Grip

She sees so much better with her eyes closed
and maybe that's what's real - who knows?
And who's here to say it's not?
Maybe this is just the side she forgot.
It's warmer here
and someone's always near
like a blanket over her shoulders
"It's okay, it's okay" they told her.

The hours are getting closer
and her legs seemed to force her
down an uncertain path
where she assumed she'd meet the wrath
of her own imagination,
a dreamy manipulation
where the lie is sweeter than the truth
and the realization is unsettling and uncouth.

You think you've come so far,
but all that awaits is wine and a guitar
and an empty bed
and a cold floor on which you bled.
Your hands always seem to shake
and every smile you shoot's a fake,
but you're "not losing your grip,"
or so says your shivering lip.

************************************************










"...And when I come, I will come on like a dream." AA Bondy O, The Vampyre

"I'm so glad that my memory's remote because I'm doing just fine hour to hour, note to note." Elliott Smith Waltz #2 (XO)

"My hands, they always shake, and no one's calling my phone." Kevin Devine Ballgame

Slip Into Flames

You've been afraid
to spit fire
out of fear
you're a liar.
Keeping your balance
on a wire
where the situation
grows ever dire,
but you slip into flames
growing higher and higher.

With the rest
of the silent,
you knew
just what that meant.
Someone's lord took back
the years from you He'd lent.
Now you smell
the devil's scent
and it fills your lungs
with red resentment.

Dissent from your lips
does a patriot make,
compels the earth
to swing and shake.
As the bile in your stomach
causes it to ache,
stand up:
we've a country to take
or I'm afraid we'll all
be doomed to bake.

*****************************************

Another one about doom, the end of the world, and people who don't speak up for the things in which they believe (and this isn't to say I'm not also guilty).





"And she walks along the edge of where the ocean meets the land just like she's walking on a wire in the circus..." Counting Crows 'Round Here

"And if your God makes war then he's no God I know 'cause Christ would not send boys to die..." AA Bondy American Hearts

"It seems to me we get the same shit from them both. Reform don't work; I think it's time we tried revolt, but I don't got the guts to jump up and go first so I just shout until my throat hurts (and I curse and I curse)..." Kevin Devine No Time Flat