At My Worst

You feel the pounding

of my head

in yours.

You sweat with each

hard beat of my heart.

I know I've warned,

but you've never heeded

and I'm looking more 

and more

defeated.

Don't know whether 

it's you or I

who's truly cursed.

You always get me 

at my worst. 

(I'm sorry.)

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

"I hope for the best, but nothing changes. I'm sorry." Radical Face Glory

Work Backward

Sometimes, I start

at the end 

and work backward

trying to see

how I got here,

how I got to you.

Arms don't reach

as far as they need to

and voices can't

touch the clouds,

but I can see 

the stars glimmer.

They shine in my eyes,

but I want to see 

their glow

in yours too.

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

"I been working on my backwards walk. There's nowhere else for me to go except back to you just one last time. Say yes before I change my mind." Frightened Rabbit Backwards Walk

"Your breathing is quickening. Take my lungs; I owe you. Lost and cold now, there’s a place in my arms I can keep you. A billion stars and here we are, the same bit of dirt holding our weight." Copeland I Can Make You Feel Young Again

Sewed

Asleep in a corner
and didn’t even know
until hands that were warmer,
showed me where to go.
Out of chaos comes order.
From the darkness, a glow.
I thought I was a goner
until I heard you singing low.

A haughty, hasty haunting,
a life caught in between.
I think you heard me calling
from deep within my dream.
You knew that I was falling.
I let out quite a scream.
You shook me from my mourning.
You sewed me at my seam. 

You felt my heart was lonely.
You knew my brain was glum.
You said let's walk on boldly,
let's see what we've become.
You are my savior solely,
only chord I'll ever strum.
I think you'll be the only
tune I'll ever hum.

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

"So will you come back to my corner? Spent too long alone tonight. Would you come brighten my corner? A lit torch to the woodpile." Frightened Rabbit Woodpile

"All my nightmares escape my head. Bar the door, please don't let them in. You were never supposed to leave. Now my head's splitting at the seams and I don't know if I can." Radical Face Welcome Home

Tired Veins

We all have scars from

mistakes that we've made.
You think that you’re numb

because you let yours fade,

pressed them under your thumb.

Didn’t work, I’m afraid.

You tell me it’s not,

but I watch your head spin.

You may shut the sun out,

but you have to let me in.

You are my only thought,

got you under my skin.

You told me you’re scarred.

I already knew.

You’re always on guard.

I am too.

But my blood pumps hard

in tired veins for you.

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

"Cover up the sun. Let the river run. I pray the water come and wash me away. Color in the sky. Make that diesel fly. Oh, just lay me down to die and just take me away.” Counting Crows Cover Up the Sun

"My brother's blood boils in my arms. It balls my fingers into fists. It bubbles, blisters, burns my palms. It floods with fury, fights, and fits.” Kevin Devine My Brother’s Blood

Impractical Poetry

I wrote you a letter 
that I never sent. 
It wouldn't make it better, 
didn't say what I meant. 
Guilty grammar hides 
the truth I tried to say. 
Noises from all sides 
are getting in the way. 
I’m the hypnotizing haze 
of impractical poetry, 
but you are the hours, the days, 
the beauty, the symmetry. 
There are no lonesome hearts, 
only lonesome moments. 
I am the sum of your parts, 
so we’ll never be broken. 
And I want you to hear - 
no, I need you to know - 
that I'll always be here 
inside the moon's glow.

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

"Pouring over photographs, I'm living in your letters. Breathe deeply from this envelope. It smells like you and I can't be without that scent. It's filling me with all you mean to me.” Dashboard Confessional Living in Your Letters

"Hell is the west wind gasping for breath. Hell is a bare page black ink infection. Hell is the inadequate alphabet: a work-worn device to communicate with.” Aeroplane, 1929 Hound at Heels

"I been dreaming again of a lonesome road where I'm lost and I've got no friends, just the rocks and the trees and my lonesome dreams and a road that'll never end.” Lord Huron Lonesome Dreams

A Sweeter Rhyme

I think I'm saying something serious.

I think I'd like to let you know,

but I'm a little bit delirious

and I'm hoping it won't show.

You see, I know your song

and it's stuck inside my head.

It's been there for so long

and it's kind of like you read

my mind or know be better

than I think I know myself.

So, I'm writing you this letter,

hope it finds you in good heath.

I know I stutter and I hesitate

and I falter and I cry

and I do not mean to tempt our fate

and I never meant to lie,

but I think I now know who you are

and I'm trying not to shout.

Even from so very far,

I do not have a doubt. 

Let me see your face this time

and let me say your name.

Let me write a sweeter rhyme

that sings us both the same.

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

"You remind me of a song I used to love." JamisonParker Your Song

"I'm gonna write you a letter. I'm gonna write you a book. I wanna see your reaction. I wanna see how it looks." Guster Amsterdam

"When I say, 'No one talks to me like you.' She says, 'They don't know you like I do.'"  Kevin Devine She Can See Me

Don't Think

Take my hand

and stay right here.

Don't think

or we'll disappear.

It's just a dream.

It's where we landed.

In your eyes,

I saw

everything.

But I want to hear

your heart sing

its love song.

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

"And come morning, I am disappeared. Just an imprint on the bedsheets." Frank Turner I Am Disappeared

"She took me up to her higher wall. She took me up there just to let me fall and I'll sing you another love song, another love song." The Frames Another Love Song

Know the Taste

Breathe in the air

of your ancestors

and cherish every drop

of rain that falls

and let the soft autumn sun

seep into your pores.

Feel each blade of grass

tickle your palms

and smell the salty

ocean waves

and kiss the earth

on which we dance.

See every star that glimmers

in your night sky

and live all your minutes

to their brims

and know the taste

of a lover who's true.

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

"Breathe with me. We all just inhaled about 100 million molecules that once passed through the lungs of  everyone who ever lived before us. Think of it: this kind of atomic reincarnation is another link to our distant  ancestors, including those who first launched us on our explorations of the unseen universes." Neil deGrasse Tyson Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey "Deeper, Deeper, Deeper Still"

Naked Hearts

The winter wind howls
to remind 
our frigid faces
just how lonely 
the cold is.
Red noses
and blue finger tips
plea for refuge,
abandoned. 
In the light
of the street lamp,
only ice
glitters and gleams
and sidewalks
shiver mostly
for the stars
high above.
Not a soul,
not a word.
Naked hearts
stand no chance
and whither
oceans apart.

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

"Then the longest winter is on her way. You called her without knowing it and now it's too late." Pedro the Lion The Longest Winter

"I'm just looking for shelter. You're just holding my hand if I hold you." Good Old War Looking for Shelter

"We were talking in a field, feet on the ground. Though my memories often fade there, oceans apart from where you are.” The Fire Theft Oceans Apart

Want to Be

Lay here
under me,
let the blood
rush through 
your veins. 
Breathe me in,
so I am you.
I want to be
your heart
beat.

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

SOOKIE
You know what I think about  when I'm this close to another body?  I think one day, at one moment, this body that I'm holding in my arms will stop breathing. Stop living. Just stop. One day, you'll see my name in the obits and you'll remember this moment.

IGBY
You're a real fuckin' upper.

- Igby Goes Down (2002)

This Place is Ours

My figures
in your hair,
lust lingers
through the glare,
come closer
and we’ll dance,
slower,
in a trance.
Bring me in;
don’t let go.
Under my skin,
already know.
I want you here
in this dream,
always near,
in between.
Never wake
and never want:
what we make,
we’ll need to flaunt.
Under the stars,
where we’ll be found,
this place is ours;
so keep it sound.

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

"I'm looking at you through a wine glass. I'm watching the light play games with your face. I'm tracing your mouth with my fingers. I'm trying to pick up your taste. And will you dance for me?" Kevin Devine Fingerprints and Photographs

"Pinned to your seat, practice circular breathing. Look down at the clouds, where you'll be, where you're leaving. Between. You are always in-between." Kevin Devine A Story, A Sneak

"Drink up baby, look at the stars. I'll kiss you again between the bars." Elliott Smith Between the Bars

Just Say

You never said goodbye.

I never said all right;

It would have been a lie.

You hid just out of sight.

I know you’re always there.

You’re always keeping track,

without a word to share.

Bravery, you lack.

But if you were to walk

out from behind your shade,

subtract time from the clock,

recite promises we made,

I’d sweep all of the sorrow

away from your brow.

Love waits for tomorrow

if we tell it how.

I still see our moon,

though she now seems to hang low.

Just say you’ll be home soon.

That’s all I need to know.

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

“Wait up for me. You’re where I want to be. Stop long enough to say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.” The New Amsterdams Goodbye

“I miss you, I guess that I should. Three-thousand, five-hundred miles away, but what would you change if you could?” Counting Crows Raining in Baltimore

“Maybe tomorrow, I’ll find my way home.” Stereophonics Maybe Tomorrow

You Have My Hand

I see ghosts,

who wear your name,

from different coasts.

You're not same.

My atlas lies

and I am lost.

I’m in your skies;

our paths have crossed.

My hand in yours,

you lead the way.

Our cosmic tours,

I’m here to stay.

High above

the ranging rooftops,

there is love

that never stops.

I breathe it here.

It’s all I feel.

You showed me, dear,

this beauty’s real.

I can’t return;

I just won’t land;

but it’s no concern:

you have my hand.

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

“I think we’re haunted, that we’re swimming in ghosts.” Radical Face Haunted
"I left the flashlights by the road and an atlas to follow.” Wild Sweet Orange An Atlas to Follow
"I know, you know, I wanna love you, but I can't let go. Honey, it never stops. No, it never stops." Bad Books It Never Stops