Lyrics and Poems

You're Watching the What to See Network

03 Jun 2022

There they stand
before me
at all waking hours
peering through the window to my soul

What makes them stop?
What makes them pause?
What is it about me?
that stirs their soul enough
that the gnawing fugue which keeps them scurrying about
is drowned out for a brief moment
by the fully summoned orchestra?

And when was it that I stopped asking
‘What is it about me?’ instead of ‘why not?’

?

Why not these others?

Why not she to my left?
For she silently breathes
and takes all her meals
through the roof and her leaves

Why not he to my right?
Utilitarian dream
ever watchful eye
with interface and screen

Why not those in the center?
What was it they saw
as they exchanged windows themselves
without showing their awe?

sigh.

Then one day
before me
a different sort of day
small ones that did not look my way

They stopped for trees
inspected machines
Yet still I remain
flat image in frame
They see me as a drop in their dazzling ocean
but there are brief moments
where old envious scolds teach the young conductor
that to perfect the symphony they must banish all musicians

.

Now I know
with a gaze so free
they don’t look right left inward
but stay fixated on me
I stir in for a moment
The thing they used to be
Before the yoke rode blood-striped backs
with eyes taught not to see

Travel Montage

08 May 2022

Moving forward always
right to left, over map

Falling down the hallways
drifting sites, halt to nap

Worm that winds through nations
or parabolic through the air

Reach our destination
yet here we are still in this square

Oh how Sysiphian!
We have not moved. Why did we stride?

Stop! No time for questions—
a train to catch! Enjoy the ride.

Old Van

27 Feb 2022

Met a huge family with a huge van
it was a long time ago
can only recall it like a dream now
but they were real

They had just fixed the thing
it wasn’t the first time
She had been leaking oil again
engine graduated to coin-operated

The frame was stacked corn-flakes
some kids starting plucking them
poking through the sharp hole
which slowly grew in the way-back

They had their doubts but wanted to keep her
cost wasn’t an issue
most of the children only knew her
there were so many they could not reach an agreement

I wanted to tell them to buy a new one
but I wasn’t in the family
could not grab worth it

but I could and would if they still drive it now

The Spoiled Bloom

10 Jan 2022

The unstoppable demons of your ancestors you tamed to impotent imps,
but the din of your shortcomings punctures those whining whisperings.
You knew they would come for it just as you did a lifetime ago.
How may you cite the ungrateful to trample,
when you have not trained your eye this far from the egg?

Take care not to swallow the stone of the center,
for I grow suckling on the milk of the goat.
Recall the shadows in the endless rows unfallowed.
I am the gatekeeper to the eyes, the hands, my father’s belly.
My demons virtuosos of the pipe that lured those of the town east.

So grant it to those that seek it least,
Shower it down as clouds burst to rain,
Let new brooks, rivers, lakes swell without dam or canal!
For your pruners and shears are like swords to the hydra!
You must yield quickly
or I will hunt your children in your nightmares underground.

Scars Ripple

05 Jan 2022

A wretched fear defeated,
a monster laid to rest.
From victory, new sanctity,
a home in Eden’s garden;
flowers from the ashes of pain
sheltered by walls of never forget.

Again darkness chokes beauty;
rigid grasps fell stars like sand.
The farm lay barren and wild calls.
Gods cast long shadows,
to hide their demons.
Consumed again, the old enemy smiles...

Fucked Up

19 Mar 2020

Starve the beast
Keep him on his leash
Satiate from time to time
If he dies then so do I
Not too much for then he'll grow
His leash must hold or else they'll know
If he appears upon the stage
Then they will keep me in a cage

Missing a Piece

19 Mar 2020

They tick-tock a different way
I thought I was unique
But just a simple freak

I was made as incomplete
Did they forget a soul?
Does my heart have a hole?

A wavelength I cannot see
A frequency I cannot hear
They live and breath in ways I can't
Observer not participant

Why should they change for my sake?
I can't be so outspoken
When I'm the one that's broken

If I were you, I'd hate me too
My list of failures long
I'm not sure what went wrong

A wavelength I cannot see
A frequency I cannot hear
On borrowed time, my life on lease
How can I find my missing piece?

Sand Castle

20 Jan 2019

How was it that I entered here?
The first few rooms I don’t recall,
Did I carve them, or did they me?
The path I take to birth the walls

Cathedral Cave, my own design,
Eyes multiply and I perceive,
Unfolding edge gnaws mystery,
May make it grow but never leave

From inside, a separate world,
Yet from outside, only grain,
Parts to whole, or whole to parts,
Cruel mirage consumed by rain