A Summer In Saturday

A van packed with people

For a road trip in the dark

Spiraling with laughter and

Going around missing marks

.

Excursions set to weird luck

Trying to chase away the heat

And the languor creeping in

Won’t let this vacation be beat

.

Kicked up sand on gritty feet

Sudden blackouts set the scene

Chill as water, lips taste salty

Splash and splutter, call it mean

.

Kill the calm and the crowd

Noise on stereo, sodium glitter

Keep the stars and insanity

Smile for a picture underwater

.

Impulsive plans laid to stake

But we’ll keep faith under the moon

Home’s still a distant memory

And morning cannot come too soon

.

For a weekend settling tempers

A quick ocean swim to cool it down

Before the sun turns to shadows

And chaotic daylight comes around.

3 – season’s greetings, then.

it’s been a lovely holiday

and i don’t regret staying

just a little bit longer for it—

but at the end of the day,

it’s just that: a holiday.

a couple weeks of phantasm

before the veil is unlifted

again to reveal a worse hell…

it’s been a fun holiday, it has.

but it changes nothing.

shut up when you’re talking to me

We keep the beat with your blistered feet
And we bullet the words at the mockingbirds singing
Slept through the weekend and dreaming
Of sinking with the melody of the cliffs of eternity
Got postcards from my former selves saying “How’ve you been?”

~*~

those clever words

are only things

you said in your sleep…

but i still listened,

and i still believed in them.

i’ll wear my heart on

my sleeve just so i could

wear something new

i’ll wear my brain over my shirt

just so i could pretend that

it’s something true—

but feeling and thinking

is already out of style

so guess my fashion statement

is faded, bleached out in

the bad kind of vintage

so won’t you give me

a cheap trick and tell me

“don’t be cruel, honey”

like the parasite that ravaged

our lips turning to scarlet

but i couldn’t find the letter

or monarch butterflies

in our holiday down in las vegas

when we lost the highway

for the third time that evening.

it’s a picture perfect eternity

the goodbye that never leaves

it’s the most insincere you and me

the “happy birthday” that doesn’t age

have i blown your mind yet?

or were you distracted by misery?

there’s no take two’s, i’m afraid

but encore’s full of apologies

so just talk, like it’s all we can do

talk because it’s all we can do

and listen to the insomnia

lash out in crashing profanities

if you’re too afraid to stay

‘cause these doldrums won’t play out

forever…would they?

~*~

Whoa oh, we’re so miserable and stunning
Whoa oh, love songs for the genuinely cunning
It was ice cream headaches and sweet avalanche
When the pearls in our shells got up to dance
You call me a bad tipper of the cradle
Tired yawns for fawns on hunter’s lawns…

delays

the heat is addling

the corners of my eyes

bleeding with tears

that i so madly despise

.

crowds so dense

they all suffocate

as footsteps go on

of weary and late

.

i take a breath

but i can find none

fun was all fun

but now it’s all done

.

i’m stuck and bored

i don’t know why i try

“home sweet home”

has never been such a lie.

arrival

the return

the final line

of empty trays

and sipped wine

.

of upbeat music

and listless smiles

we’re so close yet

we still have miles

.

the last call

the landing

of departures

and last wings

.

of blue skies

and goodbyes

we’re so far yet

it feels like the end.

departures

there’s a black screen

razing static through

blank eyes, boldly breaking in

bends and making turns

as the plight of flight

marches through atmospheric

tidal waves once again.

crimson hair twisted in smiles

of anticipation, affiliation;

impatient minds building

sandcastles out of the contents

of an empty hourglass.

footsteps of weary strangers

making imprints on tile and concrete,

foreign faces and fending tongues.

listening to words on paper

and eavesdropping on conversations

that i would never understand

hesitantly passing through

all their metal detecting charm,

won’t you go and give the secret cameras

another reassuring wink?

expendable rhythms and motions

a silent loudness of the chatter amiss

as we’re delayed by moments—

seconds, minutes, hours turned to half-days

and full centuries of a stuporic outcome

as the numb sets in like a

restless moth, raring for just a bit of

the burn of that warm sunlight.

all before the final call on the

crackling buzz of the static intercom

basks flatlined minds with relief

as the journey steps off the proverbial ledge

and the adventure beyond

grey clouds, sunlight, and a lost familiar place

finally begins to take its course.

Broadcasting Live From The Seatbelt

Come one, come all, you’re just in time
To witness my first breakdown
‘Cause there’s a mile gone
For every minute passed
When I’m stuck in this town…

~*~

For every minute I count at the tip of my jaded palm

Makes me believe that I can actually give a damn

Third time’s the charm, but the thirtieth’s just tiring

I’ll save my breath for the holidays I won’t be taking

.

Change the radio station when nothing good’s ever on

Witness as I crash my car high on the beat of a breakdown

Just to make the news, just ‘cause I’m fucking bored

At least something exciting happened in this deadbeat town

.

But I don’t need a doctor, and I don’t need more pills

I’m not crazy, just feeling sorry that I don’t know what to feel

Passed out from the traffic fumes, stuck in my head for hours

Wishing I had better hair, wishing I had superpowers

.

And I’m not coming clean, what else is the reason now?

Dreams don’t come for free, especially not in this late hour

My stereo’s playing the greatest hits, I’m so sick of hearing it

I’d drink beer and smoke a drag, but I don’t know when to quit

.

For every second and mile that I waste, wasted off these foolish promises

Like my ragged backseat holster and stained carpet, my existence is a mess

And this just in, the latest breaking news is that I’m already fucking breaking

But I’ll step on the brakes until it stops, until I don’t know which road I’m taking.

~*~

So go on and lock me up, you better throw away that key
Before I find out where you broadcast from
Because your playlist is killing me
I’ll change that station, light it up like the 4th of July
It’s me, I’m caller fifteen, time to play my last request…

Merry Christmas Is Too Cliché, I’ll Burn Down Your House Instead

Now I hope you’re happy with yourself, ’cause I’m not laughing
Don’t you think it’s kind of crappy what you did this holiday?
When I gave you my heart, you ripped it apart
Like wrapping paper trash, so I wrote you a song
Hope that you sing along, and it goes
“Merry Christmas, kiss my ass!”

~*~

I waited 359 days for the day

You’ll wake up and see the star blink out

On the top of your christmas tree

And I’ll be just fine and merry

‘Cause baby, it’s cold outside

And the weather’s as frigid as your soul

But guess you knew all that

When you buried me under the snow

And the bells may be a’jingling

But my face is numb and tingling

From all the endless and forced laughing

As the carolers continue wailing

Say you’re Santa Claus ‘cause you went to town

I got my eggnog when I got you down

You once were sweet like striped candy cane

And now you’re just stuffed like a red stocking again

But 12 days ain’t enough to keep you satisfied

I’ve had my fill, now I wanna throw up

The silent night turned into total manic chaos

All I want for christmas is you, to shut the fuck up

I’m on my own, so wrap me up

Like a delicate present, and rip me up

I’ll be the cookie drowning in your sweet milk

The soot in your chimney, coal and ink

And play, and play all the songs once more

About how this holiday is keeping score

Month of goodwill, hope, and festive season

When it’s nothing but a festering commercialism

Naughty’s being nice, and Santa ain’t true

But even if he was, well he won’t ever visit you

Gun down the sleighs, trip the reindeers

Ho ho holy shit this whole thing is just a derriere

But christmas miracles do happen, so they say

And your good-for-nothing face went away

I hope you choke on your tinsel and peppermint

I’ll hang myself by the christmas lights like an ornament

The sense of rude nostalgia, and all the childish feels

Of you begging for more presents, you got me hot on my heels

And if the decorations are blocking your misery

Call me gingerbread man, because you can eat me

And tonight I’m gonna burn the mistletoe down

To forget what happened under its boughs

And use it as minty poison on my lips

For your goodbye kiss, pucker up, and I’ll take it real slow

‘Cause I waited 359 days for the moment

Thar I could write another trite and cliched song

About my damn trashy special little snowflake

And how everyone got this christmas bullshit all wrong.

~*~

No, fuck you girl, I’m going out
I gave you my all, but our love hit a wall, now
I’m jingle belling, and everyone’s yelling
We’ll drink ’til the bars shut us down
Ain’t that just what Christmas is all about?

Winter Heart

summer kites

they danced

on the sunny sky

as the heat

escaped outside

with a sigh

colours splatter

against the

pale cool blue

the sunlight

resonated

its diadem hues

the vista

distorted with

heat waves

and sticky sweat

trickled down

warm naves

as sweet sodas

were passed

right on cue

to help endure

the highest noons

in construe

the weather was

as tepid as

we were told

and yet

i still wonder

why i feel so cold.

Demesne

after wasting

perspiration,

heaving in

respiration,

and hiking

with severe

exhaustion,

we reach our

ultimate

destination.

and in those

tranquil

moments,

humming

songs with

the algid

soothing

waters up

to my

trembling

toes and knees,

sitting by

a mossy

boulder

on the

lassitude

banks

next to the

effervescent

spilling

waterfall

—glistening

and gossamer

as it falls in

crashes and

myriad riots

of liquid

iridescence—

surrounded

by verdant

foliage and

halcyon

greenery,

in a misty

forest deep

in the heart

of the virgin

mountain,

untroubled

in solitude

and playing in

a faux paradise…

i’ve never

felt more

invincible.