on the cover
of every major magazine
the victim somewhere in between

see how they twist and shout

and as I'm searching for the story
subscription card falls to the floor
I'm losing interest more and more

to pick it up I'm bending over
out of the corner of my eye
I see a pair of blazing thighs

see how they twist and shout
see how they twist and shout

I straighten up to look her over
and up my back a shooting pain
it's bound to settle in my brain

another villain on the cover
of every major magazine
the victim somewhere in between

see how they twist and shout
see how they twist and shout

Top

Reverend Girl


we are for today
we are for the moment

we are a crusade
but we are invalid

1 am rummaging
stained my hands on her antique
2 am

reverend girl

I am so indifferent
I am whatever

3 am cellophane
suffocates my favorite things
4 am

the reverend girl
seems that the more we're achieving,
the less chance of leaving this world
with a reverend girl

another lover wakes me
head upon a window pane
before the thunder shook us
she could always smell the rain

a year is dissipating
another hail cannot disdain
never mind the thunder
now my lover smells like
now my lover smells like
now my lover smells like rain

Top

Cup of Tea


I'm visiting
the ground's a little weathered where I stood
right field in my neighborhood
I was mostly last, always least
dig it

at graduation everyone
will throw their hats into the sun
then they'll drop like flies to the sea
this is not my cup of tea

and Valerie
the winter won't be keeping her around
I'm nailing leaves to the ground
but it feels like sand underneath
dig it

she's never letting me forget
I've always been an idiot
and at times like this I agree
this is not my cup of tea

crash
in a wrinkle of steel we are gone
will my last breath be a yawn
watching them sorting debris
this is not my cup of tea

Top

Myself


you never seen nobody as divine as
she can see reflections
in her own eyes
an admission of desire,
on a handsome afternoon
is an ovation to her ego
in her everyone is everything and
everything is mine

Ms. Marceau
you don't need another,
you'll always be your own hero
myself Ms. Marceau
you don't need another, you'll always
be your own hero

as if we're speaking in
another language
every word means I, me,
mine every hello every good
no escape to the life of the average
it's an ovation to my ego
in her every one is everything and
everything is mine

we're very fortunate to have her here
accounts are empty and my friends
deserted long ago but
she say that I'm okay, so I'm okay

Top

The Freshman


when I was young and knew everything
and she a punk who rarely ever took advice
now I'm guilt stricken,
sobbing with my head on the floor
stop a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice

I can't be held responsible
cause she was touching her face
I won't be held responsible
she fell in love in the first place

for the life of me I cannot remember
what made us think that we were wise and
we'd never compromise
for the life of me cannot believe
we'd ever die for these sins
we were merely freshman

my best friend took a week's
vacation to forget her
his girl took a week's worth of
Valium and slept
now he's guilt stricken sobbing with his
head on the floor
think's about her now and how he never really
wept he says

we've tried to wash our hands of all of this
we never talk of our lacking relationships
and how we're guilt stricken sobbing with our
heads on the floor
we fell through the ice when we tried not to
slip, we'd say

Top

Photograph


if you want beautiful, pitiful,
have me in a picture
and if you want make me dance,
throw me round spin upon your
finger

blind labors the blind and I am
unwilling to uncover my eyes

and if you want take your time rifle
through, find a very nice one
if there's a crease in my face over
time, there's plenty more where
that came from

words, frozen, will thaw when I am
wasted, I am better shut up
and a frame is quite confining,
hang me up....hang me up

I'm in the photograph

when I'm alone and the world is a
fist, I am weightless
a universe, gravitate, orchestrate,
I am fearless
and spin, the sky surrounding free
from all the picture perfect
and spin the sky surrounding,
larger than life, meanwhile

Top

Ominous Man


I should be half a mile from here

I will go anywhere she goes
shoulder the bags of a previous lover
I will go anywhere she goes
sleep on the pillow that reeks
of another

a will of mine to be impressive
I'm an amorous man

I will go anywhere she goes
whenever, whatever the distance

the court deemed me to be offensive
I'm an ominous man

once love is unanimous
no order demands

I should be half a mile from here

the court deemed me to be obsessive
I'm the ominous man
jury reject the alibi's seemingly water-
tight
for the ominous man

I am the ominous man

Top

Real


my sister had a nursery rhyme
set of figurines
she'd often let me play with them I'd
set 'em up in different scenes
fifty plastic army men, led by superman
destroyed the ranks of mother goose
Mary and her little

lamb slips away and catches
sister getting real
and I can too, as long as I don't
make a sound

when we were real we were in love
with everyone and everything, I guess it
was the beauty of
bluebird clears his throat of phlegm
and static singing operatic

evening comes, and the butterflies are
bats eat the spider that had sakkled up
beside her
and the dish, his lovin' spoon were
never found

and I'm taking flight seeking relief, the
lure of handkerchief so white
I chase it straight into the ground

Top

Penny is Poison


blushing a cue for her falsities
advantage is my only masterpiece

penny is poison but I don't mind
penny is poison but I don't mind

gardening malice for murders
flushes to me are the weeds to her

we know who we are

starving the love of the marvelous
I was the penny to previous

Top

Cattle


boy there was a day an assortment of rhymes
and waving, we rode that parade for awhile
and everybody knew everybody

boy there was a day being lonely was hard
and then your attention was never enough

I don't really know anybody in love
I don't want to know anybody in love

and when the mouth is open grows a cancer
everybody wins
round and round and settle down, settle down

brand the herd of those who duplicate
and crush the wind of those who deviate
and ride the wave along the mitigated mile
ride the wave along the mitigated mile

Top

Veneer


thirteen miles on 31 are drying
all along adopt-a-highway lay the empty cans
of masquerade

thirteen miles on 31 are drying
the sky is lavender with ivory clouds that threaten
drops of finger-paints
puddle jumping children clad
in yellow raincoats splash the deeper
purple of veneer

rows and rows of animals, their shiver skin
is painted different shades
and from grazing painted grass their teeth
are stained the incandescent green
indifferent they watch the rainfall steady
blend their spots and run their stripes
of veneer

lovely ladies strip themselves of furs the winds require
lovely ladies bathe themselves in technicolor mire
lovely gentlemen

at 85 on 31 I'm flying
flying
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