fill me
thrill me
spill me
kill me

love me
fuck me
judge me
chuck me

bleeders
breeders
bottom feeders
we've got the disease and we're looking for repeaters

the sociologist

i've never been to kentucky in the winter
what did you go down for?

i've got some sorting out to do
and a few more kinks to work through

let the mail and the dirty dishes pile up
shoot the messenger
call him back
follow up

you're starting to get used to sleeping by yourself
cut the lights yourself
turn over
empty shelf

you're missing my military-grade tenderness
pick up eggs and milk
channel surf
mattress stuffed

stiff upper lip

why don't you ever read the local newspaper?
someone's stealing your lines

and it's there in person or on the telephone
forceful manners please

stiff upper lip

slipping around automobiles parked on the street
waiting patiently as their owners sleep

with visions filling their heads of things they never dared
colors they hear and monsters they can scare
they feel it all
breath by breath
shadow by shadow

known by the worm who separates despite being hurt
known by the worm who eats and makes the dirt
it feels it all

counting before branches lose their leaves and apples
spotting the ground like graves behind chapels

as a way to prepare for the inevitable
proclaiming something unforgettable
you feel it all
breath by breath
shadow by shadow

silence for a hand still warmer from its last touch
silence for a head which has spoken too much

holding onto the numbers making the clock count down
for the bold the weak the lost and the found

keeping them as a testament to all the others
that their precious time and death are brothers
and someday
they too
will feel it all
breath by breath
shadow by shadow

a tiny gentle breath with my head underwater
taught me that math won't make me smarter
i felt it all

nick knacks

my favorite color isn't one you can see
it runs the night and never lets me be

i'm standing down in the same spot where you last fell
waiting for the story you love to tell

when the hardest tongue to bite is licking my lips
there's a damn good reason to sink my ship

so give me pressure
and give me lectures
throw in some spectors
for good measure

what should i say?

my favorite alarm isn't one your can drown
it calls out the night and feels like it sounds

they might call it squealing they might call it dealing
right or wrong it's staining more than stealing

you can't touch me with your softly spoken pleases
as if i were politely in pieces

so give me pressure
and give me lectures
throw in some spectors
for good measure

what should i say?
what should i say?

rip out the fixtures
i get the picture

what should i say?

you dream of sleep
and you sleep to wake
when the sun comes up
you take and you take

i'm not looking for a hand
i'm not looking for your heart either
as i'm sure it's fastened up to a head full of fever

i'd like to say i know best
being the owner of these organs
which i can share or tear or keep locked in my skeleton

i am together alone
a perfectly functioning machine
fully self-supporting the likes of which you've never seen

HEATHEN

remember when voices used to be soft?
extending all that you were taught
before they had altogether trailed off?
stranding you while you were spinning

with no help or warmth from the strangers' eyes
or the suits drowning up to their neckties
cursing and dreading their own dark sunrise

as anesthesia to surgery
i will make this easier

so you sink down into your deepest chair
and play a game of solitaire
wishing there were another player
pray this is a game that you can win

if there's trouble coming to your front door
coming in pairs or groups or more
when you've lost your will and track of the score
losing room for nails in your coffin

as anesthesia to surgery
i will make this easier

traveled down to a cold drifter like a stone
you're whittled away and alone
believing there's a reason you have grown
watching the crowd of people thinning

when the beaten path won't take you back home
it's just a stack of wood that creaks and groans
barely sheltering you when the wind moans

as anesthesia to surgery
i will make this easier

i will be holding you down

and if you need me i'll be outside having a cigarette, a beer, and the time of my life.

crypsis

i was sitting in a house
a decorated house
the decorated house that shut my mouth

i was fighting with a voice
an overwhelming voice
the overwhelming voice which made my choice

i was running down a path
a fairly beaten path
a fairly beaten path which came up too fast

i was building up a storm
a very hurtful storm
the very hurtful storm which took my form

i was sticking out my throat
my pretty mangled throat
my pretty mangled throat which sealed my vote

and let me see you for what you truly are

in the next room she laid back a bit too far
to sweep her precious collections inside a hungry wanting drawer

before she had closed her wide and tired eyes
her only key was lost and gone while the lock dissolved in size

in the next room with the windows sealed tight
she found that people tend to look far too much
she found that there is no excuse for trusting something she cannot touch

in the next room she flew right into pieces
when she realized that her pets had somehow gotten off their leashes

even with all of the glass in the house locked
even with the whole entire cellar icebox and cupboards fully stocked

in the next room she walked heavy through the door
right into the next disaster and around the eggshells on the floor

she decided they came and went as they pleased
with nothing she could really choose that would leave her satisfied or eased

this isn't an excuse
but it sure sounds like one