all my friends are designers and coal miners
heart broken deal signers
sufferers and refiners

my friends are the defenders and the fighters
the flames and the lighters
the messengers and writers

we are making it work

all my friends are singers who can sing the truth
premonitions with proof
fortune tellers for the youth

all my friends are living and acting like glue
i'll bet that yours are too
consumers who bite and chew

we are making it work
them he she you us him her
and me too
we are making it work

my friends are judge, jury, and executors
eagle-eyed straight-shooters
restless average-refuters

like a disease that can't live without its host
dna of your ghost
or a cure built dose by dose

we are making it work

all my friends are inspired inspirations
cycles of creation
spending, making donations

all my friends are summaries and designers
the brand new reminders
the treasurers and finders

we are making it work

our relations and motivations
are bound to the
sensations and complications
of each other

we are making it work
them him her you us he she
and me too
we are making it work

resilience as a commodity
we've detected some resistance in your community

a swing and a miss
a sting and a kiss

perfect together
happy to weather
any amount of rain

conversations made
pennies in jars saved
for a birth to name

he proposed to her
she took his offer
of lavish gifts and security

it was a small price
for a house so nice
when it could be mediocrity

more than just loud sex
and shared cigarettes
which burnt down to the last breath

there was joy to share
agony to spare
like a good fight to the death

she thought it would last
more of the same cast
though none of the seeds she planted grew

he was mistaken
made plans worth breaking
what's a good catholic boy to do?

the expectations
and aging sensations
drew lines on their faces

the monotony
the uncertainty
put them in their places

she wanted record collections
wardrobe selections united in common bonds
he fancied faster mechanics
long weekend antics with young anonymous blonds

confined
intertwined

lonely together
happy to weather
any amount of rain

we're on the same page
i can hear you cry and choke
the heartache
and i'm in on the joke

we act so we don't age

a sign of good faith
is still hanging on my door
break it down
no reason to be sore
or let it go to waste

and they're trying their best
scoring for the sake of the game
dammit if it doesn't look like all the rest

it's chilly, baby
with no burning desire
to keep warm
you can't make a liar

that's just silly, baby

hand in hand on hand
against the heat and the smoke
suffocate

and we're in on the joke

in this day
at this age
it's only natural to want your own war to wage

mine is here
on this page
with a dirty speaker shouting from an empty stage

there were some things we should have known
and even more we could have shown
that won't matter now anyway
were ways in which we could've grown
with or without a broken bone
that wouldn't improve anyway
not that we don't think about it but
we don't exist like that
we don't speak of those things

we plant our crops and pray for rain
lay down the tracks and move the train
live by our word and by the cane
we bear our crosses all the same
not that we don't think about it but
we don't exist like that
we don't speak of those things

there are songs we sing louder now
because we have survived somehow
we've learned what to and not allow
hold our heads up and take a bow
we don't have to settle a score
we fill a need and nothing more
we do it like we did before
raise our young till our hands are sore
not that we don't think about it but
we don't exist like that
we don't speak of those things

the kids are on speed dial 
one touch away 
but my number is blocked
exporting anything i like
everything i don't

the letters are stamped and sealed
neatly folded
with no return address
slipping under doors i don't dare
eyes that i won't

you can have it all
but you have to keep it
i don't want it back
i won't hear of it
i'm a radio
i only play the static

attrition
coming by its own volition
dragging along its suspicion 
turning into fact from fiction

renting out a pretty white lie
for another way to get by
letting the fact of matters die

drifting on an open calm
into an unfamiliar palm
recording the sequential psalm

visible only by worth
building castles, tunnels, and birth
from light in the salt of the earth

diffusing an analogy
reverting back to alchemy
with grudges bled from mutiny

second placing everything
substituting anything
fretting over what to lose
and what to bring

holding out for the last laugh
coming up with only half
repairing a shattered craft

staring down the obvious
trying so hard i almost missed
chalking it up to the list

praying to a simple known
cutting right down to the bone
by means of leaving well enough alone

digging up uncertainty
bringing down immunity
in the eyes of good company

speaking with a heavy tongue
holding a head to be hung
reaching for the last rung

forty-two bottles
buried in an abandoned beach

filled with missives
from the woman
you could never reach

i've got a feeling
you've learned something you cannot teach

two can play at that game
but why would you want to?
what's there to prove
when you've nothing left to lose?

you forget manhattan is an island
you think i should learn to play the violin

retreats make good stories
something to look forward to when you're in your forties

two can play at that game
if they both know the rules
what's there to earn
from outsmarting another fool?

you put all your rings on one at a time
you're sure the blood you bleed is worth more combined

words are allegories
too bad you won't remember when you're in your forties

two can play at that game

safe travels
someone tells you

safe travels
and so do you

science
reliance
tyrants
defiance
alliance
your highness

she

  she wasn't a girlfriend. she resembled a friend. she was a regular fuck who showed up three minutes early at the designated location every other monday night. with a hint of her eyes she made him follow. he never questioned her or asked if bryce was her real name. at five-foot-nine she fit squarely in his arms on the king size hotel bed lying on her left side. her skin was too taught and too void of imperfections to reveal her desperation. she often complimented him. she slid her fingertips over his shirt cuffs. she was glad he chose the suede boots over the loafers. the sounds she made told him she enjoyed his company. he couldn't remember the last time. she slept with her hands underneath the pillow. in public they practiced formalities. they shared cab rides. she couldn't believe he didn't recognize her.

make me a habit
i swear that i'll keep it
lightly consuming
a nervous little thing


teach me a new trick
an old parlor antic
worth a good hard look
like bait on a sharp hook

you're filling up the line for seconds
praying to your fairy godmother
in every possible inflection
that your talented tongue can utter


you're crawling up on my last bedpost
gravitating with all of your might
for a place next to a former ghost
a cave in which your bones feel so right


are you still losing games like a child?
controlled breathing and steady teething
like a wolf to be reconciled
when her prey is swifter and leaving

i thought i was a bird
but i didn't know the words
to ask them how to fly

i thought i could learn
the ways which my wings should turn
for them to feel the sky

perched on a lonely limb
in the silent twilight grim
of the same day unchanged

when the minerals mixed
to create more of the tricks
that make dreaming so strange

watching the flocks depart
as a horse behind the cart
full up of gravity

so weighed down and hardened
by anchors that aren't solid
and rest inside of me

i chased it for so long
fed it truth and wrote it songs
i still can't remember

it gave my eyes the scars
died in a riot of stars
frozen like december

grin and bare it